the daydream fund challenge thread

alfie_1

lostinrates wrote: »

That's outstanding! I'm so pleased for you! Its something I keep meaning to try but can't quite get my head round, but hurrah for you!:beer:

I hardly dare tell you about the news story from world horse welfare on tv tonight...people giving up horses because of the cost. Its inevitable, prices have rocketed for quite ''ordinary'' horses and people have really over reached themselves financially and with their expectation of their ablity and time. We're open to the right new horses joining us now...we have too much grass and the right horse can be cost neutral to me, and its hard not to be distracted by lots of lovely horses but the right long termer hasn't reared its head yet

thats how i got my thoroughbred. he was neglected in a field with his hoof split in half almost!! they didnt/couldnt get a vet ?? i took him on. hes mended but iv retired him. hes the "godfather" figure to all the mini shetlands. our this years foal [size of a dog!] looks so comical stood underneath him !! i know how lucky i am to have land for the long term. i dont suppose for one minute there will not be more hoofers sneaking in under the radar....

Poosmate

Hey all, welcome back those who have been busy in the real world rather than posting and welcome Fuddle.

Alfie, I was so pleased to read of your Ebay sale, I hope it was an embroidery and not a medieval tapestry!

CTC, I hope your neighbours will stand strong with you and hope you'll be able to get that extra bit of land next to your home.

Choille good luck with all your chooks. I hope the gales are not too bad for you.

Davesnave, I love your country stories, keep them coming!

LIR, your life sounds idyllic. I love horses, never owned one but I do have a 1% share in a racehorse who made her debut for us last week, she didn't win but she raced well and showed potential.

Ras, you are a wealth of knowledge - you are awesome!

Fuddle, I'm not one of the original posters of this thread but I read the whole thread and eventually caught up. It is an inspirational thread, has that real feel good factor to it. I believe there are many of us who dream of the good life on our own small holding. I have that dream. I doubt very much that I'll ever live it (not on my current course) but never say never. Being in my forties now, I'm happy with my chosen future course which is to have a seriously productive garden and no mortgage or debt within 10 years. Maybe if I was in my early 20's with the dream, all of my decisions would be made with that in mind. I don't know, 20 years doesn't sound all that long ago, but with the programmes on tv nowadays and the internet it seems to me that the young 'uns of today are fed the dreams and shown that even the wildest of them are achievable (albeit not everyone achieves them). I can't really remember rags to riches type programmes on the tv (apart from Opportunity Knocks and New Faces) where you could live your dreams in hitting the big time. Or there was "From Norwich, it's theeeee quiz of the week!" Sale Of The Century, where if you were really lucky and lived as far away from the sea as possible you could win a boat or a caravan or if you didn't drive you could win a car! Is it me or was the star prizes in those programmes always inappropriate to the contestant every week?

WOW! That was some wander down memory lane! I guess what I'm trying to say is that when I was younger, ordinary folk were guided to leave school and go to work (for someone else) in a factory, shop, office, building site. Working in a bank or becoming a Policeman was a prestigious career. Is that just the way it was for me? Or do other people of my age range feel the same? To put this into perspective, I came from what was once a rather rough council estate in the Midlands and was half orphaned at age 13. I believe the dream of most of the young ones then was to get a job and a mortgage. Buying your own home was the dream back then.

Oh dear! I'm babbling now so time for bed!

Fuddle, if you really want the dream, hang on to it, read the whole of this thread if you haven't already. You'll see how hard it is alongside how "good" the good life is. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, but that's life I guess.

Night all.

Poo

Lotus-eater

Did anyone see that good life type program on BBC2 last night?

They were sort of doing it in the 70's joke type enviroment and it was quite inspirational, even made me wonder if I could get a goat......... and I'm not fond of goats.

Next week it looks like they will show when it starts to go wrong, bit difficult this week, as it looked like they planted fully grown veg and had everything built for them.

lostinrates

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Did anyone see that good life type program on BBC2 last night?

They were sort of doing it in the 70's joke type enviroment and it was quite inspirational, even made me wonder if I could get a goat......... and I'm not fond of goats.

Next week it looks like they will show when it starts to go wrong, bit difficult this week, as it looked like they planted fully grown veg and had everything built for them.

Goats are nice people, doggy, entertaining and IMO easier than sheep but I don't want the burden of milking atm, and prefer lamb to kid on my plate. Though cheese making really appeals. I thought it was funny they were planting things almost ready....not very good life at all- far too expensive, although fun!

LIR, your life sounds idyllic. I love horses, never owned one but I do have a 1% share in a racehorse who made her debut for us last week, she didn't win but she raced well and showed potential.

Thank you, I admit its not bad at all. Hard work, cold and mucky, but I'm very happy. My special old girl loves it here, and we did some work in hand at the weekend, first time since moving, and she was delighted and looked great. For various reasons things like alfies's tb would do well here, I have an excellent equine podiatrist who does well with vet involved bad feet, and we also have an acre of concrete for laminitics and rehabs. we have thought between us of getting some ''giveaways'' with foot problems, sorting out the feet, brush up the schooling and selling on, but TBH, though it would not cost us much ATM with a grass and hay surplus and there is a feel good factor and perhaps some profit in it we're just not keen on buying/getting things to sell on...dicey welfare implications in a troubled economy. we'd quite like some rehab liveries though, that we could do very, very well for foot-cases, or even some who find transition to barefoot harder...there is not much or any ''profit'' in the latter but lots of interest and experience.

what is funny is now, unlike before I got ill, I'm really weak. I had t be rescued from the field at the weekend as I couldn't push a wheelbarrow in :o. Its a bit pathetic.

Lotus-eater

lostinrates wrote: »

Goats are nice people, doggy, entertaining and IMO easier than sheep but I don't want the burden of milking atm, and prefer lamb to kid on my plate. Though cheese making really appeals. I thought it was funny they were planting things almost ready....not very good life at all- far too expensive, although fun!

An old mate of mine had a goat that was a rescue from somewhere, it lived alone, although I think his dog used to be around it sometimes.
I know it cost him a fortune in vets bills as something was always going wrong with it.
The lady next door used to cook a lasange especially for the goat and bring it round, I'm not sure how it started, but the goat apparently loved it.

I asked him why he rescued a male goat and he didn't really have an answer.

I really liked the look of the goats cheese, even though I don't even like goats cheese......... but it has made me realise I should start making my own soft cheese from organic milk from the shop. Need to dig out the old cheese making book, although it looked easy enough.

fuddle

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Did anyone see that good life type program on BBC2 last night?

They were sort of doing it in the 70's joke type enviroment and it was quite inspirational, even made me wonder if I could get a goat......... and I'm not fond of goats.

Next week it looks like they will show when it starts to go wrong, bit difficult this week, as it looked like they planted fully grown veg and had everything built for them.

I am planning to watch it on iplayer later on. The whole concept is new to me and while i'm eager to learn and provide for my family I have to be realistic that I only have a concrete/patch grass back yard, and in private rented.

I'm wondering if I could cope with an allotment for now. I was eyeing them up this morning, they're right next to my daughters school. Straight away I'm thingking 'waiting lists will be horrendous!' but thats the defeatist attitute isn't it. I will enquire, untill then i'll just have to plan my garden pots.

rhiwfield

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Did anyone see that good life type program on BBC2 last night?

They were sort of doing it in the 70's joke type enviroment and it was quite inspirational, even made me wonder if I could get a goat......... and I'm not fond of goats.

Next week it looks like they will show when it starts to go wrong, bit difficult this week, as it looked like they planted fully grown veg and had everything built for them.

Now I normally like Giles and Sue but I thought it was just too jokey last night, and chasing the hens to put them away in broad daylight just looked daft. Or perhaps I'm still pining for Barbara

Lotus-eater

rhiwfield wrote: »

Now I normally like Giles and Sue but I thought it was just too jokey last night, and chasing the hens to put them away in broad daylight just looked daft. Or perhaps I'm still pining for Barbara

No you're absolutely right, alot of the time watching it last night, I was laughing at the stupidity.
The hens at night was one of those moments, as I did at the strawberry distances and the way the veg patches suddenly appeared fully dug over and full of compost

lostinrates

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I really liked the look of the goats cheese, even though I don't even like goats cheese......... but it has made me realise I should start making my own soft cheese from organic milk from the shop. Need to dig out the old cheese making book, although it looked easy enough.

I love goats cheeses of all sorts, though am not a fan of the milk for drinking. Cheesemaking is becoming more and more interesting to me. I'm planning to have a go at making mozzarella sometime soon. we have a cheese room here, but its destined to be my kitchen one day.:D

fuddle

I'm watching Giles and Sue online right now and for a new person allowing this way of life into her thoughts I'm a little disappointed.

I think I prefer real life experiences or at least two people living this life solidly for a period of time. I feel it's mocking, not least the breadmaking, something which I do daily, easily.

I think I need a book. Going to read this thread page by page. (oh, thinking of an egloo or omlet, eeeeek I've not a lot of room in't garden, think it might be cruel. Will look into it)