38 replies to this topic

[Cornish Gems]

My fiancee and I purchased Dave's Field to Farm in May of 2009, and after reading it we were bitten. Both of us having been bought up on farms and being involved in farming for many years we saw this as an opportunity of returning to our roots.

The first thing we had to do was to look at the capital we had available to invest in this project how much we could raise either by sale of assets or shares for we had decided at the outset that we did not want to burden ourselves with a large mortgage or loan. This done we set about in earnest to find property.

One of the first properties we found was on the small side but was in an ideal position main road leading to a busy market town here in Devon. The property had mains water, low voltage power cables crossing the land and an easy access point. The draw back was the clawback clause in the proposed contract. This made the property unworkable, to me personally these type of clauses smacks of laziness by the owner, wanting to get rich from other people's hard work and believe me it was going to be hard work.

We then found another parcel of land 22 acres with stream, copse, two flat fields, a third field which was flat leading down a steep drop to the stream, all the fields were southfacing ideal. Price was within budget so we set about building a costing.

We collected quotes for the barn for the polytunnels, arks field shelters and alike. We then looked at services telephone would be no problem as the poles ran along the boundry with a distribution point outside one of the two gates. Mains water would be a little more of a problem with the main the otherside of the road this would mean the water board digging the road and bringing over a pipe for us costly but acceptable. Power electricity this was the problem.

The electricty companies we as householders deal with ie British Gas, SWEB, etc have nothing to do with supplying the mains to you ie the actual wire etc this is done by a Utilities company in our case Western. The nearest power cable was only 350 meters away running through a neighbouring field. We had to have it surveyed to obtain a quote and this was the sting in the tail. To have the new supply to our field boundary if run overhead would cost �12,000 if run underground the cost was �8,000 however we could save �3,000 if we did the ground work ourselves ie dig the trench, lay the pea gravel and reinstate. We would then have to pay our neighbour an annual rental for this trench.

All this and at least a 12 mth wait for the new power supply.

You may have guessed we decided that this was too too much, we want to get on not wait around. So friends the land is not the only initial problem the services that you may require could also be.

[Cornish Gems]

Everytime we go to see some land, we are struck by how muddy it is - it certainly is an eye-opener during this very long wet period.

Now today, reports have been coming in all day of a strange bright glowing orb floating through the sky over Devon heading in a westerly direction first seen around 06:00 this morning it has been making slow progress. It has been suggested that this object is infact the sun, but as nobody can remember the aberation we shall have to wait and see what the experts have to say. At least is it not raining. Hooray!

[Cornish Gems]

We have been busy the last couple of weeks putting our house in order so as to sell it as quickly as possible.  The estate agent came this morning and gave us some good news re valuation and chances of a sale.  Now to prepare the HIP something which did not have to be done when the house was sold to us in the mid 's.

Have also visited more parcels of land.  One of them we drove around two of the boundaries and then did not bother to get out of the car as we decided the 'undulating' land was far too steep for our purposes.  We were put off one plot because of what we think was a badger hole.  We do not think it was a fox hole because there was such abundant evidence of rabbits all over the fields.  Another parcel had no direct access to water, (although there was a mains supply over 250 yards away) and as it was on top of a 'hill', we were told that there was little chance of digging a successful borehole.

The funniest parcel of all, was one which was described as having 'good access' which turned out to be only good if one had a farm vehicle.  Our Zafira would have broken an axle and would have needed a crane to rescue it had we driven on around the corner.

One we really liked the look of was on the banks of a river, but we were concerned because the river fence was broken in many places which seemed to be where fishermen had gained access to the bank (the fishing rights were not included in the sale).  The river was quite fast flowing and we did not think it would be safe if the caravans brought children.

We asked one estate agent the definition of 'gently sloping' and he says it varies from agent to agent but that generally speaking land is NOT gently sloping if one cannot drive up it on a 2-wheel drive tractor.

The search goes on.......

[Cornish Gems]

The first of our livestock is a pet.

Our 11 year-old daughter wanted a pet for Christmas and so she was given an incubator and a couple of eggs at the beginning of December.  We were all there when the first tapping began.  The resulting chick eventually lifted up its head - saw us all and promptly collapsed!!

We kept on saying to her that it was a pure bred Rhode Island Red, only to be told over and over again that Bobby was nothing more than a pooping machine!!

Several adventures later, Bobby has been comfortably installed outside.  We laughed when we saw a tawny cat enter the garden and approach Bobby's cage and then skedaddle when Bobby showed his displeasure.  A week or so later we were about to have our supper when there was a knock on the door.  Did we know that there was a cat  stuck up a tree in our garden?  It was a black and white cat and we can only assume that once again Bobby took exception to its presence in 'his' territory and made it known!

The black and white cat eventually came down and we have not seen it (not the tawny one) since.

We have not been told of any other instances where cockerels have proved to be a 'cat deterrent', but we can think of no other explanation.

[Cornish Gems]

Another wet day down here in Devon and we have been up to one of the plots of land we are interested in. We had to meet a surveyor from the power company to discuss costings for the electricity we will need in th barn and mobile home, luckily this plot of land has overhead power cables crossing it so the cost is going to be reasonable. But we are stuck as our offer is not going to be considered until the main farm house is either sold as a small lot or the complete farm that then will negate our offer on this Lot as all the lots will then be sold as one.

We are looking all over the county and even over the borders both east and west. So far the best choices is between one full of rushes or the other full of bushes!

Finding land of more than 5 acres is hard here in Devon it appears that most of the farms that are being sold are either too big in that they are over 100 acres or when split as lots of between 15 and 40 acres take ages to sell. All the horseey people are buying the smaller lots of 1 to 5 acres and between 5 - 15 are rare. And land to rent is like finding rocking horse manure, unless you want to rent 50+ acres.

In the meantime the 16 fruit trees we have in pots are begining to bud and our cockerel has found his voice. the cockerel has found his vocation in life in that he now keeps the garden cat free. In fact the other night he treed a cat and it was there for two and a half days, before we managed to coax it down.

But we keep looking, and hoping.

[Cornish Gems]

We have had a very busy and exciting week.  We took our 11-year old to show her some parcels of land that we liked the look of and she really liked one of them, so we have made an offer for it on Tuesday after Easter and today Saturday we were notified by the agents that the vendors have accepted the offer.  We especially like the hedges which are full of hawthorn and hazel, etc., and the secondary school nearby has a good reputation.

Our local nursery decided to do some special offers of raspberry canes, gooseberry bushes and crowns of rhubarb and so we snatched them up.  They have now all been planted up in the special tubs we purchased last year during an end of season sale.  We had already planted up the redcurrants and blackberries that were growing in the garden ready for the move this year.

We have also been exploring the possibility of growing blueberries as the reports of them as a health food seem excellent.  We so far have 3 varieties in garden tubs, Northland, Spartan and Berkeley so that we can learn something about the care of them although initial research seem to suggest that they are low maintenance providing they are in the right kind of soil.  We understand that rhubarb leaves can make an excellent mulch and we also thought that if we expanded this idea we could ask for used Christmas trees.

There is a thread on the forum about whether �175,000 is enough money to carry out the 'dream' - well we have much less than that available and so we are going to have to watch our pennies.  To this end we are hoping to live in our caravan for the summer and then at the end of the year purchase one of the mobile homes that the local holiday park sells off for next-to-nothing.  Hopefully, the income will be sufficient by the end of the 5 years for us to be able to obtain planning permission for our dream log cabin.

Some people consider us to be fortunate in as much as we both 'retired' just as soon as it was feasible which means that we have a lot of time on our hands for research.  We have decided that a 'blueberry patch' is a must as is a vegetable patch.  We already have the makings of a mini orchard and of course we want lots of chickens whilst our daughter would like a pony.  There is an excellent website selling bee starter kits and what is more the suppliers will then purchase the honey the bees produce.  One of our favourite sites is one which has interesting articles about what to do with different plants - the idea of making our own sloe gin with vodka and then making 'truffles' is exciting.  Another site is offering portable polytunnels (about 4ft high) which of course will not need planning permission and these sound very practical for our purposes.

Now the adventure begins and we are so much looking forward to it.

[Cornish Gems]

We very much hope that this is not our last posting because we have been hoping that others would copy us and like us follow the footsteps laid out in Dave's book.  As stated earlier, we first laid eyes on Dave's book in May of last year and since then have been focusing all our efforts into following his guidelines.
Thanks to his encouragement we now feel that we are on the verge of realising a previously 'unbelievable' dream.
Dave - we do so wish you could see what your book(s) (both of them now) have achieved in this neck of the woods!
BTW - we wish your website would accept UK English and not insist on US English, because we were taught that it was realise at school and not that one should use realize.

[shepie]

Hi 2Devonians why would this be your last post ????????????

Shepie

[Cornish Gems]

Hi Shepie - simple! How could we add to the diary when did not see how we could continue to call ourselves 2Devonians as we had made on offer for some land in Cornwall!!!

However - we went to the Help section and found out that we were allowed to change our display name and so we are now calling ourselves 'Cornish Gems'.

Two former Devonians

[Cornish Gems]

A lot has been happening to us since we last mentioned our hunt for land. It is true that our offer was accepted for some land. The land had the benefit of a GPDO for a 100' poly tunnel and an 'L-shaped' office/packing/storage complex. The land also had the benefit of some blueberry bushes. The Vendors had also dug a borehole and installed a rather sophisticated irrigation system with a clever way of ensuring that one could not extract more water than one was allowed without a licence.

The Vendors had applied for planning permission for a temporary mobile home, but it was refused as there was no 'functional need'. This refusal was then, upon appeal, upheld by the Planning Inspectorate at Bristol, again, because there was no 'functional need'.

When the appeal failed, the Vendors stopped prevaricating and started being serious about selling to us. We had a problem in as much as they were doing their own conveyancing. Our firm of solicitors put our purchase in the hands of one of the partners and we were appalled to discover that he was treating the matter as a commercial enterprise and not bare farmland. So we dismissed him and used the excellent pre-contract enquiries that are in the Agricultural Precedents Handbook. Once we were satisfied about the land, we then instructed a local solicitor to ensure that the Vendors were indeed the real owners of the land and that the right of way was legit.

Exchange of Contracts and Completion were effected a week ago. We have until April next year to make a start on the poly tunnel and 'office complex'. We have filled in a form for a GPDO for a barn because of course we cannot store animal feed, seeds and the tractor in the 'office complex'.

The blueberry bushes have not been weeded this summer and so we have purchased a second-hand Mantis Tiller for a few pounds (one of the first ones to be imported) and have ordered a new one because the offer is that if one is not satisfied with its performance then one can return it within a year of purchase for a full refund!

There are bushes in parts of the first two fields. The third meadow (and the largest field at over 6 acres) however was grass which has also been left unattended and is now well and truly overgrown!! We are hoping to find a local farmer who will deal with it for us in return for some of the silage/haylage or hay if the weather is very kind to us.

We have transported some of our fruit trees to the land in a pony trailer that we picked up on eBay for next to nothing. Our daughter had a birthday at the beginning of this month and so we bought a trampoline that had been reduced in price at Morrisons. Today we put it together and she spent a happy half hour on it as a reward for the hard work she put into helping us to plant some strawberries. Some of the blueberry bushes have been protected from weeds with the use of ground cover matting and so we utilised the gaps down the middle for the strawberry plants.

We still have not worked out where to put all the cheap plants we got from Lidl's at 99p each, only 2 of which do not appear to have produced any new growth.

Yesterday, we answered an ad for a Dartmoor Pony, 3 years old, halter-broken, etc and just the right age for training for riding. He was a perfect specimen and what clinched the deal as far as we were concerned was that when he was eventually put back in the paddock, sometime later he came back to US when we called for him! Like all Dartmoors though he is busy stuffing himself full ready for the hard winter ahead in order to survive the bleakness of the Moors and so we are going to have to curb this instinct of his. However, he is not yet ours as his owners wish to come and see where we are going to put him and how we are going to look after him. His owners also breed Alpacas and have offered to let us have one for fox-deterrent purposes if we would give a home to one called 'Bertie'. Bertie had probs when he was born and has 'spastic' rear legs and is rather small for his age, but his face is so lovable, we cannot resist him. We are hoping and praying that when his owners see the paddock we have made for the 3 animals that they will let us have the 2 Alpacas and the Dartmoor Hill Pony (so described in his passport.

In the meantime, we have had to consider our 12-year old (just) daughter who was due to start secondary school this month. So we have been renting a static fairly close to the land (even before the purchase was finalised) and we have just heard from the County that our application for her to attend Launceston College has been successful.

We are going to bed tonight feeling very happy. We have spent a very satisfying few hours on OUR land doing somethings productive and we have drafted letters to the 2 nearest neighbours, one of whom wrote a letter of objection regarding the application for planning permission for a temporary mobile home. Our next step is to put a caravan on our land for health and hygiene purposes, ie, somewhere we can have some shelter and a break, etc.

Thank you, Dave for your inspiration.

[shepie]

Well done you two , realy pleased for you both (and daughter) hope all works out and look forward to hearing all about it in the near future

Shepie

[Cornish Gems]

Well, it has been a busy fortnight since we last added to our diary. The first Monday, we phoned RPA to be told that it would take 2 weeks for a number to be issued. In actual fact, we were given it the next day! We discovered that we would not be issued with a pig herd number until after we had moved pigs onto the land.

We are coming to the conclusion that the only thing to do with the blueberries is to dig them up; deal with the weeds and then replant them. To this end we purchased some pine shavings. They were delivered free of charge, but the lorry was unable to get onto the land and so had to block the lane. This also meant he could not turn around and so had to go further up the lane.

We purchased a Post Box from Cornwall Farmers and put it up on the gate post. We are pleased therefore that we received some mail from the Bank; that one hour after we had put a sign up on our gate Parcel Force found us when they delivered the Mantis Tiller and that an overnight delivery firm were able to find us to deliver two jerrycans.

This last week has been a long wet week, we have had rain nearly every day however things are moving.

On Thursday of last week we went up to Bristol to look at some tractors and equipment as most of our land is levelish we opted for a compact tractor of 17hp as we do not need to pull deep ploughs or sub soilers, or do lots of seeding. We also decided on a rototiller, topper, chain harrow and a roller, the vendors also gave us a towing hitch that fits the 3 point linkage and makes towing the trailer arround easy we arranged for this to be delivered on Tuesday morning.

We had decided that we were to have pigs and we thought that we would purchase some wearners just to get us going having been over 40years since either of us had any doings with pigs. This was not to be as when we went to see some young pigs we found them with their mother so we ended up buying the sow and her 5 piglets of 6 weeks of age. Having purchased them we now had to get some where for them. We decided to purchase a pig starter kit from a firm in Cornwall who advertise in the Smallholder, we decided on two starter kits in the end and these were arranged for delivery on Tuesday afternoon.

Monday all is going well our daughter is enjoying college and we are sorting out the paddock area in preparation for the Dartmoor Pony. Phone rings it is the Tractor people a problem cannot do it for Tueaday morning could it be Thursday......No we need it Tuesday and had arranged it all around other deliveries.

Tueaday morning dawns we drop daughter at college and go to the land, Tractor people ring to say that they will deliver this afternoon and will let us know when their driver leaves them.....Looking good now......phone rings again, Pig Ark People......the postcode you gave us does not exist.......here it is again, sorry our mistake cannot read own writing...OK see you in about 2 hours.

Well every thing seems to be running fine the Tractor people ring at 12 to say their driver had left....so we wait and we wait 2 hours go by and no Tractor and no Pig Arks...then 3 hrs suddenly the phone rings.. Where are you we cannot find you.. they had driven past the lane leading down to the fields.. first to arrive was the tractors and ancillary equipment we unload and get a swift 5 min lesson on where things hitch up and off goes the driver.

Now we have our tractor and impliments all dropped off just inside the gate, the tractor has the topper attached so to get used to it we decide to cut the grass near the gate and the top of the 'Home Field' not alot just enough to get used to the tractor. Later than promised but still daylight along comes the pig arks, we have to start straight away as the pigs need to be collected either Wednesday or Thursday. We decide to leave it all until Wednesday as it is getting dimmit and wet so we pack up and go home.

Having read the instructions on Tuesday night we are all knowing so Wednesday morning we are ready to go, well according to the instructions it takes only a few short hours to build the ark. by late Wednesday we have only managed the floor and skids, frantic phone call to the pig owners we shall be late collecting sow and litter can it be done on Friday, luckily the sow they were picking up was now not going to be until Saturday and not Thursday so we are relieved. As if the new sow had been moved onto the sellers land than all pig movement would have stopped for 20 days.

Thursday morning dissaster the electric drill had been in a bucket in temp shelter and due to all the rain had filled up with water hence one decidedly soaked drill, long trek in to Launceston to get another then back to land to put the roof etc on the ark. by midafternoon this ia all done and we tow the ark along the field to where the pigs will be, the Ark is sited in the right spot, next begins the task of making it secure. Oopps not enough fence posts so again we have to go home and wait till the next morning time is running our.

We had elected to go for an electic fence supported by wooden fence posts with the plastic posts in between... this was no mean feat although ably assisted by two of our sons this took nearly most of the day to get done. So with our daughter we set off, pony trailer to the rear to collect our gilt and piglets.

By the time we get back it is late and the pigs are showing signs of distress so we decide to leave them be until the morning we make sure they have food and water with plenty of bedding. Early next morning we get to the fields and we open the trailer there is one happy sow and her piglets, we usher them along the field into their new enclosure for the young piglets this is the first time out of doors as they had been farrowed indoors and been there ever since.

Once in their enclosure the piglets soon found out about the electric fence and this did make them squeal but they soon settled down along with mum and they moved in and out of the Ark with ease and soon made thenselves at home.

We are now the proud owners of a Glouster Old Spot Sow and 5 piglets and they make a lovely picture.

Well that is all for now, time for a cuppa.

[Cornish Gems]

Phew!! Taking our daughter to football at least gives us a break! What a busy week it has been!

But we are pleased with what we have achieved so far. In Scotland they make hay on fences, and so we tried doing something similar with the first toppings and are delighted with the result. We also used a rake that A. (one son) gave us as a land warming present complete with brush and long handled pan - the set is in fact for lawns but we are finding it very handy. Daughter used the brush for the pony trailer to clean it out after the pigs.

After the wet weather last week, last Sunday, we took one of our caravans up to the fields so that we would have somewhere dry to change. What a difference it has made and the only comment has been - 'oh yes - you need somewhere to wash your hands when dealing with animals!'

Very disappointed with Mantis Tillers - would not recommend them to anyone on their showing so far. But tractor is an absolute godsend. Have cleared two rows of blueberries; topped and tilled and then tilled again and added shavings. However we have discovered that each row would need 2 sacks each and we are not keen on having more than 2 pallets of 30 sacks each and so have decided that this year we will just mix in shavings in each plant hole and pop the blueberry bush back in. We can always add more shavings next year once they have generated a bit of income. We had been concerned that because we are not on a main road we might not attract passing traffic and so are delighted to discover that the access road is very busy indeed in order to go to a nursery centre and a music school.

We are tired of moving generator from borehole pump and back to caravan and so have purchased another one. In fact, we have bought two more as we put a couple of bids on two more an eBay and won both of them! Just as well, as the generator we inherited seems to need servicing.

On Tuesday, we saw an ad for some chickens and ended up buying 7 Light Sussex hens, which had been kept penned up in a muddy pen. The first day, they did not get out of the ark until we opened up the nesting box and then when we left they went back inside again. The next day, they stayed outside a little longer, but only one of them did any 'scratching'. Day 3, 2 of them were scratching, but again only came out when we were around. So you can imagine our delight when we arrived this morning and all seven of them were outside and scratching away very happily. Their eggs are out of this world although we only got one the first day but then they may have found the move a bit stressful, but numbers are improving.

Forgot to mention in previous post that pony's owners can and gave our fields the once-over and have agreed to let us have him. We will be picking him up on the Friday evening of half-term to give daughter time to bond with him. The alpacas will be arriving the next week.

Had a surprise yesterday - son A. caught the National Express on route from London to Penzance but got off in Plymouth; then caught another bus to Launceston; did some shopping and caught another bus and was with us in time for breakfast at 8.30!

A little tip we have been given is regarding pig troughs. If you can find plastic piping of the right size, slice it in half and then put the meal and pellets in the middle of it. Pigs have been named - Mum is Blossom and her girls are Patch and Sugar, but the boys are all called Dollars.

To finish up for this week, here is a light note. Farmer One had a sow and Farmer Two had a boar and so it was arranged that Farmer One would take his sow to the boar each day in a wheel barrow. Farmer Two told Farmer One that he would know if sow was pregnant if she started eating clover but that if she was not she would just roll in the mud. Day after day Farmer One looked out of his bedroom window and was disappointed to see his sow rolling in the mud. Eventually, one morning he could not be bothered to get up and asked his wife is she would look out and let him know whether the sow was in the mud or eating clover.
Her reply was, 'She's not in the mud and nor is she eating clover - she is just sitting in the wheelbarrow.'.

[Cornish Gems]

We have discovered something amazing - strawberry plants cannot read! We know that because ours arrived with instructions which said something like, 'zzzzzzz - I am hibernating so please do not worry if my leaves are brown and wrinkly - I will wake up next spring'. We planted them in holes in some of that black weed suppressor by making a hole and then pushing the roots in using the 'fork' of our hand weed digger. Their response a couple of days later was to show leaves. But this last week they have surpassed themselves - they are a mass of white flowers. So, just in case they should want to take matters further, we have ordered some mini polytunnels which should arrive next week. Whilst we were about it we also ordered a full size polytunnel about one-third of the size of the one for which there is already a GPDO but that is going to take a month or so before it arrives.

As we are in Cornwall, we also bought daffodil bulbs and have planted them in the hopes they might generate a little income next year.

When the pony's current owners viewed the paddock they asked us to put up a field shelter for him. So we ordered one from our pig ark suppliers and now wish we had bought the smaller one that has been erected in the car park of Mole Valley Farmers near Bovey Tracey. Anyone would think the pony was an elephant the shelter is so high!! Incidentally, one of the ads in Smallholder (November) has a couple of errors in it, but the suppliers are going to stand by what the ad says - on one of their items the price should be £40 more and on another there is not supposed to be a free rear door.

We have had to rethink our ideas about the blueberries - some of the weeds are showing seeds (and also hiding the bushes), especially the thistles, and so we have been using the tractor and trailer this week and digging the thistles up. We are not sure whether or not to rechristen our fields and call them Thistle Bank although with the way it is growing, perhaps the name should be Thistle Mountain.

Another worry is the fact that the leaves on the bushes have turned colour and are now already beginning to drop. We do so hope that we can expose them all before they are nothing but 'sticks' amongst a sea of green weeds!

We have finished our application for VAT as some farmer friends of ours point out that one does not charge VAT on food, but that one does on equipment and therefore they look forward to to a quarterly cheque from the VATman.

For the pullets, we originally bought a 'young hen feeder' with rotating top. Have decided we do not like it as the birds keep on knocking their combs on the top, so we are using a 'large galvanised pan' instead and they are now tucking in. They have just completed their 3 days worming, but the pigs have to carry on for another 4 days. We are using Verm-ex as it is one of the few products we are allowed to give by ourselves. We are, however, always open to suggestions.

The trough and drinker both had ice this morning. Pigs were still in ark - we don't blame them (it was so cold) but the birds were out and about. Pigs had tossed huge earth clods onto bottom electric fence wire which shorted out the fence, but they did not take the opportunity to escape - neither did the birds. Both girls have now weaned themselves, but the boys seem reluctant to let go. Hope to build second ark at the end of this week, so that we can separate the boys from the girls. (We eventually intend to use this second ark for farrowing purposes).

One great find this week was a guaranteed food container of 250 gals (1050 litres), which we have put on top of pallets not far from the livestock and this saves us the trek to the huge water butts in which water is pumped from the borehole.

The worse thing this week was an article in one of the Smallholder magazines which implied that anyone with a pension was only a 'hobby farmer'! This makes feel upset because we would have done something like this a long time ago had we had the money.

It is a great pity we cannot offer free parking to anyone wanting to bring a caravan to our neck of the woods because they could then do an hour or two of weeding for us by way of a thank you!

[Cornish Gems]

Have just noticed that our Diary starts with the words, 'My fiancee and I' - well this is out-of-date! We seem to have forgotten to tell you that we married in Dean Prior Church on 5th June (the Vicar said he had no hesitation in marrying us) and as we had both been married before (to partners who did not think marriage was for better or worse), we made it an informal affair with no wedding presents, cake, posh car/transport, etc - we even did the catering ourselves and had the reception in a church hall. We did however say that there would be a collection plate for replacing one of the windows. We have collected £1,605 so far and work has now started in taking out the old broken window.

The mini polytunnels (although they each came with the description, 'portable plant protector') arrived on Monday. We read the instructions and then realised that we had not been sent enough 'intermediate plates' - but a quick phone call solved that problem and they sent the missing bits to arrive the next day. We succeeded in putting the base together, but then found we had a problem when it came to putting up the hoops - the base was too wide. Apparently, we had been sent the wrong pieces of timber.

Whilst waiting for the correct ones to arrive, we cut down the two ends on the base we had already put together. The correct ones did not arrive when we were told they would and so we telephoned to enquire whether they had in fact been sent. Oh yes they had - but the van driver had not been able to find us - funny we said because no-one else had had any problems. It was Interlink Express and the van was express by name and by nature - the driver drove past our gate at a rate of knots - down a private access lane and had a bit of a telling off when he got to the end of the lane because he had passed our gate. When he eventually got to us, he said that he did not know that we were there - proper daft he were.

In the meantime, we decided to finish the first tunnel by adding the polythene - oh boy! There was way way too much - it was 7 metres wide instead of 3 metres - what a wonderful surprise. We can easily find a use for the cut-off pieces.

Pony and alpacas duly arrived Friday. Sat am it was time for pony's first bit of training - he and daughter Gem seemed to hit it off. We intend to keep him fit with the use of a lunging rein. He comes when he is called but had the bad habit of nibbling at pockets for tidbits - poor thing doesn't realise he isn't going to have an unlimited supply of those any more. We are pleased actually to discover that he likes apple. The first time we tried grooming him, we realised that it was a new thing for him so we are taking it steady. Today we taught him to accept a blanket on his back and to be lead while someone was walking behind the leader whilst messing around with the blanket. Gem is now confident when it comes to calling him, putting halter and lead on him and then bringing him through gate whilst leaving alpacas behind.

However, she had a bit of a talking to as last night she neglected to put the earth clip back on its pole with the result that the fence wasn't on and when we arrived this am, the alpacas were happily wandering around one of the blueberry fields. Fortunately, they caused no problems when being herded back to the paddock - we used electric fencing tape to guide them.

Met another one of our neighbours earlier this week. He came along on his quad bike to apologise for the fact that his cattle had escaped into our third meadow. We just shrugged our shoulders and said no problems but perhaps he could check that he did not think they could enter either of our blueberry fields. So off he went and when he came back was very friendly. We get the impression that the former owners were not very sociable. He has told us to ask if there was anything we needed help doing, so we mentioned the grass and he suggested that it would be better now to wait until spring and he would do it then for us.

We finally raised the roof on the field shelter on Saturday despite all the thunder and rain we had all about, it was difficult placing the 12foot x 3foot steel sheets up as the wind was trying to snatch them from our hands. Thankfully we did not lose any or have then whisked away as if a kite. We could only achieve this with the help of our grown up son who caught a bus at 5am to get up to our land to help. We are beginning to think he enjoys these day trips on a Saturday.

Forgotten to mention with all the rain we have had over the last week the van in which the alpacas arrived in got stuck in the mud at the top of our home field and we had to pull it out with our little tractor and gently herd the alpaca down the field to their paddock, Buddy and Bertie seem to be at home now although as we mentioned earlier they did have an excursion out of the paddock due to the electric fence not properly connected.

[Cornish Gems]

In the last two months a great deal has happened.

Firstly, we are going to bring our diary up-to-date regarding the chickens. When we decided to take the gamble and move up here before completion we had to find a home for Bobby (Gem's pet cockerel) so he went to a farm on the edge of South Dartmoor. We went to collect him at the beginning of November and were pleased to discover that he still let us pick him up and cuddle him. His home was the same chicken hutch and run which we had bought him originally and we placed this inside the chicken range and put him inside the hutch as it was dark.

In the morning, we had a lovely surprise. Bobby was strutting up and down his pen, with his head held up high, feathers fluffed up and tail flowing out behind him and the 7 Light Sussex hens were crouched down outside the wire, heads moving from side to side as if watching a tennis match whilst making low comments to one another. When we removed his run the next day, we were pleased that the 8 birds seemed to settle down so very well together. Even more pleasing was the fact that the hens rewarded us with extra eggs!

Then we were told about some battery hens, 10 months old which were due to be sent to the chicken pie factory and so we said we would have 25 of them. They were a very sorry sight and indeed one of them did not survive the journey. We put them in the farrowing ark which was not yet in use and wormed them etc. At first they didn't seem to be interested in doing anything but fight one another even though they did lay eggs although not in nesting boxes. Gradually though they settled down and we decided it was time to see whether they would be accepted by our existing flock and so we moved the chicken fences around them. The Light Sussex Ladies did not deign to pay them any attention and when one of the batts made aggressive moves towards Bobby, it took him no time at all to put the batt in its place. Now they have all been so trained that if you make a move towards one of them, it stays still and then crouches down for you.

We continue to give Bobby cuddles - indeed he expects it. As one opens the gate, he is there bowing down and then calling the hens to each pan of food and then when it has all been dished up, he will not eat until he has been picked up, etc. Warning though - he does not like red things. Indeed, we do not understand why manufacturers want to make feeders with red plastic. The two drinkers have red dishes and Bobby will attack one if it is not in its right place. Another time, he was distressed by a pair of red gloves.

The farrowing ark was a temporary home for the batts. We bought a shed and also some wood for skids, etc. It was a cheap shed, but we felt we could turn it into a hen house and we did. Money-conscious all the time, we decided we would not splash out on the official 'lights'. Instead, we bought a couple of Brookstone Fluorescent Interior Lights off eBay, plus a timer. The timer we installed in a chinese take-away tray and the whole ensemble had been doing a grand job and we are looking forward to being able to get some more of the same sheds so that our flocks can grow.

The latest excitement is that one of the Light Sussex is broody and so we have installed her in Bobby's old hutch with six eggs and she is behaving very well. Some say it is the wrong time of the year, but Bobby is now a year old (so we suppose we should call him a rooster) and he seemed to cope with last winter ok.

Secondly, - The Pigs. Once the batts had been moved, we cleaned the farrowing ark and then moved some of the pigs. We had been going to do it long before, but the batts put that idea on hold. The two girls, Patch and Sugar were no problem, but it took us nearly a week to encourage Blossom to enter the hurdle pen. We were pleased to discover that she was in season again and have now been putting extra time in getting her accustomed to being handled as it is our intention to try AI to start with as paying £50.00 a night for her to go to a boar seemed a bit beyond our pockets. We are pleased with how the three Dollars are coming on - we will make arrangements for their slaughter at the end of Feb.

Thirdly - Alpacas and Pony. The floods put paid to our idea of a paddock for them. We have been a bit disappointed as although they were reported as being friends, it became obvious that one of the alpacas (Bertie the disabled one) was afraid of Merlin the pony. So we tried an experiment and let the alpacas loose in the first blueberry field and Merlin loose in the second one. Apart from a couple of nibbles during the snow, the bushes have been treated with respect. We moved the field shelter for Merlin as were concerned about the amount of packed snow Merlin was getting on his hooves.

Fourthly - Water. We are blessed with a borehole - it is not a very sophisticated one having been done on the cheap and at some stage we are going to have to have it done properly but it does the job at the moment. With this cold weather though, although pump and borehole stayed operational the water in the water butt (250 gal one) froze and so we were delighted to see that Focus Do It All had a special offer on loft insulation - buy one for £11.99 and get 3 free and so we did. We draped them over the butt and then fastened them on using the plastic stuff that is wrapped around some straw bales. We wrapped an old curtain around the 'nozzle' for the tap and then sat a rag doll over the brass tap. The result was water freely available on tap. One day, when we needed to refill the butt, we discovered that the pipe connector had frozen up and so we popped the bonnet on the tractor and draped the connector on top of the running motor and a short while later all the ice had melted away.

Drinking water we bring on to the site in bottles. We fill these up in the 'laundry' at the camp site where we are currently residing. Sometimes, the pipes to the static are frozen but we are learning how to cope. Life is decidedly a learning curve at the moment.

Fifthly - Planning. The land was sold with the benefit of a successful Prior Notification for a 100ft polytunnel and an L-shaped Packing/Storage/Office Complex and the vendors let us have the original letter from the council which stated that the work must be completed within 5 years but nothing had been done about starting the building works. We put in a Prior Notification for a Barn for Agricultural purposes and then had part of it returned as they wanted our land edged in blue and the proposed building red on the map and site plan and were told that the 28 days would start when this had been done.

The first man from the Council arrived - he was there he said because there had been a complaint about buildings and caravans. He said that they have to investigate such complaints but that usually it turned out to be nothing but a storm in a teacup. We showed him around and he seemed friendly. He took photos of our 'food store' and RandR van - the arks, chicken hutches and the hen house, plus the field shelter. He also took photos of our tractor and other implements, pony trailer and even the hoops we had put together for the first part of the polytunnel. We explained that a lot of things would be much tidier once the barn was built. Apparently, no-one had told him about the Prior Notification but he said he would look into it.

Hot on his heels, came the next man from the Council. His purpose was to look at the site for the barn mentioned in the Prior Notification. He was a young man and a bit off-putting and said that he could not see a business there and so we had to explain that it takes time to build one up. He said that if we had 120 acres then he could see a need for a barn, but we only had 13! We quoted Clarke etc to him but he dismissed it by saying that we still needed a business. We do not know why he acted like this because just before Christmas we received a letter from the Council saying that Prior Approval is not required and the only provisos they made were that the work was to be completed withing 5 years of the date of the letter and in accordance with the plans submitted and that we had to tell them within 7 days thereafter that the work had indeed been completed. We had suspected that it was going to be okay as we had looked on the Council website and our application stated that no further comments from the public would be accepted and under Status it said, 'Prior approval not required'.

One thing we do find unusual is the fact that the Prior Notification was in a different name from that on the title deeds and wonder whether some Councils do not check up on actual ownership. Perhaps it would be possible for some notifications to be submitted without divulging whether some of the land is rented and not owned but just with the land under the applicant's control be it rented or owned all outlined in whatever colour the council wants on the necessary maps and plans.

Finally, we have a confession to make. With the wet weather and with the fact that we have clay below the topsoil, we thought that we would try to drain some of the water laying on the ground by planting willow trees. We must have cured the problem because shortly after we had planted the last of them, the land solidified because of the freezing weather! So one could say that our problem had been solved one way or another!

We hope to move next term so that our Gem can catch school transport to College and save us the expense of taking her in every day.

We had a good Christmas and are looking forward to what the New Year brings and hope that others find themselves in such satisfying circumstances. Thank you all of you for your mutual encouragement and support - we do not believe we would have got this far by now had it not been for you all. Thank you.

[Cornish Gems]

So far, so good! We are now hoping that the next few months will run as smoothly as this first one has done.

It may have been the wrong time of year for broody hens, but our Light Sussex broody managed to hatch 3 of the 6 eggs we put under her. Of the other 3, 2 were infertile and the remaining one was not fully formed. We had thought that the eggs were pure-bred Light Sussex but although we have one female and one male, we also have one 'cuckoo', which bears no resemblance to a true Light Sussex - it is BROWN! For the first week, we kept them in the ark before opening the door to the ramp which leads down to the run (said run also runs under the ark because that is on 'stilts'). It took them 2 days before they ventured all the way down the ramp, but now they spend most of the day in the run. Boody is proving to be a good mother. She will call them when there is fresh food available or when she thinks she has found a likely-looking morsel on the ground and also when it is time for them to go to bed. Like all chicks they are not much more than pooping machines, but Boody will cover up the night poops with more bedding.

We used Shepie's trick for measuring the three Dollars and have found out that the slaughterhouse needs at least 2 weeks' notice, but as our dear car has broken down, until it has a new engine, we have no means of taking the Dollars anywhere. This is a bit frustrating as Blossom is coming into season every 15 days. At least though she gives us warning the day before - she has pig pre-season lassitude, ie, the day before she would rather rest in the ark than be outside and needs a lot of encouragement to come outside for food!

The alpacas are good for warning us of very cold weather - they will start racing around before lying down to sleep. We thought it was only crias that did that and wonder therefore when is a cria no longer a cria. Our local agricultural merchant has come up trumps again this quarter with another compimentary copy of Alpaca World which makes for interesting reading. However, the only reason we have them is as fox deterents and they must be working, because we have not seen hide nor hair of any foxes since the alpacas arrived. Apart from a few nibbles of blueberry bushes when the snow first fell, the alpacas have left the bushes alone.

We have now finished digging the holes for the polytunnel foundation tubes. Good ol' eBay came up trumps re a concrete mixer - we got one for next to nothing and all we need to do now is collect it. The holes are 40cm x 40cm and 60cm deep and all 12 of them were dug by hand using a manual posthole digger.

Talking of digging..... we were given some money for Christmas and so we treated ourselves to 2 Westcountry shovels and have started clearing out the old ditches. Mind you, we had to find them first - they are covered in brambles and full of hawthorn. Also, once we had revealed where the ditch had once been, we found fencing on its other side. In one corner of the first field we found the remains of a caravan - all the metal had been removed and the rest of it just stacked up - so we had a bonfire! Close by, we found at least 14 wheels - that is what we can see, but as we do not know what to do about them, we have not started pulling them out - they all have tyres on. This seems to bear out a claim that the land was once used for 'raves'. Certainly the land has not been farmed for quite some time.

EBay also came up trumps when it came to IBC tanks. One seller had 12 of them and was letting them go for £30 each and as delivery charge was the same for one as it was for two, we bought 2 of them. One of them is for diesel and the other one we are going to swap with the one we currently use for the livestock as we feel that that one has now been well and truly flushed out and therefore will be fine for using it for our personal water supply. Just wish we had bought two lots of loft insulation when it was on special offer as it really does give us fresh water on tap no matter how cold it gets!

Now we need to hunt around for the best price for diesel and also seeds. The 4 bags of potatoes we bought in the middle of this month have now been set 'chitting'. During a break in the weather, 8 rows were rotatillered again. We hope to put the thornless blackberries, raspberry canes, goosegobs and currant bushes in 6 of these rows at the end of next month. Having said that, as each row is over 200 metres long, there will be quite a bit of space left in each of the rows (save for the raspberry row) and we intend planting the potatoes there.

[Cornish Gems]

What is that saying? Time and Tide wait for no man? Well we cannot believe how much time has passed and how much has happened since we last added to our diary. Because there is so much that has happened, we have decided to add a different post for each subject.

We were without our own car for over a month, and we had fun trying to carry livestock food in the hire car, but that was some time ago now. In the meantime, a local builders/agricultural merchant had a special offer of electric fening posts - buy ten get ten free and so we bought 100 of them.

Chickens Firstly, the same hen went broody again in May. This time we set 12 eggs under her. All should have gone well, but we forgot how 'clean' and 'fussy' she was and were a bit late in letting her out one day with the result that when she went dashing outside, she broke one of the eggs. We removed it but now realise we should have removed any egg at all that had 'dirt' on them. Eight of the eggs hatched, but only one of them survived - the others were too weak and indeed a couple were deformed and of course the one that survived will probably be destined to be Sunday lunch as it is a cockerel.

We lost one of our Light Sussex hens after it had been attacked by a rook. After spotting some broken eggshells OUTSIDE the pen, we realised we had been losing eggs to the rooks and so had to rig up netting around the ark in order to discourage the thefts.

We lost another hen (one of the bats) and as its neck was broken and it had been really really windy, we assumed the wind had picked it up and dashed it against the side of the ark. Another two hens (bats again) just disappeared.

Two of the Light Sussex hens get out of their run when they see us going into the food store and then when we enter the run, one just follows us through the gap and the other takes running jumps until she succeeds in getting over the netting. Obviously, we have not clipped their wings properly.

Currently, egg production is not keeping up with demand and so we recently purchased another 15 birds (16-18 weeks old) and they are a joy to behold. They follow us up and down the run, love their food and now 4 of them are laying. It is strange the way all 4 lay in the same nest box - especially when there was a choice of 6!! But at least they are not laying outside in the run like the first one did!

[Cornish Gems]

Pigs We bought Blossom and her 5 piglets believing them to be GOS as that is what the ad had said, but we have since discovered that they have not been registered and so we have to be careful as to how we refer to them. However, this has not prevented us from joining the Society.

Pigs enjoy food! Pigs will eat almost anything!

Once we had our own car back, we were able to book the 3 Dollars in for slaughter. If the pigs were fed in the previous 24 hours, they would not be 'clean' and we would have to pay a premium. So taking all things into consideration we decided to move them the morning before the Wed they were due to go in. We rigged up a pen around the trailer and then set about driving the pigs up from the bottom of the field. All was going well and they were following the food bucket quite happily until they came across a pile of horse poo and that was it. There was no moving them any further until they had cleaned up the pile!

They were very cooperative and went to sleep in the trailer instead of an ark so that we were able to shut them in just before we were due to leave. We had been told that they would be ready for collection on the Monday but that we would be telephoned first. In the event, we did not get the call until after 4.00pm and as we did not have any storage facilities, we did not pick them up until first thing on Tues. Then we carried on to deliver them to the buyers. We were let down by 2 of those, who decided they did not like to see any fat on their pork so we had to race around lookiing for someone to take 2 half pigs off our hands. Fortunately family and friends came to the rescue and took pieces of pork from us.

Should perhaps mention that we obtained the necessary tags and appropriate tool from Smallholder magazine. The first 2 pigs were quite easy to do but we had a bit of a tussle with the third one. The tags were done the previous week in order to give them time to recover from any stress. Incidentally, we were concerned about what would happen if one tag had been lost in transit but the slaughterman said it would not have been a problem so long as we had the necessary paperwork and it was obvious where the tag had been. It would not be the first time such a thing had happened.

AI was not as difficult as we had feared. We had been trying to pluck up courage for some time as we had not found anyone who had done it themselves. However, at last we took the plunge. As members of the GOS Society we were able to order semen from them. It was sent via Special Delivery and so arrived the next day. It came free with latex gloves and straws and, wait for it, instructions. Whoopee do! Because we had searched the internet and although we had found videos of how to tell when she was in season, what the boar did and even farrowing, we could not find details for AI. There were 3 bottles and 3 straws. We were surprised to see how big the bottles were but then the semen is mixed with something in order to prolong its life and it was supposed to be good for 4/5 days from collection.

We decided to wait for feeding time. One thing we quickly realised was that it is a job for 2 people unless you feel you have the arms of an octopus. The bottle travelled to the pen in a pocket in order to warm up the contents and then the first thiing we did was to cut of the top because we could not see how else we could do everything. One of us leant an arm across her lower back whilst holding the bottle upright and the tail out of the way whilst the other gently inserted the catheter (having used liquid parafin on it first) upwards of course in order to avoid the bladder and then once it was locked in held up the other end for the bottle to go in. She did not seem to mind at all and even helped a bit by keeping still. We did this at 12 hourly intervals. Could go into more detail but not sure it is entertaining.

Forgot to mention that this time we just had pork but will consider some ham etc next time but of course there is a premium for those. Incidentally, each package of pork came with a description of contents, ie loin, leg, shoulder, etc and the weight. What everyone who has had some is pleased about is the fact that the meat has juices and is not the sterile washed out stuff one buys in supermarkets. The good news is that they are all loving it and can't wait to get hold of some more!

Is this going to be another case of demand exceeding supply?

[Cornish Gems]

Polytunnel Building the first part of the polytunnel has been quite eventful. First of all, the ground was so hard that it was difficult to dig any holes. Then it was ever so wet. We didn't think about covering the holes and so they just filled with water. Whoops!

Well, we had been lucky enough to be able take advantage of a special offer that a local builders/agricultural merchant which was buy 10 electric fence posts and get 10 free and so we bought 100 of them.

Just as well we did because after a second person stepped into one of the holes of water, we realised we needed to fence off the area. We used some of the special offer fence posts and strung up the green plastic straw bale wrap. It makes quite a noise in the wind and the result was..... no more stepping into holes. We were therefore rather interested in what Canning Farm had to say about building sites and thought how right he was.

In the meantime, our car was returned to us having had a complete new engine and so we were able to pick up the concrete mixer.

Eventually, the ground started drying up and we could consider erecting the hoops and so we ordered the materials from Jewsons, who, bless them, tried delivering 2 jumbo bags gravel, 1 jumbo bag sand and 10 paperbags of cement sitting all by themselves on top of a HUGE wagon which was a no way Jose idea. Those poor bags looked so lost and lonely. Anyway, the wagon had to reverse back out of the lane so that they could return later with our delivery with a normal sized lorry.

Each hole for the hoops took at least 4 loads of concrete. We used a 4 (gravel) 2 (sand) 1 (cement) mix but were totally taken by surprise by the height the hoops reached. They had not looked as though they would be that high when they were lying on the ground! We realised that we would need a scaffolding tower to be able to fix the ridge pole especially as we were not impressed with daughter's suggestion that we should use her trampoline.

There were all sorts of metal storm strengtheners to fix onto the hoops which also had to be fastened with metal supports. Also we had to make door frames and doors plus the vent. Once this had all been done and we had fixed polythene to the areas which would not be covered by the big sheet, we waited for a non windy day. Yep, well, we became fed up of waiting and chose a Sunday when we thought it was not quite so windy. In the event, it was a lot easier to get the polythene up and over than we had feared. Mind you, we had one scary moment, when the wind picked up one end of the sheet and blew it up and off the ground and we had visions of it being blown all the way over the top and joining us on the other side.

Son A works for a company which receives deliveries by the pallet load and we are able to pick and choose which pallets we would like. Just as soon as the polytunnel was useable we transferred the tomato plants from the minipoly tunnels and put their tubs on top of a layer of 3 pallets. We had seen a programme about growing tomatoes in Jersey and had decided to see if such a system was feasible for ourselves. So frameworks were made for supporting the plants, some of which are now over 6ft high.

More pallets were used to make the sides of raised beds made up out of straw bales because we had seen a number of articles about these and thought we would give them a go. At the end of the day, at least we will end up with fairly cheap 'compost'. An IBC tank was put in the tunnel on top of 6 pallets to make watering easier and to make things easier still we put an old dustbin under the tap. This means we do not have to hang around waiting for a watering can to fill because we can just dip it into the dustbin.

The scaffolding tower has been reduced to two half-size towers so that we can use them for shelving purposes. Hopefully, we will have finished with them before we order the next section of polytunnel. Still a bit of titivating to do on this first section - we have to anchor the ends of the polythene under the soil around the edges but at the moment the ground is too hard.

We have started digging the holes for the next section and having learnt from previous mistakes, we put up the fence posts first. Also, as each hole is dug, we have put a trug in it to catch the rain so that the holes do not fill up with water. Most of the trugs just about fit inside the holes but one of them has sunk to near the bottom. We are very much aware that time is marching on because we have to complete all the works under this particular pd by April, 2013.

Other Building Works We found a site on the internet which did sectional timber buildings which look similar to the plans submitted with the original pd. The only problem was that the measurements differed a bit. Anyway a phonecall to the person who dealt with that particular pd resulted in our having to send an email with amended plans. He agreed that we could change the plans.

We were not so lucky with Building Regs. Before we could do anything about starting our office/storage/packing complex they wanted us to send in plans showing all sorts of details. We can only assume it is because we will be visited by members of the public. Just as soon as we have the necessary filthy lucre we will contact a professional to do it for us. We did have a go at doing it ourselves, but really felt we needed to make sure that all the 'i's' were dotted and all the 't's' crossed as we cannot afford to waste time. April, 2013 is getting closer and closer and we really would like to make a start on digging out the foundations. After all, we still only have manual tools to do the job, so we have to take that into consideration. What a pity we did not win the euromillions because then we could have bought a digger. Perhaps it was something to do the fact that we did not buy a ticket.