The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: Jackrabbit on June 27, 2020, 06:30:05 pm
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Hi All. Thanks for letting us join the forum.
We live in Speyside NE Scotland and are trying to become as self sufficient as possible.
We just got our first Hens this week and have been busy planting veggies and fruit.
Also been foraging, home baking and home brewing.
Hoping to get a pollytunnel and maybe 2 or 3 sheep, or pigs soon!
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Hello and welcome from a very damp Somerset :wave:
When we were starting out, I found the Livestock and Smallholding guides (at the top of the Homepage) absolutely invaluable. Good luck in your new venture :farmer: .
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Dear Possum
Many thanks,
Hope the weather improves.
The Veggies are desperate for ?? up here.
Best wishes
Jackrabbit (Jonathan)
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Hello [member=203712]Jackrabbit[/member] What a lovely area you live in. We are further south and we have rain again (having had none for weeks and weeks). Bathwater is great for veggies :garden: especially if you can pipe it via an upstairs bathroom window and move it to your veg patch by gravity.
Good luck with your various ventures :hughen: :hugsheep:
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Hello [member=203712]Jackrabbit[/member] What a lovely area you live in. We are further south and we have rain again (having had none for weeks and weeks). Bathwater is great for veggies :garden: especially if you can pipe it via an upstairs bathroom window and move it to your veg patch by gravity.
Good luck with your various ventures :hughen: :hugsheep:
Ha! My lovely and eccentric father in law syphoned bath water into an old water tank - to then water his veg plot (He did this from the late 1960’s right up to 2010) As he lived in a suburban West Midlands Semi he was a bit of a one off amongst his neighbours. He had a pipe from his upstairs bath room which lay on the roof below the window. It was attached to a piece of string which was tied to a hook in the bathroom so it was easy to haul it up to the bathroom when needed . I thought he was unique so just loved reading your reply FW. Veg, by the way, were very happy with the arrangement.
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Hello [member=203712]Jackrabbit[/member] What a lovely area you live in. We are further south and we have rain again (having had none for weeks and weeks). Bathwater is great for veggies :garden: especially if you can pipe it via an upstairs bathroom window and move it to your veg patch by gravity.
Good luck with your various ventures :hughen: :hugsheep:
Ha! My lovely and eccentric father in law syphoned bath water into an old water tank - to then water his veg plot (He did this from the late 1960’s right up to 2010) As he lived in a suburban West Midlands Semi he was a bit of a one off amongst his neighbours. He had a pipe from his upstairs bath room which lay on the roof below the window. It was attached to a piece of string which was tied to a hook in the bathroom so it was easy to haul it up to the bathroom when needed . I thought he was unique so just loved reading your reply FW. Veg, by the way, were very happy with the arrangement.
We did this when we were living in Air Force Officers' quarters. Definitely not the done thing :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:
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Dear Fleecewife
Thanks for the message and good wishes
We have been looking into water butts recently, but you idea is sound!
Best wishes Jackrabbit (Jonathan)
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We have a whole collection system based on 1000 litre black barrels. The rainwater is collected from various roofs around the farm and collected in the big barrels, then directed, mostly by gravity, to drinkers for the sheep, and by both gravity and an electric pump to the veg garden and polytunnel. We don't have mains water, and our well is ancient (we think it dates back to the 1500s at least) so can run dry, which is why we use it only for domestic water. I love the gravity system as water can be made to flow uphill a bit ;D
These barrels used to cost about £100 back when we set up the system, but I think they are much more than that now - they are former bulk orange juice containers.
The bath water is only for emergencies, but where we live now we don't have a bath and we haven't worked out how to collect from a ground level shower.
Modified to add:
I had a look on google and cannot find the type of barrel we have. They all seem to be cuboid white plastic with a metal cage around and are much cheaper than what we have. The drawback of clear or white water collection containers is that algae build up quickly in the water.
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Hello and welcome from :sunshine: Carnoustie!
We use IBCs to collect watermainly for the polytunnel. We had to ditch the white ones and get black.
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Hi Jackrabbit. Have been working at the self sufficiency game for 20 years now in Grantown on Spey. In my opinion you will get the best returns from a polytunnel up in this part of the world as our growing season is so short. The added weeks of cropping you get from a polytunnel make a huge difference. Best of luck and have fun.
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Thanks for the information Fleecewife, very interesting.
Thanks also for the welcome and advice Ziggy and Rosemary.
Best wishes
Jackrabbit
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Welcome to the forum Jackrabbit :wave:
We're in Speyside too just north east(ish) of Ziggy.
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Dear alang
Thanks.
Glenrinnes for us.
Best wishes
Jackrabbit