The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Crofter on February 13, 2009, 10:51:02 pm
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.......do you produce for yourselves?
After 3 years at this smallholding game we manage to produce our own meat, veg for 9 or 10 months of the year and milk and cheese.
What level of self sufficiency do you achieve, and what do you aspire to?
I think our greatest moment so far was the day we put our first complete home grown dinner on the table! It's an amazing feeling feeding yourself. How do others feel about this?
Dave
:cow: :chook: :goat: :pig: :sheep: :&> :cat:
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All our own meat, all our own wool for jumpers and socks etc, about 70% of our veg............usually all own eggs and used to produce all own milk for many years but too busy to milk now Also produce all own wood fuel.
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Gosh, yes I forgot about the eggs. We get our own fuel too, we cut peat on the moor and it powers our stove for central heating and hot water.
Just getting to grips with the wool thing though. Do you card and spin your wool Linz?
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I don't have any live stock but hopefull gona produce quite a lot of our own veg soon it's a start
I would love chickens but him indoors wont let me :(
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Virtually self sufficient in meat, what we dont grow we barter for. Some veg, going to get more going if I can keep a certain pig out of the veg. patch for l ong enough, self sufficient in eggs and wood.
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Between 10 and 20 % of veg, but last year was particularly poor because of the weather. I'd like to improve my succession growing and get the polytunnel up asap. Duck eggs we have in surplus to what we can eat. :&>
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i would love to produce more of our diet, but with bartering etc probabley still only 20 - 30 % to be honest. chocolate is an obvious problem. ???
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And wine. And Baileys.
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I don't have any live stock but hopefull gona produce quite a lot of our own veg soon it's a start
I would love chickens but him indoors wont let me :(
Has he said why? They aren't much work and no trouble, plus free eggs every day - couldn't you have even a couple? Not just one, as they get lonely and depressed. Show him really pretty ones and he might like them...............
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I'm useless :o Only surplus is eggs - ducks and hens. Starting veg this year though, and extra cash from eggs buys poultry food which obviously I can't produce. would barter if anyone wanted what I have but everyone else is so much better at this than me. If I had more land I'd try.
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Just keep enough hens to supply eggs and go out forraging for fruit and herbs, the few I grow are very handy and I overpick them so I am planting some more. I also have the odd bit of fish or meat, Thanks Anne, that has been surplus to others requirements but I hope to do a bit of shooting soon, a friend is going to sell me his Air rifle. A good friend is choosing a apple and a pear tree for us as he recons the ones that are sold off in the local supermarkets are not too resistant to mold, bugs etc, that is up here in Scotland. We also currently have a good local supply of free wood for our greedy open fire otherwise it's on line shop!!!!!
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We don't buy any meat or meat products (sausages, bacon, ham, pate etc) - all home produced, lamb, mutton, pork, duck, chicken, and so on.
We produce all our own milk, butter, cream, ice cream, and soft cheese. We do buy hard cheese.
Virtually all our veg is home grown, but do buy quite a lot of fruit out of season.
Home produced eggs too.
It is relatively easy to have a home produced dinner once in a while - the challenge is to do it every day of the year.
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I bake all my own bread, cakes pies etc. make our own sausages and bacon, does that count?
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Of course it counts!!
It's amazing how much of their own food folks on here are managing to produce. It gives you heart that if you are a self-sufficiency nutter, at least you're not alone ;D ;D ;D
Dave