The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: RUSTYME on October 29, 2011, 04:26:13 pm
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After losing a years veg crop to stray cows , i am now beginning to start again . Lots of the usual digging and mamure spreading etc , ready for the spring ,but with the added thorn of not knowing how i will get by until next years veg start to crop . But get by i will , somehow !
Circumstances beyond my control , added to my stepping off the system , mean that now is as good a time as any to step back in time almost , build the house and start the new way my life will follow . I will need at least one more horse , a heavy cob/shire type . But that can come later unless i pick one up for free . I have most of what i need ,apart from food ! ! Next year will be the hard one , grow all my own food plus that for the horses i already have , and then for the new stock i will be getting next year ,2 cows , chickens ,5 or so sheep and maybe a pig or 3.
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glad its "coming together" for you Russ
:thumbsup:
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its a brave thing your doing russ, and something i admire. i collect all my local veg shops waste, sort through it and split into stuff i can use, stuff for chickens and stuff for compost. nothing better than a free dinner. and im sure you could grow loads of salads inside over the winter, if only to get by. if you need seeds pm me ive got loads spare. good luck, and stay warm first!
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you could get yourself 2 pigs and feed the veg for compost to the pigs they in turn will manure your ground and give you lots of pork ;) better veg next year ;)
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i cant have pigs ::) ive been blessed with too much laurel.
ive always wanted pigs.
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Cheers mate , only one shop in the village , and they only sell rotting veg to begin with ! I have no vehicle so can't get anywhere to collect waste veg , so if i don't grow it , i don't eat it ! ( the cows eat it even if i do ! ) lol .
At the moment i live 3 miles from my land , in a static caravan , full of crap , me , and 3 dogs . So no room to grow cress , don't have a poly tunnel so no winter veg . A poly tunnel wouldn't fit in with my hatred of plastic or my pathetic green/ save the world ethos , so like i say , no winter veg , apart from stuff cows don't eat ! Talk about making life hard for yourself !
I have a load of spuds that the cows missed , so i won't starve , hopefully! I may shout in the spring if you still have the spare seeds though mate , my home saved , old variety , seeds got knicked along with some tools and a mountain of scrap ! I do still have a load of seeds though , so will have to see how things go .
The tools getting nicked was hard as some had taken years to collect , the scrap was just a pain , but the seeds were 3 years work .
Still , never say die eh? ( unless i catch the twats ! )
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Rusty I have quite a lot of heritage seeds bought this year that I only used a bit of. PM me with where to send them and I will send you a selection? (if you would like) :farmer: :)
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You have my admiration and respect. Your half way there, as soon as you commit your self with a will to achieve, half the work is done; its now all down to doing and I am sure you will do just fine. :thumbsup:
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For Heaven's sake though, don't starve or endure misery for the sake of a p.m. :wave: :)
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if you pm me your address I can post you some heritage seeds of kale and tomato. Just shout. Or when it gets really hard in the winter we can maybe send you a food parcel ? :&>
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where (ish) are you in the country?
i have no transport save my delicious pink bicycle but i have so much veg on a shared plot i could swap you for some dropping of the system advice. i'm in somerset
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:thumbsup: :trophy: :thumbsup:
see, theres ALWAYS hope!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Cheers cw , i am in wales , so get peddling , loads of hills ! :) .
I won't starve s , i will always get by somehow , it sounds much worse in print than it is in reality . I have been living this way for 10 years or so now . It just so happens that every now and then shtf at the wrong time , but that happens to everyone not just me .
The thing with stepping off the system is that it is far easier to step back on , if need be , than it is to step off in the first place.
But i am not completely off yet , still some way to go in some ways .
Off for walkies to the land now !
Cheers russ
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Hi RUSTYME, I am really intrigued by what you are trying to achieve and currently do, can you please tell me more about it???...
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You are doing exactly what I would like to do ....if I find the right place to do it, that is. We too, live in a caravan at present.
I do not have the mod cons most people have/expect nowadays, never had them, so do not miss them. And its never bothered me in the slightest.
We are hopfully moving soon, and have been looking at a few off grid properties, amongst other places. The further away from civilisation, the better for me :)
Keep us posted on how you are doing - I find it really interesting what you are tryng to do, and hope you succeed.
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Hello cavendish , i have been living 'a bit differently' for 15 nearly now . So the post title is not quitet right really .
But i will try to explain what i do and why .
As a kid i loved doing things the old way . From 11 years old i had 2 allotments , and grew all the veg for the family of 9 . I then worked for 20 years till i had a near fatal car smash that changed my life .
I wanted adifferent way of life , free of all the control that is now accepted as the norm by 95% of people . Food free from all the poison that they now add to nearly everything .
So i stepped off the insane merry go round .
I mainly grow my own food , and was collecting my own seeds of old varieties .
I will be growing my own hemp for string , rope , sacking and cloth . Linseed for the same things , they also give oil for food , paint and preserving .
The cloth will provide all my clothes along with some wool from the sheep i hope to get next year .
My forge is now usable so i can now make all my own tools etc . Fuel to run the forge is charcoal that i make myself , from wood grown on my land .
I have now started to make my own timber framed house that will be thatched with wheat straw grown on the land.
So i will be living off grid and as self relient as possible . More to follow when my thumb has recovered !
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I do these things as i believe there is an alternative to a system that we have no control of , and that is now in complete meltdown . I reject the control that they have over us , and that they increase on a daily basis . For those that are ok with that situation fine , i am not , so i live the way i do .
The system is very hard to break free from , as control is the only way it can continue , and people like me who refuse to follow like a sheep , are deemed a threat to it , and even the sheeple that do follow , attack , mock or ridicule ,those that want a different way of life . So be it ! , i care not , i will continue to do what i do , as are more and more people now .
My time is spent making what i need , and putting in place things i will need in future , such as willow , for firewood , charcoal and baskets etc . Growing a 150 year old wheat variety that grows almost 6 foot tall , for thatch and food . Barley for animal feed and some for me , oats for me and the animals , and rye for the same .
I had to build up the seed stock slowly , as money is almost non existant , get hold of a handful of seed , sow , grow , harvest , and thus increase the base seed amount .
I lost the barley ,oats and rye i had saved , to the thieves , but thankfully they missed the wheat !
Living as i do is great . Things can and do go wrong , but the same as everyone else , you just carry on .
I am not like a lot of people these days , that need everything . I mainly make what i need or want , and mostly i live a good life that doesn't harm others or the planet , anymore than i can help .
Thumb is falling off again .
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Rus,
Am so impressed by how you're living your life - we moved from inner city North West to the West coast of Scotland to try to recapture the rural upbringing both my partner and I had. To this end we're currently chasing a few crofts in our area so although we're not quite at your level of self sufficiently, we're headed in the right direction.
Keep going forward, and although the loss of the seed and your tools must be a blow, as you rightly say, they didn't get everything :)
Shout if there's anything we can do!
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Russ,
I am a great believer in doing what you what to do, not follow the crowd. I do suspect sometimes that those who are mocking are lacking something in their lives, and secretly wish they could be different too ....but cannot step off that merry go round :) If only more people could be brave enough to do what you are doing, eh?
I spend a lot of time on my own, round the farm, and am quite happy. Relations are always on at my that this is not healthy, and I should join this and that, to meet more people .....I am quite happy thank you, and enjoy the life I lead. I have actually had people from the village say they feel sorry for me, I am always slogging away, and have no life ;D
I assume that means I am not off on foreign holidays, out at posh restaurants and the like!!.
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I get that too, Roxy - Mum is always asking, "Have you managed to have any time off?", "Shall you get a holiday?" and cannot understand that we don't want time off, we love the life that we have and find every day different, challenging, interesting, fulfilling. It's not the same as someone who works in an office; they do need holidays and time off from the often meaningless toil.
Another one that gets me is the phrase 'and no running water' being used to mean beyond the pale, totally uncivilised, unacceptable living conditions.
I lived for a while in an old static caravan with no mains services whatsoever. I carried my water from a standpipe a hundred yards away, cooked on a Calor gas stove, had a hurricane lantern and candles for lighting the dark, a hot water bottle to warm my bed.
Because I carried my water I learned how to respect it and not waste it. The water in my hottie was reheated every evening. I was clean - I washed with warm water every day; it doesn't need much water if you're careful with it.
People have different takes on being civilised. Personally, being profligate with the planet's resources is not, to me, civilised behaviour.
Good on yer, Russ.
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you're my hero, Russ!
I find all the other circus quite absurd - the one in the world and the one around personal economies. Just survive, have food, be happy! Difficult with children but I do my best to teach them to get by with less "stuff" but as it is their right to do they will probably want to live quite different lives from ours...At least they will have seen that our way is a possibility. :&>
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I'm not critising but it is just as well some of us do still stay in the circus just so that the economy and essential supplies stay functional. It's all very well to go off the beaten track but unfortunately the country can't sustain itself if we all did it.
I do admire you, i know i couldn't survive like that, i just try to strike a balance of producing my own meat and fuel for the fire.
In years to come when it's all blown up in our face you will probably be laughing at us but it is nice that you haven't let go of all technology after all you are still talking to us on this forum through a very modern internet!
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feldar, I wasn't criticising either...we all do what we do because we love it and necessities can't be avoided for most of us. My bills don't pay themselves either, so the circus is still going for us, too. Just the argument "if we all did it"... - "we" will never all do it but millions of people all over the world do it as it is their way of doing it. The economy does not suffer because a few of us do it or aim for it! It's greed that kills everything, economies, the planet, dignity. So the benefits outweigh any damage "we" might cause on the grander scale, I would say :wave: :&>
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Obvously, what Russ is doing, is not for everyone. But more and more people are now realising that they want to step off the ladder and go back to basics. I am surprised when chatting to viewers of our farm for sale, how many dream of stopping work, and living a simple life, and thats what they are striving to do. And looks are deceiving - posh barbour boots and jackets (oooh, I could not take my eyes of that jacket and boots ;D they were gorgeous!!) more suited to following the local hunt, that someone wanting to buy a run down farm!!
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I am connecting via mobile phone , the landline went , it was costing way to much . The mobile will go as well soon .
No the country can't sustain itself ! Not the way we live now and that is the whole point .
I have had to use a pc ,till a few months ago , as you can't Just go stand in a field and find a home , tools , animals , seeds etc etc . Well you can if you live like a neandathal , i have done it , and if i had to i could again , but i don't want to live that way .
The way 95% of people live in this country , is unsustainable , and when the economy crashes and the system collapses , those who make it through , will have to learn the hard way to start again . I have just got a head start thats all . Although i am now sure that it will all go tits up , that isn't the reason i live as i do . I do it because i want to and enjoy it, although i do think "wtf am i doing ?" sometimes !
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I have no landline, just mobile broadband and a mobile phone.
Russ, won't you need to keep your mobile phone for emergencies? Like I said, I am on my own most of the time, and always carry the phone with me. Having animals, things can happen, and I could be knocked over or stood on, and being accident prone, I do like to know I can summon help if need be. Although the reception on our phone in these big hills, maybe its not really much of an asset!!!
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I only get reception here at the caravan , no signal at all on the land .
I will most probably keep a mobile , but the money to keep it going will be hard to come by . No leccy down the land either , so no battery charging , unless i can keep the lister genny going ,but that needs money spending ££££.
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It would be a shame to loose touch with you Russ. I'm sure we could all benefit from your experiences and although we can be a crusty bunch we are generally a good lot on this forum, and a point of contact on a cold winters night.
Whatever you do, :wave: good luck :bouquet:
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before you do disappear Rusty just to let you know I am packing up the seeds today so they should be with you by the end of the week :-)
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"Modern technology" has had it's place in the world from the very beginning. The collecting of seeds, the breast plough, semaphore. Don't give up your mobile 'phone, Rusty. That little bit of technology will be as important to you as the spindle was to our ancestors :)
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Cheers lam , looking forward to post day .
I won't be going just yet, but if you don't hear from me , then you know i have dropped off (hopefully not off my twig though ! ) . I may be able to get a laptop , and find an open wi fi to connect once i am down on the land full time . But i will see about that then , making the house frame comes before that though . The frame will be about 30 feet by 12 feet ish , and there will be an upstairs . Living room and kitchen down stairs , 2 bedrooms and bathroom up stairs . Wattle and daub infil panels , straw thatch roof . 95% of materials are from the land , just glass and metal for hinges etc from elsewhere . I have the metal and glass and the lead for the leaded windows , nearly enough timber for the frame , and the wattle i will cut when needed . The mud for the daub i will dig as and when needed also . Lots of work !
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I can understand both sides of this,as I was brought up with no mod cons, only cold running water, which was from a private supply, until I was about 15. We had no electricity, and heated the house with wood we collected and the odd bit of nutty slack to keep the fire in over night. No vac, phone or t.v etc. Being at school was tough as I was bullied for being different, but it did teach me the real value of things so that when I got them I really appreciated them. Also helped when we move up to Scotland and life spiraled out of control and we had to live rough in a very basic cottage where two of us had to sleep on the floor for 2 years. At least we had water and leccy and could have a bath! Then we had to live in a caravan on the side of a hill 800 feet up for 7 years. Intermittent water and leccy, because water was from a 300 year old well and either froze or dried up and leccy went off every time the wind blew, which was most of the time. It was cold, damp, clothes went mouldy and we were not happy. Eventually we got the house built and are now reasonably comfortable, except we are still on the same well as a new one will cost £10,000. We have, however, made some modifications so it doesn't go off quite so much, but it keeps us on our toes and we do appreciate it and don't waste a drop. I prefer living in a house, especially when the gales blow as I used to be genuinely terrified of the caravan blowing away with us inside it, and had to put a brave face on it as we had two children and my elderly Dad to look after. Yes, my Dad insisted on coming with us at the grand age of 80! and he grew all the veggies which at times were just about all we had. Life is better now, but I'm still very independent, have slight anarchical leanings, and keep a firm hold on reality, not technology. I'm really glad I can milk, make cheese, butcher a small animal and prepare poultry and game etc. We still grow as much veg as possible, and try to be self sufficient, without being too weird, although I think the folk down in the village suspect that I'm a witch! If only! I use technology because I think it's the future for the time being and can be very useful. Hopefully, when the bubble does burst and technology goes poof, I will still be able to feed my family and animals, although, knowing my luck someone with a weapon will sneak up on us and take the lot. What I would like to see is real freedom for all to do as they wish provided it doesn't hurt anyone else, and I think it's time to kick the money changers out of the temple.
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WOW WOW WOW, thats all I can say, I would love to do things such as you do, I am living a very conventional life at the moment, new house Big mortgage, me and the mrs are looking to start a family soon so no running off to the wild to go green for me yet!, although I try to grow and produce as much as I can with my spare time.
I would be really interested in seeing some pics of your house once you have it built, I have seen other wattle and daub houses and they look brilliant, superbly insulated and look like they are out of a fairy tale.
Where about are you living?... I presume it is somewhere fairly remote?.
I wish you every luck in your endeavour!. we'll all have to join you when the world goes pop!.
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Russ, you new house sounds as though it will be great!! Things like that really interest me. Do you need such a thing as planning permission for it - or building regs?!! Perhaps you could organise a Smallholders working party one weekend, to come and help you. Sure there would be lots of offers of help, from interested people. You would have the house up in no time!!
As to your laptop .....living in a caravan, we have limited resources, but last Christmas, I discovered mobile broadband - I just stick the dongle in the side of my laptop, and here I am. My one little bit of luxury, so I can come on here ;D
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mobile dongles = very good! BTW Rusty the seeds have been posted today!
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Having stepped of the merry go round , money is almost non existant , even the £5 a month that it costs me to connect via orange monkey , is not guaranteed . There comes a point when i have to take a bigger step off , otherwise it becomes a matter of £5 for this , £5 for that and the you are back on , needing £200 a week just to get by , so big steps it is .
You need planning for everything , f***em .
The frame will go up a bit at a time , as i square it up and make the joints etc , and i am able to move really big logs with winch,hoist.jack and tripod , plus the scaffold tower . Also there is only 4x4 access to the 350 yard track , and nowhere to park on the road .
Plus the legal proceedings that would ensue if someone got a splinter , i can do without lol . Good thinking though !
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mmu , roxy , life without all the mod cons is hard sometimes , but as you both know , not impossible , just different .
I don't have water in the caravan either , and the spring was frozen for about 6 weeks last winter. I carried water back from the land each day .
It is funny really , but everyday life is basically the same for me even if i have all mod cons , apart from the walking !
Living as i do , would only be hard , if i didn't want to do it . 90% of the time i love what i do , and the way i do it . The other 10% i may hate at times , but i have worked 8 till 6 in factories and will never go back to that way of life .
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Clearing a way through one of my sheds here today ,here is the farm i live on at the moment , trying to sort out my old pole lathe , and my collection of old hand crank sewing machines , some of which go back to the 1820's . Making them easier to get at when i can shift them all down the land .
The pole lathe i made years ago and i need it now to make parts for my spinning wheel .
Getting all bits ready to make yarn , cloth and clothes next year . Also sorting plans etc for 17th century furniture , chairs , tables , chests , beds .
I have old stuff that i can use , but i want all the furniture to be in keeping with the style of the house . No fitted kitchen units , just oak welsh dresser type cupboards and a butler sink .
Got to sort out the parts needed for my old cobblers sewing machine , so i can make my own shoes and boots again .
I can get fresh cow hides now and then , so can tan one now and then and use the leather for footwear and clothing as well as any horse gear i need .
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Cheers lam , looking forward to post day .
I won't be going just yet, but if you don't hear from me , then you know i have dropped off (hopefully not off my twig though ! ) . I may be able to get a laptop , and find an open wi fi to connect once i am down on the land full time . But i will see about that then , making the house frame comes before that though . The frame will be about 30 feet by 12 feet ish , and there will be an upstairs . Living room and kitchen down stairs , 2 bedrooms and bathroom up stairs . Wattle and daub infil panels , straw thatch roof . 95% of materials are from the land , just glass and metal for hinges etc from elsewhere . I have the metal and glass and the lead for the leaded windows , nearly enough timber for the frame , and the wattle i will cut when needed . The mud for the daub i will dig as and when needed also . Lots of work !
that wattle..
ever thought of .....can you use split willow or hazel rather than whole rods ..that way you only need half the wood for the wattle ... if you soak it in water for three days after splitting it you will be able to almost tie knots in it with out it breaking out / rupturing.
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Yes thats right , i will mainly be using whole rods , but any that are too thick can be split .
Although the horses ate all my willow , i will be planting another 1500 soon , so qty won't be a problem . I only have 2 baskets left now , so need to get that side sorted .
I will need enough hazel staves and willow rods to do 75 ish 3'x3' panels , and about 5 or 6 tons of clay , plus about 2 to 3 tons of straw for the thatch. At least the house won't blow away in the wind !
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Been cuttng wood the last few days . Just the branches of a really big maple . A few car loads for my nephews wood burner .
Still got lots of digging to do , but it has been so wet here that have been unable to do any work .
I have to try to make a temporary water wheel , to power a saw bench and a small leccy genny .
I was going to make a w/w out of old angle iron bed frames , but then the price of scrap went through the roof and i couldn't afford them . So will have to make it out of wood . The bugger is , i need the saw bench to convert trees into timber . Will have to set the s/b up to run off the deisel engine , then get the engine down the land !
Life off grid eh ?