The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: doganjo on October 24, 2013, 08:13:46 pm
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The Croft with no electricity - should be interesting
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Glen afric nr invernes very hard up here you ok doganjoe
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Oh I know, pretty hard at Bonnyton near Old Rayne too. Heard this morning that the house next to the one I built there blew up - calor gas leak they think. Fortunately no injuries, all five got out safely, but pretty shaken and the house is a demolish and compete rebuild job I was told.
http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/Article.aspx/3444728 (http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/Article.aspx/3444728)
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The Croft with no electricity - should be interesting
Really enjoyed watching it, great couple and kids. Tho I think If they got their wish they would think it a double edged sword as the electric gizmos would follow and enslave them in other ways...but I guess a more comfy slavery!
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Looks like I'll be on iplayer tomorrow.
Annie, that fire looks bad. Do they know what caused it?
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Disgraceful that they can't be hooked to the national grid unless they pay for it themselves. All they want is what (almost) everyone else has for free, they are not trying to get special treatment.
Otherwise, an interesting program and they came across really well. Lovely kids. The older ones seemed so responsible and mature. And I love the sound of a three day horse ride, that just looked amazing! Probably rather weather dependant though..
Not impressed they shot a sheepy in front of its flockmates though - not nice. :gloomy:
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I enjoyed the programme and thought it was very well produced and put together, although it certainly looks a very hard life, electricity would make it a hell of a lot more bearable in my opinion, the lack of light is possibly the most important for the children, they have a lot of extra distractions in their life than most children so they are doing very well and appear grounded and grown up.
I did not like the sheep being shot in front of the others either, I thought he should have separated them but the other sheep did not appear to care, I have no problem with the shooting of it and eating of it, its meat after all.
I enjoyed it that much I did not get up once!!
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Well it shows haw hard it is health and safety out the window if he had skills he could of build a genarater plant .You could use a van engine etc 6 or 8 kva .cold never bothers us the highlands are very hard living and no comforts I don't live on my dads croft I live on a holaday village with a countrey club yards a way Linda kids will not move to the croft so when dad goes that's it . I'm taking a year out next years to be with him .He has Parkinson's .I will be ok just doing whot I wont.
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I thought it was a wonderful programme. it really shows how rich life can be if you work hard, and they certainly do.
livestock have no concept of death, the other animals had no idea what was going on.
good on them, those kids will have a grounding and skills beyond any of their peers.
loved it
d
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Altho it wouldn't have been the answer all the time, and obviously they wouldn't get the fITpayments, I didn't see why the pylon firms didn't just donate them a load of solar panels and a turbine free, that way the FITs wouldn't have been so much of an issue as they wouldn't have shelled out. But maybe I'm missing something.
A slight part of me thinks, if you choose to live somewhere with no electric then thats the deal, but I think with massive pylons marching across your view it makes it a bit more reasonable to say they should be hooked up.
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Annie, that fire looks bad. Do they know what caused it?
They had a liquid gas cooker and one of the bottles exploded when the boiler came on in the morning - big bang woke up the whole hamlet, instant flames, roof fell in; utility room walls blew out. I think the house is almost a write off.
I just heard that the house is totally destroyed and has been condemned
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Glad you are OK Annie, scary thing to happen. Have to disagree about animals and death.
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not a million miles from us either, beautiful place and a cracking family. makes a nice change to see someone who has even more 'useful' junk lying around their house than us :innocent:
but we can beat them on the round trip to school issue, my boys do 90 miles round trip every day!
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Looks like I've missed it. I haven't had time to watch it this week and BBC only keep things for a week. Shame. I would have been interested.
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BBC iPlayer - Power to the Pococks: A Year in the Life of a Crofting Family (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01gygxp/) there you go
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There is a wee article on the BBC website too.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24624883 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24624883)
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Thanks, VF. That was fascinating. I knew a couple who lived this kind of life and brought up their children in a cottage that they had built themselves. They had no electricity. They did have a bathroom but when they found how much it would cost to bring water down from the road - a distance of about half a mile - they turned the bath into a storage container for jars or preserves and used a chemical toilet (but with no chemicals so it could be emptied onto the manure/compost heap.
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I just watch this last night and thought it was very good. They way they live worked well for them. Children learning what life is all about unlike my 13 year old granddaughter who I have just had for 2wks. Never off her phone, can't get up in the morning which turns out to be my fault as I should keep at her. If its raining do not expect her to do any work or even go near her pony and she feels she has the right to verbal abuse us when ever she likes. It was so nice to see a family sharing their lives rather than sitting in different rooms. Killing the sheep did not upset me as its stress levels was almost nothing. May not suit everyone but more people should think about it.
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Sabrina I think you're right I no 2 people that do there own sheep.As the tv show shows animals don't bother .A lot of small holders do it for a hobbey these folk lived the dream.Haw meney do there Christmas meat a cockral was always used naw given away.
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I understood though that, if you slaughtered your own animal, only you were allowed to eat it, no one else. Not even family members.
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I understood though that, if you slaughtered your own animal, only you were allowed to eat it, no one else. Not even family members.
No....
According to the Food Standards Agency guide to home slaughter it is permitted for your own consumption and that of your immediate family living at the same premises.
See point 11 of this doc
http://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/guidancenotes/meatregsguid/home-slaughter-livestock/livestockguidance/home-killguide.pdf (http://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/guidancenotes/meatregsguid/home-slaughter-livestock/livestockguidance/home-killguide.pdf)
You can't sell it -or give it away - to anyone outside that
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Mmmmm .... I read that in a Smallholding Magazine, too, MGWM.
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Mmmmm .... I read that in a Smallholding Magazine, too, MGWM.
So did I! but then dug further to check.
The guide I posted a link to is regularly updated so should be correct. At the very least it can be pointed to if any official questions feeding the family.
To be fair the smallholding mags are not averse to printing incorrect info eg Ive previously read articles talking about people feeding stock on stuff which isn't allowed to be fed to them which they've then had to print tiny :-( corrections to in subsequent issues.
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It may have been correct in the past. I also read the same thing in Tim Tyne's Sheep book. He had a big rant about it. Glad it is not (no longer) true though, seems ridiculous.
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Yes, might have been changed as it did seem a bit crackers...... this document is from May 2013....... perhaps it dawned on them. ;D
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I heard it on the Archers. :innocent:
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I heard it on the Archers. :innocent:
:roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:
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They do have agricultural advisers. Glad I gave you a laugh though.
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They do have agricultural advisers. Glad I gave you a laugh though.
To be fair I don't know whether all government agencies are singing from the same hymn sheet on the interpretation the food standards agency have come up with, we all know how Un joined up government is!! So the Archers consultant may have got different info from somewhere else.
But at least it's an official document that's up to date and which anyone using home kill to feed the family can rely on to defend themselves if pursued by big brother.....
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Not that I could bring myself to slaughter one of my goats anyway, and certainly wouldn't know how to butcher it. Useful info for anyone that can though.