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nicgee

Joined: 01 Oct 2012
Posts: 2
Location: Isle of Rum

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 12:58 am Post subject: New and shiny

Hello all, I've just stumbled across this site and am really excited by the tiny amount I've read so far, forum and articles. I really need to be in bed rather than reading on here so will introduce myself and come back tomorrow to read more!

I'm Nic, married to Ady and with two children (12yo son and 9yo daughter). Originally from the south coast with fairly conventional lives but chucked it all in last year to travel the UK in a 30yo campervan WWOOFing. At the end of the year we fell in love with Scotland and in April 2012 we moved to the isle of Rum - a small island off the west coast with just 40 residents where we have an 8 acre croft. Currently there is nothing at all here yet - it was a bare field when we moved.

We have been here five months and have a 3 bed static to live in while we build a house. We are, and will remain totally off grid - we have a genny which goes on a few times a week to charge stuff up, 12v battery for lighting and water pump which gets charged by solar panel and off the mains in the village a few times a week. Another 12v battery and larger solar panel keeps the internet running. Our energy needs are pretty low. We're currently using a portapotty and digging holes to bury waste but are in the process of crowdfunding a compost loo which hopefully will happen before the end of the year. Water is rainwater collected in a waterbutt or collected from the river if there has been no rain (not a big issue here in Scotland!).

We have chickens, ducks, geese and pigs and plan to have turkeys, goats and bees in the future. Our long term aim is to be as close to self sufficient as possible in fruit, veg and animal produce with additional produce for sale / barter.

We have a blog at www.wonderingwanderers.co.uk and I look forward to spending more time exploring this fab site over the next few days.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8957
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 6:31 am Post subject:
croeso and the link doesn't work

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 6:31 am Post subject:
Suspect an extra r.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 6:35 am Post subject:
Fixed. Welcome aboard.

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 7:22 am Post subject:
Hello - welcome to Downsizer. We went to Rum when I was about 8, beautiful place. Can you see the Cullins from there? How's the soil on the croft? Will you have to do much to it?

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9887
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 7:38 am Post subject:
welcome

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 7:56 am Post subject:
welcome

AnnaD

Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 2777
Location: Edinburgh

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 7:58 am Post subject:
Hello there! Rum must be a lovely place to live. I've never been there, but I used to go to Skye every year.

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 8:06 am Post subject:
Hi there. Sounds like the sort of place lots of us would like. Not sure if I could persuade Mrs JB that it would be such a great idea though.

12Bore

Joined: 15 Jun 2008
Posts: 9089
Location: Paddling in the Mersey

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 9:07 am Post subject:
Hi Nic, welcome in to DS

cassy

Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 1047
Location: South West Scotland

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 9:17 am Post subject:
Hi and welcome! It all sounds very exciting! How are your preparations for winter going?

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 6:55 pm Post subject:
Welcome!

Bebo

Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 12590
Location: East Sussex

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 7:40 pm Post subject:
Rum sounds ok, but I think I'd rather live in Beer. Welcome from one still down by the south coast.

gardening-girl

Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 6024
Location: Somerset.

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 12 7:48 pm Post subject:
Brilliant blog.

nicgee

Joined: 01 Oct 2012
Posts: 2
Location: Isle of Rum

Posted: Sat Oct 13, 12 10:47 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone

Winter preparations are going well - we've been insulating under the floor (from the outside) with loft insulation and will be putting a skirt around the outside of the static this week which should help both with warming it up and preventing the wind from getting underneath. We have the static bolted down against the wind already. The main issues at the moment are condensation (for which I can't think of any other solutions than opening windows wherever possible and trying to reduce water vapour - ie trying not to cook on the hob.) - it is very wet though and we are worried about mould forming, the walls drip during the night

The other tough bit at the moment is mud! The croft is a south facing slope but the ground is very wet and peaty / boggy so the more we walk on it the more we are turning it up and creating puddles. We are researching options for putting down some sort of track at the moment which would help a lot with that but us four, our dog, 11 chickens, 5 ducks, 2 geese and 2 pigs are a lot of feet trampling around and creating puddles!

The soil is not great and I think we'll have to do a lot of soil improvement if we ever want to grow direct into the ground. Polytunnels and raised beds seem to be the most sensible answer although we are looking at options like gathering seaweed to rot down and improve the soil which was a crofting solution here in days gone by. The trouble with having pigs is we have no composting material as they eat everything!

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