Author Topic: how did you get into this?  (Read 10196 times)

Caroline1

  • Joined Nov 2014
  • Cambridgeshire
how did you get into this?
« on: March 02, 2015, 09:23:26 pm »
I was thinking the other day on the drive to work (yes I now have a lot of thinking time) I wonder how people decided to live the small holding life style. Was it that episode of the good life or river cottage, was it a lifestyle you had been brought up with or married into.

For me, it was a complete addiction to enid blyton books as a child. I always wanted to live on willow farm with chickens running around outside my window and a woodland where I could explore the local wildlife.

So what was it for you?
________
Caroline

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2015, 12:30:04 am »
No-one knows where in my ancestry it comes from, but when we stayed on a farm when I was little, I couldn't get enough of it.

Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

chrismahon

  • Joined Dec 2011
  • Gascony, France
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2015, 06:20:42 am »
Ours was accidental really. The only house we liked came with land -a well stocked Orchard with veggie plot. The gentleman who did a few hours a week on it for the previous owner transferred to us and he educated us about vegetable growing. We then added a greenhouse and lots of chickens. Then sheep to cut the grass. Now we are over here struggling to find something worth buying along the same lines.

Clarebelle

  • Joined Jan 2013
  • Orkney
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2015, 07:02:01 am »
It was a gradual progression for me once I had children, I really didn't want to give them baby food from a jar so I made all their food. This led me on to caring about where food comes from and what my kids are putting into their bodies. I started growing whatever I could in containers in our little backyard and loved the whole rewarding experience. The gardening led us to explore self sufficiency which led us to the decision that when we bought our own place it would be a smallholding. We have been here almost a year now, definitely a work in progress but I wouldn't change a think ( except maybe having more land ;) )

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2015, 07:04:38 am »
Born and bred, along with my seven sisters and brothers. We all have ingrained mud on our hands :farmer: :pig: :chook: :sheep:

Q

  • Joined Apr 2013
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #5 on: March 03, 2015, 07:10:31 am »
For me it was a very tranquil part of my childhood (when the days were always sunnier) & growing runner beans in the garden with my Dad. That led me to several allotments and chickens etc
If you cant beat 'em then at least bugger 'em about a bit.

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2015, 08:09:08 am »
I've always liked animals but was never in a position while I was working to do anything about it. Took redundancy and early retirement and here I am  :)
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

Me

  • Joined Feb 2014
  • Wild West
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2015, 08:15:55 am »
Born and brought up on a farm, even driving through towns makes me nervous! Couldn't face town life taking on the family farm not an option for us so here we are!

john and helen

  • Joined Mar 2013
  • Devon
  • WARNING,,,MAY SAY WHAT HE BELIEVES
    • Facebook
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2015, 08:36:52 am »
I grew up on the edge of town, turn left you where in town, turn right and it was countryside, most weekends and evenings where always a right turn,
Dad was always a very keen gardener, but i enjoyed the fields more, we always had back yard chicken and ducks,

many years later, after working in towns and big cities, i felt like something was missing, the 1st wife hated the countryside, so when we split, i moved back to Devon, i then met helen, lucky for me , Helen had the same wishes in life, so we bit the bullet, and bought a small farm in France….we did hell of a lot of work getting the place up, and we where just at the point of moving over, …….Mum became very ill with alzheimers. so we ended up looking after her for 4 years, it got to the point where there was no option but to put mum into a home, we managed to sell the French place with a heavy heart….once mum had gone in to the home, we felt we where missing something, but sadly prices where getting silly over here,

we didn't want to be to far away, so we looked around south wales and the south west, on one, we where almost ready to complete, but would have ended up with the neighbour from hell..so we kept searching

i came across 20 acres for sale just 50 miles away….man it was steep, until you walked it, so i took helen down to view, helen don't normally swear, but her 1st words where WTF  ;D
once she started to walk the land, the ideas came flooding in…so we bought it and now are starting to build our little farm up

Millwood

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • Oxfordshire
    • Millwood Market Gardens
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2015, 09:29:52 am »
For me it started with River cottage, I was in my final year at uni growing increasingly disillusioned with my course (Media Arts). I graduated and came home wondering what to do with my life and spent a year pottering with growing veg and having a few chickens in my parents garden!


Decided to sign up for a national certificate in horticulture before I got a job as an apprentice gardener for Worcester College, Oxford. They paid for me to go on the course and that's where I met my future husband! He had 3 acres in his family which we've now inherited and after 6 years, 3 polytunnels, pigs, chickens and a tractor called Bertie, we've built up a successful business. Just now going for planning permission to live on there too which would be the ultimate dream come true.   :excited:
Chooks, ducks, pigs, Bertie the tractor & loadsa veg!
www.themarketgardeneynsham.co.uk
Twitter: @marketgardeneyn

Kimbo

  • Joined Feb 2015
  • Anglezarke, Lancashire
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2015, 10:25:27 am »
I grew up in a semi-rural area but spent every possible moment across the road at the large riding school. I don't remember not riding as I started at age about 3/4. My parents couldn't afford for me to have a pony then so I worked on the yard for rides ( that sort of child labour was the norm in those days). The farmer there also had a few cows, a couple of pigs and an unknown number of virtually wild chickens. Started to own my own horses from age 13. So Ive been in the muck all my life, with breaks only for University and for the first few years of my unhappy 1st marriage. It has been my ambition all my life to have a my own small farm but, like many people, it never seemed achievable. And my 1st Husband didn't like anything to do with animals.
K2 and I met about 9 years ago. He walked into my life of dogs, cats, horses and school-aged children but took to it like a duck to water. Although we had a rural home then there was hardly any land with it. K2 was an experienced home fruit and veg grower though, something Ive not much experience of.
We intended to retire to Devon ( where my wonderful 98 yr old mother in law lives) and bought and renovated a lovely cottage in the countryside there. But then my pension arrangements changed radically ( I work for central government) and I was told that I couldn't retire until I am 67 and then on a much reduced pension. K2 could retire now if he wanted to as he is WAAAYYYY older than me  ;) but we faced the prospect of living 300 miles apart.....just not an option.
So we decided to sell up in Devon ( which was a very  hard decision) and take the plunge on a smallholding now rather than wait until I retire. We were incredibly lucky to find this place and we moved in in October last year. We work from home a lot, which is a godsend, and we now wonder why we didn't do this years ago.
Ive finally come home  :sunshine:
 
Is it time to retire yet?

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #11 on: March 03, 2015, 10:57:51 am »
I have absolutely no idea.
 
I don't even like animals!
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #12 on: March 03, 2015, 10:58:20 am »
or vegetables, for that matter  :-J .
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Penninehillbilly

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • West Yorks
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #13 on: March 03, 2015, 12:52:01 pm »
Thank goodness I didn't take after my mum, a true townie who like her easy access to shops. no interest in growing or animals.  yet her father had an allotment, and always wanted a rough Collie. She stopped dad getting a farm when when I was in early teens, too far from town.
Dad worked on a farm when younger, worked in factories when married, but always had pigs or calves about. He was 'allowed' his first dog when I was 12. Out of 3 kids (me+2boys) it was me who followed dad round, only one to help him as I grew older. going from rabbits to hens + helping him with the pigs. helped on a dairy farm as soon as I was old enough.
I dug part of the garden up to grow veg, not knowing mums' dad had been a keen veg grower.
First marriage took me to Aberdeenshire, had hens and goat+kid. come home and got goats, eventually remarried - someone with land, now got goats, sheep, geese + hens.
I belong here. Hate shops and built up areas. nearly felt sick with the fumes last week when I had to drive through the local small town.
My first 'own' dog was a Rough Collie, not knowing about my grandfathers love of them.
OH had never even had a pet, so he's very good to help me when needed really  :love: :relief:
oh - that's quite a life story - sorry about that but I'll post anyway  ;D

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: how did you get into this?
« Reply #14 on: March 03, 2015, 11:48:09 pm »
I come from generations of market gardeners, so growing is in my blood. My granddad had an allotment, my dad grew vegetables, I grow vegetables (from when I first had a tiny garden).


My ex and I loved The Good Life and decided to move to the Isle of Arran, Scotland, to live out own good life. We gained some experience on friends' smallholding. The plan was to be self sufficient bu growing veg, keeping hens and goats and for him to go out and shoot some rabbits for meat, and make some craft stuff to bring in a bit of cash. The craft we ended up doing was spinning and weaving, which left virtually no time to grow my veg as it's so labour intensive. Whatever I did grow was inevitably eaten by the local red deer as soon as it was big enough. We had hens and ducks but I wasn't allowed my goat, mainly, I suspect, because my ex was a control freak and knew how much I wanted one. I had done so since learning to milk a friend's goat a few years earlier.


The recession hit, we moved back down south so he could go to university and I finally saw sense and left him. I still wanted the self sufficiency life though I was then living in a town.


I remarried, this time to a man who didn't want to control me (the good bit) but is a townie (not so good). The money I received from my divorce was only enough to put down a good deposit on an ordinary house but we did find one with a reasonably sized garden. A neighbour and I were talking about goats one day and I said I'd always wanted one. A few days later, she suggested getting a goat and keeping it in her garden. I loved the idea so we looked into it and bought two goats between us. Within a couple of months, she decided that she didn't like one of the goats so I could have her and she would keep the other one. My OH said he didn't mind one in the garden so my son built a goatshed and Snowflake moved in. The neighbour, incidentally sold her goat very quickly as she decided that goat keeping wasn't for her. I later discovered she was like that with all her animals.


OH and I moved to Shropshire, again to a house with a big garden and Snowflake came with us, of course. In due course she gave birth to a daughter who stayed. At the moment I have four of them but two will be going off for slaughter soon.


I am now disabled, so only able to keep them because my OH does a lot of the looking after (not always graciously) and I pay someone to do the mucking out and yard sweeping. I also manage to grow a few vegetables in raised beds.

 

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