The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: Norfolk Newby on August 27, 2009, 03:40:48 pm
-
I am learning to be a part time farmer aged 62. I got fed up with trying to be a management consultant and decided - since my kids had left home - to sell up and try something new.
That was 3 years ago. After some scratching around, I bought a small bungalow in West Norfolk (in the UK rather than East Coast USA!) where I managed to buy a few acres of land. Regrettably the land isn't by the bungalow so I use a trailer to take whatever I need to my field when I go off there for a day's work.
The soil there is light sandy loam with little clay in it over chalk. The area comprises low rolling hills. The result is that it is very well drained with the chalk acting as a reservoir of water unless there is a long dry spell. Anyone who knows West Norfolk would be familiar with the Fenland when Norfolk meets Cambridgeshire. My land is just east of that area where the land starts to rise.
The field had been set-aside land for several years before I bought it. I got a local farmer to go over it with a plough to break up the soil before I started. This means that, by avoiding heavy equipment, I have fairly well drained, easy working soil. My tractor is a strange little 20hp 4 wheel drive beast of a type known as an 'Alpine tractor'. It has an air-cooled 2 cylinder diesel engine and is very noisy. The main benefits of this type of machine are that it is stable with a low centre of gravity, wide low pressure tyres and it only weight 600kg. It has a category 1 three point linkage so I can use a fairly wide range of implements with it. This currently extends to disc and chain harrows, keeping the weeds down with a topper and (mostly) carting stuff around the field using a transporter box on the back.
Living a few miles from my field isn't ideal as the trailer limits what I can take at any one time. However, I now have a shipping container on the field where I can shelter from the weather, make a cup of tea and store a few basic bits. I can't keep anything of value there as it is away from civilisation and I can't get any insurance there for my equipment.
My main activity to date has been to plant seedling trees for a project I am involved in with my wife. This has meant using the disc harrow to break up an area for cultivation, removing as many of the weeds as possible. Then planting the seedlings in plastic protectors to try to keep rabbits and deer at bay.
I have also set aside a small area for fruit trees and some fruit bushes. These are primarily for myself rather than for sale - the fruit that is.
I started this with no farming experience and have had to learn by trial and error. This can be an expensive method! However, I have managed to get the hang of the tractor and the implements I am using currently. I don't have a lot of money to spend on more machinery or buying in services so I am going to have to make the most of what I have.
Having found this web site, I hope to share ideas and advice. I look forward to contributing what little experience I have gained and benefiting from the advice of you all.
NN
-
Wow, you are a hard working 'nearly pensioner' ;) I feel quite tired after reading all that! ;D ;D Joking apart, what a smart thing to do!! I am sure it is difficult having a distance between your home and land, and I suppose that will cause some problems if you want to keep animals. Welcome to the forum, I am sure you will enjoy our company - some of us are a bit mad, hmmm - well I suppose you could say almost all of us ::)- but in the main we are good natured and very willing to help! Good luck with your project and I hope you will share your experiences with us.
-
Hi sounds really interesting. Welcome to the forum
-
Hi, NN and welcome.
Congratulations on doing what you've done. We'll look forward o woking along side you on our project.
-
I have every admiration for you, hard work keeps you young ;) A new lease of life is great, welcome!!!!
-
Hi NN...welcome to the forum...had a knowing smile when I read your opening line...same background and similar age...I 'retired' from my commercial life almost six years ago now and haven't regretted a single second...started with a desire to keep a few animals as pets...have ended up with a smallholding and a farm shop...we breed Dexter cattle, Gloucester & Tamworth pigs, Shropshire and Southdown sheep ( adding Balwen soon); have a couple of goats, a flock of hens and a few ducks...and am now moving to a larger farm so we can expand even more...Retirement? What retirement?
I'm sure you will enjoy and benefit from the TAS forum...they are a great bunch of people (honest)!
Welcome
Farmer
:farmer:
-
Hi Norfolk Newby, sounds like you are keeping yourself very busy! You have achieved loads so far, looking forward to hearing more about your adventures. I live near Falkirk, and only have just over an acre, but we still manage to have 15 goats, 15 ducks, 9 hens (and 10 chicks), 3 dogs, a cat and 3 guinea pigs plus a rabbit!
Beth
-
Hello and welcome. What will you be using your trees for? Or is it secret...?
-
Hello from me in cold & windy Scotland !
We've just topped up our planting with 16,000 extra trees to replace ones we've 'lost' - damned pesky rabbits & deer !
So armed with tree guards and the trusty pottipukki (check them out if you've not heard of them - makes planting saplings sooo much easier) we're here if you need any advice !
Karen :pig:
-
I've recently thought of buying a bit of woodland - just somewhere of my own to go with the dogs and grandchildren, for a bit of peaceful communing with nature. Have my eye on one not far from here, with a wee bit of river and shooting and fishing rights on it. But what holds me back is what maintenance I need to do in a woodland. Anyone out there can help?
-
Annie,
The maintenance depends on what type of woodland it is really.
An established wood with mature trees should need little attention, other than maybe sheep to graze down any long grass and keeping a general eye on the trees - only actually doing anything if they look like they are about to come down. But if it's densley forrested you might find you don't even need to keep the grass down.
If it's a newer woodland, you'll have to keep weeds and grass to a minimum to help the trees get going, as well as checking for damage to the trees.
Depending on the species of trees you may want to coppice some areas to increase wood production (for selling ? or for the fire)
The only thing to consider is that with the open access rights you might find you'll be there, getting back to nature - along with any Tom, Dick or Harry who decides they like the look of it too ! :(
You're welcome to come down here and let the dogs roam free whenever you want, but it's not very local !
-
HI All
Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions - keep them coming.
The trees have a particular purpose, more than just growing to provide timber. But the boss says I will suffr a fate worse than death if I go into details. Growing trees takes a fair bit of setting up but they don't require the same level of attention as animals so living away from them is acceptable.
Regarding woodland (Annie) you can buy from one of several companies that specialise in splitting up small woods into 5-6 acre plots. I probably can't put a web site address here but try something like:-
w-w.woodlands.co.uk
The advantage is that they sell the land at a fixed price; you pay it and the land is yours. However, there are some disadvantages:-
Yours is one of several plots and you don't know what will happen with the others
The purchase contract places several restrictions regarding what you can do with the land
The price is quite high compared with the inherent value of the land and the trees on it.
A suggestion: choose a suitable area where you want to buy. Contact as many estate agents in that area requesting information on any land that they are aware of. You will probably get nothing. However, any agent that you find helpful MAY be interested in you using them as a purchasing agent. For a fee (£200 - £500) they will advertise on your behalf and then help you to negotiate a purchase. Basically that's what I did after a year of searching, bidding and get nowhere.
Expect to pay more than the currant market rate to ensure the deal goes your way. Otherwise you will spend the next 10 years bidding for land and always coming second.
Good luck with your plans Annie and thanks to you all