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

oldtractor

This is exactly what I am dong,a self sufficint farm garden. what I have learned is that you just cannot have enough compost. I compost everything I can including old hay and straw and horse manure and garden waste from the neighbours. the more you feed the soil the more crumbly and lovely it will become. also,plant more seeds than you think you need,you can eat or sell the thinnings. Dont be afraid to kill,thin out the veg and use slug pellets to kill the slugs. invest in anti butterfly netting and insect mesh otherwise your brassicas and stuff will be ruined. I love my plot,enjoy your and have fun.

valk_scot

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Hey, he's at university and has experience of running a window box. I expect all the rabbits, chickens, goats, unknown chicken food and fruit/nuts will behave themselves when he tells them not to answer back.

It's actually an interesting prospect, I mean, all the ideas are a bit off the wall and mostly hopelessly impractical, but in the middle of it all is a grain of reality.

Like Valk I've looked into closed loop systems a bit, not as much as her by the sound of it, but it's very interesting. Designing one, needs the right land in the right place and an awful lot of knowledge about lots of different things.

The other thing you'd need is good physical health and stamina I would think.

Spirit_2

I have 3/4 acre plot but my veg patch is only about 10 ft by 10 ft. My chickens sometimes free range about the garden, but are often in a run to keep them safe from foxes. Our four pet bunnies enjoy a stable where they also have hutches so that they do not fight. They currently share their stable with young cockerel who does not get on with the old cockerel. My life is one long round of swapping everyone around so that they all get a run about and the small pets equivalent of tribal war is contained.
We have plums, green gages and have planted apples in last few years. In the worst of the summer all the fruit ripens at once, we cannot pick it all, it rots, falls attracts wasps and if I am lucky gets cleared up by the chickens and badgers, otherwise it is a mess.

The veg patch is fenced in (post and rail and chicken wire) but the bl**dy chickens work as team to get in and liberate the spoils.

The really free produce I get is that I give my neighbours eggs, and
home made bread and pheasants ( OH shoots)/occasional trout. My neighbours give me veg, cooking apples, and sometimes home baked goodies.

We work full time and I pay someone to cut the hedges, cut the grass etc.

By all means be optimistic, but test yourself by starting in a small way because it is hard work and not everyone likes it (I like the idea, but have poor health so am limited on physical exertion, my husband is fit as a fiddle but works away a lot and does not want to spend his weekends working in the garden).

The previous owners lived the good life here, and went on to buy a smallholding we on the other hand used to rent extra land, but for MSE reasons gave it up as maintaining it is very expensive ( fencing, harrowing,topping) etc

When we bought this place I thought I would be like mother earth!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

simmed wrote: »

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:

the point is, i am learning and getting experience for when hopefully my 'daydream' of owning a smallholding happens..;)

but obviously you just want to daydream,

on average a chicken needs approx 28 - 30gms of 'hard' feed a day, feeding just corn is only good if you want to get your birds ready for the table... no good for egg production.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

mrbadexample wrote: »

Oh, and if you eat only rabbits, you'll die.

have you been watching QI:rotfl:

simmed

valk_scot wrote: »

Some of the keener self-sufficiency folk just eat the roadkill, if it's fresh enough. Cuts out the middle man...or at least the maggots.

I ended up spreading a sackful of maggots on the allotment yesteday come to think of it. One of my bags of composted chicken manure had got wet and it was more maggot than manure by the time I noticed it. I just spread it out on top of one of the fallow beds and when I left there were about thirty assorted birds picking it over. I'll rake the non-maggoty bit in tomorrow when I go up.

Other good sources of maggots are the rats. For some reason they like dying in my compost bins and I find the carcases when I'm turning out the bins. Usually plenty of maggots there. So you could put meat scraps into the compost bins to help attract the rats (I don't), kill the rats (a spade blade on the back of the neck is pretty effective, though you have to be fast) and hang the corpses up to generate maggots for the chickens to eat. Then you could chuck the scraps of the Sunday roast chicken back in the compost heap to attract more rats. Good example of a closed loop system actually. :cool:

That's a genius idea :cool: not sure I or many other people could actually get near enough a rat to touch it, let alone hit it with a spade though. Imagine it - both removing a pest, and getting free food/compost, in one fell swoop.

simmed

mrbadexample wrote: »

No. The failed farmer would go back to the local shop. Only in those days the shop was the environment - hunting & gathering meat & wild food. Not sure about the hunting, but no reason you couldn't supplement your diet from wild plants, roots, berries etc. Have to work all day just to keep yourself fed though.

I meant for livestock, though. Middle of winter, everywhere covered in snow and ice. No food left. What would you do for your cows/sheep/chickens?

simmed

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

So.....you want to run a self-sufficient plot and have no idea what animals actually eat; and get all shirty when people suggest that you might want to try and learn stuff to assist you in your endeavours.

Hmm.......

You don't get it. Imagine a schoolchild asks his teacher a maths question. His teacher wouldn't say "!!!!!!? GO AND DO SOME RESEARCH YOU OBVIOUSLY KNOW NOTHING".

It's the same. If someone opens a thread on MSE, they are ALREADY doing research. Posting on MSE, asking people's anecdotal opinions, IS a part of doing research. :money:

Sambucus_Nigra

simmed wrote: »

You don't get it. Imagine a schoolchild asks his teacher a maths question. His teacher wouldn't say "!!!!!!? GO AND DO SOME RESEARCH YOU OBVIOUSLY KNOW NOTHING".

It's the same. If someone opens a thread on MSE, they are ALREADY doing research. Posting on MSE, asking people's anecdotal opinions, IS a part of doing research. :money:

I KNOW that - I have an issue with your rudeness is all.

Have a nice day.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

simmed wrote: »

You don't get it. Imagine a schoolchild asks his teacher a maths question. His teacher wouldn't say "!!!!!!? GO AND DO SOME RESEARCH YOU OBVIOUSLY KNOW NOTHING".

It's the same. If someone opens a thread on MSE, they are ALREADY doing research. Posting on MSE, asking people's anecdotal opinions, IS a part of doing research. :money:

no one on here has said to you '!!!!!!' ..

Looks as though with that attitude you will have to go elsewhere to do your research...

I personally think this thread should be closed, as obviously the op, clearly doesnt want good sound and constructive advice, from people who are very generously prepared to help and give their knowledge from experience...

Or if it isnt closed, no one is going to bother posting with the attitude you are giving them