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Self-Sufficiency in Style

taste and see

The emails tell the tale.

 it is clear that most of his readers are quite determined to ignore all warnings.

This week brought an email from somebody seeking to rent out their small-holding in Co. Clare (Ireland) for family reasons - and another from a couple in Canada moving to Clare.

Irish Mist

So, he is well used to standing his ground, but the house did look attractive, as you can see, and it raised the thought that renting may be a good way of testing whether self-sufficiency is really for the dreamer or merely just a dream.

For the curious, or interested, more details are available by clicking the link.

Renting may also be a good way of finding out whether the natives are as friendly as advertised, when considering a new location.

It may seem to be a good move when prices in the new location move faster than those in the old. But alas, as in any form of gambling, the book-maker always wins in the end.

Take away the agent's and legal fees, any taxes and the costs of moving - and you lose.

If you move somewhere and don't like it, you actually double the losses when moving away again.

So renting to taste and see, may be a very good way of trying a new location. It is cheaper, especially if you decide not to settle.

Your money will just walk away, especially if you get it wrong.

Feeding, watering, worming, dagging, clipping and the ram.

Sheep look after themselves?

There are many legitimate reasons why they need to do so.

Illness of themselves or relatives, because smallholdings are a big tie; you can't just up and leave for a week or two.

Change of employment to a new area can force a temporary absence.

For anyone with animals, it is a very worrying business asking someone strange to take care of them.

The owner will be looking for good reliable tenants, someone who will care for the place as if it was their own.

True, you would need to have a long word with the owner and their permission before filling the place with animals or digging up the lawn to make a vegetable garden.

But restricted self-sufficiency activities should be possible and, in this particular case, it is close enough to a city to allow some nostalgia for city life to be lived out, whilst making the transition.

This is particularly important for older children, even teenagers, who, from common experience take time to settle to rural life.

Older kids want more than just wide skies, mountains and bog.

Seascapes in the west are pretty spectacular.

There is the chance to explore the countryside, to visit the attractions, to make friends.

In the case of Ireland, music to enjoy and learn, the pubs and the craic.

The fishing, the seascape, the theatrical tradition, literature and history can bring rewards all of their own.

You need to cope with the idea that you are coming to land which many of the inhabitants spend most of their time trying to escape and then wishing they had not

...and yet their neighbours spend much of their time trying to move there, with or without the appropriate permissions if the histories are to be believed.

All landscapes and countries have their histories, their sadnesses and their glories.

It is a pity to miss out on the time necessary to start to appreciate the finer points.

Fencing and milking, vegetable and fruit, should sometimes take second place, if you are coming to settle....and that does not just apply to Ireland.

Comfortable accommodation, rather than the trials of a renovation, gives time to get your bearings.

Exploring the possibilities.

You can return to Locality or travel on to read more about smallholding in Ireland.

"try it first"

a suggestion from

 the adventurously named Hangman's Cottage, just to the south of Misery Corner.