Self Sufficiency

halfmanhalfbiscuit · Post by **halfmanhalfbiscuit** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:32 am

Do many people on here do anything towards being self sufficient?
Grow veg, have chickens, have animals for meat etc?

ablueclaret · Post by **ablueclaret** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:38 am

You need 2 acres to be self sufficient and 24 hours a day.

IanMcL · Post by **IanMcL** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:53 am

Everyone gets 24 hrs a day!

ablueclaret · Post by **ablueclaret** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:55 am

But I bet you're sleeping on it for 8 hours Ian you time waster.

sox8595 · Post by **sox8595** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:02 am

I have chickens, grow my own spuds onions tomatoes ect but as said above to be self sufficient requires more time and space than most people have.
Until January or so most of my veg, fruit and eggs will be home grown

halfmanhalfbiscuit · Post by **halfmanhalfbiscuit** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:09 am

sox8595 wrote:I have chickens, grow my own spuds onions tomatoes ect but as said above to be self sufficient requires more time and space than most people have.
Until January or so most of my veg, fruit and eggs will be home grown

I agree.
And I think it depends on how far you want to take it.
It’s work for sure, but I think you can find a balance.

How many and what sort of chickens ?

IanMcL · Post by **IanMcL** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:25 am

ablueclaret wrote:But I bet you're sleeping on it for 8 hours Ian you time waster.

Ha....had 4 hours last night...

Walnutwillie · Post by **Walnutwillie** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:25 am

Is going Asda cheating if I buy just for me

halfmanhalfbiscuit · Post by **halfmanhalfbiscuit** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:32 am

Walnutwillie wrote:Is going Asda cheating if I buy just for me

It's not cheating if it's buy one get one free.

sox8595 · Post by **sox8595** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 10:03 am

12 chickens and 1 Cock.
They lay enough eggs for me, my children and a couple of elderly neighbours (things get a bit tighter throughwint ter). They are all rescue chickens, great layers.

bfcjg · Post by **bfcjg** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 10:09 am

No need. I go to this cold white thing in the kitchen open the door and hey Presto it's full of food and beer. Mrs jgbfc says it doesn't fill itself by magic but it does.

sox8595 · Post by **sox8595** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 10:22 am

My automatic beer replenisher seems to be broken lately
Might need a new one

CleggHall · Post by **CleggHall** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 11:35 am

"12 chickens and 1 Cock" - why keep a cock when it doesn't lay any eggs?

halfmanhalfbiscuit · Post by **halfmanhalfbiscuit** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 11:42 am

CleggHall wrote:"12 chickens and 1 Cock" - why keep a cock when it doesn't lay any eggs?

Maybe it's an alarm cock?

Inchy · Post by **Inchy** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 12:08 pm

This year I have grown potatoes, green beans, courgette's, and a few herbs like rosemary, chive and mint. Its only my second year at it so still learning.

sox8595 · Post by **sox8595** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 1:42 pm

CleggHall wrote:"12 chickens and 1 Cock" - why keep a cock when it doesn't lay any eggs?

We occasionally hatch our own chicks, not as often as we used to because of the expense of feeding, seperate housing ect.
More often than not rescue chickens are the way to go.Instant laying (Almost) as well as the fact we are giving abused birds a happy comfortable semi retirement rather than them ending up in chicken soup

sox8595 · Post by **sox8595** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 1:44 pm

Inchy wrote:This year I have grown potatoes, green beans, courgette's, and a few herbs like rosemary, chive and mint. Its only my second year at it so still learning.

12+ years and still learning.

Woodleyclaret · Post by **Woodleyclaret** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 1:50 pm

We've got three allotments and have enough apples today to produce dozens of Apple crumble. Walnuts ready soon we've just got to beat the squirrels to them.Lots of veg but it's hard work and cheaper in Asda but you cant beat the taste of homegrown spuds and tomatoes

Tribesmen · Post by **Tribesmen** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 1:52 pm

Well I grow chillies if that any help , hey burn the assss off yer .

yorkyclaret · Post by **yorkyclaret** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 2:12 pm

sox8595 wrote:12 chickens and 1 Cock.
They lay enough eggs for me, my children and a couple of elderly neighbours (things get a bit tighter throughwint ter). They are all rescue chickens, great layers.

Rescue Chickens. Always wondered what happened to those poor chickens the knobheads throw on the pitch at ewood.

fatboy47 · Post by **fatboy47** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 2:14 pm

grow most of my own veg...a fair bit of soft fruit...used to make cider...fill 3 freezers with fish each summer which lasts till april...net a ton of rabbits..couple of lobster pots...share in bee hives...pigeons are free too, and the occasional duck and pheasant...and all the eggs i can eat in return for surplus fish

halfmanhalfbiscuit · Post by **halfmanhalfbiscuit** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 3:53 pm

Woodleyclaret wrote:We've got three allotments and have enough apples today to produce dozens of Apple crumble. Walnuts ready soon we've just got to beat the squirrels to them.Lots of veg but it's hard work and cheaper in Asda but you cant beat the taste of homegrown spuds and tomatoes

Here's one of the problem.
We've got an absolute glut of plums at the moment. But it's cheaper to buy ready made plum jam, cakes etc then make them.

sox8595 · Post by **sox8595** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 4:01 pm

Agreed, real advantage of growing your own is the taste and satisfaction. It certainly isn't cheaper and is very hard work.At least you know exactly what has gone into it,
This time of year we can go down and have a complete summer picnic straight from the ground nothing shop bought, pesticide free preservative free and fresher than any shop bought food

Aberle · Post by **Aberle** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 4:01 pm

halfmanhalfebiscuit wrote:Do do anything towards being self sufficient?
Grow veg, have chickens, have animals for meat etc?

I grow my own veg.

1968claret · Post by **1968claret** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:51 pm

No. But I really fancied Felicity Kendall in the Good Life. Do I get points for that?

Cirrus_Minor · Post by **Cirrus_Minor** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:53 pm

I have an allotment, done ok this year with spuds, beans just about getting going, plenty of salad stuff, rest a bit hit and miss. Not quite self sufficient.

kennyto · Post by **kennyto** » Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:19 pm

Aberle wrote:I grow my own veg. but you need the crazy bulk for better results

I believe that growing our own veg is the start for a healthy life.

ClaretAndJew · Post by **ClaretAndJew** » Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:29 pm

Imagine the uproar from the farmers if we all became self sufficient.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 04, 2018 3:59 pm

1968claret wrote:No. But I really fancied Felicity Kendall in the Good Life. Do I get points for that?

given the numbers that fell into that category there would be very little in the divvy up - therefore cannot count towards self sufficiency

pedrok · Post by **pedrok** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 4:18 pm

Cirrus_Minor wrote:I have an allotment, done ok this year with spuds, beans just about getting noocube going, plenty of salad stuff, rest a bit hit and miss. Not quite self sufficient.

It's just a small step towards self-sufficiency. I started myself on a mini-scale, I'm still far from being self-sufficient but it feels good anyways... no matter how small it is...

houseboy · Post by **houseboy** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 4:35 pm

sox8595 wrote:I have chickens, grow my own spuds onions tomatoes ect but as said above to be self sufficient requires more time and space than most people have.
Until January or so most of my veg, fruit and eggs will be home grown

The problem is unless you want to live off veg, eggs and chicken you need a lot of space, and even then the winter makes for bad growing time in this country. You might get away with pigs on a small holding but cows etc are gonna be a problem. And aren't there rules about butchering animals?

Do we have enough room in this country for everyone to do it? I think not.

JohnMac · Post by **JohnMac** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 4:43 pm

I normally manage to navigate my way around the shops without assistance.

If I reared animals I'd probably end up topping myself when Porky looked at me with eyes that say 'I love you'

claretonthecoast1882 · Post by **claretonthecoast1882** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 4:52 pm

JohnMac wrote:I normally manage to navigate my way around the shops without assistance.

If I reared animals I'd probably end up topping myself when Porky looked at me with eyes that say 'I love you'

Some have said divorce is less painful

Spaceman · Post by **Spaceman** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 5:48 pm

Reminds me of that good life episode where Felicity Kendall’s boob puts in an appearance . Got me interested in gardening

CombatClaret · Post by **CombatClaret** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 5:49 pm

I use the hot air from this forum to heat my house.

Spaceman · Post by **Spaceman** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 5:53 pm

http://notasheepmaybeagoat.blogspot.com ... -shot.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PaintYorkClaretnBlue · Post by **PaintYorkClaretnBlue** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 5:54 pm

bfcjg wrote:No need. I go to this cold white thing in the kitchen open the door and hey Presto it's full of food and beer. Mrs jgbfc says it doesn't fill itself by magic but it does.

I’ve got one of those too!! I also have a fantastic magical bedroom floor, I just chuck dirty clothes onto it and within a day they’re clean and back in my wardrobe. Unbelievable stuff!! I sometimes just chuck clean clothes on there to see if it still works with those, it does!!

FactualFrank · Post by **FactualFrank** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 7:22 pm

They don't actually grow strawberries upside down in France, it's just a turn of fraise.

Rowls · Post by **Rowls** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 7:49 pm

ClaretAndJew wrote:Imagine the uproar from the farmers if we all became self sufficient.

Hahahahahahahaha!

But any farmer reads this idea they risk getting a hernia from laughing so much.

We take modern agriculture for granted but it is truly a miracle.

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