the daydream fund challenge thread

lostinrates

alfie_1 wrote: »

talking of meat..... a couple of years ago some friends went to "thier place in london" and went to harrods food hall [as you do] and got thier shopping... they brought me back a selection of VERY expensive sliced cooked meats [noting one small package alone with a £17 label on !!] i duly thanked them and set off for home, getting diesel at the garage en route.... YES ...the dogs had ate the lot in the time it took me to pay... i darent tell my friends as im sure there was about £50 worth necked by the mutts !!!!:rotfl:

We have loads of stuff fro the big food halls. DH likes to go when he gets out of the office for a walk.

Last week he came home with 5kg of stilton from Fortnum and Mason. because of a special offer and the fact the cheese guy is Italian. It also helps that a person very close to us used to work at Harrods, so got a lot of the end of the day stuff cheaply. I'm sure people think we spend FORTUNES on food, but its just being able to be there at the right times and having a freezer the size of a small country.

alfie_1

lostinrates wrote: »

We have loads of stuff fro the big food halls. DH likes to go when he gets out of the office for a walk.

Last week he came home with 5kg of stilton from Fortnum and Mason. because of a special offer and the fact the cheese guy is Italian. It also helps that a person very close to us used to work at Harrods, so got a lot of the end of the day stuff cheaply. I'm sure people think we spend FORTUNES on food, but its just being able to be there at the right times and having a freezer the size of a small country.

my friend assures me its not so much, more expensive in the Harrods Hall ,just that theres so much choice of unusual stuff..... and if you want it, its like wine , theres naff, cheap, middle range,better and then silly price range.

i happened to be in tescos at 10pm one night [dropped son, who wont drink drive at all....ever ...under threat from me since he got his licence !!, in town for a night out] and could not believe what was only 10p-50p... i was desperate to get lots but as iv not got a freezer [power!] i couldnt, i was almost crying !!
i get a "goody parcel" from my Dutch,French guys that come over for the autumn Auto Jumble in beaulieu, i get real BIG Edams, and allsorts of cheeses...

Poosmate

Hey all.

Choille, hope you're not all shook up from the earthquake up your way earlier this evening!

I was checking out YouTube last night for various things and watched loads of vids about dehydrating foods. I like that better than canning - seems cheaper and you can store more food in the jars. Well it seems that way to me anyway.

Poo

soupdragon10

Just been directed to this thread for help and advice.

I am in the lucky position of having the space to hopefully establish a smallholding. I am really looking for some tips/tricks from people who have gone down this road already - I will have a bit more time to spend on it now, as I am being made redundant at the end of March.

Inventory.
I have an 8x4 aluminium greenhouse with some staging and small polytunnel, which I have used in the past to grow a limited amount of veg. so am not a novice grower, but it's always been on a 'nice to have some fresh veg' angle rather than trying to grow as much as possible to supplement my small pension and any earnings I can get.

We also have an old field shelter (dry inside), currently buried under brambles, which I am in the process of unearthing and hope to put in a few chickens for eggs (again had some quite a few years ago).

Will slowly start to dig over what will be the veg beds, can't do huge amount of this at a time as I have to watch my back after a car accident.

As you can see I am really starting from scratch, and would appreciate any advice, suggestions etc. about pitfalls, good varieties of veg etc. Storing veg (I only have an upright freezer which is usually fairly full).

Am excited, yet daunted by the amount of work involved, will see how it goes.

RAS

soupdragon

Read up the old post as there is a wealth of onfo on chucks and planting and some interesting ideas on accomodation

rhiwfield wrote: »

And at this gloomy time of year, a ray of light............

Blacktail Illuminations

lostinrates

soupdragon10 wrote: »

Just been directed to this thread for help and advice.

I am in the lucky position of having the space to hopefully establish a smallholding. I am really looking for some tips/tricks from people who have gone down this road already - I will have a bit more time to spend on it now, as I am being made redundant at the end of March.

Inventory.
I have an 8x4 aluminium greenhouse with some staging and small polytunnel, which I have used in the past to grow a limited amount of veg. so am not a novice grower, but it's always been on a 'nice to have some fresh veg' angle rather than trying to grow as much as possible to supplement my small pension and any earnings I can get.

We also have an old field shelter (dry inside), currently buried under brambles, which I am in the process of unearthing and hope to put in a few chickens for eggs (again had some quite a few years ago).

Will slowly start to dig over what will be the veg beds, can't do huge amount of this at a time as I have to watch my back after a car accident.

As you can see I am really starting from scratch, and would appreciate any advice, suggestions etc. about pitfalls, good varieties of veg etc. Storing veg (I only have an upright freezer which is usually fairly full).

Am excited, yet daunted by the amount of work involved, will see how it goes.

Welcome soup dragon

well, you have a good canvas, and chances are you know your challenges with soil and drainage etc.

Back problems. Well, I'm intermittantly sore too, and have to watch it...we're planning raised beds. In many ways this disappoints me, I like the idea of the flexibilty of a plot and as I lack visio atm I know one day I'll regret the decision to lay them out four foot wide and the length of the plot with gaps over something more...aesthetically pleasing and geometric...but my brain is frazzled atm with stuff and I can't work out a nice layout so rows of raised beds it is.

Re the field shelter. don't forget to protect from underneath....I presume its on earth not hardstanding..

Lotus-eater

LIR, why are you having raised beds? And what are you raising them with? And what is your soil like where they are going to be?

lostinrates

Lotus-eater wrote: »

LIR, why are you having raised beds? And what are you raising them with? And what is your soil like where they are going to be?

I'm having raised beds for the days now, and probably longer in the future, that I can't get down to tend to non raised beds:o e.g. Sunday I was pretty useless (saturday I was unstoppable!).

Raising them with....well....we have LOADS of junk here, including cement and breeze blocks. Rather than fill a skip and landfill with them we're going to make the raise bed walls out of them we have decided. Stout enough to take the pressure, not to need preservative in future years and laid allowing drainage gaps. And broad enough to perch a broad bottom on when tired or enjoying the view.

(the non complete blocks we're going to keep for the planting shelf in the big pond for reeds and pretty stuff)

Soil....over there is more clay-y. Its not too heavy a clay, by the time its been improved it will be...um...well...cracking but it does stick to the boot after rain as it is. Also, I'm pretty sure it will be rocky there.....an added addition of the farmers' that go before us here

Rummer

My garlic arrived today yay! Now just to check I know that you separate the bulbs into their cloves and plant each clove separately but do you need to wait for the cloves to sprout? How deep do you plant them?

Rummer

Oh and I have chicken manure and wondered when that should be applied to the soil? I was thinking about doing it soon but thought the nutrients might be washed away with the rain.