Thread: Getting back to living off the land.....

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings Bumblefoot,I had not come across the darker side of some people using permaculture as a fig leaf for their profligate consumption.

And their virtue signalling wokeness..... Like one person here; moans about fuel exploration etc etc etc and then flies on a holiday to France and off to Scotland to take part in a climate change conference..... Two overseas trips in 6-months....

I often broadcast vege seeds and plant vege seedlings in shelterbelts, all over the place really. Let veges self seed. So as well as the formal vege patches I can sorta forage wild veges too.... I was going to whinge to a mate about getting tired of eating venison mince during lockdown; but thought it was a bit "1st world problem-ish"

things are getting bad, no meat pies at all at the supermarket !!!!
so today i made manchester eggs. its a pickled hard boiled egg wrapped in a ix of sausage meat and black pudding filling then crumbed and baked.
tonight i am giving the dog a run for the money on toxic farts !!!

Originally Posted by gonetropo

i am giving the dog a run for the money on toxic farts !!!

Releasing toxic farts is a highly underrated passtime.....

I had to go to NW; bought some bacon and forgot to buy eggs..... Yes; buy eggs........ First time in 5-years when I do buy some.... They decided to moult just on lockdown.... It's like WW2 rationing here for eggs Freeloading slackers ha ha At least the ducks are starting up again! They usually only go off the lay for about 3-weeks in mid winter and take up the chooks slack...

Eggs would be one of the last food items i'd ever want to give up. I never grow tired of them. And duck eggs are something I've really enjoyed... apart from the odd one gathered from an outside nest that didn't have a use-by date stamped on it.

Speaking of living off the land.... This gave me a giggle.....

Moa,

Where to retire is a great question and I would like to find an answer!

I have worked in agriculture for 35 years. In that time I’ve lived and worked in the 3 eastern Ozzie states, Christchurch and New Plymouth, and mid west Us. Travelled a lot to the Ag areas of s lot of countries. Around ANZ I always used to look for areas of good country with good community. Eventually it wore me out. Too many good places.

In retirement I want to spent more time H&F and would like a small rural block/ Farm.

We may, stock market correcting itself have enough for a holiday home/Bach.

At the end of the day I guess my wife will get a big say in the plan. She will want to stay in Sydney or go back to Queensland. Probably Noosa way. Close to the kids who could go anywhere.

I’m thinking a place in a small North Canterbury village for half the year might be workable for the first 10-15 years as part of the plan.

I agree with your comments around soil.
You need to be a good farmer to manhattans be profitable on poor souls. Good soils tolerate poor farmers and flatter them in the medium term.

Firewood 2021
Greetings All,
We have had some cooler days, there has been some snow on the Kaweka Tops and I lit the fire for the first time this week.
Consequently it is now time to gather firewood for the 2021 winter.
Firewood gathering in progress.
Fortunately our firewood supply is within our bubble, about 60 metres from the house. Because I am old and somewhat feeble I practice low input firewood gathering techniques. Firewood is felled, ringed and split close to the stump. Next it is transported to the drying stack in the firewood transport device next to the stump. After drying and the wood shed is largely empty the firewood is transported in the bulk firewood carrier (rear of shot) to the wood shed.
Others technique and results may differ.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Firewood 2021
Greetings All,
We have had some cooler days, there has been some snow on the Kaweka Tops and I lit the fire for the first time this week.
Consequently it is now time to gather firewood for the 2021 winter.Attachment 136522
Firewood gathering in progress.
Fortunately our firewood supply is within our bubble, about 60 metres from the house. Because I am old and somewhat feeble I practice low input firewood gathering techniques. Firewood is felled, ringed and split close to the stump. Next it is transported to the drying stack in the firewood transport device next to the stump. After drying and the wood shed is largely empty the firewood is transported in the bulk firewood carrier (rear of shot) to the wood shed.
Others technique and results may differ.
Regards Grandpamac.

Looks a nice deal ,way easy then what I'm doing .

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This lockdown period has been extremely fulfilling in the culinary sense, as we have been able to prepare a square evening meal for four every night, exclusively with food produced directly from our small block, or hunted by me elsewhere. We made it an objective at the beginning of the lockdown to eat well with what we had, and rely only on bought food for breakfast and a light lunch.

Despite the horrendous drought here the vegetable crop has been outstanding, all the more surprising that we were away for six weeks during December and January and only got the garden watered once, with according to the Met service only two brief showers in addition to that. This has really made us wonder whether we have historically overwatered our vege gardens, considering that many of the vegetables we grow are essentially Mediterranean in origin.

All the beef is homegrown and killed on the block, supplemented by venison, pig and goat. The kids get to eat oxtail, tongue, heart and sweetbreads and generally don’t complain, I like testing them to guide them away from fussiness. We eat a lot of venison mince that we blend with beef mince in a roughly 50-50 mix. We don’t keep chickens unfortunately due to their attractiveness to Staffordshire bull terriers and a very bad stoat and ferret problem which we’ve now pretty much got on top of. The lack of chickens is going to have to change though, and I am thinking about how we can constrain chickens and stop them becoming feathered snacks. Our dogs have a very high prey drive and cannot resist free ranging chickens, as I found out to the dismay of my one mate at his home this past February...

The fruit & vegetables we grow are two varieties of butternuts, gem squash, potatoes, tomatoes, capsicum, chillies, cucumbers (which are “fast” pickled), various beans and beetroots. Relishes are made from sub-standard fruit and the one variety of butternut, lots of vege soups, tomato sauces made and frozen for use as a base in spag bol etc. All the herbs are homegrown.

Highlights are always the venison backstraps and goat curry. Lowlights are generally wild pig - don’t know why but the pigs I have access to are often too “gamey” even for me. Have been wondering how much this is pig diet related. In the past the Kaimai pigs were excellent, but these Ruapehu pigs are a bit iffy. So if there’s one thing we’ve decided to process as dog meat, it’s the current pork stock.

We bake our own bread, cakes and biscuits. We had a fantastic supply of fresh milk from one of our neighbours as their house cow was producing far too much for just them, so we made butter and various milk based dishes like paneer (Indian) and melk-kos (Afrikaans).

Unfortunately we’re heading into winter without as much stored vegetables as I would like, as we’ve never been very good at growing winter veg. But the veg gardens are all freshly cleaned up and tilled, fertilised with cow pats and compost, ready to go. I’ve got my wife to thank for the green fingers, she’s a wonder at getting things going and set up for a long production period, tying the plants up, making wind breaks, keeping everything strong. I’m more of an operations bloke, spade work, weeding, occasional watering. The simple stuff.

Next up is homebrew. It’s something I’ve never done and the info on here in the homebrew thread has got me excited. If I succeed in brewing a palatable pale ale, I’m gonna award myself a medal.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

This lockdown period has been extremely fulfilling in the culinary sense, as we have been able to prepare a square evening meal for four every night, exclusively with food produced directly from our small block, or hunted by me elsewhere. We made it an objective at the beginning of the lockdown to eat well with what we had, and rely only on bought food for breakfast and a light lunch.

Despite the horrendous drought here the vegetable crop has been outstanding, all the more surprising that we were away for six weeks during December and January and only got the garden watered once, with according to the Met service only two brief showers in addition to that. This has really made us wonder whether we have historically overwatered our vege gardens, considering that many of the vegetables we grow are essentially Mediterranean in origin.

All the beef is homegrown and killed on the block, supplemented by venison, pig and goat. The kids get to eat oxtail, tongue, heart and sweetbreads and generally don’t complain, I like testing them to guide them away from fussiness. We eat a lot of venison mince that we blend with beef mince in a roughly 50-50 mix. We don’t keep chickens unfortunately due to their attractiveness to Staffordshire bull terriers and a very bad stoat and ferret problem which we’ve now pretty much got on top of. The lack of chickens is going to have to change though, and I am thinking about how we can constrain chickens and stop them becoming feathered snacks. Our dogs have a very high prey drive and cannot resist free ranging chickens, as I found out to the dismay of my one mate at his home this past February...

The fruit & vegetables we grow are two varieties of butternuts, gem squash, potatoes, tomatoes, capsicum, chillies, cucumbers (which are “fast” pickled), various beans and beetroots. Relishes are made from sub-standard fruit and the one variety of butternut, lots of vege soups, tomato sauces made and frozen for use as a base in spag bol etc. All the herbs are homegrown.

Highlights are always the venison backstraps and goat curry. Lowlights are generally wild pig - don’t know why but the pigs I have access to are often too “gamey” even for me. Have been wondering how much this is pig diet related. In the past the Kaimai pigs were excellent, but these Ruapehu pigs are a bit iffy. So if there’s one thing we’ve decided to process as dog meat, it’s the current pork stock.

We bake our own bread, cakes and biscuits. We had a fantastic supply of fresh milk from one of our neighbours as their house cow was producing far too much for just them, so we made butter and various milk based dishes like paneer (Indian) and melk-kos (Afrikaans).

Unfortunately we’re heading into winter without as much stored vegetables as I would like, as we’ve never been very good at growing winter veg. But the veg gardens are all freshly cleaned up and tilled, fertilised with cow pats and compost, ready to go. I’ve got my wife to thank for the green fingers, she’s a wonder at getting things going and set up for a long production period, tying the plants up, making wind breaks, keeping everything strong. I’m more of an operations bloke, spade work, weeding, occasional watering. The simple stuff.

Next up is homebrew. It’s something I’ve never done and the info on here in the homebrew thread has got me excited. If I succeed in brewing a palatable pale ale, I’m gonna award myself a medal.

i used to brew beer then i found distilling much more fun. outlay is higher but an 1125ml bottle of rum for $4 makes up for it.

Originally Posted by gonetropo

i used to brew beer then i found distilling much more fun. outlay is higher but an 1125ml bottle of rum for $4 makes up for it.

I'd never have the restraint required at 4 bucks a bottle.

Originally Posted by outlander

I'd never have the restraint required at 4 bucks a bottle.

well whisky works out about $7 so maybe go for that instead

Good post thanks Flyblown.

Do the pigs in your area spend a lot of time in bracken?

Broad beans are one of our favourites to have emerging from the ground this time of the year. The greens are excellent in salads. Tatsoi grows pretty quickly and might be good to try. Right now we've got a whole lot of freckles lettuce and rocket that have come up all over the place. Another feral green that shows up reliably from now on during the cooler months is Miners lettuce.