[Lonnon]

Hi I am Jo (40) was born and raised in the countryside. Have always wanted some land to follow my real dream of growing my own and getting as close to self sufficiency as possible. Over the years have never had the time space or money. Last year my dad became ill and I made the decision to become his full time career. Well to cut a long story short my dad decided he wanted a change of scenery so has purchased a new home for the family. Now I am looking at my dream five acres with 4 huge greenhouses.........and not a clue where to start.

So please any advise would be so much appreciated.

[Possum]

Hi Jo, and welcome to TAS  .


Whereabouts is your land and what was it used for before your family bought it?

[Womble]

So please any advise would be so much appreciated.

Enjoy, chill out and take everything slowly! Don't do anything permanent until you've seen the land in all its moods and seasons  .

[Fleecewife]

Hi Jo and welcome.  What an amazing sweetener to go with caring for your Dad, your own smallholding 


Womble has said just what I was going to - start small and slow. There's no set way of doing things and there's no such thing as the Smallholding Police, making you follow a set plan - it's yours to work as you decide. 


It's worth taking the first year to learn about your land, its climate local and micro, the soil in various places, as it's likely to differ over the whole area, wind directions, temperatures in a normal year, first and last frosts.
Have a think through your ideas and how they can be adapted to your new reality, and those which are perhaps unrealistic.  Meanwhile, keep the whole place at a tick-over, so you learn what the very basic, minimum work entails and how long it takes - mowing lawns, cutting hedges, weeding existing flower beds. That gives you a base line when calculating how much time you will have available for growing your own food.


The first thing many folk do, me included, is to get some hens, maybe half a dozen at first, to learn about their care and to provide the family with lovely fresh, free range eggs.    You could decide to buy a coop (their capacity is always over-estimated by the manufacturers), or you may decide to build your own or adapt a garden shed.


How many of you will there be at home?  How many will be interested in helping with the work, because there is a heck of a lot of work in maintaining five acres, especially with the time you will spend as your dad's carer? There are always jobs which need two people to manage.


The very worst thing you could do would be to launch into keeping several different types of livestock, find yourself overwhelmed and end up hating what was previously a dream.  So keep it gradual and learn as you go, introducing a new step once you've got to grips with the previous one.


Above all, good luck with this lovely new venture, and we're all always here 

[Rosemary]

Itotally agree with the foregoing and woudl add - take lots of photos and notes. You think you will remember, but you won't 

[wildandwooly]

Hi Jo and hello from Northumberland/County Durham border 

I have had a long held dream to own some extra land and finally got the chance a year ago when we moved here.

I started with 6 chickens - no cockerel as a. Our nearest neighbours would not have been keen lol + b. I've known people have problems with them so to keep things easy and simple I decided not to. I got some advice from a local lady who has a wealth of knowledge about chickens and what type to get + what they need every day re food/shelter etc especially as we're high up here. I got point of lay chickens so very soon had eggs.  After a year of enjoying having chickens around who are so funny, (and also enjoying the eggs  ) I felt confident looking after them and got 5 ducks - 4 girls and 1 drake. Again after doing my research and finding out everything I needed in place before I got them. A year + on I'm about to get a few sheep, not to breed just for their wool and that has entailed another big amount of research + advice from people and friends who have got a lot of experience. So....take it slowly as mentioned above, do lots of research and read up on things and get advice beforehand at each stage and as you go along but before you commit to getting any livestock. One group of livestock at a time is the way to go and agree chickens are best to try first. However it is always rewarding if hard work sometimes and you get back so much joy in having your own animals  This forum and website is brilliant for finding out about things and asking people pretty much anything  . It's a great chance you have but yes take it slowly and enjoy every minute of it  . Best of luck! 

[arobwk]

Hi Jo and what a great start. Good luck !

Some random thoughts.  I would also suggest leaving livestock for a little while at least (although a few chickens might not be too much hassle at the outset) and concentrate on food plantings for yourself and/or for sale. 
Check out the local farmers to see if they would like to temporarily take a few acres of your grass for haylage, say, or rent for grazing.  (Around me, neighbours are quite happy to add just a few acres to their local range of haylage fields:  a friendly chat will normally draw out what they would (fairly) want out of any arrangement. They will likely offer several quid per round bale they can extract (perhaps twice a year) even if they add their own fertilizer to the fields.   Of course, you might wish to offer, temporarily, surplus acres for free harvesting and store up some favours.  My closest neighbour, for instance, builds agri' barns etc, keeps cattle on his own & rented land, has loads of equipment (beyond a smallholder's dreams) and has taken grass off my fields for two years. Quid pro quo, he has recently removed a massive near-surface 'moor stone' slab out of my willow patch and knocked a hole through one of my dry-stone walls to make transit around my fields more efficient. (Of course, he's also saved me many hours of my tractor/flail time to keep the grass in check: a neighbour's efforts will also ensure your field/s will be ready for grazing when you might wish to introduce your own livestock.) 
Then, there is also the option of offering temporary surplus acres for horse grazing.

[Backinwellies]

Then, there is also the option of offering temporary surplus acres for horse grazing.

NOOOO!  dont do i!   cows yes, sheep yes   horses Noo!

[Womble]

^ Yes! Do it!     Horses will churn up your land and wreck your fences, but renting grazing for sheep will give you a wormer resistant nematodirus problem that will take you four years to get on top of. Just saying! 

[Fleecewife]

Farmers and smallholders seem to have this 'thing' where every piece of ground has to be cultivated.  It doesn't have to be that way - there's no reason not to leave your ground uncut or ungrazed and simply enjoy the prairie effect of seeding grasses waving in the wind, at least for your first year.  That way you can see exactly which herbs and flowers are already present, and decide whether you even want to have your grass grazed or to turn it into a wildflower-filled feature (I deliberately didn't say 'flower meadow' as those seem mostly to be made from scratch, eliminating all native vegetation first then replacing it with generic wildflower meadow mixes).
Leaving grass and herbs long gives an amazing habitat for wildlife - you will discover the birds and small creatures which live there, and the birds of prey (owls, kestrels and buzzards for sure) and hunters such as foxes which survive on them.


For me, both renting out for sheep or cattle grazing, and for horses are no-nos, for the reasons Womble gives.
Don't be hasty, take your time

[chrismahon]

We're with Fleecewife on this one. Just because you have land is doesn't have to be cultivated as such, but you will need to cut it twice a year- before the flowers start growing and when they have finished. Otherwise it will become a jungle, as it did in our case. Small trees, brambles and ragwort are our problems. We have considered sheep again, but the cost of fencing, shelters from the sun, feed and vets fees just didn't stack up against buying simple equipment to shred it for mulch. In time you may develop other ideas but I think it best to start simple.


My first thought with the greenhouses was a small flock of chickens inside them in turn. Whilst there are problems keeping them cool in Summer (perhaps- they would certainly cook here), they would condition the soil in time and keep the weeds down. Most people seem to start with chickens because they seem easy to keep. Whilst that's not true at all, it's is just another learning curve and you'll have plenty of those and this forum to turn to for advice.

[Kiran]

Then, there is also the option of offering temporary surplus acres for horse grazing.

NOOOO!  dont do i!   cows yes, sheep yes   horses Noo!

Exactly what I was about to say.

BTW, hi Jo. I'm only just starting out too so haven't really got much to offer other than good luck and have fun. Someone above said spend a year before doing anything permanent, that's really good advice.

[arobwk]

Well Jo, plenty of concerns about keeping your meadows in check by various grazing animals before you want to use them for your own purposes:  however, if ya can't find anyone wanting to use for haylage/silage cropping, then other folks' animals will be a good way of keep your fields under control (in absence of your own mechanical grass-management equipment) - other folks' animals will do no more "damage" than if you had your own similar animals on the fields !!

[Fleecewife]

I don't agree @arobwk. With your own sheep or other livestock, you have control of their quarantine when you first buy them, and their worming regime whilst they are living on the land.  With someone else's sheep, you only have their word that the animals have been wormed, which wormer has been used, and whether they carry a known wormer-resistance.
Keeping your land and stock free of a worm burden, particularly a wormer-resistant one, is very important for the future welfare of your flock, and for someone just starting out with keeping livestock on their land, it is important to give appropriate advice from the start.
It may be that the OP's new land has not carried livestock for a while, so they are arriving to a clean slate.  What a shame to introduce wormer-resistant worms from allowing someone else to graze the land, because they are following innaccurate advice.
Anyway, Jo now has both points of view to consider so can make up her own mind 

[Rupert the bear]

Itotally agree with the foregoing and woudl add - take lots of photos and notes. You think you will remember, but you won't 

this, having an album/diary so useful 20 odd years later is very helpful/settler of arguments and a jog to the memory.