[Derby_menagerie]

Ask a local lad, the £20 beers and BBQ would cost could get the job done with out it feel like you are getting people to do you a favour.  When I was 14 I use to do odd Jobs for folks in the next couple of villages, cleaning stones, painting, fences, mowing lawns, Power washing yards etc. Don't worry about it being hard work either at 14 I was 6ft and strong as an ox even thou I was build like a bean pole!

[TheGirlsMum]

Thanks for the Doc pulling rate (trying not to cut this year to try and get some roots out too) and managed 6 days worth of catch up with the excessive heat> I'm on my own most of the time and just do what I can manage as all manual.

[Lesley Silvester]

I also hate asking for help but now disabled, I have to. I employ a local lad at £5 an hour to do the jobs I can't. He's 16 so I'm paying above the minimum wage, but between school and college so is glad of a part tiem job.

I'm employing our youngest at the same rate for jobs in the garden and bird house clearing. She doesn't mind clearing poop and as we're so rural she can't get another job to earn herself a new laptop. Not much help for the heavy jobs but some help 

It's difficult for youngsters to find work when you live is a rural area. We are in a big town  but the lad that works for me  has other problems that make finding a job difficult. He is autistic so isn't easy but, if I explain what I want in easy steps, he gets on with it and he will ask if he is not sure. He's slow but very thorough.

[FiB]

you are definitely not on your own!  We have been wheelbarrowing for 2 years (not even good ones either - rusty knackers left behind by previous owners!!!  Just do what you can and then rest. It'll still be there tomorrow - preserving your health is THE most important thing (but just think - some people PAY to go to the gym 

[shygirl]

we are on our 5th wheel barrow and all the tools we bought when we moved in have been replaced many times. worn out with brute force    iv been a bit lazy this year because i dont want another injury.

[mab]

wheelbarrow here too, and like FiB they were inherited and not in A1 condition.  Although I've finally completed the cart for Rosie (the shetland pony) so I may be moving up a bit, once I've figured out how to attach all the bits of harness to her and the cart.


I also sometimes have to remind myself that I'm doing this 'cos I want to - not as a business - so I shouldn't worry if I'm not spending every waking hour digging, weeding, fencing, etc. But then I see the bracken / thistles or something and think 'I'm sure that's spread since last year' and start worrying that I have to do something NOW.


You could get some wwoofers?  This has been suggested to me, but I don't have anywhere decent to accommodate them unless they bring a tent, and my culinary skills are a bit thin (as I think you're expected to provide a meal).