Daydream thread continues.....

lucielle

Yep, gammon and chips here. My hips thankyou!
L

COOLTRIKERCHICK

your welcome:D:D:p:p

well at least I decided what you were having for food:rotfl::rotfl:

watching duck dynesty on BIO:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: :rotfl: love it:D

ferretkeeper

Hello everyone, thanks to CTC who found me somewhere else on this forum and suggested I might like to join in here :T I think we're near neighbours too!

I feel a bit like someone who walks into the middle of a conversation and nods and smiles for a bit, you know each other so well! I don't know if I can catch up on the last 18,000 odd posts but I got the gist from the first and last dozen pages!

We have a smallholding, moved here about 3 and a half years ago. We've got 5 acres with a couple extra rented, it's pretty rough land but we're working on improving it. My background is in horticulture but soon got into the livestock keeping and I love it.

We started with a few chooks and now keep all sorts of animals, pigs, sheep, alpacas, goats, ducks, geese, it's like a zoo here.

We do need to make this place start paying for itself, so lots of ideas for business in the mix atm. I'm here full time now, my hubby works abroad, not much work in this neck of the woods for him, and as mentioned by someone else it's v difficult to make smallholdings pay so he keeps us going for now. But he'd like to retire from the commercial world at some point and maybe even live here full time !!! so I'm in charge of turning this place into a little gold mine.

We're looking at the pigs being the main earner for the amount of space we've got but also diversifying into running courses on all aspects of the farm so livestock care/produce/cooking/crafts etc. We'd also like to include tourism eventually - we're going to put a yurt in one field and hopefully have B&B at the house, if/when we can afford an extension (straw bale build for those eco grand designers out there).

This is a really useful report about making a living on small acreages that may be of interest and encouragement to some of you, apologies if you've seen it before. I can't put the link in whole so type http:// then

ecologicalland.coop/sites/ecologicalland.coop/files/Small_is_Successful.pdf

I gave it to my Farm account manager to prove people didn't need thousands of acres and endless subsidies to be classed as a successful farmer!

Not much else to say atm except nice to meet you all and look forward to many happy chats!

Rummer

ferretkeeper wrote: »

We started with a few chooks and now keep all sorts of animals, pigs, sheep, alpacas, goats, ducks, geese, it's like a zoo here.

Hello and welcome to the thread! It is always lovely to have new people to chat to.

I got quite giddy when I read that you have alpacas, do you have a lot of them? If I had land I would have a small herd of them and a selection of sheep breeds so I could raise my own yarn

rozeepozee

Hi Ferretkeeper, I used to be a regular poster until we bought our Smallholding 5ish acres in North Pembs) last year. We're currently living in a static caravan on site while we work toward extending the bungalow (hoping to start in late April now...). Since then, I ever seem never to have time to post. But I try!

We don't have any livestock yet, but thinking about possible campsite or B&B longer term too.

Davesnave

As you know, I was out last night, but after the last show I had 5 sausages, two rolls and a pile of chips in the pub. Mind you, so did most of the others! :rotfl:

Hi ferretkeeper. We used to keep ferrets, but they lived out their natural lives, and DD didn't replace them as she was by then at uni.

Off to the Hall to dismantle the stage soon, so catch you later.

CTC, I will order an extra DVD.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Thanks Davesnave:beer: just let me know how much it is..

Glad you found us Ferret Keeper.:beer:

are you upper or lower ????

We live about 5 - 10 miles away from you, depending in which property we are in:rotfl:

are you from the area originally?

Did you say you had tamworths? They are not that popular around here, the last time we went to market, they wern't fetching much. which I was suprised at,


Re- the butcher's thread, Even though I like sheep, I don't want to keep them, We had this discussion on here, they can be a pain to look after, plus all the rig-ma-roll of all the things you need to do etc.

Plus our land isn't sheep friendly, our land is more over-grown wooded area, so excellent for pigs.

Right off to make another cuppa, then I think I will go through the collectables ( crap) I bought yesturday, and see what I am keeping, and see what is going on the bay today..

I only wanted about 3 - 4 things for myself:rotfl:

Alexelisey

Morning all!

Welcome to ferretkeeper! We're a friendly bunch, there are some who have been around since the start, others who came in partway through, and some of us who pop in now and again. Room for everyone! As for making it pay, do you sell your fleeces and fibre, could you sell fertile eggs etc etc...?



Rummer - get your loom out! I made this in a few hours last Sunday, the first panel of a bedspread for us. It's about 6" by 15". Today I'm weaving with end of batch wool tops and loving it!

All quiet here apart from that but I'm mostly better now. Keep warm and look after yourselves!

Alex
xx

Rummer

Alexelisey wrote: »

Rummer - get your loom out! I made this in a few hours last Sunday, the first panel of a bedspread for us. It's about 6" by 15". Today I'm weaving with end of batch wool tops and loving it!

That looks great Alex are you going to go with a patchwork approach or all the same colour?

I have to confess I am yet to take my loom out the box I had such good intentions but I am a bit intimidated by the whole thing so I am currently crocheting up a storm. Not even been spinning

Today I had high hopes of going out into the garden and clearing some beds however it has started again with the little whisps of snow and I can't face being frozen to the core while working :eek: Oh I am such a wimp! There is loads of heavy weeding and digging to do as well which I am quietly trying to avoid

This year I want to get the back garden beautiful so we can really enjoy any scrap of summer we have and the side garden I am going to fill with easy to manage things like garlic, potatoes, shallots and peas/beans.

ferretkeeper

Rummer wrote: »

I got quite giddy when I read that you have alpacas, do you have a lot of them? If I had land I would have a small herd of them and a selection of sheep breeds so I could raise my own yarn

Hi Rummer, I have 4 boy alpacas and 8 shetland ewes, two are in lamb (v excited!) as I love all things crafty and wanted my own wool that was as eco as possible ie not full of weird dyes, manmade fibres and from halfway round the world, and still affordable.

I don't know whether the alpacas in particular will ever make me money, costs a lot to process fleeces and keep them fed etc, as I'm not breeding with them. But they are a pleasure to have around, help keep foxes away from chickens/lambs/piglets. I've got loads of fleeces to send away, so I'll sell what I don't need, should bring in a few pennies.

Keep an eye out on eBay and even freecycle for fleeces in the summer, most people with small flocks don't do anything with the fleeces and they're bulky to store so they usually want rid!