Homesteading In The Uk And Europe?

[BASIC]

How popular is homesteading in the UK and Europe?How does it differ from the US?

[Darren]

For info check out

www.acountrylife.com

The folks (Carolyn sometimes posts here) who manage the website downshifted, as they call it, to a farm in Wales, and then emigrated to a place in Canada more recently. While they don't call it homesteading, it's the same. There's also a section on downshifting to France since many Brits have moved there to pursue a simpler life.

[Thatch]

Yup, the simple life movement in the UK is alive and well. Hugh Fearnley–Whittingstall is the catalyst for at least some folks interested in getting back control of the food that they eat and feed their families. His site is a great resource for "Small holders" (the closest term to Homesteading in the UK) and has everything from husbandry issues to great recipes for blood pudding.

http://rivercottage.net/index.jsp

There is a really good UK magazine called "Permaculture" I wish I could get it stateside. Some friends of mine occasionally send me a few back issues.

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As for how is it different.. well, in many ways. Regulations there are MUCH stiffer in some areas... less so in others. Issues like slaughtering often become an issue where some folks can't even slaughter for themselves. (larger livestock) Other issues are land use. Farmland is farmland and can almost never be built on. Man has the right to walk the land there so often times there are right of ways through your land and you've got to build (or maintain) a stile to allow walkers passage. And of course land in general is much dearer that it is here. most small holders have much smaller properties that in the US. A half acre is a huge yard and I've seen many folks use every inch of those properties.

However, there are options even for city dwellers to do "homesteading" type things. Allotments (communal owned green spaces set aside for gardens) can be "rented" to produce a home garden from. These are taken great advantage of in the UK and spawn a rather odd social gathering place during the summer. Also, common greenways allow fore a huge assortment of wild harvesting. My family used to gather in our greenway nearly daily. Everything from blackberries to apples, elderberries, horseradish, hops, nettle, pear, crabapple and a host of other things.

It seems the majority of local producers have adopted a mentality of artisan producers which has turned the cottage farmer into a fairly profitable thing (since the big farmers are having a time of it there .. as they often times are here) this has seen the production of some VERY good things become available. It sells at a premium but you get what you pay for in this case. Everything from cheeses to wild boar are being produced by the small holder and the farmers markets which used to just be wholesale outlets for overseas produce are becoming wonderful gastronomic delights.

I look forward to that ideal spreading in the US as well.

The differences (and similarities) are large. If there are specifics you want to know just ask.

J

[BASIC]

Does anyone remember the "Small Holders"TV show from the UK on PBS during the 70's or 80's,I thing it was Good Neghibors?I liked it a good deal.

[Thatch]

It was the Good Life in the UK .. though I think it was renamed Good Neighbors in the US. That was an example of VERY small holding...

J

[BASIC]

I don't know population wise how popular homestesding is in the US but is it as previlent in the UK and Europe?I wonder if its because we in the US may not be that far removed from it?

[Darren]

Thatch there is also a Permaculture magazine published in the US.

[Carol K]

Property is Sooooo expensive in England that it's hard to start off with a few acres, that's why many are moving to Europe to get their smallholding. They do however have allotments, which are pieces of ground that you can rent from the local council for veggie growing, but they are hard to get now I think. Much easier to do the "homesteading" way of life over here I think, the opportunities are greater to find land at a reasonable price.

Carol K

[BASIC]

I would have thought that if people were going to move from the UK for cheaper land,that they would go to Ireland sooner than France.I assumed wrongly that land would be less expensive in Ireland.

[Thatch]

Yes property is more but property isn't the only thing needed. It's hard to say how prevalent small holding is. In some way more, in someways less. It all depends on where you draw the lines. In England keeping chickens is a protected right, so city or country you can have them (though if you want to be friends of your neighbors you'll skill the cockerel). Wild gathering is much more prevalent there than here ... though there are still just as many people that will look at you crossways while your doing it. I was given on a regulars basis braces of pheasants or baskets of rabbit. Several neighbors (in the village) made their own slow gin and bee keeping was much more common. It's just different. That may be a cop out, but sadly it's true.

As for the run for the continent, yes that is going on a lot. Mostly because property prices in general are insane. The rather new practice of interest only loans in the US has been the norm in the UK for the last decade. The home we lived in, in a not to desirable village (not on a main train route to London) and a rather average home was valued at about $500,000 the home in the country we lived in was about $1,000,000 with about a quarter to half acre of property.

My time in England was definitely a love hate affair.

J

[BASIC]

Is "Wild Gathering" a combination of harvesting game and vegetation?If so,i've been told the UK has restrictive hunting laws,is that true?I've herd that wild mushroom hunting is popular in eastern Europe.

[Thatch]

Again, yes and no. wild harvesting would be vegetation and small game. Rabbits and pheasant are considered varmints. I found my local rabbit source when I overheard a conversation in which a man was describing his last hunt where he bagged over 50 cooneys and had to dump em in a ditch because he didn't have anything to do with em. His job was culling the fields for the local farmers. Pheasants were so prevalent that I had to stop 3-4 times on the way to work to let one cross the road in front of my car. Even the row deer were pretty thick were we were. We'd see them when we were out collecting blackberries and elderberries along the greenway behind our house. Those however were pretty heavily regulated.... but I believe farmers still retain the ability to clear them when they become a problem.

Not sure about mushrooms in Eastern Europe. They were a bit more sought out in the UK than in the US but taste generally ran a bit more to the exotic there and that might have something to do with it. That and the moist climate made them commonplace.

J

[BASIC]

Do you know anything about Small Holdings in Scandinavia?

[Thatch]

on that I claim complete ignorance. Sorry

J

[BASIC]

Thatch,youv'e been very informative,thankyou.

[Thatch]

Originally Posted by Darren

Thatch there is also a Permaculture magazine published in the US.

Darren,

Sorry I didn't reply before... lost your reply in the list I guess. Thanks for the heads up. I'll look into it. The permaculture mag in the UK was pretty diverse on what it covered. Everything from home building to wild harvesting was covered. It was a bit like what Mother Earth used to be.

J

[BASIC]

Darren,sir,thanks for the link,it's very interesting.