[Caroline1]

Love the photos womble!

[Fleecewife]

Thank you womble - we love you    Always there to make us smile 

[devonlady]

I think I am entering my last year of smallholding, anno domino, tempus fugit  (my spelling is dreadful) and all that, so am feeling a bit envious and nostalgic.
Waiting for the old sow to go and someone to fall in love with my geese (small hope!) and my dear, good neighbour will help Charlie, my autistic grandson, with his sheep.
One thing I will advise, take time to plan, a thing I didn't do. Stand on your land, more than once, and get a vision for the future. And read John and Helen's threads and Rosemary and Dan's diary!!

[Lesley Silvester]

We also raised some Hubbard chickens for meat. The purpose of this was really to see if we really had it in us to rear cute fluffy things, then kill them, gut them and eat them. That first time was HARD. I drank several shots of whisky before killing the first one, then promptly threw them up again whilst gutting it. I'm happy to report that I've developed a harder head and a stronger stomach since then, but those first hubbards were important as 'proof of concept' that we had it in us to actually do this.






/quote]


Does that mean you can now drink more whisky? 


My story is slightly different in that I am more of a micro-holder, ie I have a largish back garden. We moved here 10 1/2 years ago just after Christmas. My first job was to erect fences to keep the goat confined to one area, the dogs to another and leave the rest for me. It was already laid out with paths, little walls, lawn and flower beds together with a concreted area that had been a vegetable bed at one time. The next job was to get rid of the concrete. Lesson number one: when the vendor says that an area is slabs laid over plastic sheeting, don't believe it. The concrete was about a foot thick in places. Fortunately for us - me, rather, because OH is not at all interested in what goes on outside - we had a lodger who loved to dig (he was an archaeologist) so offered to clear the concrete. It took a lot of drilling (burned out one drill) and belting with a pick-axe but he got there in the end. He even paid us rent while he was with us. Great lodger. I was sorry to lose him.


Meanwhile, I was digging holes to plant some fruit trees in the flower borders.


Once the concrete (and the lodger) had gone, I used some of the concrete slabs to make a sunken path across the exposed area to make sort of raised beds, dug all the soil out, covered the subsoil with the product of cleaning the goat shed out, then replaced the soil. I also built low raised beds on the lawn. These again were filled with the contents of the goat shed. It had rotted down somewhat by the time I got to planting out the veg that I had started on window sills so I dug holes in it and filled them with potting compost to protect the plants from any risk of root burn. The greenhouse had a path down the middle and gravel either side and, with no time to deal with it and not much money left, I bought some builders buckets at just under a tenner for ten, drilled holes in the bottom and used them as large pots to grow tomatoes in. The gravel, etc was dealt with at the end of the growing season. I also had veg planted in the previously concreted area.


The harvest wasn't wonderful but better than expected. I also found a nice billy for my goat and she was soon in kid.


Through the winter, every time I mucked out to goat shed, it went straight on the garden to allow the worms to do their bit. I also built a row of five manure/compost bins from pallets I scrounged, tied together with baler twine.


When I became disabled five years ago, I had the low raised beds built to a sensible height to enable me to sit and garden. I have a student who works for me for a few hours a week, who cleans the goats and does the jobs I can't manage in the garden. The three original trees have expanded to be eight and the ground everywhere is very fertile, due to the copious quantities of manure that get added every year.

[Backinwellies]

I have visited MGM's place ..... amazing what can be done in the back garden of a semi!  ....  very inspiring for any would be smallholder who is waiting for the future..... Jas!

[Jas]

I have visited MGM's place ..... amazing what can be done in the back garden of a semi!  ....  very inspiring for any would be smallholder who is waiting for the future..... Jas!

Unfortunately only a smallish garden but used to the full with fruit trees veg patches and ducks.Will have to wait