BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Midchuck
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 09:50 AM

A silly young man in St. Kitts
Once planted an acre of tits.
They came up in the Fall,
Pink nipples and all,
And he chewed them all up into bits.

Peter

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Mooh
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 08:30 AM

Plant trees, and/or cultivate a forest on it, and/or plant a large garden, keeping buildings to a minimum.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 08:15 AM

glis glis ewwww, an edible dormouse or fat dormouse
do you have any recipes?

See Recipe for Fledermaus thread. Same thing sans wings.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Michael
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 08:08 AM

It's bleedin' obvious:- I'd plough it with a team of rats.
And that would see my lifetime through.

Mike.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 07:51 AM

OM..I'll google it, there must be some recipes somewhere. Unfortunately...or fortunatley for the gliss gliss, they are protected here and you can't kill them. Paul was travelling once in the lorry which he keeps out at the forest and had to turn around and go back when he found a gliss gliss in the lorry.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 07:43 AM

I'm currently trying to find out what we will be able to cultivate on 9 acres (including the house and track), 1000' up in the east Lancs Pennines.
At the moment the next door farmer pays us to run sheep on it, but it would be nice to find a web site that gave approximate temperature ranges, rainfall and wind conditions that different plants will grow in.
Then all I will have to do is monitor the temperature, rainfall, wind speed and hours of sunlight for a couple of years :)

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Joseph P
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 07:36 AM

"Get hold of a copy of John Seymour's book on self-sufficiency. A lot of it is idealistic twaddle, but it should give you some ideas of what you can do with an acre."

My Dad has a copy of this book, as a child I would read it for hours. I dreamed of becoming self sufficient, keeping pigs etc, (not in a pet way, I was also keen on the butchering bit - I love my meat!!!)

Nowadays? I would keep a small area of woodland, grow veg on some, operate a landshare scheme where people can grow their veg on my land in exchange for a small share, similar to that suggested by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall (isnt that a bit like feudalism all over again? - maybe just let them use the land for free instead.)
Maybe I would squeeze on a bit of livestock. Who knows.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: John Hardly
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 07:23 AM

I'd dig half of it a mile deep, stack the dirt on the other side, and turn my one flat acre into two miles of mountain range.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Stu
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 07:21 AM

Actually, I'd build earthwork fortifications around the perimiter with a single entrance and declare it an independent socialist republic and mint my own coin and worship no God but the land itself.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Stu
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 07:18 AM

Make a stone circle. Plant an orchard and make your own cider.

'riparian' - best word in this thread.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: semi-submersible
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 04:25 AM

I like the allotments idea, if there are a few other families within bike range who would like to get their hands dirty. It sounds friendly and good for the neighbourhood.

Once he's figured out how much of the area should be wood and coppice, would your Dad enjoy exploring your region hunting for fallen seeds or seedlings he'd like to plant? Not all would grow on first (or second) attempt, but it would cost nothing and successes could give great satisfaction. In a few years he would have his coppiced woodland shaping up after all.

Daily gathering of fallen hazelnuts is a pleasant project at the end of summer, and they are very satisfying eating whether green or dry. Of course trees you plant in the next few years will need a while before you can eat off them, but they grow fast.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: open mike
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 12:30 AM

ewwww, an edible dormouse or fat dormouse
do you have any recipes?

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: open mike
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 12:23 AM

what or who is gliss gliss?

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Sorcha
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 05:09 PM

If you raise livestock for 'home consumption' somebody is going to have to kill and butcher it. Are you 'up' for that?


And yes, Zoning Regs will have a LOT to say about what can be done with it.

Me, I'd try to build a hideout cabin on it. Nature-fy as much as I could. Then, just go hide out. Maybe a small veg garden, but putting up produce is a Big Job too.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 05:00 PM

We're very lucky to own 25 arces of beautiful ancient woodland, it's a great place to relax, walk, meditate. We've had parties and camps too. There's loads of wildlife including deer and gliss gliss.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Gervase
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 04:49 PM

...and I'd forget about trying for organic status. It will cost you £500 to register with the soil association, and you won;t be able to sell produce as certifiably organic for three years. The fee is the same whether you've got one acre or a thousand, which has always rankled with me. We're not organic, as we could never recoup the £500 without pricing our stuff out of the market, but most discerning customers are more concerned with ethical and local produce - and only idiots would buy organic peas from Zambia.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Gervase
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 04:46 PM

Rules-wise, growing veg for sale isn't a problem, as is small-scale egg production. Livestock is another matter - Defra rules are pretty strict. We raise sheep and pigs, and have to go through hoops to ensure that everything is as Defra says it should be. It's a lot of work, and probably not economical on just an acre.
Raising for home consumption, though similarly fraught with regulations, would be an option on that amount of land, however. And you have to manage the grass somehow, so if it's not to be ploughed or tilled, then you might as well run some stock on it. It's not cheap, though - either in terms of time or money.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 03:54 PM

What are the EU implications of cultivating land to grow products for human consumption? Land would have to be tested for toxins. Do cultivation procedures and sale of consumables fall under EU regs on such a small scale?

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 03:42 PM

It's interesting to compare responses from U.S. and UK Mudcatters. It's like living in two entirely different worlds. I have no idea what it would be like to own an acre of land in the UK, and I'm sure many UK Mudcatters can't fathom what it's like to own rural property in the U.S. - but the widely different perspectives make for an interesting discussion.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 03:36 PM

You might enjoy looking at this, Rosie:

The Friends of Minack Society


The books about Minack are just wonderful. Derek and Jeannie led the life they truly wanted to, in the latter part of their lives, lucky things, down in a very lovely part of Cornwall. They're the kind of books to curl up with on a wintery night, to lose yourself inside.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Gervase
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 03:33 PM

Do you have riparian rights on the river? What sort of fishing does it offer?

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: open mike
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 03:26 PM

and if you camp, caravan or tipi there, what sanitation facilities are available?

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: pdq
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 03:10 PM

Both water and electricity are important and will help determine what you can do with the land.

Is the owner entitled to creek water for irrigation purposes?

If you need a well, how much will it cost? It will require eclectricity to run the pump. I doubt that water for domestic use can be taken from the creek, and if it can, some serious filtering and chemical treatment will be required.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: open mike
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 02:39 PM

is there water near? electricity? phone? septic?
what has its historic use been? (if used to pasture
animals is there manure there to enrich the soil?)

do you plan to "develop" it to live on?

where do you get tipis in the U.K.?

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 02:32 PM

What is missing from this thread is:
Location
Soil type
aspect

Given a plot that size I would put in some fruit trees and maybe some vines as well as native hedgerow plants.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Sleepy Rosie
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 01:53 PM

Yeah, I've thought similar stuff Lizzie. A proper little sanctuary with rare wild plants n stuff. I'm going to look into seeing what kind of grants are available for helping out with projects like that. Although he can afford the land, and between us there is enough human power to invest - including a couple of stong fellas, cash is still very limited.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 12:57 PM

I would create a many bed homeless shelter.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 12:53 PM

Oops! lol....er don't fill the 'hide' with trees etc...this could play havoc with your sandwiches.

(I need my very own English teacher sitting beside me when I write!)

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 12:51 PM

Make it a haven for all the wildlife around. Put a 'hide' in the corner where you can watch nature going on, fill it with trees and bird feeders, places for hedgehogs, foxes and badgers, squirrels, bats, bird houses...

There are oodles of books in The National Trust shops about this sort of thing, as they're trying really hard to get people to look after the land and our wildlife..You can buy hedgehog dishes, bat boxes and logs for the bees from us now too.

just make it beautiful, Rosie, that's all.

Or....

You can give it to me! :0)   

I know someone who'd happily live on it, in a tent, for the rest of their lives, at peace to know it was simply 'theirs'...

You're very, very lucky and so is your Dad. I hope you both enjoy it very much.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 11:04 AM

In the UK you don't need planning permission for allotments -

Sections 55 (2) (e) and 336 Town and Country Planning Act 1990

I would mark out 15 standard allotments - that's ten pole allotments.

(300 square yards) each. Properly husbanded, a 10 pole plot should feed a family of four its fruit and veggie requirements for a twelvemonth.

And I would charge each allotmentier fifty quid a year. That's a quid a week.

(What do you mean, what's a pole ? It's the same as a perch, or a rod, or a pace, or a lug - the distance from the back of the plough to the nose of the ox what's pulling it, as any fule kno).

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Bobert
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 08:54 PM

Oh geeze... Just what I need... Another acre... I've got 17 of theem sumabiches right now and they are wearing me out...

The P-Vine ahs a 500X60 foot long semi-shade.wooded garden... Then there is the pond garden (2 aces) and then there is the veggie garden (1/4 acre) and then there is the....

No, you keep that acre an'...

...good luck with it...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: pdq
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 08:52 PM

Just a word of caution: they ain't making anymore land, true enough, but there is still plenty to go around.

It is very very easy to buy land anytime you want, provided you have the money. It is quite another thing to sell it, especially if you need the money fast.

This does not seem to be a good time to buy property of any kind, much less undeveloped land. Better to buy rental property which generates money than raw land, which eats money. Then you can camp-out on someone else's "acre of paradise" for few days and go home happy.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: jimmyt
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 08:42 PM

plant blueberries, Easycropto grow, will produce a good $ crop in no time in most areas. ,^ feet apart, 12 foot rows can get a serious crop in one acre

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Comrac (troll alert contact max)
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 08:27 PM

I have a couple of achers,the wife did it with her knee !

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: gnu
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 06:47 PM

Sorry if this was said before. No joke.

Buy land. Thay ain't makin any more.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: bfdk
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 05:53 PM

Me, I'd buy a sack of seeds for plants that appeal to butterflies and scatter them all over the place, except for the shallow little pond I'd also put in there. Then, on sunny summer's days, I'd sit there with my camera and shoot happily at the butterflies and dragonflies or any other interesting bugs that inhabited the area :-)

Bente

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Sleepy Rosie
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 05:27 PM

Essex innit?

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 05:25 PM

out of interest, what county is it in?

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Sleepy Rosie
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 05:13 PM

For inquiring minds ;-) Today's scouting mission revealed a charming little feild cum meadow, down a lovely little country lane, with direct access to the road. A couple of very expensive estates within ten minutes walk... (Hmm, not so good for noisy gatherings) Farmers feilds to the right. A small river that never floods (so told us the fisherman we spoke to) directly on the boundary. No public access through, though on the other side of the river there is a footpath used by local fishermen.
Well fenced off. Totally flat. Not boggy. All nice green grass.

And one tiny baby oak tree recently planted right in the middle. Which rather charmed me.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 04:59 PM

But tell us more about the acre.   All we know is "a field" and "about an acre" and within bicycle range for you. Since we don't know what kind of area you are in, that last is very little help.

Wooded? Bare? Hilly? soggy? Rocky? Brushy? Flat? A view? A stream nearby?   What, if anything, is on the surrounding properties?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Sleepy Rosie
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 04:41 PM

"Grow pot and hide a still in the middle. Just kidding."

VTam, you obviously haven't met my father...

My semi-throwaway suggestion that we put a couple of Tipis on it, was actually much more his idea. Old hippy that he is.

If it were out of the way enough, and wouldn't cause too much disturbance, it'd be excellent to have a local friends gathering, camping, and music-making space.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 04:40 PM

Awww - and I thought there for a minute you were gonna invite us to add to the Parsley Sage song, Rosie! before I opened the thread!

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Sleepy Rosie
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 04:34 PM

Brilliant Bobad! One of the very reasons I posted this question here. Ta for the link. Looks like exactly what he needs to get some more grounded ideas together.

As to more in depth questions. Nothing's settled yet. Today was just a scouting mission, which inspired a lot of unresolved pondering.
Hence the "what would you do" with a hypothetical acre question. (Whatever bit of land he eventually plumps for however, it *won't* have planning permission.)

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Comrac (troll alert contact max)
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 04:31 PM

Is it green belt ? Would you consider building on it ? what area ?

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 04:25 PM

Grow pot and hide a still in the middle. Just kidding.

Does it have road access, parking nearby? Maize maze? Sell tickets.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 04:10 PM

We have 3-1/2 acres in the Sierra Nevada Foothills of California. In many ways, our claim to the property seems tenuous. We share the land with the forest and animals, and we feel it's our duty to protect the land for them. The lower, eastern half of our property is so thick with manzanita and Ponderosa pine, that we've never walked there. We have one path through that area that leads to the 150-year-old ditch that provides our irrigation.
Above the manzanita, we have a cleared area that serves as a leach field for our septic tank and a buffer area to protect our house from wildfire. Occasionally, people have found rattlesnakes in that area, but I haven't found one yet myself.

About a third to half of our property is taken up by the house and garden, shared with some very stately, tall Ponderosa pines. The land drops down quickly past our property line, and there's a one-square-mile wooded ravine to the west of us, owned by the Seventh-Day Adventists and preserved as a greenbelt. We can't see east or south at all, but we can see all the way to the Coast Range to the west.

We may own three and a half acres, but only about an acre of it is actually ours to use - but hey, we can see forever.

If you and your father buy that acre, Rosie, remember that you are only stewards. Take good, loving care of it.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 03:39 PM

You haven't told us about the essential three things about real estate:   First location, then location, and finally location!

How close is it to residential areas? To commercial areas?
What kind of roads come near it, to connect it to the above?
Is it within good television coverage?
Is it within a fire protection district?
Is it quite visible from the road, or screened enough to give privacy, if that's important?

And you call it "a field". From those words I envision a relatively flat, treeless expanse. What's the drainage? What's the soil like? Good loamy soil, or heavy clay that is hard to work and won't drain?

Without answers to these questions and others like them, I would have no idea what I could/would do with it, or even if I'd want to touch it.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: bobad
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 03:20 PM

Live off it:
One Acre And Security: How To live Off The Earth Without Ruining It by Bradford Angier

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: kendall
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 02:05 PM

Talk him out of it.

Subject: RE: BS: What Would You Do With an Acre of Land?
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 01:57 PM

Start a falconry business. You'd eventually need more land for actual hawking, but it would be fine for a start-up doing experience days.