really old style living?

*Maya*

ceridwen wrote: »

It WILL come again....I'm already eyeing up local supermarket space of the very recently built/about to be built up variety - and the nascent plans are already there to take this (future) space back into communal ownership and have local small shops and the like there.

Personally - I'm already regarding supermarket space (both present and future) as OUR space that will be used soon for small local shops and the like...:D

Is there going to be a revolution I haven't heard about? :eek: Who is planning on taking over all the supermarkets????

vesper

I think we are really lucky with our village, it seems to still have quite a few of the traditional shops though not as many as it used to. We live about 5 miles from our nearest supermarket, and 15 miles from the nearest decent market. But our village still has a post office (saved by the Co-op), the Co-op, Pet Shop, a well stocked corner shop, a butcher, a fish van once a week, a bakers, a grocers, a newsagents and a wonderful DIY shop that is stocked floor to ceiling with everything you could ever want and even at a cheaper price than the big DIY stores oh and a smithy. So I think we are quite lucky, shame we are probably moving a couple of miles away as due to all of these facilities it means that the village is a very saught after place to live and we can't afford to buy there.

TooDee

maryb wrote: »

I'm old enough to remember the rigid conformism of the 1950s and I would not want to go back. Beware rose tinted spectacles. But I've also done the really punishing high powered career when you have young children treadmill and that is also severely life limiting.

I tell my girls "Always have a Plan B"

Get qualified in a job that will keep you and your children if the marriage doesn't work out but don't get so sucked into a high earning high spending life that you can't afford to walk away. And choose a job that pays well even for part time work

That way they will be free to do what they really want without closing off later options. They can stay home with their babies, at least part time, without running the risk of being trapped in poverty if they later find themselves on their own.

The jobs that allow this sort of flexibility aren't necessarily the most attractive when you are first deciding what to do with your life. Accountancy is a very good example. Booorrringgg!!! you hear them think. But working part time as a qualified accountant probably pays more than an awful lot of full time jobs. And if you decide you really do want to focus on the career then the opportunitires are there

Ahh I wish you were my mum! I'm stuck in retail management which doesn't pay to bad full time but I couldn't afford to go part time. I don't think i've ever seen retail management jobs that are part time offered anyway. I'm just hoping my bf makes enough to support us both one day so we can have kids and i'll have to retrain or try to start my own business as I think i'd go nuts if I never worked again.

RAS

ceridwen wrote: »

It WILL come again....I'm already eyeing up local supermarket space of the very recently built/about to be built up variety - and the nascent plans are already there to take this (future) space back into communal ownership and have local small shops and the like there.

Personally - I'm already regarding supermarket space (both present and future) as OUR space that will be used soon for small local shops and the like...:D

Regarding this, there was an article today about micro-pubs, can't find the link but here is some info http://www.micropub.co.uk/

An alternative use for unused shops in some locations? Particularly those with no public house?

Athome1

I've posted this question on the 'Times are so tough' thread in the Arms but I hope you won't miind me posting it again here.

We're soon to become chicken owners!:j All the big stuff is done and now I'm trying to source food, straw etc. I think it would make sense to buy it in bulk (and online preferably) and I wondered where you all got yours from? Also do you agree about the bulk buying? Many thanks.

flea72

Athome1 wrote: »

I've posted this question on the 'Times are so tough' thread in the Arms but I hope you won't miind me posting it again here.

We're soon to become chicken owners!:j All the big stuff is done and now I'm trying to source food, straw etc. I think it would make sense to buy it in bulk (and online preferably) and I wondered where you all got yours from? Also do you agree about the bulk buying? Many thanks.

it would all depend on how much storage space you have

i currently have 6 hens, and we maybe get through one sack of feed a month, if that (2 sacks fill a dustbin). my local shop only gives bulk discount if i buy 6 sacks at a time, and then its only about 50p a sack off, so isnt really worth me trying to store it for that small a saving. again with mixed corn, i get through so little of it in a year, that it isnt worth storing it for small price savings

luckily i get my straw free from the local farm.

the hens also get all mine and my families non-meat kitchen waste

i bake egg shells, crush and give back to then hens, or take a trip to the seaside and scavenge oyster shells, that again i wash and bake, before crushing - although shop bought oyster shell isnt that expensive, i just like a freebie lol

F

ChocClare

In re the chickens, I'd say it depends on where you live, and I'd second the have you got room to store it bit.

I have 12 chickens and a cockerel. I have a galvanised dustbin in the shed containing a sack of layers mash and a sack of poultry corn.

I have two more sacks of each (DH got carried away) in my conservatory. If I put them in the shed, the rats would eat them. The shed floor didn't stop them after all - I've got about two dozen holes in it.

I am about to move my shed and put concrete underneath it in an effort to get rid of the little blighters. They also eat pony mix, mollichaff and pony nuts. They also ate through two deckchairs (though presumably that was to line a nest :mad:)

I used to keep my feed in a plastic bin, but they made short work of that :rotfl:

So I wouldn't bother, personally. A 20kg sack of mash or corn is only about a fiver anyway. I do have stacks of straw bales (although I'm always sure I'll find critters nesting in those too - paranoid much?).

Good luck with the hen keeping! You won't regret it - even if it does attract vermin... I'm in the middle of the country anyway, so I'm sure they were there before I was. And I have a cat...

mardatha

Does anybody have a fav online store they buy from ? Or are the Farmers supply places better ? Whats usual to buy for POL hens - pellets or mash ?

ChocClare

We buy ours from Woolsbridge Farm Feeds - the cheapest place for miles around (but a bit far for you to commute, mar). 20kg sacks aren't likely to be shipped for free, I wouldn't have thought, so I'd be surprised if you could get it online cheaper, once you've paid the postage.

I had ex-batts to start with so they had layers mash. I then put them on to layers pellets, which they loved at first but would rather die than eat now. The other good thing about mash is that you can mix it with hot water in the winter to make a smelly porridge which they love - and you can then put all sorts of things in it (vitamins/herbs/wormers I mean, not dodgy stuff).

stitching_witch

I found the girls picked out all the bits they liked from the mash and I wasn't sure they were getting their nutritional requirements. They can't do that with the pellets, and I still sometimes mix them with hot water or porridge in the winter. I only buy organic pellets for them. More expensive, but I garden organically so I feel they are getting the best of everything now.

I think it boils down to personal preference in the end.