[Teapot]

Hi, I'm American but have lived in England, south Oxfordshire to be precise, for over 22 years now, after I married an Englishman.  (from Somerset).    We do not have a smallholding - would love one - but try to do the best we can with our back garden.  This year I also attained a half-plot allotment in terrible shape (just before the rains came in April) and we are doing the best we can this year with it.

We have several raised beds in our back garden and some other planting areas.   We have 10 chickens currently, and I sell eggs to friends and neighbors.   

I would love to be able to have more chickens and breed them.  I would also like Dexter cows someday. 

We have a 3/4 Lakeland Terrier puppy who I hope to work someday (above ground only).   A weird goal for someone as sissy as me, perhaps. 

I do a lot of food preserving - canning ("bottling") and did use to dehydrate although the last one broke and I am saving for a new one now.  I'd like to learn more about butchery and charcuterie, and have begun learning some simple cheesemaking. 

We home educate, attend chapel in a nearby village, shoot at the local target shooting club, and are trying to save for a radio (dh and I and one son are all licensed amateurs but have never got to really use what we learned!). 

I hope this wasn't too long!

Teapot

[Bionic]

Teapot, welcome from Wales where the weather can't make its mind up what to do today 
Sally

[Fowlman]

Welcome Teapot from Wiltshire.

[tizaala]

Welcome Teapot, from Mid Wales, I used to be a very active Ham ( G4YIO ) when I lived in Hampshire, let it lapse , now only swl on an old Yaesu , must re-apply one day. Busy with Arabians, goats , Castlemilk Moorit sheep ,chickens , geese , dogs and cats and the occasional pig or two. have fun

[Rosemary]

Hello and welcome from rainy Carnoustie 

[SallyintNorth]

Welcome from north Cumbria 

I lived for a while in South Oxon, between Henley and Marlow, southern tip of the Chilterns.  Beautiful countryside and very nice people.  Lots of wild deer though!

[Mammyshaz]

Hello and welcome from Durham 

[Dans]

Hello from Midlothian!

Dans

[Possum]

Good morning from a stormy Somerset.



 Like SallyintNorth, I also used to live in South Oxon, in Thame. Lovely part of the country, but land is very expensive. If you want a smallholding perhaps you should come down here, especially if your OH knows the county. It is a fairly easy journey back to Oxon to catch up with family and friends

[Teapot]

Hi all, thank you for the welcomes. 

Unless something happens to prices or dh's salary or our income in another way, I believe we are going to have to move away from Oxon in order to have a smallholding.   The SW is my main choice, or Wales (or border).   This is already in my mindset.   

Our problem is though, that dh is tied to his work.    This leads to frustration on my part, because by the time he retires I think I will be too old to start doing something like smallholding.  I can start doing it in the next few years, and be continuing to do it when I am retirement age, if you see what I mean.  So I hope he will either change jobs (not likely) or be able to work more from home and allow us to move (not as unlikely, but not really likely).   

In the meantime I try to keep learning as much as I can, working on my health issues, and doing as much experientially as I can (i.e. keeping chickens, gardening, learning things like cheesemaking, etc).   

Thanks again for all the welcomes,  This seems like a very friendly and informative forum.

[in the hills]

Hello and welcome from a wet and windy Wales. 

[SallyintNorth]

I understand your frustration completely, Teapot.

It doesn't suit everyone, but for a lot of people, helping out on others' holdings provides great learning and a good bridge into having one's own holding later on.

You may be near to Braziers' Park and/or other WWOOF hosts and similar, where you could meet likeminded people and get a lot of experience, if that sounds appealing.

[Lesley Silvester]

   Hi Teapot and welcome from Shropshire.  I am another frustrated non-smallholder with a large garden but I do manage to keep goats and grow fruit and veg.

[Beewyched]

Hi & welcome from West Scotland 
I used to work on a large beef cattle & sheep farm on the mountainside in South Wales as a teenager (many moons ago    ) & only ever had a big enough garden to keep a few chickens & grow veg for years ...
My OH had the opportunity of a posting here in the Bonny Land & we moved here 3 years ago, renting a smallholding with a massive garden, with a decrepid orchard (we are slowly replacing the fruit trees with younger stock), 2 acres of woods & some outbuildings. 
It's not been easy & some days it seems like we're getting no-where, but when the sun shines & we sit in the garden there's no other place we'd rather be.  We've made some great friends through our animals & the folk here on TAS are fantastic.
Your time will come Teapot ...

[Teapot]

Thank you all for the welcomes and encouragment.