Have been meaning to introduce myself for days, so I will do it now over a cup of tea.
I'm from London originally but moved north in increments via Wales, Crewe and Lincolnshire and settled in Scotland; it was going to be temporary (I was up here on a course) but it didn't work out that way.
It all started with horses. Years ago I had a trekking pony on winter loan; then when I learnt that she was being sold out of trekking for carting the unwary on Borth beach, I bought her (in installments; £30 a month!). Then I bought a second horse; second horse was in foal; I needed a field as livery fees were crippling. The horses messed up the grazing; I bought a house cow to sort it out. After initial disagreements (first time I milked her I got enough for a cup of tea; no WAY would she let down) I found myself drowning in milk; I bought weaners to help me consume it. Then there was all that s**t! So I started growing potatoes. Someone asked me if I wanted some chickens; black sumatras. And hey! I looked around and I was a smallholder up to the neck! However it was financially hard; the holding could feed me but it didn't entirely feed all the animals; I didn't have the area to make hay, etc.. Plus this was not commercial; I had to work to generate some sort of income and there was little or no work available; which was why land in this area (Lincolnshire) was so cheap in the first place. Commuting capabilities and e-commerce would have changed all that now, I suppose.
I sold up and moved to Scotland, coming up here to study originally but bringing the cattle and horses with me. The weaners had been eaten and the fox had had my lovely chooks, digging under the wall of their shed one night and up through the earth floor. I sunk the last of my savings into buying a field, a listed smallholding, originally a market garden, and grassing it down as a temporary home for them; more than twenty years later I am still here.
I have often wanted to put my holding on a commercial footing but for one reason and another, its only now that the opportunity is really within my grasp. I have won SRDP funding to plant an orchard and nut grove and this year the heavy stuff has to happen; clearing the hillside of scrub and re-fencing to control the deer, then planting in autumn / spring. I also have geese but am re-thinking my poultry and hope to keep chickens too.
I must say it is great to find a site by and for smallholders; thanks to Rosemary for introducing me to this.
Topic: Hello from Perth (Read 4428 times)
