The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: Brijjy on September 13, 2010, 08:24:51 pm
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I am new to this forum but not so new to smallholding as I was brought up on one. We ( me, hubby and four young children) all moved to Wales three years ago to a house with an acre or so of muddy hill. So far we've got chickens, bantams, Muscovy ducks, a Gloucester Old Spot weaner and a Wiltshire Horn ram and Wiltshire X ewe. His other five ladies are kept at my parents up the road. The kids have got guinea pigs and fish and they share the two dogs, a lurcher and a border terrible. We have just had our first pig for meat and he tastes lovely so we decided to have another one. We are very lucky here in that the nearest abbatoir is only 8 miles away, so no long, stressful journeys. I love this lifestyle and feel incredibly lucky and privileged to be able to it.
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hi from a damp and windy moray :wave: :wave: :wave:
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hello from Worcestershire where we have 4 small children and a muddy hill too!
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Hello from muggy Carnoustie :wave:
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Hi from a very wet Wales
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Hi and welcome from Suffolk. :wave:
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Hi Brijjy, it certainly is wet and windy here in Wales at the moment. Welcome to the site.
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Hi Brijjy, it certainly is wet and windy here in Wales at the moment. Welcome to the site.
You can't sleep either?
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Hi,
Sounds lovely
Your weaners, you should have 2 at a time, pigs are better with a friend, they are happier
How have you got so much in such a small space ?
Good luck
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Hi from Carmarthenshire Wales :wave: Still wet and windy today :(
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Hello from Herefordshire :wave:
Where in Wales are you?
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Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. We are situated just outside Newtown, Powys. So just over into Wales. We love it here but always hankering after a bit more land. Musn't be greedy though. Our previous pig was on his own with intermittant sheepy friends. This pig has our Wiltshire ram and his lady to keep him company. He seems to get on fine with them. He also likes to chase after the children and the chickens. :D
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Hi and welcome from an equally wet and windy Scottish Borders :wave:
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hello and welcome :)
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Hello and welcome Brijjy.
Hi,
Sounds lovely
Your weaners, you should have 2 at a time, pigs are better with a friend, they are happier
How have you got so much in such a small space ?
Good luck
I don't think they have that much in that space- we have 18 goats, 3 orphan lambs, 2 weaners, 13 chickens, 11 ducks, 3 dogs, 3 cats, 3 guinea pigs and a rabbit on just about an acre!
Beth
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Welcome from The Vale of glamorgan
from Valechickens.co.uk
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Hello :)
Both me and Helen live here in the north of pembrokeshire just below Cardigan, its mostly wet and windy here too, though its been dry and still for a while - we are preparing for a downfall soon and some more needed water in our muddy bottomed pond!!!
Ta
Baz
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Hi,
Newtown we looked there, we are buying by LLandridrod wells, 8.5 acres we are a little concerned that we may have bought too much
We just want to feed ourselves 3 mouths
So we thought we might have 2 weaners, a trio of goats (milk, cheese) a handful of chickens and half a dozen ducks, 1 bull every 2 years
a polly tunnel and veggie patch, a fruit orchard and some trees for firewood
We are thinking of having a borehole (£5800) mains £3400
Septic tank and pipework (£3,000) mains £1800
We wouldn't have any annual bills
Electric is only £1350 we thought of going hydro power with the new feed in tariffs, we would still have mains.
We are spoilt rotten as next to the barn there are 6 pig stalls all in good condition.
All 8.5 acres are flat, we have 630 yards of the river ifon (salmon) and 230 yards of large stream (trout + others)
What are we going to do with the rest of the land ???????????? help or suggestions please.
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Hi Yah from Clackmannan, where are you in wales, my mums family were from edinburgh but went to North Wales to set up a coal mine, so now I have relatives in Wales and in Scotland and of course England!1!!
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AndynJ - you could plant up half your new land with coppicewood and still not have enough fuel. You can never have too much land - within reason of course. If you can't use it all one year then rent it out for grazing. You could add a few sheep to your menagerie for meat, wool and converting grass into manure for the veg garden. You could also add a wildlfe area, where you and your pets don't go, with trees, shrubs, wild flowers, a pond, log pile etc just to encourage the birds and the bees - also creepy crawlies, butterflies, bats, bank voles and so on - priceless 8)
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Hello and welcome from North Yorkshire 8) 8) 8) 8)
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Hello - We're not far from Newtown (insofar as we're about 20 mile from anywhere!!!) :wave:
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welcome from the Kingdom of Fife