Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

Davesnave

alfie_1 wrote: »

https://www.rbst.org.uk/sitemanager/uploads/ck_files/files/Devon%20&%20Cornwall%20Longwool%20-%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

choille

Wonderful chap above, bit OH would agree that resin sheep would be better & less expensive & less chasable as we have Houdinis! specially the lambs.

LIR - I would agree re engineer, but would also say it's better to get an Architectural Technician that's been recommended & been doing a long time in your area - that's what OH does & has 45+ years experience & does do fighting planning stuff as well as knowing the full gammet from castles to new build & anything inbetween. It's getting so legislation heavy it's a nightmare - regulations are changing monthly. OH went to a 2 day talk on door locks for !!!!s sake. A well recommended Tech will know a good Engineer - an Engineer ( structural ) will rubber stamp drawings that have taken weeks to work out, survey & draw & charge £850 upwards - just to rubber stamp. Engineers vary like cake, a good one will charge reasonable & will have full building insurance - so you will be completely insured on your build - a bad one will charge like The Light Infantry & not carry full insurance - don't get me started!

Wrong career, wrong life!

Davesnave

Just had some (possibly) very good news.....

Western Power Distribution are going to come in at the end of the month and replace all 3 power poles here and re-do the line as 3 phase. We get to keep the poles, but perhaps more importantly, this would make our top field corner into a potential site for a small commercial PV set up.

We already lose some hay making potential there due to the power pole & stays, so it could be a goer, but obviously we'd need to think about it carefully. I've said before that the site would have little visual impact, but I'll need to study that more too.

Anyway, something else to think about! :think:

COOLTRIKERCHICK

ALWAYS good to have diff options Davesnave..


well 3 piggies gone this morning.. one is going to be bacon/gammon.. so we cant wait to taste our own bacon..


Stayed up the ranch last night... without any internet etc....bliss..


Davesnave... I am def going to have a go and growing flowers that can be used in bouquets/posies etc... as a trial... if the worst comes to the worst... I will have lovely pockets of flowers everywhere..lol..


I would like 'cottage garden' type flowers, so the posies would be a bit diff from what you would get in a florist/supermarket etc..


I have seen these to start with
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170830991683?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649


any suggestions? or do the place that you buy seeds from, do a 'cut flower mix' etc??


I know we have got loads of money to find for the house, BUT we are still thinking about buying a polytunnel. to try and get the place geared up to having some sort of money trickling in.. and also for people to slowing get the idea that we will be selling some plants. flowers etc..

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

Just had some (possibly) very good news.....

Western Power Distribution are going to come in at the end of the month and replace all 3 power poles here and re-do the line as 3 phase. We get to keep the poles, but perhaps more importantly, this would make our top field corner into a potential site for a small commercial PV set up.

We already lose some hay making potential there due to the power pole & stays, so it could be a goer, but obviously we'd need to think about it carefully. I've said before that the site would have little visual impact, but I'll need to study that more too.

Anyway, something else to think about! :think:

Wow!

Congratulations!

ukmaggie45

Hi CTC, you could take a look at Higgledy Seeds. If you fossick around the website you'll find lots of information on how to grow the various plants too. Bought some seeds from them last autumn, but Life kept Happening so didn't get round to sowing any then, most of the ones I bought can be started in the spring anyway. Must go through them soon and see which need getting going first!

lostinrates

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

ALWAYS good to have diff options Davesnave..


well 3 piggies gone this morning.. one is going to be bacon/gammon.. so we cant wait to taste our own bacon..


Stayed up the ranch last night... without any internet etc....bliss..


Davesnave... I am def going to have a go and growing flowers that can be used in bouquets/posies etc... as a trial... if the worst comes to the worst... I will have lovely pockets of flowers everywhere..lol..


I would like 'cottage garden' type flowers, so the posies would be a bit diff from what you would get in a florist/supermarket etc..


I have seen these to start with
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170830991683?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649


any suggestions? or do the place that you buy seeds from, do a 'cut flower mix' etc??


I know we have got loads of money to find for the house, BUT we are still thinking about buying a polytunnel. to try and get the place geared up to having some sort of money trickling in.. and also for people to slowing get the idea that we will be selling some plants. flowers etc..

I got a bunch of flowers last year ( commercially ) that had lilac but also buttercups and....oh Queen Anne's lace......what's the other name....drat......um........lighter flower than hemlock but similar , and on hedgerows.......bloody hell. Can you tell its one of those mornings:mad:?) You ALL know the hedgerow flower I mean, right?

Anyway, it was beautiful, I'd definitely think it was a goer.

ukmaggie45

lostinrates wrote: »

Queen Anne's lace......what's the other name....drat......um........lighter flower than hemlock but similar , and on hedgerows.......bloody hell. Can you tell its one of those mornings:mad:?) You ALL know the hedgerow flower I mean, right?

Anyway, it was beautiful, I'd definitely think it was a goer.

Cow Parsley? Or there's ammi majus is similar too, Higgledy does that and I have some seed. Just hope life stays relatively calm for the next few weeks. Today it's a nice day, so typically OH has gone over to sort out MiL's flat with his bro. :mad: It's going to rain most of the rest of the week. :mad: And he wonders why I get cheesed off with him going over to the Wirral feels like all the time... And always when we have decent weather it seems - lottie is neglected! Grr. :mad:

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

I got a bunch of flowers last year ( commercially ) that had lilac but also buttercups and....oh Queen Anne's lace......what's the other name....drat......um........lighter flower than hemlock but similar , and on hedgerows.......bloody hell. Can you tell its one of those mornings:mad:?) You ALL know the hedgerow flower I mean, right?

Anyway, it was beautiful, I'd definitely think it was a goer.

Well, I just have cow parsley here, but it might have been another member of that family, such as Ammi.

I would just set aside a small area this year CTC to experiment. The thing with mixtures is that your environment won't suit everything in it. Here, for example, we would get some plants blown over without a lot of staking or other sorts of care, like an windbreak.

Ideally, you also want stuff coming on stream all the time, so early flowers are replaced by the mid- summer ones, and then the autumn stars, like rudbeckia and asters, round the year off.

But all that would take a lot of looking after, and space.

Sweet peas and a few other annuals are fine (like the ammi, 'cos it's a filler) but having perennials cuts down on the amount of work. It goes without saying that everything should be in lines for efficiency when it's commercial.

We used to know someone who did the flowers at the Farmer's Market. She had a walled garden of 1/2 acre (handy! :rotfl:) and wasn't what you'd call organised or tidy. She would just cut whole swathes of plants, bring them in , bundle them together into huge, billowing bunches and then take a mint in money. Mind you, in that area, there was plenty money to be had!

That's the other thing....know your market.;)

I've just walked the only footpath that might look over our land and.....it doesn't. Blooming great hedge in the way. Didn't see a thing.

lostinrates

COW PARSLEY!


Thank you maggie.


Brain foggy morning. , a few confusions.


A least its still down season maggie. Can he get most of it sorted before sowing and growing starts do you think?