The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: happyharry on July 01, 2014, 01:12:51 pm
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Hi All
Ken Jordan here. Have recently bought a couple of acres adjoin an already large garden so thought it time to get involved with this site.
Have grown a wide range of veg and fruit (soft and hard) for over 40 years - all on an organic basis. Fair to say that we're 90% self sufficient for veg. Fruit is restricted to the season, and how much space is left in the two freezers ! As well as dessert and culinary apples & pears, I also have 12 cider apple trees and a cider mill and press.
Five Maran X hens provide eggs a'plenty
The newly acquired land has been used to accommodate a ground source heating system which was completed last autumn and has proved very successful in reducing our fuel bills and providing a warmer house.
The land is now occupied by 2 breeding Berkshire sows, one who currently has 8 weaners (available for purchase). The pigs are clearing the land of nettles and thistles and I'm then re-seeding with a clover/grass mixture behind them. A few sheep are planned next spring. I've also sown a wild flower meadow (Spring 2014) which is now getting established so may be looking at bees next year.
Loving it - wish I'd have done so years ago
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:wave: Hello and welcome from Lincolnshire.
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:wave: and welcome from sunny Shropshire. You'll soon think a couple of acres is not enough and be looking to buy more. ;D
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Hello and welcome from :sunshine: Carnoustie :wave:
Sounds like a really tidy set-up you've got there :thumbsup:
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:wave: from Caithness sounds very impressive ! Welcome. :wave:
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How do from West Sussex :wave: Sounds amazing!
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I live near Ely and I am a fair weather farmer. :excited: Thinking of getting sheep but have not got any further. Had Berkshires last year but now I have a freezer full of pork no one wants to eat.
We are building a house and are going for a air source pump.
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Hello and welcome from a surprisingly warm and sunny Somerset. (None of those storms that were forecast have happened yet.)
How do you get your pigs to clear the nettles? I have two Oxford Sandy and Blacks who are meant to be clearing two very small patches of nettles in their very large enclosure. I spend more time dealing with them than the pigs do. They seem to be more interested in turning over their (cast iron) feed trough than rooting out a few nettles. ::)
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Hi HappyHarry, Bury St.Edmunds lovely part of the world. A link for bee keeping in the area http://www.suffolkbeekeepers.co.uk (http://www.suffolkbeekeepers.co.uk)
West Suffolk Beekeepers are based in Bury and they have an apiary in Nowton Park, open every fortnight. Suits can be borrowed to allow potential future beekeepers an insight to what it's all about.
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welcome have a happey sunday
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Welcome - we're just down the A14 from you, north of Cambridge. If you have the misfortune to end up in the West Suffolk hospital this year you may have the good fortune to be treated by my good lady wife who is going back to work as a medical SHO after six years off bringing up our kids!
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Hello from just across the border in Cambs
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Hi and welcome from Lawshall just south of Bury. :wave: