SELF-SUFFICIENCY NEED NOT BE ALL CRANKINESS AND MUD, MANURE, MUCK AND MYSTERY
It may be a return to a frontier spirit for an American, or a yearning for a lost rural idyll for an Englishman.
Whatever the motivation, it has a long and honourable place in many cultures, and need not be associated with extreme or weird political views, poverty or deprivation.
A love of personal freedom is always present.
Is that such a terrible thing?
There are over 160 pages of advice, help and relevant stories here.
NEW ARTICLE
Pipe dream or possibility?
A look at modern Britain, a country that has imported much of its food for many generations.
Indeed in wartime, when the sea lanes were under attack, the country nearly starved.
Could Britain feed itself today?
What are the implications of attempting to do so?
Does the smallholder have a role to play?
Some of the conclusions might surprise you.
- you can't!
A quite extraordinary true story that spans the world.
Smallholding took us into a quite bizarre world of fraud, corruption and criminal activities.
The names are world-famous and the background deadly.
An unbelievable labyrinth of mysterious army officers, Cabinet Ministers, cover-ups, evidence and complaints to Parliament.
Meetings with the European Union Fraud Squad and finally a campaign to put bad things right.
It is an amazing story - true and continuing to this very day.
NEW ARTICLE
Even on a small scale, self-sufficiency offers a way of reducing your family's exposure to food additives.
Self-sufficiency is difficult to combine with running a business.
In Season for August
NEW ARTICLE
The latest article in the Animal Farm series outlining, in detail, a system of animal husbandry suitable for self-sufficiency.
Going self-sufficient is an opportunity to make a fresh start in other areas of life.
Don't miss the chance to make it a good experience.
The unexpected contribution that the self-sufficient can make to tackling the problem.
Variety fights back
No need. Self-sufficiency is greener than the Greens - and more organic than the Organics.
Updated January 2007
The writer is now having quite some success in investigating pig disease scandals - in the UK, NZ and the US.
The links to human super-bug epidemics are now becoming clear.
At last, American farming organisations are picking up that something is very wrong in the UK - and that it matters to them.
There have been many developments in the last few weeks, relating to PMWS and PDNS (now often identified as Circovirus).
Unfortunately, despite the writer's efforts these are now causing serious problems in both Canada and the US. The diseases have been renamed again to PCVAD or PCVD for reasons that are admitted to be Public Relations related by America's top pork producer.
Even worse, the Dutch are reporting that many pig workers and their families are catching MRSA (hospital superbug) from their pigs. It is very likely that the situation is the same in England, but is being, as usual, covered up.
There may be a link, and probably is, to the secret epidemic of PMWS in England starting during 1999 following Mad Cow (BSE) and preceding the Swine Fever (CSF) and Foot and Mouth (FMD) epidemics.
Fresh information and comment by the writer can be found on the Newsgroup: UK.BUSINESS.AGRICULTURE
This newsgroup, strongly supported by industrial scale farming, is hostile country for the writer and genuine smallholders, but it is a quick and convenient way of disseminating information.
Denton, July 2006
Updated October 2006
A top scientist at The French Food Standards Agency has apparently just accused the British Authorities of hiding up animal disease in pigs - the nasty Toxoplasmosis with all its human health implications
Are the French right?
Almost certainly they are. Britain's government veterinarians have a long history of covering up epidemics with human health implications and threatening anyone trying to stop them.
One of the articles reporting the accusation was quickly removed from the Internet, but not before the writer snatched a copy.
25 July 2006
Full current details of the latest scandal are on UK.BUSINESS.AGRICULTURE
And the writer's six year stand against allowing crooks to intimidate him and his wife can be found on
NEWS
Disaster strikes!
Updated Late July
Avian Flu erupted on a massive local turkey farm at the beginning of February.
169,000 turkeys have been slaughtered
For the third time in the last few years, we live in a restricted zone, because, Britain's state veterinarians and government are completely incompetent.
They do not know where it came from, but have been very quick, as usual, to place the blame elsewhere.
After suffering three admitted and one un-admitted epidemics in this one small area, we all know they are grossly incompetent.
They are busy trying to blame Hungary, when everyone can see the state of the premises where the outbreak appeared on British television. The Dutch can get British local TV and can see for themselves.
They are well away creating their usual cover-up to exonerate Britain's unreliable veterinary and food safety bodies and harass anyone who has the spirit to report their misdemeanours to the competent authorities.
Large companies, with arguable standards, run about importing and exporting suspect turkey, whilst honest smallholders are forced to take their small private flocks under cover.
Once again clipboard cowboys employed by the government harass the innocent to protect the rich and powerful. None of the quarantine rules make any sense to anyone.
Read Stop the World to get the flavour of living through repeated animal health disasters caused by arrogant government veterinarians acting beyond the control of the law or common decency.
Fortunately there are no human casualties, yet.
Update May 2007: after a period of total chaos, the official reports into the incident make no sense to anyone and are contradictory.
Rumours abound.
Mary Critchley's famous site is well worth a read on the subject of Matthews - and the discrepancies.
The British government has blamed Bulgaria, despite admitting to having no evidence of the source.
UPDATE end of July
The cleaning and disinfection of the farm has still not been completed - and is not expected to be complete for another two months.
Why?
The writer, a rather conventional businessman, was forced to retire early.
He miserably roamed the highways and byways of Europe in a beat-up pick-up truck half-heartedly searching for a new life.
Eventually, he owned up to an lifetime's ambition to grow his own food.
With his wife, he resurrected a dream, bought a smallholding and made a new happier life.
They now live in a lovely cottage, in a beautiful setting, eating well and enjoying life to the full.
This is how they did it.
Truly
Some of the ideas will surprise and challenge your preconceptions.
Even if we bake our daily loaf, we hardly ever think of the mill that made the flour
Keeping a house cow is a big responsibility and a lot of work, but it is the gateway to your own milk, cream, butter, cheese and much much more.
Coastal Living.
Self -sufficiency is not just about providing oneself with the material things of life; it is also about enjoying life and living somewhere attractive.
Smallholding and Animal Health
The writer takes a fair bit of "stick" for his stand on animal health in the UK and elsewhere.
He is unrepentant.
Unless the disgraceful situation in the UK is cleaned up, there will be no smallholders - anywhere.
We will be just a footnote in history.
The big industrial scale farmers and their cronies will have destroyed our freedoms.
It is now almost illegal to keep pigs outside a razor wired enclosure in the UK.
Several trips about the UK have already been completed plus two to the Continent, and an extensive tour of Texas and nearby states.
PS Keep the emails coming - they make it all worthwhile.
July 2005 updated January
NEW SERIES
The first article in a major new series outlining, in detail, a system of animal husbandry suitable for self-sufficiency.
This is the introduction, explaining why it has been so long coming, followed by the second article expanding the theme of minimising production
before outlining the application of the system to
CHICKENS (for eggs)
CHICKENS (for meat)
CATTLE (for meat)
CATTLE (for dairy produce)
GOATS
coming soon...
GEESE
DUCKS
SHEEP (for meat)
SHEEP (for wool)
PIGS
Women self-sufficiency dreamers outnumber men by four to one.
They are mostly in their thirties, usually with children and in a stable relationship.
How can they persuade a reluctant sensible partner to take the plunge into a self-sufficient life?
The new UK "Lincolnshire Self-sufficiency and Smallholding Club" is now well under way.
Details of meetings and activities can be found on the club's website.
The basics of how to produce your own chicken meat. Very definitely for beginners.
If you keep chickens for eggs, meat production is a natural extension.
Prices and
Places
a look at smallholdings in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and
France.
We spent 5 years and travelled thousands of miles looking for a home, we viewed hundreds of houses with land...these are the conclusions.
Transport in the country.
A light-hearted look at spotless Texans and Brits with straw in their car.
(or Auctioneers, Realtors etc)
They go under many names, but the rules are much the same throughout the English Speaking world (except in Scotland which is historically closer to Continental Europe.)
and a new series on
Buying your Smallholding
learning why it is not wise to
Complicate
Things,
by trying to handle extra transactions simultaneously, how not to
Wear Yourself Out
searching for that ideal smallholding
Making the map
do the work
and exploring the locality
Visiting the area
what to look for when
Viewing the land
efficiently
Inspecting the outbuildings
and
Collecting some tools
before
Examining
the House
and eventually
Making an
Offer
how
much fact ?
how
much fiction?
placing it on the map.
Are Self-Sufficiency and Survivalism different things?
A look at two different philosophies
The bird flu panic or pandemic, take your pick, gives smallholders both special problems - and unexpected advantages.
An aerial photograph of the
often requested, and finally here.
Just the stuff for dreams
There is one very important difference between smallholding and self-sufficiency.
A difference that is far from obvious.
Some very blunt observations, and a secret revealed.
is written with the
stubborn thirty (and forty) somethings in mind.
Hard reality, but helpful too.
Husband, wife and three kids, mortgage and job.
Is it possible?
Could we bridge the financial gap?
Yes. It can be done, but not by selling eggs from the end of the drive.
... with an autobiographical story from the 1960s
The latest in the "Moving Away" series.
Part One of a suitably leisurely look at smallholding possibilities in France.
followed by
Part Two which completes a series of cautionary notes for the would-be settler.
and
Part Three which tries to carve up France to save thousands of miles of motoring.
now the final instalment
Part Four which compares four attractive possibilities.
In a hundred years from today, will anyone know that you ever existed apart from a name, perhaps a date and place?
A very different slant on inheritance.
It isn't as difficult as it seems.
You can start a Self-sufficient life today.
You don't need to buy a small-holding or move to the country.
We have been almost 5 years striving for full self-sufficiency,
how are we doing?
We first came to Hangman's Cottage in the winter of 1997/8.
What are our conclusions?
(Please note this article is now two years old)
20 January 2005
ATTENTION!
AMERICAN
CORRESPONDENTS AND FRIENDS?
An unusual request
Haymaking, storms, rain and a self-sufficiency disaster.
(This was written in August 2004 and is the last in a long series of monthly diaries.)
The 6th of June was the Commemoration of D - Day in 1944. A chance encounter brought an article written in 1999 to mind.
Can't Wait?
Getting quick results from animals, fruit and vegetables.
A cheaper way to self-sufficiency
- and without eating your own animals
We won't be leaving Hangman's Cottage
It is always a pleasure to change your mind for the right reasons.
The writer has been pretty ill, but after six months, the unexpected happened.
Some things we just don't want to think about, do we?
We try to keep as far away as we can from the uncomfortable business of producing animals for food.
But it is perfectly possible for smallholders to produce all their own
meat with sensitivity and kindness
and to eat it without qualms.
When you move to a new area or country, it is reassuring to look for an area with an existing expatriate community.
But is it such a good idea?
You are probably about to become an outlaw.
Fight or flee?
Homesteaders are far more likely to be badly affected by crises than city dwellers, they are also better able to prepare.
It's not a question of being able to construct a wigwam, trap rabbits and make fire by rubbing sticks together.
Fashionable Savings
These come from a
sense of fun and of the ridiculous.
Go on - kick over the traces!
Could you make it all on your own?
a running log of things we got wrong.
Learn from our mistakes.
Self-sufficient living might suggest unremitting toil with no intellectual content.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It is also hard work on the brain - an unrelenting listing of jobs, dates, times, and research with plenty of necessary reading.
But there are also unexpected insights into History, Geography, Religion, Literature and much else.
The seasons look entirely different from a self-sufficient life.
Each has its particular pleasures and characteristics.
The work is different, the life is different.
You are on your own. Make a mistake and the insurance company won't be there to help.
A quick resume of some of the things to look out for when inspecting properties.
Become a dusty miller
For making cream, skimmed milk, butter
and most cheeses.
The real Italian job.
Cold Comforts.
From the series of articles
Gadgets and Gizmos
To
inherit a house and land is the stuff
of a thousand dreams and novels.
Even when there is no hope of ever being mentioned in any will, there are ways of making an inheritance finance a new life.
The opportunity for self - sufficiency often happens by chance.
Redundancy or down sizing, loss of paid employment often drives people to become self-sufficient
Alarmingly, the individuals concerned are often ill at the time and with money troubles too.
... with an autobiographical story from the 1990s
