really old style living?

NualaBuala

I've never been to Scotland but have always had a bit of a "thing" for it ... the landscape seems so wild and I love that. Plus the accent is divine!

I need more tea too!

csarina

katholicos wrote: »

I watched it on Iplayer and i now hve serious store cupboard envy!

Where did you find it on Iplayer, I have been looking for it, cannot find it at all. Obviously not looking in the right place.

NualaBuala

I think this is it Csarina
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/amish-worlds-squarest-teenagers/4od

csarina

NualaBuala wrote: »

I think this is it Csarina
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/amish-worlds-squarest-teenagers/4od

Doh....no wonder I could not find it I was looking on BBC2!!!! Idiot.

NualaBuala

csarina wrote: »

Doh....no wonder I could not find it I was looking on BBC2!!!! Idiot.

I seem to call all the channels Iplayer! Enjoy watching!

mardatha

NB, where I live is very like Connemara, around Maan and up to Clifden. But the people here arent as cheerful. LOL !

betony

JillS wrote: »

I've only just found this thread - been reading it through from the beginning. I love it. Jill

RUN AWAY NOW, WHILE YOU STILL CAN JILL!!

This thread is addictive and can take over your whole life. And it will make you as nutty as every one else on here!

ERM, whoops, meant to say "welcome, Jill"! Seriously, they're a great bunch on this thread - just mind Mardatha's sheep fetish, and don't set her off again.

mardatha

The sheep du jour today is yellow. I am doing white & yellow (godawful gruesome looking) socks. for xmas pressies to use up the wool !

heretolearn_2

It's a lovely dream but doesn't really work out financially. I know a couple of smallholders and they certainly can't supply all their needs, and they work to earn money as well.

The economics of keeping livestock small scale don't stack up with a lot of animals. Keeping a cow for milk, for example, costs a lot more than just buying a few pints of milk a week! There's the feed, the vets bills for a start, bedding for winter, the cost of AI to put in calf so produces milk and so on...it's not so bad if you can grow your own hay/straw and a feed root like sugarbeet, but then you need to run a tractor and so on for that...

Pigs again don't often work out economical due to the initial purchase cost plus feed plus vets plus slaughter fee.

People keep livestock like this on a small scale because they want the quality of meat and welfare, not for financial reasons.

Chickens can work out just about as long as you feed lots of kitchen scraps and don't have to buy much layers' mash.

Best to stick to fruit and veg if it's to save money.

Austin_Allegro

mardatha wrote: »

Zara, the PYO smallholdings are 20 miles away and that grumpy old sod -ooops my dear OH - wont go. I did have blackcurrant bushes in the garden but they died. My garden is poor soil and on a hill, so all the nutrients run away downhill. To get my stuff established I have to plant them in a wee scooped-out hollow, then put a few big stones on the downside to keep the compost from washing away. I have to keep feeding things.
I have a few bramble bushes out the back - they take up a lot of room and the birds get most of the fruit before me ... I could start off with them I think. There's tons of flowers on them now. Just need a net or something for the birds. I dont want to turn this thread into Gardeners Question Time LOL - I just want to make ONE jar of jam, so I can say I did it !

I have a book called the 'Lazy Vegetable Grower' by John Yeoman (I bought it via his website and he sent me a handwritten note with it!). It's all about how to grow veg on very poor soil - he bought a farm in Bucks cheap because the land was thought to be infertile but he grows tons of veg using his method, which is basically using pots and compost - worth a read, though he gets very into his composting!