the daydream fund challenge thread

Davesnave

SpendlessKaren wrote: »

My dream is to one day have a small cottage in a nice secluded'ish area, just big enough so I can have some chickens and a bit of land. I live in rented accommodation so not sure it will ever happen but it is nice to dream

The dream is important wherever you are right now. I'm sure I had the same dream well over thirty years ago, and it kept me going through those years.

Putting off the instant gratification of the moment is the toughie for most people, but this site gives everyone a better chance of succeeding.

And in the meantime, don't forget, there's allotments!

Rummer

Hello and welcome Karen! I too am unlikely to ever achieve my dream but I make the most of my garden and to me it is my little smallholding with all teh same feelings and challenges just on a much, much smaller scale!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

SpendlessKaren wrote: »

My dream is to one day have a small cottage in a nice secluded'ish area, just big enough so I can have some chickens and a bit of land. I live in rented accommodation so not sure it will ever happen but it is nice to dream

Hi Karen..

nice to see you here:j

flip i used to think like you, wishing, dreaming etc.... i was up to my eyeballs in debt, but over the last few years managed to pay things off, and start saving...i am now looking at places, ok it might be a bit premeture as my funds are very limited ( a bit like telling people you have won the lottery, and are thinking on how you would spend it, but its only the £10 won:rotfl:)

Even if you find a penny and put it into a savings jar... its a penny closer to your dream.... its suprising how those pennies can add up;)

please join in... we love having a chat here... even if its about you cutting back, or saving some cash, growing some herbs on the windowsill......

also think of living in rented accomedation as a HUGE plus.....( Davesnave will back me up here) as you are not in a chain, havent got to worry about selling a property to move etc....saving money on major repairs etc.....:D

COOLTRIKERCHICK

just found thos on the internet

http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/be-inspired-to-fulfil-your-own-smallholding-dreams/

looks like a good site

also has anyone read the books by Derek Tangyre?

rhiwfield

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

just found thos on the internet

http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/be-inspired-to-fulfil-your-own-smallholding-dreams/

looks like a good site

also has anyone read the books by Derek Tangyre?

CTC, no, but here's some for you

rhiwfield

Well, its a nice bright day, and I've had a busy morning, so got out the camera and took a few snaps, all with a self sufficiency angle

Chickens enjoying welsh onion treat (note the anti peck ring on the blacktail)

Water butts now connected (ok, CTC has her old nylon nighties, but I enjoy building things. Be amazed that the butts are on a level and the taps are facing the right way ) That makes 630 litres of capacity including the GH water butt, hopefully enough for the garden for the summer without having to use metered mains water.

Frost defying toms (right tray dropped though )

Inverters for pv mini-strings

Inverter for main pv string

Inverters are the brains of the pv system and the bit most likely to go wrong. We've had issues with quality of mains supply and a recall on the soladins, but today we reached 2,000 kWh generated :j about 90% of prediction

Difference is mainly due to copse to East creating some morning shading. If we were lucky enough to have an unshaded south facing roof, we'd prob have generated over 2,500 kWh by now

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

also has anyone read the books by Derek Tangye?

No, but my parents did, then bought a tumbledown property eight miles from here in the middle of a boggy moor! It wasn't the brightest of moves, even though they made money on it, selling it a few years later to an entrepreneur from Ireland. I hated the place.

Sorry, that sounds very negative. I'm sure it's possible to read the books and come to sensible conclusions too. My parents just weren't very rational, hence my cautiousness.

Lovely day here. We're just tidying up the elm hedge prior to planting the bare root saplings to fill-in the gappy bits. All of a sudden there's so much to do, and I'm cursing myself for not doing the accounts when it was true winter time.

Davesnave

rhiwfield wrote: »

We've had issues with quality of mains supply and a recall on the soladins, but today we reached 2,000 kWh generated :j about 90% of prediction

Difference is mainly due to copse to East creating some morning shading. If we were lucky enough to have an unshaded south facing roof, we'd prob have generated over 2,500 kWh by now

Your system's wiring looks incredibly well organised and laid out! :cool:

Pete the farmer came up with another truckload of logs this afternoon, so we are building up stocks again, instead of depleting them.:) His son brought a roller which I'm filling with water so that the fields can be rolled next week. Then, there will be a bit of fertilizer going on - the price is 30% up on last year.

We'll have sheep and single lambs returning in April/May, but only a few on the bottom field. The top field we've agreed to have cut for hay again as, apparently, the cows really enjoyed last year's despite the tussocky grass up there! Pete thinks there might be some of the old varieties in there, not found in modern mixes.:j

rhiwfield

Davesnave wrote: »

Pete the farmer came up with another truckload of logs this afternoon, so we are building up stocks again, instead of depleting them.:) His son brought a roller which I'm filling with water so that the fields can be rolled next week. Then, there will be a bit of fertilizer going on - the price is 30% up on last year.

We'll have sheep and single lambs returning in April/May, but only a few on the bottom field. The top field we've agreed to have cut for hay again as, apparently, the cows really enjoyed last year's despite the tussocky grass up there! Pete thinks there might be some of the old varieties in there, not found in modern mixes.:j

Davesnave, I suspect that 30% rise will look modest the way oil prices are going

DW and I were chatting about petrol prices and we did a quick calculation. If she was still working in Cardiff then our petrol bill would be £600 a year more :eek::eek:.
Re your top field, if its got botanical value then fertiliser (apart from a light manure dressing) is likely to reduce that value, but make for better grazing!

And I need to start getting in wood for seasoning as well, pity there's no free/low cost stuff round here

SpendlessKaren

Thank you for the lovely welcomes. I am due to leave work in the next 8 weeks - I find out if I have redundancy on 17 March, and if not then I will be giving 4 weeks notice so will be home again either end of April or latest end of May. I am lucky enough to be able to not work so and have only continued to do so to get out of the house etc, but am fed up of it now and also fed up of being stung for so much tax because I choose to work.
I am going to spend my free time having a go at growing some herbs and tomatoes in pots this year, my back garden is really small and all paved but it is sunny so I think I could grown some things.
I love reading the posts on here too so will no doubt be spending a lot of my free time on this forum lol