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

celerity

adouglasmhor wrote: »

When I was unemployed I used to look after my allotment, a neighbours because she was pregnant, another double plot because the owner was elderly, I would often put in a 35 hour week (including general work on the site which would be repaid by seeds, cuttings, tools and materials etc. from other plotholders). I would sleep in my shed sometimes so I could get a full day in when there was good weather.

Wow, that is seriously dedicated! :T

/\

Mojisola

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:

The flaw in the plan is that your comments show a lack of knowledge about self-sufficiency - that's why I suggested doing some courses so that you can become proficient in the necessary skills.

simmed wrote: »

Thanks I will probably need it. Then again, as long as it's done in tiny little steps, one thing at a time, over the course of many years, it should be easier.

Judging by this later post, you seem to have realised that it's not as simple as you thought in your first post.

One thing that all farmers have done over the generations is learnt from the people who have gone before them. Anyone who sets out to grow food and keep livestock without gaining experience first will fail. If your crops die because of your inexperience, that just affects you. If you keep animals that start to suffer because you don't know how to keep them well, that's inexcusable.

There are some very good courses around that you could learn lots from and you could also try WWOOFing - https://www.wwoof.org.uk/ - in order to get a feel for the real thing.

adouglasmhor

celerity wrote: »

Wow, that is seriously dedicated! :T

/\

Not really I was between jobs, doing a 12 hour a week course at college to keep dole of my case, and would have vegged out in my flat. Instead I kept fit, kept my house bills down, got exercise and fresh air.

There was one plot which had a residential cabin on it, going right back to the establishment of the allotment society, the resident had his own entrance and mains electricity and a gas tank.

Ken68

Hi Simmed..I successfully grew potatoes in grass mowings for a couple of seasons. Came out clean. Didn't dig the allotment prior to stacking the clippings, just piled them into a long row. On the second year the first row was composting down to something friable, so no doubt other type of crops could have been grown.
Retired from gardening then so couldn't complete the project. There are books on "No Dig".
Another experience I had was helping my elder brother with a 10acre smallholding. Not successful, the land was hard, kids were not interested, so never a day off from milking feeding etc. And had to keep his day job .
Nice idea though. John Seymour "Self Sufficiency" is a good read.

buddys_mum

Maybe a look at this site might help.

http://www.newhousefarm.tv/

simmed

yorkieorchid wrote: »

I think i may have misunderstood. Are you aiming to become completely self sufficient, in that you will be growing food to feed yourself and your livestock or just food for your livestock?

Just food for the livestock (if I have any).

buddys_mum

Here might be good too.

http://www.thegreenlivingforum.net/forum/

simmed

celerity wrote: »

When people refer to the "corn" that chickens eat it is almost always wheat, eg:

You can buy "mixed corn" in poultry supply shops, which do have the odd bit of maize corn (looks like squashed sweetcorn) in, but it only makes up a small fraction of the mix.

However, you can't just feed them wheat or maize and expect egg production to be optimal. To do it the self-sufficient way you'd need to mix your own poultry feed, including enough calcium so your birds can produce shells. There are plenty of tried and trusted "recipes" for this available on the web.

Note: if your birds are free-ranging then they will scratch out food from the ground and you can also feed them suitable table scraps.

Personally I just buy "layers pellets" and everything else they get is "treats" - which is what every other person I know that keeps chickens does!

I'm still unsure about this thread by the way - I can't help but think we are either helping someone's school project or simply getting trolled. Have the OP said how much land they have yet? I've only skimmed the thread but couldn't see this vital piece of information.

Accepted "wisdom" that I've seen cited a few times is that a typical family would need a 4 acre smallholding to be reasonably self-sufficient. John Seymour has plans for a 1 acre smallholding in his excellent book "The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency" but at no point does he suggest it is easy! If you did even a fraction of the things he details in his book I would say it would be pretty much a full time job.

/\dam

What would you say is the most space-efficient crop to grow to feed chickens on? Sweetcorn?

celerity

simmed wrote: »

What would you say is the most space-efficient crop to grow to feed chickens on? Sweetcorn?

Sorry, but I am not really qualified to answer this question.
I can tell you that nobody I know (and I frequent various poultry forums) feeds their chickens on sweetcorn/maize. As I said, you can get maize in bags of "mixed corn" but quantities are small. Also, they seem to crush the sweetcorn before drying, so it is more of a flake.

If I had to guess I would say that growing a bit of wheat could be worthwhile, but as I have no idea of the yield per square metre of wheat, I wouldn't like to say whether it would be space-efficient or not. If you had a small garden, obviously not, but if you had a few acres then maybe.

Speaking of which, how much space do you have?! It really is important to know, as plenty of advice people can give you on here will be redundant if you have way more or way less space than we guess.

Chickens eat greens too of course, so most brassicas would get eaten - you'd need to dice them up finely first. Some chickens are fussy and won't eat their greens, but they will eventually if nothing else is offered .

Oh, after you harvest your crops, let the chickens into your veg patch so they can eat slugs and pests and fertilise the area too.

I'm assuming you have been doing research on how to protect your birds from foxes too? They need a secure coop at night and if your run isn't fox proof (at least 6' high fences and no weak points) you'd need to be on hand to supervise and/or have a guard dog. I'm lucky, I work from home and can see my chickens free range as I type this - we don't leave them unattended without putting them in a fox-proof run though.

As an aside, I would thoroughly recommend keeping chickens - they really aren't much trouble and add real joy to your garden (as well as delicious fresh eggs of course!)

/\dam

simmed

There seems to be a lot of debate about carcasses and meat on composting piles. On one hand, it might attract rats. On the other, it's obviously a great source of nutrition for the compost. Is it illegal, or just frowned upon?

Someone mentioned to me that they pick up roadkill/general carcasses, and hang it above a wire mesh in their garden. Maggots then devour the whole carcass, and eventually drop off and are then gobbled up by chickens (they're extremely nutritious). Sounds quite extreme, and obviously unsightly/smelly, but also quite brilliant IMO.