Prompted by Peter Wells, I decided to make a new thread out of this. Wherever I have lived, with the exception of Australia due to lack of suitable water, I have maintained a large kitchen garden, and produced such fruit and nuts as was possible for the country I was farming in. We did have fruit trees and grapes in Australia, planted close to creeks or water tank overflows - oranges, peaches, pears, figs all produced abundantly. We have provided a lot of our own meat over the years too. My experience of other farmers is that they do not garden (and their wives never seem to either). Do any of you keep a kitchen garden and or/orchard? How about eating your own meat?

Mother had a kitchen garden and never put a vegatable on our plate that could not be grown in that garden. Milk came straight out of the tank,and Dad always had a steer slaughtered for the freezer. We had fresh eggs every morning and chicken came from no further than the farmgate. This however has not rubbed off on me and the wife(city bred)  Apart from spuds we are not self sufficient in anything, and apart from meat which we get local  the wife gets pretty well everything else from the supermarket. I know its hypocritical to winge about how they,re screwing British farming but its a moderrn world we live in and with home delivery they can reach to even the remotest parts .This was not the case years ago which i believe is why more people fed themselves

OM, I have always kept a kitchen garden, in Africa I used to grow under shade netting in Summer, without shading in winter, had the usual fruit trees, layers, muscovy ducks, rabbits, goats and Jersy cross house cow, we also relied on venison as a major part of our meat supply. I still have our butter churn and sausage making equipment

At present we grow veg, fruit trees in pots, layers and herbs, and am experimenting with aquaponics in the greenhouse. I will be seriously looking at suitable small property to develop into a self sufficient holding, and do away with all this stress with the children all grown and almost gone!!

well not too sound too mrs goody two shoes we eat our own beef and up to injuring my back I cut it up myself the slaughter house only removing the bones so the pieces were of a size I could lift.One coming back next week.the veg garden well iam slowly filling it with rasp canes summer and late ones.Potatoes and veg try to grow plants all summer so they are not all together at once.nothing like telling your townie guests that all on their plate is home grown.its hard work sometimes weeding is done after tea half an hour at 10 oclock is not unknown.best bit is getting the tractor in to get the veg patch ready not into all that manual digging .anyway i do have a question why is it these garden experts never have any weeds.their veggie patches always look perfect my weeds appear within minutes of me leaving the garden.Most farmers wives round here have a veg garden maybe its the county we are in.and a bit of competition .

Do you think someone who loves cooking also has an effect on attitude to home grown

one drawback since no chemicals used on garden sometimes the meat comes free with the veg

I don't know many farmers, or their wives, who have the time to tend a kitchen garden? Sure, home grown meat is a bit different, but the veg etc takes extra time and care on top of day to day jobs.

I get milk out of the tank, own lamb, beef, turkeys, chicken out of freezer, eggs out of the nestbox, apples pears and plums out of the orchard (and Cider). Neighbour has pigs so get a side off him from time to time. I try to get most of the vegout of the garden but it takes a lot of time to do it well. The caterpillars end up getting better fed than I do! Nothing quite like eating a plate full of your own food, it tates so much better. I find it surprising how much still comes from the shops though. Cheese butter,cereals etc etc.

As farmers we all harp on about buying local and British etc but if we do not do our bit why should others?

Cider Ted:

As farmers we all harp on about buying local and British etc but if we do not do our bit why should others?

You've hit the nail on the head there. We all complain about supermarkets, yet most of us do shop there.

As for feeding ourselves, we eat our own lamb, beef and pork. Everything else comes from the shop (Morrisons usually) I'm ashamed to say. There is no local farm shop and the village shop only stocks things like newspapers, magazines, milk and sweets/pop etc. Hardly the place to get your weekly groceries.

I really should make an effort with the garden, but if the truth be told, I haven't the time or inclination and neither does the missus as she works full time. Perhaps this is a sign of the times ?

My father didn't ever really farm, but trained in horticulture, and always had a very productive veg garden such that very few veg were bought.

We grow 95% of our own fruit and veg, eat our own lamb & mutton, have enought hens to sell a few eggs as well as meeting our own needs, and also sometimes get local venison, to say nothing of the occasional wild goose, and of course pigeon pie.

Being 80% self sufficient is quite easy and probably financially worth while as well as for quality of produce reasons. Being 100% self sufficient is either a lie, or only for serious nutters

We are not self sufficient but do eat our own:

• Lamb
• Eggs
• Poultry
• Sausages
• Vegetables (potatoes, brassicas, corn, asparagus, carrots, beetroot)
• Salads         (tomatoes, squash, cucumber, radish, lettuce, corgette/marrow,
• Various herbs
• Fruit and Nuts  (including over a tonne of apples also feeds the sheep and christmas poultry )
Honey
Preserves    (various fruits)
Pickles         (various)
Apple juice
Cherry Brandy (I buy the brandy)
Slow Gin          (I buy the gin)
• Grapes          (for eating, juice and the poultry)
• Game and Trout from the gun and rod.
• Water from the borehole

As my neigbour used to say. "Them folks in town thinks we'em thick. But we'em eats well." 

 We raise a good portion of our own meat, I cannot say what percentage.  We also have a vegetable garden, we are fairly unsuccessful gardeners but each spring swear to do better.  We plant Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, sweet corn, carrots, tomatoes, green beans, peas, radishes, and lettuce.  This year we are thinking about trying a few peanuts, just to add a little variety to the failure. I reckon we raise around 1% of our vegetables. 

kf, An opportune time to ask the question mywife raised about Christmas time - how can you possibly garden (she looks after the ornamentals) in a climate iwth such severe temperature swings? Purely from her point of view, and she assumed your wife did the ornamental side, she wondered what yoru wife grew.

 I guess I don't know how to answer the question Old Mac, lots of people do garden here.  Plant the cool season stuff in late March and April, things like tatties, onions, radish, lettuce, beets.......sweet corn in April, warmer season veggies like tomatoes and pumpkins in May.  All you need to get through the heat on the warm season produce is lots and lots of water, but the cool season burn up during July and August. 

Wife doesn't do much in the way of flowers, we plant Impatients in old lick tubs, they bloom all summer if you keep them in the shade and watered, we also grow roses and have a few flowering bushes in the yard.  My mother is the one with the flowery yard, she is a little more dedicated than we are.

kf, Thanks for the response. Vegetables very similar to here. We also autumn sow garlic, onions, turnips, aome cabbage, beans and peas. Min temps of -6ºC only though, so quite warm by your standards. Roses seem to stand the heat OK, and my wife is dabbling in a small breeding experiment. One looks particularly good at this stage.