Self sufficency

[renewablejohn]

Sorry to labour this point, but it is due to genuine interest. Who needs to approve a new fuel type? As far as I understand it, if someone wants to make their own fuel they can. HMRC even charge zero duty on the first 2500 litres if it's for personal use. Obviously if you are using chemicals then you need to comply with EA and HSE rules etc., but it doesn't need their approval per se, does it?

2500 ltrs would keep a 500kw chp generator going for about 12 hours.

 

[KMA]

What kind of fall do you need on your ridgeline? no chance of me having the luxury of a polytunnel for a couple of years but would be handy to know.

Pots and trays, I bought some pot-trays to start things off in, very cheap to buy and good for a few years, I reckon you could probably get them for the asking at some big garden centres. Lets me keep my seedlings organised when I put a variety of things in one propagator. Only bugbear is the 40 pot trays don't fit in my propagators so I have to cut them down a row to 35, no real hardship but I do wish the manufacturers would standardise stuff.

 

[renewablejohn]

What kind of fall do you need on your ridgeline? no chance of me having the luxury of a polytunnel for a couple of years but would be handy to know.

Pots and trays, I bought some pot-trays to start things off in, very cheap to buy and good for a few years, I reckon you could probably get them for the asking at some big garden centres. Lets me keep my seedlings organised when I put a variety of things in one propagator. Only bugbear is the 40 pot trays don't fit in my propagators so I have to cut them down a row to 35, no real hardship but I do wish the manufacturers would standardise stuff.

Mine works ok at 1mtr in 20mtrs

 

[Hooby Farmer]

A local guy and his sister near where i live would be the closest thing to off grid as you would get these days. No electric, no running water, no heating other than an open fire and solid fuel range and no car. They live in a little thatch bungalow down a lane that they share with the local gliding club. They have about 100 chickens, about 30 sheep, maybe 20 cattle at the very most, and grow about at a push 10 acres of mixed veg. Nearly everything is done by hand, they do have a little international tractor that they bring the veg back in a link box. They get their living from all the locals and the gliding club lot who know about them. There veg is better than anything you will buy at a shop, same goes for their eggs.........but you do get a dodgy one now and a again.

 

[KMA]

@renewablejohn, thanks so 1:20

This how I start a lot of my veg now

1. L to R, 5 lettuce (sweetheart), 20 beetroot (Detroit) 10 swede (Brora). sown late Monday, 1st lettuce started emerging Wednesday night 6 from 10 swedes through now
2. 35 beetroot sown Wednesday(kestrel)

Tatties, garlic, onions, shallots, parsnips and carrots will continue to be sown where they'll be grown.

 

[New Puritan]

2500 ltrs would keep a 500kw chp generator going for about 12 hours.

So is the fuel for a generator or for vehicles? The generator doesn't need to pay duty. Sorry to keep going on about this, but who is it that needs to approve the fuel?

 

[renewablejohn]

So is the fuel for a generator or for vehicles? The generator doesn't need to pay duty. Sorry to keep going on about this, but who is it that needs to approve the fuel?

Fuel is for both generator and vehicles and has to be approved for both for the figures to stack up. ie I have a guaranteed market for the CHP but will have excess fuel which needs to be sold as road fuel.

 

[New Puritan]

Fuel is for both generator and vehicles and has to be approved for both for the figures to stack up. ie I have a guaranteed market for the CHP but will have excess fuel which needs to be sold as road fuel.

@renewablejohn - So who is it that needs to approve it?

 

[renewablejohn]

@renewablejohn - So who is it that needs to approve it?

EU and UK Gov as an alternative fuel.

 

[Dave645]

If you grew your veg in weed free soil and covered your crop with netting then you would not come back from holiday to weeds and pests. Problem with the supermarket food is you lose the fresh taste.

It's not so much the fresh taste as the flavour, a lot of produce grown for supermarkets is grown on shape, not how it tastes, a lot of the old vegetable varieties had great taste but poor presentation attributes...... take Harrmony potatoes.... as case in point great washing potatoe, but not a patch on the flavour that older varieties give. We always grew a few Cara, Desiree(reds) Estima, Marfona and Piper. Customers at the gate would always say how lovely they are ( you had to warn Cara customers not to boil them in water, steam if wanted as mash, boiled or roasted) each type has its strengths and weaknesses but all have great flavour. One of the best chip shops around used to use Cara for their chips as they had great flavour, but they like naturally lower sugar varieties now because they don't colour as much if left in the pan. And as with all potatoes storage is key for frying potatoes or the starch turns to sugar and they go more golden as they fry all the way to dark brown if not stored correctly. Another reason they have gone to the big boys with climate controlled stores.
We tend to only grow earlies for our selves and a few rows of main crop, so we are less self sufficient than we were.....

 

[New Puritan]

EU and UK Gov as an alternative fuel.

But which bits of the Government? HSE? Ofgem? HMRC? EA?

 

[renewablejohn]

But which bits of the Government? HSE? Ofgem? HMRC? EA?

This is the legislation we come under

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...tice-179e-biofuels-and-other-fuel-substitutes

But it is complicated as the fuel is not defined as Biodiesel due to the high water content but is not an alternative fuel because the emulsion is mixed with the additive of oil seed rape. Until they decide which pigeon hole they put the fuel in then we cannot apply to be a dealer in controlled oils and sell the fuel as rebated oil.

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

To the interested you should read the book "sapians"
It gives great insight to our race and history, and that we were far better off in the simple times of foraging for fruit and berries and the odd kill teaching our children how to survive and taking things day by day in the tribe.
When we invented farming everything changed and we had a reason to to get up, reason to fight, and became territorial of our land.
It's very interesting

I've become completely addicted to a series called 'Life Below Zero' which follows half a dozen different individuals and families living in remote Alaska. One chap lives on his own, 65 miles from the nearest public road. Another bloke lives on the banks of the Yukon River with a pack of Huskies and feeds them on Salmon.

All of them live subsistence existences (to differing extents). Some of their labour-saving devices are ingenious, which allow them to make the most of the natural resources.