Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: starting over  (Read 10547 times)

ellied

  • Joined Sep 2010
  • Fife
    • Facebook
starting over
« on: September 23, 2010, 06:45:30 pm »
Hi, just joined here as I've been running a part time smallholding and stud on a very haphazard basis for years but am finally leaving the day job next week and need the land to be a little more sustaining than a weekend hobby now so will be looking for lots of information on how to do better!

Luckily I have a mature orchard overflowing with plums and apples, and I have built up 4 veg beds in there over the past 5-6 years so have a load of beans of various types, herbs, salad leaves etc quite reliably and have tried onions, leeks, beetroot, brassicas and various other things at different points, tho I'm not terribly good with brassicas..

This year I have grown sweetcorn for the first time and there are cobs which I am amazed at, but I'm not sure entirely when/how to harvest so am planning to pick one and have a look before I wreck my unexpected success!

I have a cupboard full of plum jam, chutney and pickled cabbage from previous years and a freezer and a half full of rhubarb and soup and such, all the easy things, but I'm hoping to get some ideas of things to do with them that won't tax my brain too much but give me a little variety.

I'm vegetarian so would love chickens for egg production but am amazed at the price of hen houses as they make "free" eggs pretty expensive as far as I can see!  And I'd like a few sheep (I love coloured breeds particularly Shetlands but am beside a main road so don't want a wandering breed, just very easy to do docile pet types to keep the grass tidy after the ponies). 

Well that's me, I look forward to all the wisdom of experienced smallholders on here.
Barleyfields Smallholding & Kirkcarrion Highland Ponies
https://www.facebook.com/kirkcarrionhighlands/
Ellie Douglas Therapist
https://www.facebook.com/Ellie-Douglas-Therapist-124792904635278/

CameronS

  • Joined Aug 2009
  • North East Fife
Re: starting over
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2010, 06:52:57 pm »
Welcoem from Fife  :wave:

good luck with your project, hope everything goes well

Mickyork

  • Joined Feb 2010
  • Yeadingham, North Yorkshire
Re: starting over
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2010, 07:03:41 pm »
Hello and welcome from North Yorkshire    8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Live for today. Tomorrow never comes

ellied

  • Joined Sep 2010
  • Fife
    • Facebook
Re: starting over
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2010, 07:07:34 pm »
Welcoem from Fife  :wave:

good luck with your project, hope everything goes well

I'm in Fife too, thanks :)
Barleyfields Smallholding & Kirkcarrion Highland Ponies
https://www.facebook.com/kirkcarrionhighlands/
Ellie Douglas Therapist
https://www.facebook.com/Ellie-Douglas-Therapist-124792904635278/

ellied

  • Joined Sep 2010
  • Fife
    • Facebook
Re: starting over
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2010, 07:08:45 pm »
Hello and welcome from North Yorkshire    8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Aha, and that is where I was born, tho only before pre 1974 boundaries  ::)
Barleyfields Smallholding & Kirkcarrion Highland Ponies
https://www.facebook.com/kirkcarrionhighlands/
Ellie Douglas Therapist
https://www.facebook.com/Ellie-Douglas-Therapist-124792904635278/

bloomer

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • leslie, fife
  • i have chickens, sheep and opinions!!!
Re: starting over
« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2010, 07:27:09 pm »
its not difficult to sort out a budget hen house that will last for years if you can use a screwdriver you can probably sort one out in a day for £150 and it will house many chickens for many years.

hi and welcome from warwickshire

Cinderhills

  • Joined Jul 2010
  • North Yorkshire
Re: starting over
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2010, 07:50:34 pm »
Hi and welcome from North Yorkshire.  :wave:

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
    • ABERDON GUNDOGS for work and show
    • Facebook
Re: starting over
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2010, 07:54:39 pm »
Welcome from the middle of Scotland - buy a garden shed from a diy store for your chooks - £100!
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: starting over
« Reply #8 on: September 23, 2010, 08:07:45 pm »
Hi from windy Carnoustie  :wave:

Coloured Ryelands - loveliest sheep you'll get IMHO. Non-escapee - if they do they only go as far as the next patch of grass.

Daisys Mum

  • Joined May 2009
  • Scottish Borders
Re: starting over
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2010, 08:51:18 pm »

Hi and welcome from the Scottish Borders  :wave: I have shetlands and yes they do escape if your fences are not secure but with good fencing they are fine.
Anne

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: starting over
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2010, 09:03:57 pm »
Hi, can I put a good word in for Shetlands - mine have (so far) not escaped, and will stay happily behind even not so good fences... although today I brought back my tup ans his wether friends, as someone had put some females into the field next to him... and the fences are quite bad and its not my field anyway... just thought they would be able to tell if their Jacob girls were popping shetland type tails next spring...

Funny thing though, when I called them (with a bucket of food) the sheep next field also decided to come and ran alongside the fence...

So a good fence of sheep netting with electric top wire (preferably) will be ok next to a road... as long as no cars crash into it... and if you already keep horses on it you should be fine.

If you don't plan to eat your sheep/lambs you might just want to have a bunch of wethers for keeping the grass short?

morri2

  • Joined Jun 2008
Re: starting over
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2010, 09:34:01 pm »
Hello and welcome, fellow veggie!! Don't think there's many of us on this site at the moment.  Fresh eggs are great, but I know what you mean when it comes to the price of the hen houses.  We have two.  One purchased second hand for £50 out of the paper and another small new one which we picked up for a bargain price off ebay, which OH has adapted into a much bigger shed by paneling in the attached run with the remains of an old garden shed.  No point in buying anything too posh.  If its weather proof and fox proof and can be cleaned out easily it will do.  The chickens don't mind what it looks like.  When I purchased some ex-batts a few years ago, they were being kept in a small garden shed with perches added.  Look forward to hearing your progress on the smallholding.

little blue

  • Joined Jun 2009
  • Derbyshire
Re: starting over
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2010, 10:10:14 pm »
hello and welcome  :wave:
Little Blue

ballingall

  • Joined Sep 2008
  • Avonbridge, Falkirk
Re: starting over
« Reply #13 on: September 23, 2010, 10:29:06 pm »
Hello and welcome,

Its possible to put up a hen house yourself, made from bits and pieces. Pallets are great for building projects.


Good luck!

Beth

Sharondp

  • Joined Jun 2009
Re: starting over
« Reply #14 on: September 24, 2010, 05:33:18 pm »
Welcome from herefordshire  :wave:

 

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