[jaymac]

Firstly i would like to say what a great site this is with lots of info and local people to myself. My name is James and i have bought some land 27 acres in West Lothian Scotland it is not the best of land.  I would like to become self sufficient with veg and livestock. I am thinking of sharing the land with a couple of people with similar interests as it is a lot of land for one person to manage. If anyone is interested please get in contact with myself. I would be looking for people with knowledge of veg and livestock as I am very new to this but looking forward to the challenge. 

[HappyHippy]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I'm in South Lanarkshire, don't need any land myself (got 130 acres - but mostly woodland, so it takes care of itself. The remaining 4 acres of workable land is okay but with work, kids etc it's taking me much longer to get things up and going than I had hoped !)
Look forward to hearing how you get on - good luck from me,

Karen 

[Rosemary]

Hi, James and welcome. You need to join Central Scotland Smallholders Association www.smallholders.info - great bunch of folk.

[doganjo]

Hear, hear - very friendly and knowledgeable too! with GSOH too 

[sellickbhoy]

Hi Jaymac

where abouts in West Lothian are you?

I'm just outside linlithgow - i've only got a small half acre :-(

i'd be more than willing to get together to see if we can't help each other out at all

[johnmac]

From Johnmac to JayMac...welcome on board.

This site is full of helpful people....

Good luck with the land!

John. 

[Rosemary]

Hey, sellickbhoy, the invitation to join the smallholders' association extends to you too.

[jaymac]

Hi sellickbhoy

The land is at East Whitburn not to far from you. What do you keep or grow on your land ?.



Cheers Jaymac

[doganjo]

How does everybody else manage to get land down here when I tried for a year and could only get this one acre garden?  Anything over an acre and half was going for silly money - one I offered for went for double it's asking and I was the 6th offer out of 17! And that was less than a year ago.

[sellickbhoy]

The land is at East Whitburn not to far from you. What do you keep or grow on your land ?.

not too far at all

i've no livestock yet - well, a pet dog, but he gets to come in at night, or if it's wet, or if theres food, warmth, toys on the go - in fact, he's rarely out there, don't know why i bothered building him a kennel!!!

I am hoping to get Chickens sometime this year - i've still a few big jobs to do in preparation for getting the veg gardening sorted out for this year.

I'm also keen to get some breeding rabbits - for my own meat source, and hopefully they'll keep the grass in check too!!

But for the meantime it's just fruit and veg. I've 2 small polytunnels/plastic greenhouse type things - and i've just put the frame up for my greenhouse - the glass will go in around march time

i'm planning on growing the following

Strawberries - going in the tunnel in pots as i lost loads of strawbs to rain/mildew last year
Chillis - i've loads of seeds and different types - they'll probably go into the greenhouse
tomatoes
peppers
tatties - plenty of them!!!
carrots
beetroot
parsnips
mange toute/sugar snap peas
peas
onions
shallots
garlic (already coming along nicely)
sweetcorn
raspberrys
blackberries
cranberries
kiwi
loganberry
tayberry
i've 4 apple trees, 3 cooking apple trees and 3 pear trees
wee variety of herbs

think that's it

I've also planted 300 willow cuttings - long term to provide my own firewood, short term to help with the ground drainage/structure (very heavy clay at the moment)

[jaymac]

Hi sellickbhoy

We will have to meet so i can see your setup my e-mail is james.williams1@blueyonder.co.uk.

[microbabes16]

Hi there  James and everone else on the forum,

I would be very interested in helping you with the land you have. I have been looking for an allotment in West Lothian for a while but with no luck. I even tried to buy some land behind my house but the builder wouldnt sell it even though they cant use it themselves.

I have only been growing for a year in my own garden and my veg plot is not very big but i was quite impressed by the results.

Anyway you can let me know if you are still looking for people.

Cheers,

Jen

[Crofter]

Best of luck Jaymac!

[Fluffywelshsheep]

hello all,
 the newmembers one one post lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
from FWS

[jaymac]

Hi microbabes16

Send me an e-mail and i tell you more about the land and what i am looking to do with it. james.williams1@blueyonder.co.uk