The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: benkt on February 25, 2011, 12:33:04 am
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I've been reading a very interesting paper this evening that was sent my way by the Soil Association called 'Small is Successful.
Its got eight case studies of profitable smallholding run from ten acres of less and some analysis of their methods and thought it might be of interest to some folk here.
http://www.ecologicalland.coop/sites/ecologicalland.coop/files/Small_is_Successful.pdf (http://www.ecologicalland.coop/sites/ecologicalland.coop/files/Small_is_Successful.pdf)
Snippets of the recommendations in their conclusions:
* Keep set up costs low
* Add value by direct marketing and/or processing
* Supply local shops and restaurants
* Consider adding processing facilities.
* Avoid borrowing money
* Ten acres offers little space for economically viable livestock production, unless value is added to the product.
Lots of food for thought.
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I think another necessity is to be young, full of energy and in good health :)
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well im young enthusiastic and healthy
now where can i get 10 acres and some start up funds :-)
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Ah yes, another quality bit from the 'executive summary':
"The most significant factor in creating viable low acreage livelihoods is the mental attitude and approach of those involved. This is a stronger determinant of success than acreage, aspect, soil conditions or expertise. This approach includes commitment, willingness to work long hours, patience, long-term perspective and creative, solution-focused thinking."
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Ah, breakfast reading!
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and good soil.
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another vote for being young, full of energy, but not having the funds to buy 10 acres!
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It's a perennial problem the world over I think. By the time you have scraped together the wherewithal, you are past your prime, and it's up hill all the way after that. But only if you need to make a profit. We get by by being fairly close to self sufficient in food, the projects pay for themsleves and we have to find enough to cover car, bills etc from other sources. But our health has deteriorated (not because of being smallholders) so we don't have the spare energy to break our backs raising vegetables for younger and fitter folk who are too lazy to grow their own but still want to eat the best. Any spare energy goes into breeding and conserving the sheep, because we believe in what we are doing there, and not everyone can get hold of land to raise animals. What we really regret is not having been living here when our children were young. We make up for it a bit by having all our grandchildren over as often as we can, so hopefully they will get the bug, or at least pick-up the skills.
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indeed, fleecewife... it's that very sentiment that's meant we're holding off on any talk of kids until we get some land sorted.
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Making a profit is one thing. Making a living is another thing entirely.
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It's an interesting read. The profits generated wouldn't touch our outgoings with our mortgage and other expenses. However, I do want Dalmore to provide for us and at least break even. It's not a hobby.
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I would love to generate an extra income from my smallholding. I am going to start hatching again this year and I may even try to hatch some ducks. I was thinking of xmas turkeys and geese this year but it would have to be small scale to locals.
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hi
The best way to make a small fortune in smallholding is start off with a big fortune! :D :D
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indeed, fleecewife... it's that very sentiment that's meant we're holding off on any talk of kids until we get some land sorted.
We did exactly the same, and our son was born almost exactly 9 months after we completed the purchase of our 10 acre smallholding!!!!! :P
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We did exactly the same, and our son was born almost exactly 9 months after we completed the purchase of our 10 acre smallholding!!!!! :P
That must have been some celebration - we just exchange missives here ;D
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;D our 3rd child was my husband's 40th birthday 'present' lol, ironically her due date fell on my birthday! so now we know there are 40 weeks between our birthday's aaaah!
profit from less than 10 acres - my soap making business brings in some profit now but that's more down to the goats we keep and I guess the more milkers we had, the more milk I could turn into soap = (potentially) more profit.
If we had the legal paperwork the plum wine could bring in some dosh, a local vintner actually asked about buying it in very large quanitities but tony works full time and plums only come once a year and for 6 weeks really!
not enough to live on but with hubby working its certainly bringing a part time income that pays for holidays/etc (baaath time, that is)
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We did exactly the same, and our son was born almost exactly 9 months after we completed the purchase of our 10 acre smallholding!!!!! :P
That must have been some celebration - we just exchange missives here ;D
:D :D Very Good!! ;D ;D
Ian
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;D ;D ;D Great news Rosemary. I have no land but would love to look into growing some individual product, my daughter in Austrailia says growing Lavender is liquid gold, so how feasable is that, like I said before, what about legal highs such as Salvia!!!! I remember seeing some one making a fortune out of growing blue berries!!!!! The market is there but to make money is a fine art!!
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Worm farming is something that can be both low input or high input as to your situation.
Weve always hatched eggs and get paid for each egg in the incubators(it can take 8000) but this is mainly with rare breed chickens and ducks and then have our own geese and turkeys for crimbo. Have never had a problem getting rid but the problem is that its seasonal.
The worm farming is all year round if you provide insulated homes for them, we used motorbike tyres stacked on top of each other with wire mesh on the bottom of each.
This enabled us to first of all get £1.50 per tyre for taking them and then just build each stack up to a workable hight while having the bottom tyre on some corrugated board or with some damp proof membrane and a slight lean to one side for the precious worm tea that becomes available. Then its just a case of feed on the top, then the next day restack the tyres and feed from the top again.. (worms will only work the top 4inch's of soil so you need to restack or turnover to make them work...
Just a thought....
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Sounds good, I remember a programme about snail farming too!!!!!
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The good things with worms is that the fisherman love them,
They're some of the best composters
Once theyve eaten all the food they leave behind castings which are like black gold for the gardeners of this world.
And the best of it is, if the fishermen dont want any more or out of season, a fert company will by as much as you can supply at £15kg.
Weve been working with worms and refining low input and high input methods for diff levels of production and with my other half being an old pig farmer, or should I say a young chicken of a pig farmer, she has been cery methodical about how we set up each test bed and measured the results..
As ive said before, if you would like any help with setting up and supply, then please dont hesitate.
Weve been to most if not all of the commercial farms in Europe and no one in the UK, that we know off, have all year round production....
Just wanted to plant a few seeds, or even worms ;D
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A lot of commercial farmers asked for our help to reduce their manure heaps or animal waste and this is how we got into worms, the thing is that it not only helps reduce your manure/animal waste and convert into plant food to be used or sold on.
If you want any more info, please feel free to contact us.
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pm sent :)
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thanks for this, I know that there are people making a living off 10 acres and less, find your niche market and cut out the middle men.