Ooh you beat me to it, I was also going to suggest John Seymour's fab book.
If you want to read the biography of a couple who read the book and
fulfilled their dream in Wales, I suggest: Urban Dreams, Rural Realities by
Daniel Butler and Bel Crewe. I loved this book. Here's a review:

http://www.buchstoff.de/uk/Urban_Dreams_Rural_Realities:_In_Pursuit_of_the_G
ood_Life/detail_pID-067101580X.html

Or this, it that breaks up: http://makeashorterlink.com/?A25A634B8

Actually this website has some brilliant recommendations for other self
sufficiency books if you scroll down.


Another favourite book - Scenes from a smallholding by Chas Griffin:
http://www.thirdleafbooks.co.uk/

This website too has some excellent books - http://www.walnutbooks.com/

Here is a whole load of self-sufficiency links at A Country Life:
http://www.acountrylife.com/links.php?c=linkself

HTH
Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: niobe333 [mailto:niobe333@...]
Sent: 01 July 2004 22:25
To: smallholding@...
Subject: [SmallHolding] Re: Where to start?

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



To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
smallholding-unsubscribe@...


Yahoo! Groups Links