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  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
  1. British Red

    How we gave up the TV Licence - Hassle Free

    Part of homesteading for us is using our money wisely because we don't have much actual income to pay external expenses About 5 years ago, we gave up the Television Licence because it just wasn't value for us. Since then we've saved over £1,000, got access to fantastic TV for much less money...
  2. British Red

    All poultry subject to compulsory registration

    An announcement has been made that all birds (other than caged pets that aren't allowed out) will be subject to compulsory registration in England, Wales and Scotland. This includes poultry, birds of prey etc. Here's what we know so far
  3. British Red

    Be a real man!

    When we talked about Fiona's injuries recently we were quite surprised at the number of comments that we received saying that "my husband couldn't cope if I was laid up". When you think about living on a smallholding (or farm / homestead), it's a pretty poor chap who can't carry out all the...
  4. British Red

    Make your own gammon and ham

    I'm increasingly resistant to eating supermarket meat. An article on the BBC about supermarket broiler chickens sadly didn't surprise me this week https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68406398 Ross Cobbs (the standard meat chicken) grow to killing weight in 6 weeks flat. Ours take 26...
  5. British Red

    Why I hate (most) modern torches

    In honour of the in depth discussion of my rant about modern torches from which in part Tony made the EDC forum, I thought I owed BCUK a video. In our latest video I demonstrate the issues I have with most modern "tacticool" torches and introduce one that I actually like. It's not my favourite...
  6. British Red

    Disaster on the homestead!

    If a life of self sufficiency and homesteading appeals, spare a moment to think about how you would cope with a significant injury :nurse: We are finding out right now just how tough a significant injury can be and how quickly it changes things
  7. British Red

    Sweet Dessert Mead

    I like my mead to taste of honey and sweetness these days. If that's what you like, this might be the recipe for you - it used 2kg of honey to make 6 bottles of mead!
  8. British Red

    EDC torch that's uncomplicated

    I might be swimming upstream then ;) . My EDC is decidedly prosaic. For example torches. I use a pocket torch several times a day & most of them drive me nuts I do not need; A side switch A tail switch Any kind of strobe function (!) Magnetic charging Any built in magnets that drag the damn...
  9. British Red

    Blackberry Mead Tutorial (Melomel)

    Our most requested video by far is mead making and I have finally got it together to video the process. I plan to film more than one recipe but the most requested was Blackberry Mead. Okay, for the purists, once you use fruit it's a Melomel, not a mead (and a Metheglin with spices). If you've...
  10. British Red

    Incubating poultry

    Ten years ago a local countryman friend was bemoaning the fact that the cost of a point of lay pullet was approaching £5. :mad: Fast forward through multiple bird flu outbreaks, two Covid lockdowns, global feed and energy rate rises and decent pedigree birds are £30 to £50. When you think that...
  11. British Red

    How to have a calm cockerel

    I know that many chicken keepers only keep gens but of course, if you want a sustainable flock, you need to keep cockerels. Male chickens have a vicious reputation at times, but, like all livestock, they can be trained. In this short video Fiona shares how we have gentle cockerels
  12. British Red

    Do you want to feed the owls

    This is not an invitation I get often, and if anyone answered "no", we aren't going to be friends ;)
  13. British Red

    Pork scratchings...yes or no?

    So many interesting goods are the result of poor folk making food from items the fancy folk don't want, whether it's gumbo, black pudding or ...pork scratchings. Although there seems to be many names for it. Pork scratchings? Pork rinds? Crackling? Chicharrón? My early attempts to make the...
  14. British Red

    There will be mead

    7 kilos of lime flower honey. Something we've been asked for a LOT and never filmed is mead making. That's going to change Lime flower honey by English Countrylife, on Flickr
  15. British Red

    A new shop for the Homestead!

    Fiona and I spend a lot of time each day talking to other smallholders, poultry keepers, allotment keepers and self sufficiency types. We also work with some of the best UK companies that sell smallholding and poultry keeping equipment. We have felt for a while that there needs to be somewhere...
  16. British Red

    How to make an earth clamp

    It's been a great year for potatoes and we are using traditional earth clamps to store our harvest. If you haven't made an earth clamp, it's a fantastic, free, traditional country way to store tubers and roots. They are a remarkably easy thing to improvise for those who lack storage space (and...
  17. British Red

    Choosing a wood splitter...

    I know we are old school here, but we use 16 cubic metres of cut, split and seasoned wood each year. I love my axes and still split a couple of cords by hand for stress relief. The rest I use a powered splitter for. If you are ever in the market for one, it's a confusing market. I hope our...
  18. British Red

    How to incubate a chicken - in 60 seconds flat

    Well, the video is 60 seconds, the incubation is 21 days :)
  19. British Red

    Sustainable Smallholding

    We get asked a lot about sustainability, regenerative agriculture, rewilding and many ancillary questions on how it's possible to both grow food and not totally screw the planet over. We made an attempt to tackle that subject today. I really respect a lot of members here and would love to hear...
  20. British Red

    SAK hacks

    Mors K once said that the best survival knife is the one that you have with you when you need it! I genuinely believe that the Swiss Army Knife has a lot to commend it as an EDC knife. It's tools are great, it's pretty cheap and it's seen as an inoffensive tool. But did you know the standard...