the daydream fund challenge thread

bonsibabe

Afternoon all, I'm still here lol, just being a lurker and reader at the moment

We are going to have to throw out all our spring onions, lettuce and pak choi blooming cats are using the bed as a loo and its so annoying :mad:

But I'm now on a weeks holidays from work so hopefully I'll get the garlic planted and do some serious recycling! You know the plastic 2 litre bottles that you get fizzy pop in? We have found a perfect use for them!!! We have cut the tops off, drilled drainage holes in the bottom, lined them with a little gravel for drainage and voila! Plant pots! Perfect for growing garlic and individual seedlings.

The compost bin had to be completely emptied thanks to my next door neighbour. She usually gives me all her done veg for the bin but when we were on holiday she was chucking it all in and chucked in whole potatoes so we have had to bin all the compost that took near 2 years to make:eek: She has learned not to chuck it in as is tho;)

On the daydream fund part, I have two big savings tins that are currently full but I can't bear to take them to the bank. I think I'm just going to go and buy another couple of tins and wait till they are full then get the money changed and saved up properly. Although I need to open a savings account for that! Hence the reason my daydream total is still at £1 :rotfl:

We now have a rabbit as well as the cat (he does his business elsewhere btw!). Took DD2 to the pet shop to get a goldfish and ended up with the rabbit instead!!!! I keep looking at her and picturing a lovely stew i'm bad i'm bad but have been tempted to say to DH to get a male one and breed them for food, although i think the kids may have something to say about it

CTC - am really sorry to hear about your troubles, some folk are just scum, hope your doing okay now x

Have seen a cracking 4 bedroom house in a small village halfway between where i am now and my work! It's brand new (not finished yet) and £275K fixed ... just keeping fingers and toes crossed that DH gets stuff sorted out that he should be due and maybe we could get it, although i would have to try and persuade my mam and dad to come with us:cool:

I also saw 8 acres of croft land for about £150K but there was no house there, although PP would be granted if there was a real need ... I would think we would get PP so that we could live on the land and work it properly! We shall just have to wait and see!

Right ... am off to look for recipes for cleaning products ... i used to make my own fabric softener and am getting tired of paying thru the nose for this so am going to find the recipes for that and other cleaning products so I can save even more money by making my own!

I will be back later to see how you all are xxxx

rozeepozee

Loads to think of there. Thanks for all the additional feedback.

The kids.... DS is 3 and the twins are six months, so it'll be a few years before we need to think about uni and driving yet! Our properties are in a university city near the hospitals and unis and, yes, one is a student let (already managed by a letting agent as student lets are such high maintenance) and there would be 3 others that tend to have fairly long term professional tenants in them. I'm pretty careful about vetting them but, with the austerity measures yet to be announced, who knows what difficulties a depression may bring.....

I'm about to look at our budget. It'll be interesting to see what the cost of living differences there would be Cardigan compared to our home town. We live pretty frugally, our main consumptions being food and household running costs. I've no idea how much maintenance an acre or so costs, however. Does anyone have any advice on this? We've been reading the Hobson & Rant Successful Smallholding book which is helpful.

Given the downward trends in the housing market, we are now very seriously thinking we might live in the area for a year and rent and whilst we're doing this do a smallholding course to gen ourselves up. Has anyone done this? We don't come from a farming background, although my partner's mum was a farmers daughter and has an allotment that makes her almost self-sufficient so she's a good source of advice.

I've been in touch with the estate agents and am getting quite excited at the prospects of actually viewing some properties in the near future.

RAS

You may find a small hold course useful but I would recommend getting hand -on experience. And really you will need two year's experience before you start to get your heads round some things, first year to learn the basics, second to revise and improve and by the third you may be competant.

Whether you could WWOOF with small children I do not know, though someone may let you pitch a caravan or yurt for a month or two. At that age, they can enjoy just being out and about.

The other idea would be to get some sense of what your relative strength are likely to be and to do courses and each get experience in at least some of the skills, then build over time. I think it was Seymour who suggested that rather than trying to learn everything and doing badly, you learn how to do one or two things well, and with that under your belts you can then expand your repartoire.

Given the age of your children, you do need to think where are the good secondaries and where are the primaries and them draw travel time boundaries around them and restrict your search, otherwise you will be up and down the road 4 times a day and have no time to work on your land.

JayneC

Rozee, I'm getting really excited for you hearing all your plans. I think sometimes you just have to go for it otherwise you never will. Although it makes sense to plan you're not really going to know how things will work until you're doing it. Read as much as you can, as someone else said John Seymour has good advice if you can read any of his books and if you can have a go at the practicalities that's even better but if you wait until you're an 'expert' you'll never take the plunge!

I've thought about going to County Shows and Auctions where you'll be able to talk to the people actually doing it but haven't actually managed to do that yet! I'm planning to start working parttime in the Spring which will hopefuly give me more time to work on my bit of land and build up some self employment so that I can give up working for someone else competely! (I work in the public sector so maybe a case of jumping before I'm pushed!) I was thinking of getting a couple of pigs for my 'woods' but will be a while before I can get prpoer fencing in and I'll have to see if I can use the field at the back for access as it won't be possible to get them past thye house and up the steps at the bottom of the garden - well maybe I'll get little ones in but not out again when they've fattened up!!!

I read permaculture magazine(quarterly) and home farmer magazine(monthly) which are good sources of information on keeping animals in smallish spaces and maximaising your space. Also good recipes and tips on preserving.

I've not managed to get to my garden for a couple of weeks - am actually missing it. May nip for a couple of hours in the morning, but have something else on in afternoon. Today have taken DS and his mates to Laser Battle and then out for tea for his birthday treat and weather not great anyway...

Good to hear how everyones doing...

rhiwfield

Jayne, I sort of agree that you need to take the plunge, but where livestock are concerned I suspect some training is very useful. I do know that 5 years back I was pretty cr*p at growing veg and practice has been a great teacher. A great learning experience is to try to live on what you grow..even in winter..that concentrates the mind!!

I thought I was ok at keeping hens but have just had to catch our 3 in the dusk and put them in the coop via the nest boxes as they wouldnt go up the new wooden ramp. I put (remaindered) safemix on the covered run floor, most of it is now outside the run. These are easy "mistakes" but getting a lambing wrong isnt and I wouldnt try it without prior tuition.

I've stopped getting the magazines, though there was a time when they were a replacement for reality

Davesnave

rozeepozee wrote: »

I've been in touch with the estate agents and am getting quite excited at the prospects of actually viewing some properties in the near future.

I think looking at properties is vital so that you get a feeling for what represents value. It's not something that the house price sites can help you with much. Most smallholdings look good on paper, but when you go beneath the surface, you'll find it's easy to reject the majority because of one or two major flaws.

For example, in our experience, you may find a great house with poor land, or a house with a lovely acreage, perched on the edge of the land & permanently shaded by someone else's trees! Another consideration is noise, with valley properties faring particularly badly if there's a main road, and also more potential for wet land and sunless winters. It really is a minefield!

I wouldn't worry too much about the costs of maintaining a couple of acres. You'll need a powerful brushcutter (I recommend a 4 stroke as it is kinder on ears) in the first instance, and probably some digging/hedging tools. As you go on, you'll know whether things like a rotovator, chain saw, or even a two-wheeled tractor will be useful to you, but in the initial learning period, you'll find local farmers willing to do pasture topping or hedge trimming at sensible rates. That's better than going out and buying expensive kit you may have second thoughts about.

If you can find the local digger man, he will be useful too, not only for the changes you'll want to make, but because having worked on so many people's projects, his knowledge will be encyclopedic! He may also be able to get you good rates on materials, like gravel, wood etc. Our does.

lostinrates

rhiwfield wrote: »

Jayne, I sort of agree that you need to take the plunge, but where livestock are concerned I suspect some training is very useful. I do know that 5 years back I was pretty cr*p at growing veg and practice has been a great teacher. A great learning experience is to try to live on what you grow..even in winter..that concentrates the mind!!

I thought I was ok at keeping hens but have just had to catch our 3 in the dusk and put them in the coop via the nest boxes as they wouldnt go up the new wooden ramp. I put (remaindered) safemix on the covered run floor, most of it is now outside the run. These are easy "mistakes" but getting a lambing wrong isnt and I wouldnt try it without prior tuition.

I've stopped getting the magazines, though there was a time when they were a replacement for reality

I can't agree more with this. IMHO a lot of well meaning people are causing some degree of suffering to animals by not really understanding their natures, even if they meet all there physical requirements. with involving livestock I think you have to ask yourself why with each species. e.g. chickens...the obvious small holders choice...for fresher eggs and kinder meat....that's fine, but once you start keeping in small pens, even with ''enhanced''conditions, the parasite burden needs more chemical treatment etc..you get further and further from any organic ideal.

Pigs, IMO, suffer greatly in many situations. Having spent a lot of time examining pig behavioural research when I was a scientist I don't accept we can provide the very best for pigs, at least atm. Had we lived on the new forest and had commoners rights we would have had pigs in an instant though!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

lostinrates wrote: »

I can't agree more with this. IMHO a lot of well meaning people are causing some degree of suffering to animals by not really understanding their natures, even if they meet all there physical requirements. with involving livestock I think you have to ask yourself why with each species. e.g. chickens...the obvious small holders choice...for fresher eggs and kinder meat....that's fine, but once you start keeping in small pens, even with ''enhanced''conditions, the parasite burden needs more chemical treatment etc..you get further and further from any organic ideal.

Pigs, IMO, suffer greatly in many situations. Having spent a lot of time examining pig behavioural research when I was a scientist I don't accept we can provide the very best for pigs, at least atm. Had we lived on the new forest and had commoners rights we would have had pigs in an instant though!

I am just waiting for the micro-pig fad to burst, there are going to be soooooooooo many un-wanted piggies, especially when the owners realise THEY DO GROW,

had a good day last week at the vintage fair,, but flip did i pay for it during the week, it was raining when we got there, and had loads of steps to go up and down to take our rails and clothes in etc...:eek:
flip my legs were aching, and my shoulders..lol..

I hate this time of the year....:o clocks will not be long before they go back, its getting colder, and its practically another year gone...

I just feel like curling up with a nice warm blanket, and not come out from under it until spring:rotfl:

free listing again this weekend on ebay, but you cant use turbo lister:mad: so you are limited to how much you can put on...due to the time it takes to list things...lol..

Think i will go and make a cuppa, and then dig my way to my sewing machine.... i think some crafting time is in order....:rotfl:

stitching_witch

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I hate this time of the year....:o clocks will not be long before they go back, its getting colder, and its practically another year gone...

I just feel like curling up with a nice warm blanket, and not come out from under it until spring:rotfl:

I couldn't agree more - I firmly believe I was designed to hibernate. Perhaps I was a grizzly bear in a former life!

choille

I too get the glums at this time of year - nights drawing in & the sun dipping behind the hill at too early o,clock.

Having read the last few posts the only thing I'd like to add is that if I'd known how hard it is to keep sheep & I'd read all the books I'd never have done it - sometimes you just have to leap in & then try & catch up - if that makes sense - not good advice really.

I'm having a crisis of confidence at the moment.
All my orphan lambs are due off soon, just sent a few old girls away on Friday. Sometimes I don't think I'm cut out for this - but hey ho.