Photo: Fiona in a bee suit with smoker
My name is Fiona Nevile. I want to share our journey towards our goal of partial self sufficiency. It is such a satisfying, old fashioned endeavour, that provides moments of glowing pride alongside the occasional smelly disaster.
I started this blog after we decided to invest in our future. Retirement looms in a few years time. Before I fell ill I often worked in houses where people had recently retired. Usually they were testing the water. They had plans that they had dreamt about and tweaked for years:
- Raising a few chickens
- A small vegetable patch
- Bees
- Homemade wine and liqueurs
- And the individual extras which could include stock car racing, dabbling on the Stock Exchange, breeding terrapins, planning the trip of a lifetime and dreaming about a lottery win that would finance the lot.
Watching from the sidelines, I realised that often the first four of these interests can take years to get up and running. So I decided to start early. These activities are so satisfying that within months I was peering over the parapet. Why not cure and smoke our own bacon and make salami? How about making sausages and homemade butter? And where could we find food for free?
Six years later we are investing in now as well as our future retirement.
Why just plan for the future? Investing in now can be a bumpy ride but generally we’ve found that it’s fun and our quality of life is so much better than before. Each week our horizons expand.
This website charts our journey towards deluxe self sufficiency and beyond. Our aim is to live like kings on the lowest possible budget. Visit our new forum for inspiration and ideas from our readers.
My articles have appeared online in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Chicago Sun Times and many other publications. Use the ‘contact us’ tab to speak to me. Writing commissions are always welcome.
Some people like to visit us here at the Cottage Smallholder.
Because I have been ill and unable to work since July 09 we decided to host advertising on the Cottage Smallholder site from December 09. Click here for more details.
a brief potted history of Fiona’s career, which has ended up in our attempt at partial self-sufficiency.
TweetLeave a reply
FD
Hi there, further to my comment of last week re: had I got blight yet again? Well, was undecided whether it was cold damage as temp here had dropped dramatically with biting wind, but looked like blight. I used the Bordeaux mix as you suggested and plants look somewhat better a week on, shored up, and the the untouched ones bright and healthy. Question – husband in his wisdom sprayed EVERYTHING with the mixture – including fruit bushes with fruit on (gooseberries, currants, blueberries etc, even an olive). I assume the fruit will now be inedible?
Hi Terra
Yes we do have fun with our stock.
We have had hedgehogs in the garden but the Min Pins give them a hard time and we rarely see them these days. I have seen them in the garden next door.
Sea otters? I have not heard of them.
Hi Claire
So pleased that you are enjoying the blog. Good luck with growing your own. Thurlow is a lovely spot.
Just wanted to say what a brilliant Blog you have. We are just making our first explorations in the world of growing our own food and have had loads of ideas! What caught my eye was you mentioning Newmarket, Im just down the Road in Thurlow! Small world eh!
Your crew living with you sound like fun. Any hedgehogs? I envy those in England who have seen them nearby. Hello from California. We have sea otters but sadly, no hedgehogs.
Hi Chris
The link works now I had the word blight too close to the link, apologies. Spray the ground as well as the plants as the spores will be lurking there, if it is blight.
I reckon that the combination of wet earth and hot sunny days (10 days or so ago) might have been a lethal combination.
Good luck and I hope that you fix the problem.
I’m going to spray my tom plants too and the area where they are set.
Thanks.I shall run out immediately in the morning and get some and get on the job. I lost most of my spuds last year with blight, had to get them up early and pray. Leaves now don’t look as they did last year though. Lost most of the tomatoes too. So am now totally despondent now this has happened, and so early in the season too. It’s so damned disheartening! I tried to find your blight page (I used it last year, surprise, surprise!) but the link must have become corrupted or something, and couldn’t find it.
Thanks for comments anyway.
Hi Chris
It sounds like blight to me. Or they could have been frosted. I’m no expert and it’s difficult without seeing the leaves.
If you treat them now you have a chance of the potato plants surviving. There is a lot of information and advice (maily in the comments section) of my article on tomato blight https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=366 Tomatoes and potatoes belong to the same family so respond to the same treatments.
I am planning to spray my plants with a weak solution of brodeaux mixture(as an insurance) when I have got a moment. BM can be used organically.
One year on after the blight of 07 – potatoes been in a month and today noticed lots of leaves going black … not like the blight of last year, they look as if they have been painted with a black dye in large patches. Am just outside Manchester, weather has been warm and dry until last few days when dropped to 5c at night. Only noticed the patches today. It hasn’t been either particularly wet or warm and wet …. Any ideas what it might be? and if so – what to do? Surely can’t be blight again this early? Can it? Have about 120 plants, so hope not. HELP!!!
Hi Jaynie
Yes! Moving from 4 guineas to 2 made a massive difference to the sound in the garden and the chomping of layers pellets!
Sorry to hear that one died. I still feel a bit wobbly when I think about Lightning.
We are not going to breed with ours this year. Mrs Boss is sitting on duck eggs and that is enough for the summer!
Good to hear your adventures with your guinea fowl! We have had a similar experience, starting with 6 keets last April (1 female, 5 males) and have managed giving the extra males away, a sudden and tragic death this spring, and finally the current match of two happy guineas. I am shocked at how much quieter guineas are when there are just TWO- surely a magic number for us who love our quirky birds, but still like to hear quiet most of the day.
Good luck to you!
Jaynie