The advantages of being a smallholder (From Smallholder)

The advantages of being a smallholder

5:30pm Friday 6th August 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

Much has been written and broadcast on the so-called austerity Budget and the myriad of details plus the on-going implementations are still to be totally understood. During all of the recession, the price of buying a smallholding has not really changed and this month our property article looks at whether its still a good time to buy a smallholding. In the light of the Budget, I’d say that having some land and the ability to be in some part self-supporting has to be a good thing. You feel a bit more independent of Government intervention when you know that you are about to eat your home produced veg and your hens are providing eggs. But I think its important too not to skimp on the input to your self-supporting – hens for example need a balanced ration to lay and to maintain their health so scrap feeding (even if it were not against the rules) and cheap corn are not an option for economy. Finishing livestock to freezer weight is also not a time to cut costs though with all livestock it is time to pay attention to the most basic of feeds, grassland and forage (hay, haylage and silage). If you are overstocked it will cost money to put weight on the animals to bring them to slaughter or you will have health problems in over stocked chickens causing welfare problems, losses through death and vets bills. So do your sums and make sure that you have the right number of livestock for the facilities and that they are produced to a high standard nutrition wise and in management. The increase in VAT will have an effect on all of us when buying equipment, it might be a good time to review your needs and work towards some bigger purchases. The other effect for smallholders is that there may be less money around if you are selling specialist products and you may need to review your marketing – on the other hand local produce on a stall outside your gate at reasonable prices will be snapped up.

One of my friends, whilst commenting on the Budget, remarked that “farming was the only industry we had left” and there is an argument to be made for this view.

I wonder if the lack of confidence in the economy will cause people to review their energy use such as think seriously about the vehicle mileage – perhaps bringing people to shop locally rather than going to big shopping centres. It will certainly focus thoughts on home heating with alternatives such as wood burning stoves backed up by good insulation becoming a real prospect. This year I decided at the end of March that it would soon be spring and I would not have anymore oil – I know that’s a few months ago but its still in my mind how horribly wrong I was and I froze until mid May (and was still using hotwater bottles in early June!). But I did survive and I did learn that I could live without home heating however unpleasant it was at the time. I don’t intend to do this again (already looking at wood burners anyway!) but I know I can do it. A timely lesson that what you think you need and what you actually do need may be different.

A batty thing to do When Mick came home from work last week, he stopped in the layby down the road to us to look and see what was in a card board box lying there. He usually does this as we have had kittens dumped several times outside or near our house because I used to do Cats Protection League. To his utter surprise in the box were a dead bat and a dying bat.

He brought them straight home and I rung the Bat Conservation Help Line 0845 1300 228. They were extremely helpful and we identified the bats as long eared bats. They told me to mix honey and water and get a very small make up brush and let the bat lick the mixture from the hairs on the brush. I found it very moving when her small pink tongue emerged and she licked at the brush. She was clinging to her dead mate which was very sad. The helpful woman from the Bat Conservation Trust told us she would find a volunteer to collect the bats and an hour or so later an efficient woman came and did so. Meanwhile the female, feeling better, had crawled out of the box and was hanging upside down in our bathroom. She was retrieved. The bat lady said she was probably pregnant as she was quite swollen round her tummy and the dead bat was almost certainly her partner, hence her distress. She would feed her meal worms overnight and then the following day, if all was well she would be released though it was going to be tough for her without a partner. Meanwhile the Rural Community Action Team had been alerted. They investigate rural crimes and it is a crime to disturb or harm a bat. Luckily this box did contain some information on it so there might be someway that the perpetrator of this heartless crime could be found. So we then had a visit from RCAT and gave them all the details we could in the hope someone could be brought to justice.

I’d recommend the Bat Conservation Trust. Their website is www.bats.org.uk and the Helpline is available 24hours a day. So if you have a bat problem do get in touch with them. The bat lady phoned me to say that Lizzie (as they called her) was released successfully and I hope she is doing well wherever she is. I hope she has had her bat baby and is managing to cope on her own. Bats are a vital part of our wildlife and it’s beyond me how anyone could hurt them. We have Pipistrelles here at our house and I love to watch them at dusk – I find it a privilege that they have chosen to share our home.

Here on our smallholding it’s time to get jam making. I really love doing this, very relaxing and rewarding and I’m grateful of it for toast in the winter. I recently bought a book written in the 1940s that contains some great recipes for using jam – more of those in the colder weather. For now it’s the lovely smell of the fruit as you make jam with the back door open, shooing out the hens and marvelling again that the little seeds you sowed in March have turned into hanging baskets and herb planters around the back door. Nature is, to me, an everyday miracle especially in the summer.