Daydream thread continues.....

rozeepozee

I should mention that we don't have a computer in the caravan (no space) so I'm having to use the iPhone. It's not great for web browsing - too small - so I'm not on here as often as I'd like.

We're starting to get settled. A big day today as we've spent a grand on two items of power tools. Eek! I'm hoping that a brush cutter/strimmer and a chipper/shredder are good sensible long term purchases. I'm not sure if I want to hear that they're not know we've bought them the brush cutter is a Kawasaki TJ45e and the chipper an Artisam. We have loads of overgrown areas in the orchards & fields and lots of cut off branches from OH's chainsaw frenzy. I've persuaded myself that they'll pay for themselves in mulch and compost we don't have to buy....

Davesnave

rozeepozee wrote: »

A big day today as we've spent a grand on two items of power tools. Eek! I'm hoping that a brush cutter/strimmer and a chipper/shredder are good sensible long term purchases. I'm not sure if I want to hear that they're not know we've bought them the brush cutter is a Kawasaki TJ45e and the chipper an Artisam. ...

The brushcutter is very powerful and will certainly have more poke than mine. You really can't have too much power with those things.

As for the chipper, I think there's an iPad glitch with the spelling, as that's a Chinese restaurant! :rotfl:

Chippers are great if they are powerful enough. Pete has one he tows behind the Toyota pickup truck and it blows the shreddings straight into the back of it. That thing swallows branches 3" thick without even slowing down and it's impossible to over-feed it.

On the other hand, our shredder/chipper is still at MiL's, which says everything really!

Davesnave

The new hens haven't seen grass before, or apples, or courgettes. One had a bit of a peck at the courgette slice, but that was it.:(

They have a run about 8' square, but they haven't come out of the cage door as it's all so alien to them.

They don't know how to roost either.

Never mind, a fortnight here and they'll be in Peccadilly Circus and living it up. Their peers, who are actually a week younger, had to be chased into bed as usual tonight.....lir, please note.....at 8pm! :rotfl:

rozeepozee

Hmmm... I left the brochure in the shop, Dave. It's an Earthquake. It's probably not the most essential buy but I think it will satisfy my "hate to see waste" OCD more than anything. I wince every time OH burns a large twig... Feeding it into something I can return to the land will make me feel better, so it's probably more of a mental health purchase

I'm a little disheartened with our progress at the mo. may've mentioned this already. As we're not going to be refurbing the house til at least March, I've decided we've got to behave like we live here, not like we're waiting to live in the house. I'm sick of being in transition. So taking steps to prepare the land for a veggie plot, polytunnel and productive plants is a positive step. Now the kids are at school/nursery we have some time too.

Went along to see a film by the Forest Gardening guy today at the local community theatre. Very interesting. What I'm enjoying at the moment is how I'm evolving as a person as a result of the move fro
City to country. I'm a person who likes to get their head around the theory and feel vaguely competent before i tackle a new skill think I may almost be there now. Well, enough to begin, anyway.

rozeepozee

I've not felt comfortable about the idea of coops either which is why I liked the idea of guinea fowl or such like. I like the idea of the choos being eaten by foxes even less though

COOLTRIKERCHICK

rozeepozee wrote: »

I've not felt comfortable about the idea of coops either which is why I liked the idea of guinea fowl or such like. I like the idea of the choos being eaten by foxes even less though

Rozee if you are thinking of guinea fowl, make sure you have ear protectors or a big stash of headache tablets, they dont half amke a racket:rotfl:

update bay challenge i have 2 items ( hats) with bids on:p

lostinrates

I like the guinea sound.

But......you'll be playing hunt the eggs. (and ou still nee to coop them for a while on arrival.


Rozee, guineas may or may not be right for you, perhaps its time to revisit your aims and ambitions from the move?

Davesnave

rozeepozee wrote: »

Hmmm... I left the brochure in the shop, Dave. It's an Earthquake. It's probably not the most essential buy but I think it will satisfy my "hate to see waste" OCD more than anything. I wince every time OH burns a large twig...

I'm a little disheartened with our progress at the mo. may've mentioned this already. As we're not going to be refurbing the house til at least March.

Ah, Ardisam Earthquake.....I understand now.;)

Better not mention my big bonfire then....:o

The chippings will be very handy for paths etc, but you'll need to compost them for some time before using on the garden as the decomposition process will otherwise take nitrogen from the soil.

If you start on your bungalow in March, you'll probably be ahead of us. We'll get the revised plans sorted and passed before Christmas, hopefully, but then it will be a case of queueing for the better builders, I suspect.

We're happy with the way we manage the chickens, but when I get the chance, I'd like to experiment a bit more with electric fences and temporary runs.
Pete was given some guinea fowl, and they're are a law unto themselves. Luckily, he doesn't have close neighbours!:rotfl:

Alexelisey

I too like the guinea sounds. We like the taste of the meat even better! It does mean we'll have to be at some distance from other people when we come to buy (and guineas aren't on the agenda for the first year anyway) but I think after living so close to others in suburbia for so long it won't do us any harm

Interestingly, upon discussion with DD (age 26) she's expressed interest in having a pony. However, she's 5' 10" and the other person who would ride, if we had one, is me and I'm just over 12 stone (but only 5'). Am I too heavy / is she too tall for a native British pony? It would also need to do field work if we decided to get one, and maybe pull a small contraption for carrying things e.g. fruit and veg. LiR? Alfie? Other horsey people? Thoughts please?

Yes, running before I'm walking, I know! :rotfl:But if I think about EVERYthing we want to do with the holding before we buy one, we've got a better chance of getting it right first time. Or at least, that's the idea...

lostinrates

Alex....

There is now no upper height limit on welsh cobs, but a small cob would carry you both fine. As would a highland ( upper limit 14 hh) highlands are my favourite natives, and they carry tall men ( i have had men of over six feet tall on them) and upto about twenty stone if they have to. You would not be underhorsed, and their wide barrels take up extra leg, so would not look wrong either.

They will both pull too.

Others might be dales ( i prefer fells which would both cope with weight and pull, but i think that your daughter mit feel a luttle tall on a fell).

You are spolit for choice really. British large breeds carried men, sometimes taking their farming men owners hunting, worked under saddle and in harness. They are amazing.

I would take an over height or full up highland if i could find one!