Welcome all and thankyou - newbie here

Good day folks!
Welcome to all who are meeting me for the fist time and thank you for admitting me into your community.
Dogs and snakes, food and things ...
Who am I? That is a question which could take a good while to answer. The story is too long for an introduction to tell how I got to where I'm at right now.
I am a 56 year old single man, currently unemployed and living a mean existence (monetarily speaking), with a pack of eight dogs (all terriers) on a delapidated narrowboat in sunny West Yorkshire, England. Without doubt, I am rich in daily experience. The current lack of a formal job (odd jobbing to keep the wolf from the door) means I have more time for wandering the countryside with my pack. During our walkies, I enjoy seeing some beautiful flora and fauna, meeting a fair cross section of British wildlife including reptiles (snakes, frogs and newts), birds and mammals (locally seeing squirrels, rabbits, foxes, deer mink, otter and a variety of rats, voles, shrews and mice).
I am an allotmenteer! I have only come to the allotment gardening in the last couple of years. One goal is to necome as near to self sufficient as possible, foodwise - already cutting my visits to the grocery store to a bare minimum, I am sure the gardens will provide well, as they gradually take shape - they were quite neglected when I took them on. Of course, I'm unlikely to reach the levels of selfsufficiency achievable on a productive homestead! One of the main ovjectives of my allotmenteering is to get away from the mass produced blandness of store bought foods, which are most often polluted by agrochemicsls and plastics.
Yes, I am a foodie! There, I've admitted it. No hiding from the fact. No, I dont want to change - I have a keen interest (barely in check addiction) in cast iron cooking. In fact, I have to excersise extreme restraint or I'll be in danger of sinking the boat, with its load of cast iron cookware (skillets, dutch ovens, roasting pans, woks, saucepans in quantities that far exceed what is necessary for a solo man). I have been involved in the Facebook cast iron cooking community for a few years (and as an administrator in American cooking groups). I rarely follow a traditional recipe - most of my cooking is of the creative/make it up as you go along/making the best of what you've got style, with influences from around the world. I probably still lean heavily toward Indian influences in my cooking, but I am very happy to try new ideas from all quisines, whether from India, Asia, Europe, North or South America or Australia!
That's enough for now - I have a lot to learn about Steemit, but looking forward to the fun and education - it is looking like a good community to be part of.
Keep well as can be and hope you find a smile or two as you go - and if you've got this far, thank you for the visit!