Sallygarden Smallholding - The Forum For Sustainable Living

Hi All

I'm an Irishman whos been away for about 10 years currently based in Kuala Lumpur. After adding a wife, 2 kids and too many extra pounds (but less hair), we are looking to return back to Co Clare sometime in the new year (2010). At the moment we are just doing some casual browsing of properties in and around the Ennis area but my goal is to ensure enough space to start a smallholding. Since my main income generationg job is predominetly working from home alows us some flexibility in terms of location as long as its not too far from Shannon airport (my work requires frequent travel) and also relatively close to civilisation for my wife and kids. I don't want to spend too much above 300K if I can avoid it as my income may fluctate from month to month so I don't want to stretch things too far.

I've very little experince of smallholding apart from helping my parents on a small cabbage patch many many years ago but I'm very enthusiatsic to give it go as I'm really tired of being tied to the suppermarkets. Oh and of course watching all epidodes of River Cottage (makes it look waaayyy too easy

Of course I'm looking to walk before I can run so I'm firstly interested in getting a decent kichen garden going with a plan to introduce a few chickens should things progress well. (I'll leave the bigger fowl and animals for now!). Also just trying to get some background info and have started reading " the smallholdrs manual" by Katie Thear.

So a few questions to the experinced folks:

1) What do think of the property market in Ireland (or more sepcifically in clare) for smallholders.
2) Based on what I said above what do you reckon should I be aiming for in terms of plot size, .3, .5 acre?
3) I've read that soil qulity in around Clare is not great for growing ....any experince on this?
4) Any pitfalls for first time smallholders I should watch out for?
5) Is there anything you would recommend I do whilst I'm here in Malaysia to help me prepare more?

Many thanks to all in advance,

Cheers

Hi Fuzzz and welcome.
I take it your coming back to Ireland for the weather!!!!!!!!
The property market is a bit static at the moment. I believe partly due to the over inflated prices of land and lack of money movement by the banks. Have a look on daft.ie. Its got a lot of propertys on its books.
As for size of land, i suppose its down to what your end goal is. We have 1.3 acres. On that, there is, a 50 foot pollytunnel. A large veg patch. 2 Gloster Old Spot pigs(well untill next month!) 3 Geese. 4 Goslings (untill xmas) 7 Ducks (untill end of Oct) 30 chickens. There is still plenty of room for further expantion. So you can get quite a lot fited into a relativly small area. However, we would of liked a bit more grazing to enable us to get a pair of Soay sheep.
I wouldnt know what the soil quality is like in Clare. But it can allways be improved with a bit of enthusiasm and pooh !
A lot of people use a book by J Seymore as a bible to downsizeing. Must admit to not reading it yet but crimbo is just around the corner!
There are plenty of questions which will always pop up. We have found that by asking on variuos forums, someone will usually have an answer. Ask away.
Regards
Diz

Hi Fuzzz, you have probably picked a good time to come back to Ireland 'cos prices are finally starting to head towards more reasonable and will probably drop more.
I won't try to advise you on size property to get as I don't really grow food myself at the moment and so don't know enough about to offer an opinion on that - however I would advise that you check out green valley properties http://www.gvp.ie/ if you want to settle around Co Clare. They certainly have a really interesting list of properties (no I am not affiliated - just have a friend who recently bought in Clare so I was checking out their lists).
All the best with your move.