Links

Thrifty

Here is a list of websites, blogs, podcasts, forums and youtube videos I have found useful over the years.

Subjects covered will be Gardening, Self Reliance, Alternative Energy Projects, Becoming Debt Free, Frugal and simple living.

Websites

The Real Seeds Catalogue The best company to buy your seeds from. Very friendly and very knowledgeable. UK
Seedaholic.com Fantastic seed site including lots of perennials
Heather Bell Honey Bees All things bees and honey. UK
The Growing Project Pensilve A community Garden Project in East Cornwall and a supplier of fantastic organic veg boxes.UK
The Organic Gardening Catalogue Seeds, tools, books and loads more stuff than you will ever need. UK
Tamar Organics Organic seeds, onion sets, shallots, garlic and potatoes. UK
Green Manure The finest range of green manure seed available online. UK
The Forest Garden Courses, tours and interesting plant sales in Cornwall UK
Plants For a Future  Plants For A Future (PFAF) is a charitable company, originally set up to support the work of Ken and Addy Fern on their experimental site in Cornwall, where they carried out research and provided information on edible and otherwise useful plants suitable for growing outdoors in a temperate climate.
The Anarchist’s Library A good place to start learing about the wonderful world of Anarchism

Things you can get for FREE

The Moneyless Manifesto Mark Boyle (The moneyless man) shows you how to reduce the amount of money you have to spend. You can read his book for free on the website. (See video below)
DuckDuckGo A search engine that does not track or store your searches
Open Source Alternative A list of open source alternatives to popular commercial software many of which run on Linux an open source alternative to Windows and Mac operating systems.
Linux Free yourself from the clutches of the evil corporatocracy. More computers run on Linux than any other operating system. Chances are your phone (unless you have been brainwashed into owning a apple phone) even you car could be running on a version of Linux.
Free Linux Training Linux is a free operating system that allows you to get away from being tied to major corporations like Apple and Windows. There are many versions or distributions (or distros) of linux that are deigned for different situations. There is even a distro called Tails designed to increase your privacy online.
Freecycle Need to find something for free or give something away. This is the place for you
Future learn Join over 1,000,000 people learning together at FutureLearn. Enjoy free online courses from top universities and cultural institutions.
Coursera Similar to Future Learn Coursera is a database of free courses from top universities around the world.
Free e-books on sustainability Free PDFs on permaculture, sustainable living etc.
Learn Permaculture For Free This Free Yearlong Online Permaculture Course will help you grow your own food and design a home system that can thrive with nature….even if you don’t own your land or have a lot of money.

 

Alternative Energy.

Build it solar is a great compendium of DIY solar and other alternative ways of powering your decentralized lifestyle. Mainly American but still useful.
Bimble Solar Don’t buy any solar panels untill you have checked out Bimble Solar. They are the cheapest supplier of solar technology this side of evilbay. They also know there stuff so can offer advice and guidance. What I like is they will do complete packages so you can buy everything in one go including all cables and batteries etc. When I build my off grid aquaponics system I will be getting all the solar equipment from Bimble Solar.
Low Watt Living Podcast. A great podcast covering all aspects of off grid living.

Blogs

Growing in a nutshell A blog about vertical gardening and horticulture for tiny plots UK
Think Outside, No Box Required All things Wild Camping and out doors.UK
A Wombling Life wombling – skip diving – reuse – recycling – repurposing – rural living – self-sufficiency UK
Permanent Culture Now  Permaculture, Activism and Self Reliance UK
Anni’s Perennial Veggies This is the blog of Anni Kelsey and is all about growing perennial vegetables. She is the author of a fabulous book on the subject. Edible Perennial Gardening. Anni is based in the UK which is important to me. Highly recommended.
Mr Money Moustache Fantastic blog on saving money and retiring early.
Thrifty Lesley. This is one of my favourite blogs at the moment. I use the resources on this blog constantly to find nourishing low cost meals. Lesley’s oil pastry is worth learning about and has opened up my cooking to include a lot of pies.

Books

A List of books that I have found to be particularly useful.

The Earth Care Manual by Patrick Whitefield. This is a must have book for Permaculture in the UK. Highly recommended. I would not be without my copy.
Do it yourself 12 volt solar power by Michel Deniek. I love this book. It is not so much about setting up an off grid system. It is more about converting everyday appliances and tools to run on 12 volts instead of mains electricity. It has a very simple design for a sun following rig for solar panels and it is worth buying the book just for that design.
Edible Perennial Gardening by Anni Kelsey. Great book on growing perennial veg. Anni share both the highs and the lows of her experiments.

Podcasts

The Survival Podcast Good mixture of self-reliance, permaculture and preparedness. USA
Paul Wheaton’s Permaculture Podcast Fantastically enthusiastic podcast about Permaculture and Homesteading. USA
Permaculture Voices Podcast A podcast for learners, eco-entrepreneuers, and anyone who wants to make a change in their life, or the world, through permaculture. USA
Low Watt Living Podcast. A great podcast covering all aspects of off grid living.

Forums

P2S Prepared 2 Survive Survivalism and Self Reliance in the 21st Century UK
Permies.com All things permaculture and homesteading USA
Selfsufficientish.com Very friendly forum for all things Self Sufficient ‘ish’ UK
UK Hippy Forum Great forum for all things Hippy including living a nomadic life.UK
Tribal Living Very friendly forum covering a wide range of topics including nomadic living alternative lifestyles.

Youtube