Happy Homestead

@destry (2572)

Kirkwall, Scotland • Age 45

Joined myLot 9 years ago

Moved to a small remote island ;) Aiming to be self sufficient! http://www.happyhomestead.co.uk/ Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpGijxmh0aCi3ZB6LS

www.happyhomestead.co.uk/

Discussions (143)

Happy Homestead's Discussions

Time to bottle the rhubarb wine!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 20 Oct 19

Having bottled 30 bottles of apple wine and casting an eye over my other wines that are in bulk storage, choosing which to bottle next, the revelation that the gallons of rhubarb wine will require at least 100 wine bottles to be...

7 responses •

7 people

Visiting the uninhabited island!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 2 Oct 19

From our house, we have sea views and we overlook an uninhabited island - no one lives there apart from rabbits and a few sheep. I have wanted to visit there, but have never had the time. Last weekend, a friend of mine and I...

8 responses •

7 people

Planning for a homebirth!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 27 Jul 18

9 weeks until we give birth to our first child! Very excited and we really can't wait! We have opted for a homebirth as we don't want to have to leave our home on our small island for about a month and go into a city!...

pregnancy

birth

home birth

8 responses •

7 people

Being prepared for power cuts??

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 13 May 18

As well as resucing a baby bird yesterday, we also had a powercut! Powercuts are not uncommon up here in Orkney due to storms and old infrastructure. Part of life on these small islands means you have to be a bit of a prepper...

8 responses •

5 people

Rescuing a baby bird

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 13 May 18

Yesterday, I was out in the garden shed pottering around when I noticed a baby bird that had fallen out of a nest. The nest was up on a shelf with lots of paint tins and other bottles of oil and so on. I've been watching it for...

11 responses •

8 people

Hatching our winter meat!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 11 May 18

Our fertile eggs arrived yesterday, so today - we will be putting 28 chicken eggs into the incubator! Ohh the joy of watching these eggs sit in the incubator for a full month, outwardly doing nothing, then cracking open with a...

3 responses •

3 people

Facing a few life changing choices!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 6 May 18

Life changing choices are afoot with @knypse and I. We have a baby on the way, which is a monumental life change, and I am also considering giving up my well paid, full time job to spend more time with the family and to establish...

8 responses •

7 people

Experimenting with weird wines!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 5 May 18

I do love making my own wine, I love making (and drinking) all sorts of unusual varieties and flavours. My most unusual one so far, is Turnip and Red Cabbage wine - and it is most delightful. It's a deep red colour and the...

wine

homebrew

unusual

5 responses •

5 people

My wife will be joining us :)

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 4 May 18

I've just been chatting with my wife, Dee, who is having a long relaxing soak in the bath (making the most of the free hot water that we have now) and she is very interested in joining myLot :) So far, she has never really seen...

11 responses •

8 people

Free heating, electricity and hot water - oh the joys

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 4 May 18

As I sit here, I have two electricians tinkering away in my bathroom. We have been waiting for an age to have a new boiler fitted for our hot water... This is no ordinary hot water boiler, as this heats water for free! We live...

electricity

environmental

green

20 responses •

23 people

Returning to the fold!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 4 May 18

Hello all, I have stumbled back onto myLot after quite a long break from the site. Many reasons why I have not been around, but largely due to being extra busy working away from home. Great to see some old names and faces...

10 responses •

7 people

Turning free stuff from work into wine!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 28 Mar 17

I love getting free stuff from work - today I came home with a load of oranges and grapefruits that were slightly past their prime. Still good, just a little on the over juicy side. Also had a bag of sugar that had become a...

5 responses •

6 people

Our sheep have arrived!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 27 Mar 17

Whoop whoop, we now have sheep! They arrived this afternoon. So much excitement. We have made a video of them and is currently being uploaded to our youtube channel. Ohhh mega excited! Also, we have had our first egg laid this...

7 responses •

8 people

We have chosen our sheep

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 26 Mar 17

Just been to choose our sheep! We have chosen three - two white and one black sheep. They will be dropped off to us tomorrow! We are mega excited, and the Mrs is busy choosing names for them! These will be the first sheep that...

4 responses •

4 people

Getting some sheep tomorrow!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 25 Mar 17

Hopefully (fingers crossed) we will be choosing a couple of sheep tomorrow! Yippeee! We are after a couple of ewes so that we can start to breed them with a ram and have home grown lamb! It has taken some time to sort the...

farming

sheep

6 responses •

6 people

Fresh rabbit for dinner - from field to plate in under 2 hours!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 25 Mar 17

What a day we have had - all rather dull really for the average onlooker, but for us, we have been busy doing nothing. Started off by awakening with a hangover - taking the dogs to the common at the back of the house is always...

dinner plans

rabbits

5 responses •

5 people

Just won some free beer!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 19 Mar 17

Wooohooo I have just found out that I have won a 6 pack of craft beer! There was a competition on facebook, run by a brewery I used to work for a few years back. The prize was a 6 pack of their newest line of beer, and I...

7 responses •

6 people

Our ducks and turkey chicks are nearly hatching!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 17 Mar 17

We have 1/2 dozen turkey eggs and 1/2 duck eggs in our incubator at the moment - they are about three days away from hatching. Annoyingly, the incubator was playing up all night and the temperature controls were all befuddled....

3 responses •

3 people

The vulgar minds behind OAP'S!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 12 Mar 17

In my local community on my island there is an older lady, who - lets just say, is a trouble maker and no one likes. I think every community has some one like that. Anyway,, this morning at about 10:30 she sends me a facebook...

4 responses •

3 people

An update from our tiny island!

Happy Homestead @destry (2572) • Kirkwall, Scotland 8 Mar 17

It's about time I gave an update to you all. It's now been 4 months since we bought our little farm up on a remote island off the North coast of Scotland. The house is coming along very well, feeling more home like every day....

13 responses •

16 people