Inherited a Farmhouse and little scared !!!!!

[Bully-Bonce]

Hi there everyone !

I have just joined tonight and found the forum very intresting and everyone seems to give helpfull advice to each other.

Well were do I start ! My dear father passed away very sudden last August
(07) as being an only child I inherited the farmhouse (which is non-working) which has 7 acres of field and a small stable block. We decided to buy a static caravan that is situated in the yard whilst we renovate the house as it does need completley gutting ! .. I am using my inheritence money to re-build the house and with all the money I am forking out I have the ideal opportunity to grow my own vegtable patch and would really like to buy a few hens and possible a goat ! I would also like a few geese and a friend suggest they are better than a guard dog !!!! With all the recent rises in fuel and household foods looming I am worried enough going from a 2 bedroom terrace to a 5 bedroom farmhouse and really want to be self suffient to a possible high standard !! I was looking at growing my own potatoes but my hubby says they are difficult to grow along with apple trees and really wanted some advice and which vegtables or fruit as 'a starter' I have scanned a few websites and this seems the most helpfull .... Can anyone help with where to start ? A friend mentioned buy the time you buy hens and buy the feed for them it is not worth having them for cheap eggs etc .... is this true ? ..... any help would be much appreciated as I am no good with things like this !!!!!

Kind regards, Bully-Bonce (Grt Manchester)

[sewer rat]

Bully-bonce
I appreciate that your inheritance may seem a little daunting but there are folk on here (self included) who would give their eye teeth for such a problem.
The first thing you need to do is sort out the property - that is a given.
You can worry about all sorts later - it also means you have the time to plan what you wanna do. 7 acres would be enough to start growing veg for selling or running a box scheme. You can keep chooks and alsthough initial costs for housing and fencing may seem high, you can free range them and feed them on veg scraps and this would seriously cut the cost of buying in food. Same for geese and ducks - and you canseel surplus eggs at the farm gate.
With 7 acres, you could devote an acre to orchard and still have your tatties far enough away not to be any kind of problem.
When the house is finished, have you considered B&b potential ?
Got loads more but in middle of making soup for the Framers Market this weekend. If you have any specific question, PM me - I run a 5 acre market garden and small veg box scheme so can maybe give you some pointers if you're interested ?

[Roger Dawkins]

how to you get to the introduction forum to post your first message sorry but l must be PC daft could you help ??

[rustylady]

Hi Bullybonce. Whereabouts in the country are you? As SewerRat says, most of us would give our eyeteeth for your inheritance. Even if you don't work the land, you have somewhere to live.

[zazen999]

Hi

Well, what an inheritance to have as a problem. Sorry to hear about your dad.

Definitely get the house sorted; and start small on the growing front.

On the fruit/veg front, I'd grow both what you eat alot of, and what is more seasonal and expensive - those are often the main starting points. But, take time to plan what/where/when; esp if you haven't grown anything before. Also, take stock of what you do have, what the land and soil is like, and do the research [the search button on here is invaluable], and the advice of those who sell fruit and veg for a living [aka Sewer Rat] will no doubt help you no end, as I'm sure that you have a business there in the making.

I wish you well, and hope to see you on here in the future telling us all about your ventures.

[Alice]

Roger, go to this link and hit the New Thread button.
Introduce Yourself

[Nicos]

Hello to you both!!...and welcome to the Vine!

[Alice]

Welcome to the Vine Bully-Bonce. I think you have to think about what it is you want. Write it down. Break it all into bits. Then start working out how you can achieve it - bit by bit.
You'll get help here if you come back with smaller questions - answers to all the little bits.
Best wishes for your venture.
Sorry for the loss of your Dad but I hope you know what a fine inheritance he left you.

[rogesse]

Jealous

Good luck though, it seems like a big project.

Jane

[terrier]

Hi BullyBonce. It's always a sad time when one loses a parent, my condolences offered. Probably not a good time to start worrying about how you are going to manage your inheritance. Just remember time is a good fixer of problems and you have plenty of time on your hands. Take time to look at what you've got. Take advice from anyone who offers it, you'll have plenty of advice to sift through, some good ,some not so good, but all valuable experience for you. Good luck.

[Hilary B]

Hi there. I would never keep A goat, keep 2. Not only are they company for each other, but it means you can avoid the 'milk-gap'. As the others have said, don't try to do it all at once, and sort the house first (a few chickens would not be impossible meanwhile). If you get ex-battery hens, and improvise cheap accomodation, you can get cheap eggs (there are ways around the 'no scraps' rule, if the eggs are just for home use).

[carlseawolf]

Hi bullybonce,
Sounds like a nice place you have got and plenty of land to play with.
As it already been said take your time and plan well as it seams you have lots to get on with in the house without the burdon of livestock to look after while you are renervating.
On the planting front i would work out where your orchard is going and get it planted this winter because it may take a couple of years before they start cropping , and the same goes for raspberries , currents , strawberries and rhubarb so everything is producing well when the house is finished.
Ever thought about pigs ?
Good luck on your adventure.

[Flummery]

Hello and welcome. I still miss my dad 6 years on. However, I'm sure he'd have been proud of you for taking this on. All the advice above is good. Ask specific questions if you need to know something. By the way, I don't agree about spuds being difficult. You wouldn't actually attempt to grow them IN an orchard but make a patch for veg and use crop rotation - there is lots about it on here, if you use the search button.

Good luck. Can you put your location in your user profile so it will help us to give advice specific to the area you live in.

[Winged one]

Hi Bully Bonce and welcome.

Lots of good advice already, but perhaps you could devote and acre or so to growing trees for coppicing - willow, hazel etc. These can then be used for fuel for a woodburning stove and keep you relatively self-sufficient in heating terms (or at least, less dependent that previously on oil etc). I'd also try to ge some solar panels in your roof while doing the renovations, as this is getting more and more economical as fuel costs rise (free hot water at least).

You'll probably find as well that, once you are settled in and renovations done, and really get to grips with the site, you will be able to grow a lot more than you initially think (both fruit/veg and animals) and come up with lots of ways to exploit that in terms of your own family use and selling on to others.

Definitely take the time to plan it all before getting started though - nothing worse than trying to dig up trees a year or two after planting to put them somewhere else...Decide exactly what you want (livestock and which types, fruit trees, fruit bushes, vegetable area, coppicing wood, general fallow land - whatever else you might want or not). Look at the resources available - orientation of the site (which faces the sun, where is likely to get frost/flooding), any water (streams, wells, guttering on outbuildings for catching in butts), shelter (very wind swept, sheltered by trees that might take water/nutriets etc) and distance from the house (don't want chickens very far away for daily attention, while apple trees can be a good bit away as they wouldn't need too much attention that regularly). And is there any area that you want for particular purposes, or that you want to change (like planting trees somewhere for more shelter for example). Do you have outbuildings to use for storage, housing animals, adapting as greenhouse etc?

Use the winter for digging areas for veg and manuring if needed, planting trees (fruit and other) and bushes and generally planning still. And start in earnest next spring. I'd keep to a few things in pots this summer if you want to get going - building takes time and energy, and a great spot for putting things next year might be the builder's favourite spot for turning trucks or using a cement mixer this year!!

[PrincessN]

Hi Bully Bounce

Sorry to hear about your dad.

And as many have said: What an inheritance!
If you want to get hens, have you looked at adopting ex-bats? Hilary mentioned them as well.

Here's the website to the battery hen welfare trust. You get to help hens that are perfectly good to carry on living (and laying eggs)!
They give loads of info and help.

Best of luck. keep us updated!
(btw - yes, geese ARE better at guarding than dogs)