Oh, I had a childhood like that too! My folks were hippys and were self sufficient, what we didn't grow/rear/milk ourselves we just bartered skills or herbs or veggies or eggs or whatever for. I still remember going up to the local butchers as a girl and delivering a big bag of herbs in exchange for our sausages for dinner and some bones for the dog!

Hubby's not so keen on the idea of rearing livestock ourselves, but we've moved to the country for a change of lifestyle, and although this year's crops will be small as we've only just started, I hope that next year we'll do a lot better and hopefully we'll be able to cancel our organic box delivery!

Hmmmm... your mention of wishing you had your Mum's preserve recipes etc has reminded me, I need to call my cousin for my aunt's tomato sauce recipe, a bottle of Aunty Edna's tomato sauce was THE Christmas gift everyone in our family always looked forward to

Ness