the daydream fund challenge thread

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Davesnave.....found this for sale..

http://thesmallholdingcentre.co.uk/Penrhiw-drych-fach 5802/Penrhiw-drych-fach 5802.html

i thought you might be the guy to ask:D, how can they get away with planning permission for this? as i know people get hounded when they even put a static caravan on site, is it because there is allready a foundation there, because of the old cottage?

Yes, I saw that one. I expect it's just established use: if a place is lived in for more than four years and no one notices or complains, then it can be given a Certificate of Lawfulness.

But that one has been in use for a long time, maybe originally as a holiday chalet, and then, when the original cottage crumbled, it became a regular home. I wouldn't be surprised if someone has added the land to it in order to get a sale, but £165 for a glorified shed?

It could be a good building plot though, but only if you are in the know and get permission to reposition the dwelling, as the crash barriers suggest the A487 is a bit close!:eek:

That other one, the fancy place near Pontardawe, is surely a bit pricey, eh? And a hot tub? On a farm? Actually, I could do with one of those tonight with the state of my back! TBH I didn't look much at properties that far outside my budget, but it still looks dear. Maybe there's some 'hope value' in the 6 acres, as it lies very close to lots of housing.

I will try to post later, but no promises, as I'm totally crocked. Got to go and do my man-duties now; the barbie is up to temperature!:rotfl:

Davesnave

Barbecue over, and I don't know how I'm still awake, but anyway, here's my update.....

Sorry to hear of your recent loss of the turkey chick CTC, but otherwise you seem to be making progress (the size of that incubator!), as do Jayne and Butterfly. The amount of planning and planting that's been going on is impressive! A welcome too, to Poppycat1.

I agree about some of the auctions CTC; we've noticed that birds often come in threes, with a weaker one making up the trio, or that one allegedly pure breed will look quite different from another, supposedly identical, in the same market. We are still no closer to buying our first birds, though during the week, we visited a chap who makes chicken houses. Unfortunately, his houses weren't capable of being dismantled for transport and they weighed a lot, so we'll probably go elswhere.

We did a car boot with the plants last weekend and managed to get into three figure takings, but the main reason was publicity, as it was a very local event. My best news is that our meadows have been cut, not for silage, but for hay. Apart from one sharp shower, it's drying out well.

Blairweech

Hi everyone,

Poppycat1 - You and I share the same birthday Happy birthday for Tuesday :beer: I will be 23

Dave - I have noticed at the carboots that the plant seller usually sells out. The farm that I have been working on uses an external plant raiser to raise his veg seedlings - minimum order 2500 though, so any smaller quantities he has to raise himself

rhiwfield

Just catching up on what's happening. 61 Davesnave? I'm 59 and couldnt manage your plot! Not sure whether you're heroic or in need of therapy DW's knee replacement has meant the house and garden has needed handrails fixing where necessary so the hammer drill has taken a real pounding this weekend!

Lots of talk of poultry and 2 of our 3 girls are now laying. Had to tell the nice lady from a local smallholding that we wouldnt be needing our egg order from her anymore. Bit sad as she must be 80 and delivered the eggs at a very reasonable price.

Its that time of the year when a lot of the food is homegrown and the preserves are being made. Gooseberry jam last Friday but the rhubarb and strawberry jam yesterday hasnt set even though we added pectin :mad:. First batch of gooseberry granita in the freezer as well. Lots more gooseberries to process and the rest of the soft fruit is starting to ripen. Lovely time of year but busy!

Maris Peer new potatoes cropping well though Pentland Javelin seems very slow. We'll take a break form the pots tonight and have a pizza using DW's dough and greenhouse basil. Its the aim to use everything we grow and, with the addition of eggs from the girls, our meat bill has plummeted and the fruit and veg bill has disappeared.

Most of the apple trees have fruit on, which we're thinning this year to try to stop biennial bearing.

Finally sorted out the ISAs to get half decent rates and sold some foreign shares that had complicated the tax returns. With DW's redundancy kicking in shortly, and her at home convalescing, we're taking stock of the finances and making changes where needed. Hate the paperwork but the feeling of relief when its done

Poppycat1

Happy 23rd birthday to you for Tuesday Blairweech, wish I was your age. Are you doing anything special? I got free tickets to see H2Oil so I am looking forward to that.

I sold another 6 eggs last night. That's £5 made, it is going towards their new coop. The old one wont last through next winter. It hasn't got a floor and water runs through the coop to the drain.

Lotus-eater

rhiwfield wrote: »

Gooseberry jam last Friday but the rhubarb and strawberry jam yesterday hasnt set even though we added pectin :mad:.

I'm not exactly sure about this, the Oh does all the jam making.
But I think she does her jam with much lower sugar in it than is recommended.
I think some of it doesn't set very well and she keeps it in the fridge where it is fine.
Forgive me if I've got the wrong end of the stick

Winged_one

There are a few more car boot sites after opening up around us in the past few months. Too late for this year, but I am thinking that for next year, I could do a lot more seedlings than normal and sell them off as lots more people locally seem to be getting into GYO. Even one day's selling could be worth it (not thinking of emulating Dave, just in terms of what wouldn't kill me and have DH giving me the "evil eye" for the numbers of seedlings around the garden!!).

Planted out our tomato and pepper plants over the weekend, and they are nice strong plants this year, so hopefully I will get some good results there!! And a couple of courgette seeds have sprouted, so I should have about 3 plants after all this summer (which should be PLENTY for us).

LilacPixie

I really should join here if it is not too late. I don't have the small holding as such dream but I want to move out of town to a house with extensive grounds. I want to built a wooden chalet type thing as business premises for my jewellery business and keep ducks/geese/chickens plus maybe a few retired horses. For now I need to be content with an flat with balcony, an allotment and 2 young kids plus our surprise addition that I haven't gotten my head around yet.

I have been looking around and it looks like we would need upwards of 300k for it so I had better get saving the pennys.

JayneC

Hi all,

Garden still growing well but slugs are beginning to really get on my nerves, they've eaten all the lettuces in the ground (I've a bowl and trough of loose leaves that are doing ok) plus lots of radish, broccoli, kale and nibbled on several tomato plants too. I am now trying 'collars' of plastic bottles to see if that keeps em off (some have addtional vaseline n salt!!) - tried collars of aluminium fiol (old pie dishes, lol) and crushed egg shells but they've not worked. Really don't want to use pellets, so may have to resort to night time patrol to pick em off by hand (UGH!!)

Went to an 'open farm' day yesterday which was quite interesting - tho was a dairy farm so not really relevant to what I'd like to do but still good to have a look round and DGS loved seeing the cows up close. I got some leaflets and booklts from some of the stalls and one said that 90% of the fruit we eat in this country is imported which is really shocking so have resolved to try and grow more fruit. Still working on ways to make a living from home, so I can give up work and be more self sufficient. Need to do more doing and less dreaming and plotting!

Have booked to go to a 'green' festival in August called off grid where there are lots of workshops about self sufficiency (inc one about living without money!!!) so should be interesting. Will report back...

downshifter

JayneC wrote: »

Hi all,

Garden still growing well but slugs are beginning to really get on my nerves, they've eaten all the lettuces in the ground (I've a bowl and trough of loose leaves that are doing ok) plus lots of radish, broccoli, kale and nibbled on several tomato plants too. I am now trying 'collars' of plastic bottles to see if that keeps em off (some have addtional vaseline n salt!!) - tried collars of aluminium fiol (old pie dishes, lol) and crushed egg shells but they've not worked. Really don't want to use pellets, so may have to resort to night time patrol to pick em off by hand (UGH!!)

Went to an 'open farm' day yesterday which was quite interesting - tho was a dairy farm so not really relevant to what I'd like to do but still good to have a look round and DGS loved seeing the cows up close. I got some leaflets and booklts from some of the stalls and one said that 90% of the fruit we eat in this country is imported which is really shocking so have resolved to try and grow more fruit. Still working on ways to make a living from home, so I can give up work and be more self sufficient. Need to do more doing and less dreaming and plotting!

Have booked to go to a 'green' festival in August called off grid where there are lots of workshops about self sufficiency (inc one about living without money!!!) so should be interesting. Will report back...

Very envious, I found Nick Rosen's book completely inspiring and energising, it's completely one of my favourites. Sadly Somerset is too far for me, so I hope you report back every single moment of it!!

DS

ps re slugs, I go out with a torch about now, (10.30) knock them to the ground with the end of a pair of shears, then snip them in half. Disgusting I know, but I hate handling them!!