Another Newby

[woolcraft]

Hi Everyone, After years of yearning for self suffiencyishness, am making a move (just me and soul-mate after eons of childrearing) into a cottage with to be claimed garden and backing onto sloping woodland. At last I shall seize my opportunity, hopefully leave my day job and devote myself to the pursuit of all things wild and woolly. Found this site through doing a google search on self sufficiency and felt this was really close enough!! Looking forward to exchanging news and views - has anyone else used meadow land to establish garden? Am very into herbal medicine, nutrition etc. also, as well as cooking and eating and drinking lots of home made wine, beer, cider etc. Great looking site, so glad I've found it. Sue

[Hepsibah]

Hi Sue. I'm told meadow land makes good fertile ground for growing because it's been given plenty of time to rest. Good luck with your new venture.
I might have to pick your brains with the wine making, it's on my to-do list for this year....

[ina]

Hi Woolcraft

Welcome to the site! You sound like my kind of person - the woolly things I persue are two cashmere goats - and I work with sheep, too. Have you got any livestock yet, or are you still at the planning stage? Any experience in processing wool? That's on MY to-do-list for this year! (Apart from 100s other things... - always more on that list than on the one that says "done"!) I do a lot of knitting, but am hoping to get to the stage where I can say that a piece is not only hand-knitted, but really made from scratch.

Yes, meadow land should be fine for transforming into a garden. Depends a bit on the soil, but there's not many places where you couldn't do anything with a bit of compost (and manure from the woollies). You might want to start by covering a piece of land with black plastic (to make the subsequent digging easier). Or borrow a few pigs to do the digging for you... They do the manuring at the same time! And potatoes are good for the first year crop; by the time you've dug them up, the soil has been well and truly broken in (plant action as well as spade action).

Have fun
Ina

[Chickenlady]

Hello and welcome!

[Steve Hanson]

Hello sue
I am just cheating like the rest of this self-sufficient-ish lot if I say hello I get to be a Jerry quicker!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best of luck anyway.

What’s the Woolly bit about?

[Wombat]

G'Day Sue,

I'm a spinner but I mainly spin my own cotton, having learned how on wool!

Your set up sounds wonderful, we are still waiting for our younger (plus husband) to move out so I can try and work a bit less myself.

Good luck and welcome to the site!

Nev

[hedgewitch]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
I have found my forte in Herbal medicine, I've been making my own teas, tinctures and lotions for years. I grow all my own and I'm extremely proud of every Plant I have I'm actually seriously considering selling my own concoctions made to order, but it would be just simple things as I'm not qualified in the eyes of the law ( can't afford to do a course and get loads of lettes after my name ).
I'm looking forward to chatting with you some more.

[glenniedragon]

Hello there Woolcraft! Your plans sound wonderful!! I'm very new here too and I have to say everyone has been so warm and welcoming- I'm sure you'll be right at home. I'm into my homebrewing, so when you're up at your cottage don't just think about conventional things to make wine from (blackberries, elderberries etc) look at the weeds. I am quite well known for my seldom mown lawn but knockout dandelion wine, so look around you can count even the weeds as a useable crop! I can give you the recipe for dandelion and nettle wine if you like then you can get some of 'your own' on the way before any intended seed touches the newly dug earth. You can't make wine from everything so you have to be careful not to ferment anything potentially poisionous (like bluebells, for example) as you may find there's no known antidote!

Good luck to you up there, sounds like great times ahead
kind thoughts
Deb

[ina]

G'Day Sue,

I'm a spinner

Be careful when you say that and there is a German around! In my home country this means "I'm nuts/crazy/weird..." (But maybe that's what you wanted to say?)

Anyway, wine: They make lovely wine here in Scotland from oak leaves. Has anybody tried that?

Ina

[Wombat]

Hey! If the cap fits.......................

[Tigerhair]

Hi Sue, welcome.... I believe all land can give you want you want, if you find out about it first and give it what it needs...

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

[Steve Hanson]

Hi Sue

Our present vegetable garden was pasture for 13 cows for the last 5 years that we know of, we enclosed 4 pigs in the area we wanted to cultivate for about 4 month through last winter. We are still eating the produce and have even sold some of it, which will pay for all the seeds we plan to buy for this year.

Good luck with your endevours.

[Shirley]

Hi Sue!!

Nice to meet you - we are currently reclaiming our garden too - got a LOT of work to do but it will all be worth it in the end.

Shirlz xx

[shiney]

Hello Sue,

Welcome!

I am still in the stages of child rearing. One day I shall get to realise my dreams. I am working on it.

You have quite a project on your hands. Good luck!

[Andy Hamilton]

Hello Woolcraft and welcome.

Might have to have a few chats with you about herbal medicine it is a topic that I am very keen to learn more about.