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Posted at 8:39am Tuesday 9th November 2010
On my smallholding in November
Although it’s happened to me for many years, I still find the shock of the clocks going back quite significant.
Posted at 4:00pm Thursday 30th September 2010
October on the smallholding
There’s a new crop to be seen in the fields of Fenland that has grown in popularity in the last few years - pumpkins for the Halloween market. The soil here (reminiscent of a giant gro bag), seems to be ideal to produce large quantities of round, perfect pumpkins, glowing gold in the autumn mist. On my smallholding we have also joined in the fun and it has been one of the most successful crops I have ever grown. When I say, “I’ve grown”, I’m think that might be overstating my case a bit as it was more a question of putting them in the pot, transplanting them to the veg patch and letting them get on with it, noting from time to time how well they were doing.
Posted at 8:00am Saturday 28th August 2010
Liz loves September on the smallholding
I love September with a passion. Really I should hate it as I was not a huge fan of school but despite those gloomy memories, the excitement of harvesting from the garden and from the fields, the warmth of the days compared with the slight crispness of the nights and the dramatic changing of the countryside all combine to make it one of my favourite months together with May. Both these months herald a change and that in itself is exciting. Make your winter plans in September and you can look forward to a warm and comfortable season, make your summer plans in May and you can confidentally expect to have a good harvest. This autumn and winter we are planning to plant a cross between a permaculture forest garden and a traditional orchard on our smallholding. Our large veg patch has gradually been moved (albeit smaller) closer to the house to raised beds and a more controlled situation – with a poly tunnel also awaiting erection. So we have decided to utilise the previous garden area to experiment with ideas such as a fruit hedge, a ‘grow your own” foraging area, nut trees, apple trees and even to introduce funghi. We are going on a course run by the Eastern Apple and Orchard Project on how to start an orchard which I think will be very helpful and are keenly viewing a DVD on Forest Gardens. In this month’s Smallholder we continue to follow the fortunes of a reader who is using home grown willow to heat their house and also examine a grant scheme to plant more woodland.
Posted at 5:30pm Friday 6th August 2010
The advantages of being a smallholder
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.
Posted at 9:59pm Thursday 22nd April 2010
Ducks and the Ice Cream Van - on my smallholding
A typical evening here on my smallholding. Look around to see where the Abacot Rangers are and cannot find them. I mentioned to one of Smallholder magazine’s esteemed contributors, Mike Ashton, that these were the “thickest” ducks I had ever had. Previously it had never occurred to me that ducks would not return to their house at night as in many, many years of duck keeping this had always happened. Runners, large commercial ducks, Bali, Crested and my beloved possibly Rouen type Duckle and family all returned at night – if indeed they had left the boundary fence.
Posted at 10:06am Thursday 17th December 2009
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