wolfi

I wish you all the very best!

Haven't talked to my English brother in law since some time so I don't know what he's thinking ...
But my sister and the children all renewed their German passports - just in case ...

Peter_in_Hungary

From my experience I found that pigs were not worth keeping. We can not grow the grain they need and by the time we had bought it in the cost was the same as buying a live pig locally. All the risk and work for no advantage. IMO 1ha for veggies is to much, unless you have good storage and machinery to harvest things like potatoes. We by potatoes at 90huf/kg - hardly worth the effort of growing them. Yes to ducks chickens and rabbits. Rabbits are susceptible to stress at litter time so untoward disturbance and they destroy their young, but we have found that they are better at meat production than chickens Get a greenhouse or poly tunnel, black plastic for weed control and drip feed irrigation

jetsam1

All sounds good. We will be building a proper house for the rabbits with mosquito nets. I think my wife wants to have control over what the kids eat and therefore everything must be organic!!!! Sometime I think she worries about exactly what the animals are being fed with and being filled with growth hormones etc. My wife grew up on rabbit meat so she knows what's what there. I think her idea was to use part of the area for growing corn (popular around here as an animal feed). But have to get the tree roots out and the soil conditioned first!

I think growing the plants that are more expensive is good, paprika, tomatoes etc. I like the idea of poly tunnels, maybe go that route rather than big potato.

Peter_in_Hungary

That's basically what we do, grow what is expensive or unavailable. We can't grow corn (maize) even on a small scale because there is too much game damage. New potatoes are worth growing but for main crop if you buy in make sure Bacillus thuringiensis is used to control the Colorado beetle and not the chemical poison usually used. We had very good results from sweet potatoes and they are around 700 - 800 / kg.

wolfi

You should concntrate on "high value crops" - potatoes and corn are everywhere. A neighbour of ours just told us that he's given his corn fields to another one whouses those big machines which work really efficiently and now there's one big corn field ...

Not too much OT:
My favourite success story is Mr Vetter, a German who came to Hungary 25 years ago and saw the sandy, no good soil in East Hungary and then realised:
This is perfect for growing asparagus!
Now his company is the biggest Hungarian asparagus producer and also sells other expensive stuff like Pimientos Padrone.
Most of it is exported, to Germany e g - too expensive for Hungarians, they don't want (or rather can't afford ...) to spend that much!
Vetter Hungary Kft.

jetsam1

Sadly I have never quite understood the appeal of asparagus!

I would like to do rhubarb though. I do miss that and on the occasions I do see it for sale it is quite terrifying to look at the price! What we grow will just be for us, the bees will be enough certainly for a while commercially!

wolfi

Jetsam, come on, really?

My wife hadn't known it either, so when I asked her to prepare some the first time she cleaned and peeled it and then started to cut those ugly heads off!

I had to remind her that these are the best part!

With some Irish butter and ham it's a marvelous treat - she also enjoyed it then ...

Btw the green variety is also very good and its taste is even more intensive.
And you don't have to peel it - just saw the first batch from Spain in a supermarket right now (I'm in Germany at the moment). 6 € for a kilo ...

PS:

Rhubarb is also quite good - we mix it with strawberries for a jam/marmelade, so it isn't too sweet.

Peter_in_Hungary

Rhubarb is a bit difficult here - basically it does not like the heat so you get an early bit, it then stops through the hot mid summer and starts up again when it gets cooler, so plant it in the shade and in a cooler place.

jetsam1

We will be looking for a bit of seasonality, so it would be nice to get something later on in the year! My wife bought a big wooden half barrel specifically for making pickled cabbage. So I think we will be planting cabbages..... Lots and lots of cabbages......

Peter_in_Hungary

Definitely need drip feed irrigation then