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Bramble Cottage | Mini Homestead
United Kingdom
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
Welcome to our new home and lifestyle in rural Scotland.
After years of moving around, living in 8 different towns and cities across the UK and Sweden, and more homes and rentals than we can count, we finally got the chance to work towards the more sustainable rural life we’d always dreamed of, full of plants, animals, food forests, making, crafting, and basic self-sufficiency.
In 2024, we were lucky enough to buy a small 0.2 acre piece of land with a cottage and a few outhouses on it.
It’s not much space for self-sufficient living, but it’s more than we could ever have hoped to call home. So that’s what we’re hoping to try and do: create a tiny backyard homestead.
It’s going to be a challenge, but we’re really looking forward to it. Join us for the adventure!
After years of moving around, living in 8 different towns and cities across the UK and Sweden, and more homes and rentals than we can count, we finally got the chance to work towards the more sustainable rural life we’d always dreamed of, full of plants, animals, food forests, making, crafting, and basic self-sufficiency.
In 2024, we were lucky enough to buy a small 0.2 acre piece of land with a cottage and a few outhouses on it.
It’s not much space for self-sufficient living, but it’s more than we could ever have hoped to call home. So that’s what we’re hoping to try and do: create a tiny backyard homestead.
It’s going to be a challenge, but we’re really looking forward to it. Join us for the adventure!
Starting Designing my DREAM Food Forest to Replace the Lawn
The weather's really turned in the last two weeks and it's VERY "November" in Scotland right now. We've been taking what opportunities we can to go out and begin surveying the main garden area of the Bramble Cottage site. This is so that Stina can draw up and then use accurate scale plans to begin designing a Food Forest, making maximum use of the available space and also finding out how many trees and shrubs we might be able to squeeze in. The more the better.
Meanwhile our boiler is still on the blink, so it's just as well we're doing something active as it helps us keep warm.
OUR STORY: After 20 years of moving around, in July 2024 we finally moved into what we hope will be our forever home: A 0.2 acre plot of land with a cottage in rural South-West Scotland. It's a place we never imagined we'd be able to call our own. The house and grounds are tired and in need of rejuvenation, but this is great for us because we love gardening and DIY projects that involve restoring old houses. We've also always loved the idea of starting a semi self-sufficient homestead as part of a more sustainable lifestyle. Join us on our journey.
#homestead #sustainableliving #diyprojects
Meanwhile our boiler is still on the blink, so it's just as well we're doing something active as it helps us keep warm.
OUR STORY: After 20 years of moving around, in July 2024 we finally moved into what we hope will be our forever home: A 0.2 acre plot of land with a cottage in rural South-West Scotland. It's a place we never imagined we'd be able to call our own. The house and grounds are tired and in need of rejuvenation, but this is great for us because we love gardening and DIY projects that involve restoring old houses. We've also always loved the idea of starting a semi self-sufficient homestead as part of a more sustainable lifestyle. Join us on our journey.
#homestead #sustainableliving #diyprojects
มุมมอง: 1 071
วีดีโอ
Banishing BUNNIES! What We’re Doing to Keep the Rabbits Out, Humanely
มุมมอง 2.5K14 วันที่ผ่านมา
The local rabbits are very excited about the new garden we're trying to establish here at Bramble Cottage. They've been boldly lounging on our lawn since we moved in, but now they're even digging burrows right next to Stina's new planting areas. We've been doing our best with makeshift fixes to protect the plants so far, but we badly need more permanent solutions! The primary plan is to complet...
How Will We Keep Warm This Winter?
มุมมอง 23K21 วันที่ผ่านมา
As we inch ever closer to winter, our boiler is suddenly losing pressure! Consequently, Cameron has spent the week trying to fix this, but we're also super grateful that he'd already restored our bigger wood stove ... we just need more kindling! At least we now have something to help keep the cold at bay when we need it. OUR STORY: After 20 years of moving around, in July 2024 we finally moved ...
Our Race to Grow MORE FOOD Before Winter Takes Hold
มุมมอง 8K28 วันที่ผ่านมา
This week we've been racing to make room for our new veggie patch because there's not an awful lot to eat from the garden so far. Cameron had a go at baking some fennel bread for tasting at the end, and Stina did our first "Food Forest Challenge" (i.e. went around to see how many plants could be eaten) to determine what new plants need to be added right now. So it's a rush to get the green stuf...
We Found 10 YEARS of Birds' Nests in our Cottage Chimney
มุมมอง 13Kหลายเดือนก่อน
Autumn has arrived and it's starting to get chilly here in Southwest Scotland. There were two old stoves in this cottage when we arrived, but we have no idea when they were last used and both contained birds' nests. A chimney sweep removed a small bird's nest from the bigger chimney for us, and it looked easy enough, so we said we'd do the second one ourselves. Little did we know! Anyway, with ...
Our First Food Forest Harvest from our Tiny New Homestead
มุมมอง 3.4Kหลายเดือนก่อน
We've moved into a cottage with an established Flowering Quince (Chaenomeles sp.) in the hedge that has been producing a few flowers and fruit this year. I've wanted one of these in my Food Forest for years, but this was my first opportunity to actually harvest and try the fruit. (Exciting!) I'm also gradually planting up my new garden (a Food Forest to be) with plants that I'm salvaging from t...
Literally Me Just Sorting Wood for 5 Minutes
มุมมอง 1.3Kหลายเดือนก่อน
A short relaxing vid this time, as Cameron spends some time clearing up and sorting the scrapwood on a sunny day. We've been at Bramble Cottage about 3 months now, and we've made a mess!! First we attacked the rotten decking, then we dismantled the Wendy house, and then Cameron demolished one of the sheds - it was semi-derelict and taking up valuable space. Now we have this huge pile of half-ro...
Our Escape to Rural Scotland: First 3 months at Bramble Cottage
มุมมอง 37Kหลายเดือนก่อน
This is a recap of the start of our new adventure: Buying our new rural home, and what we've done in our first 3 months living here. We hope to establish a tiny homestead and food forest and we'll be doing lots of DIY projects to restore the cottage too. Chapters: 00:00 Intro to us and our dream 01:06 Finding Bramble Cottage 02:23 July - Moving in, "The Kittens" & Squatters! 03:53 Bath & Shower...
Very nice plan, this is a perfect time to check if you have any frost pocket areas, also check where the sun hits in winter and if you remember where it is in summer. It can make a big difference to what you can overwinter in the ground. What are your plans for the side with the oil tank? Good luck with the garden and the house. What is the plan for the catio ? Sorry for so many questions, ❤
Can you get a bag attachment for your lawn mower to collect grass clippings? That material is so good mixed with brown leaves for composting.
We do have a mower bag for clippings somewhere, but we prefer to let the clippings mulch the lawn itself. Otherwise we're removing nutrients from that area every time we cut, without ever replacing them.
🐝 Thanks for the great video 🌻 subscribed
Very interesting. going to be wonderful.
wow how amazingly detailed your mapping method is - i think i would be overwhelmed by all those numbers. it takes patience
Stina is very patient thankfully, it's going to be great once it's all done.
I commend your patience with drawing up your plans! With every garden I have designed the rough drawing had to suffice as I was too impatient to draw up a detailed plan! If I was anywhere near the soil and I had a spade nearby, then I just set off and got cracking with planting! Plants are forgiving and rewarding and I would say each garden turned out better than I planned, so I am sure you are going to be richly rewarded for your endeavours. Best wishes.
Thanks! The site it's so tight we just want to be sure we're getting the most from every inch
I liked your vlog but…. the way you are filming with the blurred sections is really had to watch😊
No problems, this was really just for the areas and times we didn't have any footage.
good jobs , by the way in case you haven't all fireplaces need to be hetas certified and you must by law have a carbon monoxide monitor in the room, they are like £20 and could literally save you life.
No worries, we got the monoxide monitor a while back, better to be sure and all that.
i love the idea of victorian walled garden elegance 😂
We have a long way to go before we're on that level
How clever to use jeans for fabric hinges ❤❤❤❤ - they don’t need to be perfect to work the best you can for now it actually looks pretty. i love the mathematical calculations as well 😊
How clever to use jeans for fabric hinges ❤❤❤❤ - they don’t need to be perfect to work the best you can for now it actually looks pretty
It's surprisingly solid for being made from scrap wood and old jeans 😂
Love your channel! Don’t change a thing unless you want to! Can’t wait to share your journey.
Thank you! We're always trying slightly different things but hopefully you're still enjoying what we're making.
Good vid and hi from north lakes. I love my wood burner and find my central heating doesn’t need to kick in as much bar really cold days or in the morning. Ive also replaced most my old rads, bar 3 to the new type which has made them way more efficient. I’ll probably replace the remaining 3 next summer. I get my local sweep to brush out the chimney once a year. But ther is always things needing to be done with properties. Looks like tour rads need a flush.
The radiators absolutely need some attention, some of them are just single sides and some are too small for the rooms. One of the first things I did was to remove all the radiators and give each one a flush, really tiring work but when you see what comes out you know you've done the right thing.
I cloche all my favs, but leave herbs and more for the bunnies and I have no issues BUT squirrels and chipmunks will eat all my fruit. Lovely weather.
Thankfully the worst thing we have to contend with are bunnies (for now) hoping that once the whole garden is fenced in we'll be fine and safe from their terror!
Greetings from Nova Scotia, Canada. I just wanted to mention that you can start seeds in winter. Google "winter sowing" where you can start your seeds in clear or translucent bottles, jugs etc. I just learned of this method of starting your seedlings without a greenhouse. Great for cold climate gardening.
Stina has been growing a few things on indoors which are now being hardened off before going out, it's all a bit of an experiment but so far so good.
The greatest thing about gardening, in my opinion, is that it makes you feel good growing your food / flowers, herbs, etc etc no matter what it is, finding out what works on your patch, helping nature and wildlife, and of course building soil.
We're excited to start getting some produce from the garden though we know it'll take a bit of time before we're really reaping the benefits :)
The cloche is great! Slugs are a constant battle this year. I bought some nematodes from Gardening Naturally and that did seem to have some impact though not a huge difference. Earlier in the year when I had a lot of vulnerable seedlings I went out most nights with a torch and patrolled the garden removing slugs. Not the most pleasant job but it definitely helped!
Humm I like the nematodes idea, not so keen on the midnight patrols though lol.
It is not a 'homestead' it's a house with a garden. Why do we have to follow the yanks in everything we do and say?
I did some research when we were considering names for our channel. I found that "homestead" derives from the old English "hamstede", meaning "a settlement", which itself has some Germanic origins ("stede" like "stad"). It's true the Americans have evolved this concept to include huge swathes of land and that their definition has diverged from ours. However, we're sticking to the original European meaning, i.e. a bit of land with a house and a few outbuildings on it - which is exactly what we have (at least we did up until we knocked a couple of the worst outbuildings down, but we'll replace those at some point). - Stina
My apologises, however, I still hate the term. I enjoyed the video AND EVERYTHING GOES WELL FOR YOU.
Congratulations🎉 on the new cottage! It is lovely!❤ Oh, I dearly love your beautiful calico cats; however, you might wish to reconsider letting them loose outside, as cats are one of the most significant factors in the loss of birds. Perhaps you all might consider a catio or screened in outdoor patio for your cats.😊❤❤
We're going to be only letting them out when we're out too and we'll be keeping them in over the whole fledgling season too.
Hate the photography until it settles to landscape but only briefly ugh
Nice idea,just the weather br,how about Portugal 😎
Portugal is nice, went and saw the caretos once, very cool festival
This is the time of year mice come in from the cold, as I have found out this week. Be prepared!
If the mice come into this house they're in for a surprise, 2 cats who would love to say hello to them lol
@BrambleCottageMiniHomestead Sorry to burst your bubble but I have an American Ragdoll cat and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and they BOTH RAN AWAY when they saw the mouse!
Poor things, mice can be scary though! Our kitties have met mice in the home before, thankfully we managed to save one and return it to the outdoors.
@BrambleCottageMiniHomestead I have found the best deterrent. I sprinkle cayenne pepper and hot chilli pepper under units and a small dish of malt vinegar. Small pile of pepper on worktop where thet climb.
You should get a proper engineer to service you oil boiler. They can give off fumes if not serviced annually. I don't think DIY is the way to go.
No problem, the boiler was serviced soon after we moved in. It's just small issues I'd have a go at fixing myself.
You need an Apollo or Watchman oil tank gauge. Also there should be a dipstick already in the tank. It is a large black screw lid.
Ay already know that rye flour needs more liquid than other flours + it's better not to work it as much, I let it rest after I've added the liquid & often end up adding more. Good luck with your mini homestead, loved the video. T.
I'll try some experiments and see what I can manage not to ruin lol
"Tasty, but not easy to eat"... Sounds like the bread I make!! 👍
Can't have been so bad, we're still alive.
Keep cats indoors the rest of the winter, don't let the out til after nesting .
We'll be careful when letting them out next year, certainly they'll be kept in during fledgling season.
In regards to slugs and snails, i cut 2ltr plastic juice bottles in half, then cut off the top neck and the bottom. Now have two collars. Then i bought rolls of flat strips of copper that is sticky on one side baught from a plant nursery here in australia. I hope you can get it in uk. Stick the strips around the top edge of collar in a continious cyrcle. The beginning of the tape must stuch the end of the tape. Push the collar over individual veg seedling. The copper collar acts like an electric fence. It actually gives the moist slug and snail a mild electric shock, strong enough to make them back off away from the collar and your veg seedling. I use these each planting season. Sorry so long winded explanation !! This will help if you can get the copper tape.
You can get the copper tape in the UK. I put some round my Hosta pot 2 years ago and it’s still keeping the little blighters away! 😊
Excellent! I knew you could get it in the UK but want sure if it really worked! Thanks for the heads up
The soil looks fabulous
It really is beautiful soil, just need to free a lot of it from the grass and the gravel.
Really interested in your planting diary, as l just have an allotment, and little bit overwhelmed, so planting and when to seed and propogate is really handy. Thanks 😊
Oh gosh, organisational skills like this is a thing I struggle with most too! My planting and propagation habits always start with the best of intentions and then become increasingly chaotic to keep up with. I did develop something of a system in our last place, using a dedicated graph paper planner to map out my veggie beds each month (ahead of time) and mark what would go in each space, but I had to do it in pencil because I was forever correcting it to what *actually* happened. At Bramble Cottage I haven't begun thinking about that level of planning yet as we're still getting beds set up, but come spring I will be wanting to get started asap with tomatoes and such. - Stina
My hubby who recently retired from BT has the same spade and it’s known as a Rabbiter now I know why 😉 good luck with keeping them out ❤
Lol, never heard that name before but it's very fitting!
Great cages and ways of using the old wood. Lucky you were able to save the Honeyberry in time.
I can see me doing more of the octagonal bases, really handy to be able to use such sort lengths and get a substantial base.
Quince jelly is just lovely, but I have never seen such tiny fruits before. Quince jelly or jam is divine in gravy or with cheese or meat.
I still really need to try quince jelly! For the fruits, I think you might be familiar with the more traditional garden quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) which is usually more of a tree with much larger fruits that are also sold in shops in some places. The plant I have is the flowering or ornamental quince (Chaenomeles sp.), which is related, but does produce much smaller fruit. It comes from more temperate parts of the world so is likely to do better in Scotland than the normal larger quince might. - Stina
@@BrambleCottageMiniHomestead that’s probably right, I wonder if those little quinces taste the same. I love the jelly if you can get enough you should try it
Still laugh at when Laurel and Hardy clean out the chimney and use a rifle has an extention and the gun goes off and hardy is blown off the roof, thank you for sharing your adventures
Some of the classic humour is the best, I can't think I've seen that scene but it does give a great visual in my mind of how it'd play out.
Congrats on finding your forever home, it is lovely! Can't wait to see what you do with your property. Love the cats and birds
Thank you! We're still a bit dazed that we have this lovely little cottage and just enough land to make a difference.
Love the idea of using strips of denim as hinges. Hope your cages work to protect the plants from rabbits and other wildlife
I kind of got the idea from some old rustic boxes where leather was used at the hinge. It just made perfect sense that all that's needed is a supple and strong material to get the job done. I think the rabbits will be having a harder time getting a meal with us as time goes by.
If you put a old pie plate with beer in it in the garden it Attracts slugs They climb in And drowned
Oh yeah! I remember seeing this once. We're really hoping to get a few ducks to help manage the slugs and snails but that's a long way off yet.
I have had success with simply extending the wire with about a 18" on the fence and extending that into a 6/8" apron flat on the ground (measurements from memory). No digging needed. Rabbits seem to try to dig close to the fence they are trying to beat and the apron stops that.
This is what I'd hoped we might do originally, and might still do in some areas. But in the bit we've done so far, where their existing burrows meet our land and the rabbits have already made some new tunnels towards my beds, it doesn't feel like an option anymore sadly. -Stina
@@BrambleCottageMiniHomestead a pity, as I have certainly found that it works well here. Good luck with the battle!
I do the same for foxes.
Oh my goodness what a beautiful little cottage two adorable cats with you! New Subscriber Here!! Hello from New York City is going to be one beautiful little home !!
Hello from Scotland!! We're still stunned to have a little cottage and some land to work with, we never imagined we'd be able to afford anything like this. Lots of work to do but we're looking forward to it all!
Bury your chicken wire under your planting, fairly deep, and the rabbits can't come up under the fence. When you dig a bed, plant your chicken wire deep before putting in your amended soil. For instance, certain veg have deep roots and you'll need to bury the fence lower. Some have shallower root systems and you won't have to dig as deep. Rabbits are perfectly happy to eat tender roots and your plant dies anyway. They are tricky critters. You can get traps and load them with peanut butter or carrot tops...your decision.
To be honest, we're trying to just get the chicken wire out at the perimeter of the garden so we kind of know that everything inside that space is pretty safe. It'll be a tough job at first but once it's done I think we'll reap the rewards pretty quickly.
Let us know your top tips for humane rabbit prevention. Also any ingenious tips to stop slugs would be welcome - our fantasy of filling the garden with ducks is some way off still.
Beer trap for the slugs and snails/cooper tape too, foxes don't like strong curry powder ( ask me how I know 😂), rabbits are harder chicken wire dug deep into the soil helps, so would a dog,❤
@@BrambleCottageMiniHomestead definitely dog for rabbits, wire mesh under any new beds to prevent digging under the beds, beer traps for the slugs, also avoid having too much cover and dark moist areas near your beds to prevent slugs having a place to hide, also be aware with ducks you will have to protect your veg as they love to eat greens as well 😁
Food forest - i love that term ❤
Me too!!! 💚
Stove needs a smaller outlet to save heat
Stove pipes that i We have a wood stove to heat the house We find it needs cleaning every year
Thanks for the tips!
Get a fan to Sit on top of the fire to help the heat go round the room quicker and better. Also I noticed when you did the video that you didn’t clean the flu out it’s probably bunged up with suit needs to be cleaned out by the sounds of it that’s why you’ve got issues
I picked up one of those fans online and it's pretty good, really shifts the air around! We got that chimney cleaned before I started work on the stove as I wanted to be sure it would be possible to use the stove at all in that situ.
Just saw your video, great watch really enjoyed it, I have had a multifuel stove fitted and I noticed the one you have is fitted tight up against the back wall, I'm no expert but they should have air circulation all around them including the back, when the fitters put ours in we had to have a bend pipe on the stove that then fits into the flue pipe that goes up the chimney, not having no air round the back can cause problems,
The location of the stove right next to the back wall has been a concern for me too! I had a look into it and the back of our fire place has metal sheets pinned to the wall which I think is meant to act as a heat shield, stopping the excess heat going straight into the bricks and mortar, but radiating it out at the same time. Saying that I still didn't find much on the fact our stove is right against that metal sheeting.
Hi top tip, ,if you refurbish the outside of the stove with blacking paste mix in some pure turpentine (not white spirit)so it is very liquid ,its much easier to apply with an old paint brush and to buff up after, also the heating is not so smelly.
Interesting, I'll give that a try on the other stove I have to fix up.
Your partner doesn't do very much does he
I'm busy doing nothing, working the whole day though, trying to find lots of things not to do. 😉