the daydream fund challenge thread

Optimisticpair

This is right up my street! I'm part way to a smaller, achievable version of the big daydream.

At the mo I've got at maximum 30' x 45' of garden but that includes the oil tank and car parking space, it needs clearing of tree stumps and weeds and some levelling for long term access (my legs and back aren't very good so best get this done now). I'll try to work out how to post photos.

rhiwfield

Along with loads of other stuff to take to tomorrow's car boot, will also be taking some Solent Wight garlic bulbs, foxgloves, a bit of veg (spare sweetcorn, courgettes and runner beans) and some surplus seeds for a bit of a GYO display.

Have got no idea whether it will sell but, if it does, I plan to sow much more veg than needed for own use next year and sell surplus young plants early Spring and Summer. Just selling so far to OH's work colleagues has paid for seeds for next year.

Will be increasing growing space by another 15 sq metres this winter which will let me finally site all the permanent veg (adding globe artichokes next year). I reckon that will be enough for me to manage and keep us almost self sufficient in fruit and veg apart from maincrop spuds. Any profits from selling surplus seedlings/veg will be icing on the cake

Now if anybody has any tips on pricing, best selling varities............................

Davesnave

stitching_witch wrote: »

I wonder if there is a farmer I could rent a field from ......:think:

You could rent one of my fields if you weren't about 125 miles away! The state they're in, they could do with a bit of goat input.....chickens too.

When we put the offer on this place back in early May, we never realised how much things would grow from then until the time we'd take over. The answer is 'a lot!' So, the first thing we organised was cutting the roadside hedges, followed by trimming of the lane hedge, which needs different, gentler treatment. Now at least we won't get any complaints. We still have to cut our garden hedges, which haven't been done in years, but they'll have to wait till autumn. For some of them, the treatment will be more drastic, as there are bushes where there could be a view....:rolleyes:

As for the fields, horses have been run on them for at least ten years, which isn't good. They are full of docks, creeping buttercup, thistles, and even ragwort, but we can't get sheep on them yet, because there's no appropriate fencing. Working on an estimate of £2 a metre, it could be pretty expensive sorting that out. I'd like to do it myself, but if push comes to shove, I know a young man who will do it and charge less than most. I'm hoping to sort it during the quiet time in the winter.

The plants have all travelled down the M5 now, so DW and I have spent a couple of days treating them against vine weevil; something I prefer to do with nematodes, though for technical reasons, we've used Provado this time round. Hopefully, any weevils we've given a free ride to are now history. I had the feeling there weren't many of the blighters here already, until yesterday, when I found one in the bath!:mad:

I hope the chicken-pox is abating stitching witch. As I recall, it's a horrible thing to have when you're an adult; equal in nastiness to rubella, which I also managed to get at thirty five and which had me in tears. Blooming childhood illnesses should stay in childhood, where they belong!

Anyway, what I meant to say is I agree with you 100% about making the best of whatever we have. Now, I'm fortunate to have an expandable garden area, but in truth, I'll never cope with more than what's been allocated already. The last owner couldn't do enough, and their garden eventually disappeared under the weeds I'm removing. Luckily, that is easier than anticipated, as the soil is lovely. I also have what I call 'Silbury Hill' - a huge pile of dung, probably 40-50 m3 which has built up in one corner as the stables have been mucked-out over the last ten years. That is a double edged bonus, because although it is great stuff, full of worms, (and probably weed seed!) it sits exactly where I'd like to site a polytunnel.

Keep up the good work everyone.:j

stitching_witch

Thanks for your good wishes Davesnave. The Chicken Pox has almost disappeared so I am no longer the "Itching Witch" . Your kind offer of a field to rent is fantastic. I can just see myself doing that drive twice a day to do the milking!!

I am looking forward to Monday, which will be the start of a new way of life. As well as setting up the business, there will be a more self sufficient lifestyle, more time at the allotment and hopefully getting DH a bit fitter so he can think about returning to work at some point.;)

I'd love to hear how some of the original members of the thread are doing. It seems to have got quiet on here lately......

meanmarie

Not sure that there will be much going into daydream fund this month....paid €640.87 for heating oil yesterday and OH and I are off to Sardinia for a week on 28th so any money I have left will have to go to that I think.

Tomatoes are doing ok and dwarf beans are being snaffled by DGS2 so am having to gather some while he is at school if we want some for dinner! There is lots of lettuce, onions, beetroot carrots and white turnip, which we are not mad about but is being eating as fast as I can mix it with other stuff. The cabbage is ok too so not spending too much on veg at present.

Would love one of your fields Dave, but think it might be easier to snaffle one of my brother's so that I can install a few sheep and some hens.

Good luck to all.

Marie

Lotus-eater

Hope he's not eating raw beans? Not good for you.

Rummer

Hello Everyone!! I feel like I haven't been on here for ages! Not been doing much in the garden to be honest as any time there has been a half dry day I have been working and at weekends it has been torrential! Glad to hear this wknd is meant to be dry and I think we will do a big autumn clear up. The winter will be spent planning our garden for next year. On the day dream fund we are ploughing on slowly but surely!
It must be amazing Dave having you dream coming true! Stitching Witch I am so excited for you, what a great turn your life has taken. CTC what is happening with the supermarket development? To everyone else how is life with you???

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Hi...all

Rummer thanks for asking.... we are sitting here on tender hooks, just waiting for the council meeting...

but there is another factory right infront of our house, so i phoned the estate agents that is dealing with it, and found out the huge car park has been ear marked for fast food chains:eek: just goes from bad to
worse:o. but its only ear marked, no plans or outline put in to the council... the only reason why i got told, is because i give him all my business details, address etc, and didnt mention anything about living by the area, until after they dropped the bomb shell...

Work is like a roller coaster at mo...so i am going to have to use the remining daydream money to try and pay off at least on of the loans i had for my vans... as this will help cash flow... trying to see where i can cut back, and ease monthly outgoings...

so once the vans are paid for then i will start again with my fund..

better go and put it back to zero...

But the way i look at it... i have to spend it to save it.... so to speak...

got to go to work now, so will promise to try and not be a stranger on the thread...

Davesnave

Rummer wrote: »

It must be amazing Dave having you dream coming true!

Hello Rummer. Yes, I was only thinking it through yesterday, as I battled my way through a bit more of the orchard with the brush cutter. I've become a farmer! This wasn't the original plan, and it worries me that we'll be spending out for a good while before we can make a business to live on. :eek:

I suppose we'll eventually get our plant nursery up & running again properly, but right now the priority is the land. It's been so neglected that it will take a few seasons to put right. I thought I'd be able to put it on one side and not bother too much until the garden was sorted, but now I feel responsible for its condition and I can't ignore it like that. Suddenly, we need completely different skills & kit. Luckily, I have a cyber-chum, who's an expert in grassland management.

This smallholding would suit someone younger than me, and a person more into animals, but I decided to go for it because it suited other family members better than the alternatives. It isn't what I'd have chosen at my time of life, so it's not my personal dream. However, after 7 years waiting, I think I've learned to make the best of whatever life brings and, hey, I've lost half a stone already! Not only that, but a lot of the old aches and pains have gone too.:D

I wonder how Tibbie's Mum is getting along with her sale/purchase? I know what it is like - she may not want to say anything while the legals are going on.;)

CTC, you have been wise having a fund to draw upon. It may seem a blow to use it in that way, but look at the alternatives for businesses that have nothing to fall back on. As you say, you've sometimes got to speculate to accumulate; a bit like me and my sheep fencing. No fence = no sheep to keep the pasture healthy.

Lotus-eater

Dave, I am so jealous If I was a young single lad I would be there, living in a caravan in a field, helping out where I could (if I was wanted, I'm not that pushy )
Shame I'm old and knackered with a family