Eggs at the gate -OT

[JoceAndChris]

FF - you are far too busy with your lovely house to take on chicken geekery as well! this website gives a good overview of breeds. http://www.omlet.co.uk/breeds/breeds.php?breed_type=Chickens&breed=Sussex
Don't think of pure breeds as useless fancies- they are in many ways better as they live longer, supposedly, and continue with the lay into old age. They aren't kept commercially anymore because strains have been made to guarantee an egg a day, but this can wear a bird out. I think if you're getting 260 eggs a year that's good? and all birds slow down as they get older.
I can't think of a pure breed hen that wouldn't cope with Norfolk weather so take your pick! Loads of good breeders near you - have a look at Poultry Pages.
http://www.poultry.allotment.org.uk/poultry-suppliers/live-poultry-egg-supplier-east-anglia.php

 

[JoceAndChris]

Kindling can be gathered plentifully and at no cost on this hill but I wonder if hessian sacks, stuffed with beautifully cut sticks, tied with rustic string, and decorated with a pheasant feather, could command £2 each?

Ahem, how much does a hessian sack cost? And rustic string? And how long does it take to cut sticks beautifully? £2 sounds a pittance for all that effort and trimmings. Either you need to charge more, or if the going rate for kindling (I have no open fire - yet) is less, then you need to lose the trimmings... Don't do yourself down, either way, Joce!

Thanks very much for your input Catherine and everyone else too. It would be so easy to spend the whole day making pretty things for £2!

It is nice to help foster a sense of community though, and nice to work on your own land with your own resources - a totally different feeling to going to work and one that's surely worth a lot? Actually, this "shop" is perhaps the most fun thing that's happened here - I've met lots of people, been given boxes, different plants, been invited here and there,and am holding Friday morning drop-in coffee (no charge) It's lovely to have the garden full of dogs and laughter.

So even though the profits are laughable (made 50p on my garlic so far) I think I might carry on and expand.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I know it was Charlie Chaplin's birthday yesterday, but why go back to black and white when one can have technicolor? :twisted:

Just wait until you're asked to do another BC holiday and look after the fluffs again - then they'll get their revenge on your disparagement!

 

[JoceAndChris]

I'm wondering about selling kindling - what do you think? I have about 50 - 100 sacks' worth, except it isn't bagged.

Hire a shredder, chuck the lot through and use it or sell it as a garden mulch, you will probably get more takers. :wink:

hmm. I ought to sell compost and mulch and manure. Perhaps wont attempt to make that pretty though.

 

[skier-hughes]

Kindling can be gathered plentifully and at no cost on this hill but I wonder if hessian sacks, stuffed with beautifully cut sticks, tied with rustic string, and decorated with a pheasant feather, could command £2 each?

Ahem, how much does a hessian sack cost? And rustic string? And how long does it take to cut sticks beautifully? £2 sounds a pittance for all that effort and trimmings. Either you need to charge more, or if the going rate for kindling (I have no open fire - yet) is less, then you need to lose the trimmings... Don't do yourself down, either way, Joce!

Thanks very much for your input Catherine and everyone else too. It would be so easy to spend the whole day making pretty things for £2!

It is nice to help foster a sense of community though, and nice to work on your own land with your own resources - a totally different feeling to going to work and one that's surely worth a lot? Actually, this "shop" is perhaps the most fun thing that's happened here - I've met lots of people, been given boxes, different plants, been invited here and there,and am holding Friday morning drop-in coffee (no charge) It's lovely to have the garden full of dogs and laughter.

So even though the profits are laughable (made 50p on my garlic so far) I think I might carry on and expand.

Similar to why I grow potatoes, which are one of the worst things I grow on a value for money front, I could buy them cheaper, but it's the feeling of accomplishment, forking up a few potatoes each night for dinner, the nicer taste etc, so I can see the fact that it stops your isolation as being worth a million pounds.

 

[Penners]

I just get very confused when Google redecorate their home page for a one-day anniversary which lasts, worldwide, 48 hours (or is it 36 hours?)

It depends on which way you're facing, when you cross the International Date Line...

...or something. :?

 

[Penners]

I've met lots of people, been given boxes, different plants, been invited here and there,and am holding Friday morning drop-in coffee (no charge) It's lovely to have the garden full of dogs and laughter.

So even though the profits are laughable (made 50p on my garlic so far) I think I might carry on and expand.

And I can't think of a better reason for doing so.

 

[CatherineB]

Kindling can be gathered plentifully and at no cost on this hill but I wonder if hessian sacks, stuffed with beautifully cut sticks, tied with rustic string, and decorated with a pheasant feather, could command £2 each?

Ahem, how much does a hessian sack cost? And rustic string? And how long does it take to cut sticks beautifully? £2 sounds a pittance for all that effort and trimmings. Either you need to charge more, or if the going rate for kindling (I have no open fire - yet) is less, then you need to lose the trimmings... Don't do yourself down, either way, Joce!

Thanks very much for your input Catherine and everyone else too. It would be so easy to spend the whole day making pretty things for £2!

It is nice to help foster a sense of community though, and nice to work on your own land with your own resources - a totally different feeling to going to work and one that's surely worth a lot? Actually, this "shop" is perhaps the most fun thing that's happened here - I've met lots of people, been given boxes, different plants, been invited here and there,and am holding Friday morning drop-in coffee (no charge) It's lovely to have the garden full of dogs and laughter.

So even though the profits are laughable (made 50p on my garlic so far) I think I might carry on and expand.

Oh I wish I lived closer, Joce. I'd be round for your coffee mornings, buying eggs and ramsoms (DH likes experimenting with food, he could have great fun with them) and raffia-wrapped kindling just for when we DO have a fire to light!

 

[JoceAndChris]

And how very very welcome you'd be Catherine!
I do often wonder why I, a person who basically just wants to gossip all day, should have chosen this most isolated cottage. I think I was going through a very romantic, Emily-Bronte-wandering-on-the-moors, phase. I also hoped we might not stay as two, hopes that have just about evaporated now. Still, I love my silly chateau in the sky and if I can make it a place where I can have a bit of daily chat that isn't on the Internet I'll be amazed and delighted.
Not that the real world is as good as the Internet, of course. :wink:

 

[Schoolmarm]

I do often wonder why I, a person who basically just wants to gossip all day, should have chosen this most isolated cottage.
Not that the real world is as good as the Internet, of course. :wink:

8)

 

[Penners]

I do often wonder why I, a person who basically just wants to gossip all day, should have chosen this most isolated cottage. I think I was going through a very romantic, Emily-Bronte-wandering-on-the-moors, phase.

Which is why I think your little eggs/garlic/kindling enterprise is such a good thing. It's obviously introducing you to people and giving you regular callers. Just be a tiny bit careful about those callers, though, in your isolated location.

 

[Ushy M]

Which is why I think your little eggs/garlic/kindling enterprise is such a good thing. It's obviously introducing you to people and giving you regular callers.

Definitely sounds like a good way to get to know the neighbours. We don't have eggs to sell (although this may change when Mr M gets around to digging a pond, whereupon we shall have ducks!). We sell our surplus plums, apples and runner beans at the gate, along with jam and chutney. Last year eveything we put out sold and on days when we hadn't got anything for sale, we had people knocking on the door to ask. We saved all the money and were only slightly disappointed to find there was only about £55. We enjoyed it enough to do it again this year if we have good enough crops. Our customers were often the older members of the village who might otherwise have to get the bus into town for supplies, and seemed to enoy stopping for a chat.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh how sweet! I think people have a natural, logical love of local produce and want to support it. I plan to do the same with my fruit this year, and don't see why I shouldn't sell cakes as well? Made with Maud Foster flour. )
Glad you made a bit of money Ushy, doesn't it feel nice? I now have £45 amassed from eggs and when it gets to £3200 will buy them the house they need.

http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/The_Gypsy_Daydream.html

A long way to go...

Thanks for the warning Mr P, it's a fairly small circuit of local dog walkers but I'll be careful.xx

 

[Penners]

when it gets to £3200 will buy them the house they need.

They need?!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Penners]

don't see why I shouldn't sell cakes as well? Made with Maud Foster flour.

Be careful, Joce. You're straying into the territory of prepared food, there, which can be a minefield (or so I understand). Stuff like a hygiene certificate, public liability insurance, Environmental Health inspections, ingredients labelling, separate storage for cooked and uncooked foods...

I hasten to add that this is all hearsay stuff - I don't know anything about it for certain. I'm just urging caution before you dive in.

 

[Coz]

Hi Joce - where abouts in Lincolnshire are you? We have three chickens - Matilda, Gladys Pugh (I swear she looks just like her)! and Madonna (Madge to her friends) We also keep bees but have only just got them moved over from West Yorkshire in the past week. We are in Little Steeping. I have it in mind to have a little stall at the gate with some produce if we have an excess this year. Oh - I almost forgot - we also have a Border Terrier - called Miss Ziggy Stardust. I love having names for all my animals - but i suppose we have to draw a line with the bees - we have 3 hives at the moment so that would be thousands of names to come up with!

 

[skier-hughes]

I'd love to have bees, but I'm currently banned

 

[Coz]

Why?

 

[skier-hughes]

because Jo is helping to look after the chickens (she doesn't want to) and I have too much work to do on the house........... Anything that takes me away from that is seen as a big no no. Abi, I hope is going to work on Jo and make her give in............ well that is my hope, currently though she's not doing a good job of persuasion

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I'd love bees too - but much like Graham I have too much on.

However, Wiggs Pigs takes flight (they do fly, you know!) later in May... 7 little GOS piglets arriving to live on the hill with us for a few months.

As is customary on here, I shall seek names from you nearer the time. 8)