Simon Dawson - The Self-sufficiency Bible

This edition published in the UK 2021 by

Watkins, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited

Unit 11, Shepperton House

89-93 Shepperton Road

London

N1 3DF

Text Copyright Simon Dawson 2013, 2021

Simon Dawson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the Publishers.

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Typeset by JCS Publishing Services Ltd

Printed in the UK by TJ Books Ltd.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN : 978-1-78678-483-4 (P APERBACK )

ISBN : 978-1-78678-541-1 (E- BOOK )

www.watkinspublishing.co.uk

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT SIMON

Funny, from the heart and utterly wonderful from start to finish

Jennifer Selway,

Daily Express

Witty, revealing, heart-warming

Andy Cooper, Devon Life

Its a ten from Len!

Len Goodman

Enchanting

Daily Mail

Inspirational

The Sun

A treasure-trove

Adam Henson,

BBCs Countryfile

Wonderful Book

Michael Caines, MBE,

two-star Michelin chef

Simons self-sufficient life is an inspiration to us all

Ben Fogle

Wonderful must read. A surefire bestseller

Veronica Henry

The book captures Simons passion for food and the land it comes from

Gary Rhodes, OBE

Simons discovered that our path to salvation is rooted in the simplicity of the past

David Kennard,

author of A Shepherds Watch

He is clearly doing something right

Tom Hodgekinson,

Sunday Telegraph

This book is essential reading

Dick Strawbridge

To Debbie

In 2000 Simon Dawson and his wife, Debbie, took a major risk they sold their London flat and moved with a horse and Great Dane to the heart of the countryside. Scraping together every penny, they bought 8 hectares (20 acres) of land on Exmoor and built a smallholding, where they now enjoy a self-sustaining, virtually self-sufficient life, rearing, growing and foraging for most of their food. They have a huge extended family of pigs, chickens, geese, quail, ducks and turkeys, two horses, hand-milking goats, farm cats, an OAP collie and a couple of Great Danes for good measure.

In his time Simon has been Self-Sufficiency Simon on BBC Radio Devon, had a monthly Down on the farm spot on Talk Radio Europe and currently presents his own radio show every Monday night on The Voice FM. As a journalist he has written for just about every newspaper and magazine on the shelves, has cooked on TV with Gary Rhodes and Michael Caines, becoming champions for the South West on the show Local Food Hero, appeared on BBCs Countryfile , Skys The Nations Pets and countless features on local news. But it was when he, his wife Debbie and their smallholding appeared on Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild that things really went bonkers. He is the author of five bestselling books including Pigs in Clover and The Boy Without Love. Simon and Debbie teach courses on self-sufficiency, smallholding, butchery and processing.

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

A book such as this cannot be written alone, and lots of people helped along the way with ideas and advice. The most important is my wife, Debbie, without whom this book would never have been possible. Thanks also need to go to Geoff Flower for advice on sourdough and brewing. A tower of thanks goes to my long-suffering agent Jane Graham Maw www.grahammawchristie.com, and to all the fab team at Watkins Publishing, who are awesome and so much fun to work with. Finally, and possibly most important of all, heartfelt thanks go to my friends both current and past, the animals: Darcy and Dex, my dogs; Kylie, the matriarch sow; The General Lee, our boar; the pigs, geese, ducks, chickens, turkeys, sheep, horses and all the rest of the gang, on whom we practised our craft and learnt so much.

Foreword

I TS BEEN A WHOLE DECADE since I sat down to write the first incarnation of this book, with all the nervous energy and excitement of a new author about to share everything he knew about his world, the world of self-sufficiency. For six months I remember I ate, dreamt and thought of nothing else. It was a magical time, and the end result, the first edition of this book, was my baby and I loved her like a child. So why rewrite it, why take something Im so fond of and redo it? Because the world has changed, and along with it, so must we all, including self-sufficiency. Climate change has become real and urgent; David Attenborough has started a plastic-free revolution; veganism is on the rise; more people are growing their own, keeping hens, embracing minimalism, wanting to make as low an impact on the environment as possible so if you feel part of this wave and want some inspiration, here is as good a place to start as any.

In the following pages youll find new ideas, new things to try and new recipes. Theres even a new focus, one that concentrates even more heavily on including everyone, no matter where or how you live. That felt really important, that inclusivity. So what if you live in a top-floor apartment? That absolutely does not mean you cant be self-sufficient, because self-sufficiency is a concept. Its an idea. Its meaning has changed from the fuddy-duddy, high-falutin, Well if youre not living in a cave doing your own dentistry and hunting at night with a slingshot, youre not really self-sufficient , to one that means being creative with your time, doing things for yourself and being an individual. Like I said, everything evolves.

I think each of us has a different idea of self-sufficiency, and thats cool, thats how it should be. You do as much or as little as you feel comfortable with, and thats what this new edition seeks to encourage. Of course space is an issue for all of us, but before you complain too heavily that you havent enough room to do all the things you want, do bear in mind that I currently live in a static caravan with my wife Debbie and two Great Danes, and if I can do all the things I do here, you, my friend, have no excuse.

Full disclosure the caravan is temporary while I build an off-grid, wooden eco-lodge on my own self-sufficient smallholding, which is where the caravan is currently sited, so Im not claiming oh woe is me. Far from it. This is just cards on the table, because with a miniscule kitchen, a little ingenuity along with some tricks, cheats and know-how, weve taught ourselves how to live as self-sufficient a life as its possible to have. We still have luxuries like Sky and broadband, but we generate our own electric, have a wood-burner for warmth fuelled by our own coppiced wood, harvest rainwater for showering and washing up, have a compost loo and live pretty much unplugged from the mains whist still being part of the local community.