My project to achieve a self-sufficient "farm-garden"

simmed

Becoming self-sufficient is extremely easy. You should try it!

clairetelche1

No poo or cooked meat / carcasses - will attract rats!
http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/making_compost/

simmed

clairetelche1 wrote: »

No poo or cooked meat / carcasses - will attract rats!
http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/making_compost/

If I was right out in the middle of the countryside, I wouldn't care about rats in the slightest. Set up a few rat traps and catch them, and you have a tasty treat for the family cat or a passing hawk/eagle/owl.

kazschow

It's never just the odd rat unfortunately, my proprty is right out in the middle of nowhere, without doing anything to attract rats like putting poop or rotting meat out, we have a lot of rats. We have a burn and pond, that seems to attract them too, they scoff everything they can get, worse than the rabbits so tbh.

I'd need a colony of feral cats to keep them down! Alsio bear in mind rats can infect your pets with lepto, so keep them innoculated in areas with colonies.

Mojisola

simmed wrote: »

Sooo, thoughts/comments/advice? Obviously I will need an initial "investment" of seeds and live animals but after that I hope the garden-farm will be self-sufficient. Once it is up and running, the only "input" into the garden will be sunlight, water and things for the compost heap. And yes, to fully undertake this project I would need an absolutely huge garden (bordering on a farm). And I would also like to say that I hugely care for animal welfare and would certainly not overextend (e.g. having animals living in poor conditions). Can it be done? Are there any fundamental flaws with the above plan?

You sound so inexperienced that it would be worth going on some courses to get a feel for gardening and keeping livestock.

If only it was a case of setting it up and then letting it run itself!

simmed

Mojisola wrote: »

You sound so inexperienced that it would be worth going on some courses to get a feel for gardening and keeping livestock.

If only it was a case of setting it up and then letting it run itself!

This is NOT the type of pessimistic, and unhelpful post I'm looking for. If you see flaws with the plan, then please post them. :money:

lostinrates

Why not have a read of the daydream challenge thread?

Rats aren't a good idea...even out here in the middle of nowhere. They eat your stores, food and seed, even when in force they don't make you ill.

why not read through and join, the Daydreamers? Lots of us started by dreaming and are now ''doing'' not dreaming.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1544047

simmed

lostinrates wrote: »

Why not have a read of the daydream challenge thread?

Rats aren't a good idea...even out here in the middle of nowhere. They eat your stores, food and seed, even when in force they don't make you ill.

why not read through and join, the Daydreamers? Lots of us started by dreaming and are now ''doing'' not dreaming.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1544047

That thread looks really interesting, but I can't really fathom what the actual point of the thread is. What does that person clearing some plants from her back garden have to do with daydreams? Lol :eek:

Lotus-eater

Mojisola wrote: »

You sound so inexperienced that it would be worth going on some courses to get a feel for gardening and keeping livestock.

If only it was a case of setting it up and then letting it run itself!

simmed wrote: »

This is NOT the type of pessimistic, and unhelpful post I'm looking for. If you see flaws with the plan, then please post them. :money:

How rude, it wasn't pessimistic at all, it was reality.
You sound totally inexperienced, with not a clue of what to do and no idea of the way of doing it.
I was going to advise you some books to read, because you'll need it, but I think I'll give it a miss now, otherwise you might accuse me of knocking your plan.

camaj

Good luck with that Simmed. Can corn be grown in this country?

I'd avoid all pet/human waste on health grounds, not worth the risk! Meat and bones can't go in normal compost but there's a japanese compost thing that will process meat and bones. Also consider vermiculture, it's basically worm's making compost but apparently the compost is very rich compared to normal compost.

There was a very interesting part of Food Inc. (A US documentary on industrial farming) that featured a farmer that reared chickens and he had a clever way of making them more useful to the overall system. I think he was also on that Jimmy's global farm programme

simmed

Lotus-eater wrote: »

How rude, it wasn't pessimistic at all, it was reality.
You sound totally inexperienced, with not a clue of what to do and no idea of the way of doing it.
I was going to advise you some books to read, because you'll need it, but I think I'll give it a miss now, otherwise you might accuse me of knocking your plan.

Another useless post, didn't bother to read it all. If you're not going to give advice and are just going to moan and say it can't be done, don't bother!

camaj wrote: »

Good luck with that Simmed. Can corn be grown in this country?

I'd avoid all pet/human waste on health grounds, not worth the risk! Meat and bones can't go in normal compost but there's a japanese compost thing that will process meat and bones. Also consider vermiculture, it's basically worm's making compost but apparently the compost is very rich compared to normal compost.

There was a very interesting part of Food Inc. (A US documentary on industrial farming) that featured a farmer that reared chickens and he had a clever way of making them more useful to the overall system. I think he was also on that Jimmy's global farm programme

I guess so. Even if it can't, I'm sure that there must be SOME crop that chickens can eat that can also be grown in the UK.

Worm composting sounds fascinating, after all, that's surely a large part of the "natural composting" that happens in e.g. forests when leaves fall off a tree?