The Complete Guide to Self-Suffiency by John Seymour is a fabulous book - I
think it's
pretty well accepted by now that in fact no human could sustain themselves on 5
acres as
he suggests without some additional income (which he got from writing!);
nonetheless the
book is a great start point for knowledge over a wide area.

I'm as eager as you to hear any other recommendations!

Claire - are you on your own, or is/are there other people who will set up the
smallholding
with you? From my personal experience it's all much more daunting and scary if
you are
on your own - once you have stock, you aren't free to go and do courses, work on
other
people's places to get experience, maybe go and do a 'rat race' job if you find
you need
more money for something major you hadn't budgeted for ... all worries I am
wrestling
with right now!

I'm in the same place as you - can't afford house-and-land, so looking to buy or
rent land
nearby and start that way. Geographically quite a bit further south than you -
in Wiltshire.

If you're new to the group you may not have heard us talking about WWOOFing -
various
translations, but something along the lines of Worldwide Working Opportunities
on
Organic Farms (some say Willing, some say Weekend ... no doubt, WWOOF being a
wonderfully anarchic entity, there are as many definitions as members!)
Anyways,
basically you (the volunteer) go and work on a host farm / smallholding to get
experience. The host puts you up and feeds you in exchange for your labour.
I'm doing
some WWOOFing to get more experience and feel more confident that I am likely to
get my
sums right and not find myself in any of the pickles I outlined above ... so
far, it's going
really well, I'm having great fun, meeting lots of wonderful people and learning
loads. In
fact, it's so much fun that sometimes I think I may just live the rest of my
active days as a
WWOOFer! (Then I have to say another goodbye to some new, but very dear
friends, and I
realise that it's not all upsides.)

Anyway, Claire, welcome to the group, good luck - and keep us posted on how
you're
doing!

Cheers
Sally

-- In smallholding@..., "alchemy09" <alchemy09@y...> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I joined this group quite recently and don't yet own a
> smallholding. I live in Cumbria, and the option I'm looking at is
> to buy some land separately and use that as a sort of smallholding
> until I can afford the house and land in the same location :-)
>
> My question is, where do I start? Is there a good beginners book
> (basically one that spells out what you have to do) I'd like a few
> sheep, couple of cows, chickens and a vegetable plot.
>
> I'm looking into buying about 4 acres at the moment, I've got a
> friend looking into quality and value for me but need to know where
> to go from there.
>
> All help appreciated, sorry to be so vague.
>
> Thanks
> Claire