[Backinwellies]

Ok I know this is being done in various social media places at the moment ....  however  I found it really useful to actually write down my thoughts/plans ... give it a go ......

What was your best smallholding moment of 2017?

What was your best lesson learned (the hard way?) in 2017 ?

What is your main goal/plan for your smallholding in 2018?

What is your main goal/plan for YOU in 2018?

If your dream came true in 2018 what would it be?

[Fleecewife]

Best moment 2017 - After all these years I still love every moment.


Lessons learnt - you can't stop the rain  and smallholding is mostly about getting food in one end of your livestock and scooping it up from the other end 


Plan - get the flower meadow made.


Plan for me - shift the fat backside 


Dream - to still be here for The Bells seeing in 2019 

[Penninehillbilly]

Best moment? impossible to choose, but watching the goats contentedly grazing rates high.


Lesson learned? Learn how to make some haylage in small bags, couldn't get hay this year and worried about late spring/ summer feeding.
Plan for 2018? Where do I start. 2 main ones, divide fields for rotation grazing, get veg garden weeded and productive again.
Personal Plan? Shift some weight and stop being online as much (when weather gets better)
2018 Dream? Husband finishing all the jobs hes promising to do  .


So what are your goals Biw?

[SallyintNorth]

What was your best smallholding moment of 2017?
Can’t possibly pick just one, but it’s been a dream come true to be one of a team milking our house cow for milk for us all, and buterr and yoghurt and ice cream and all kinds of cream and simple cheeses... 

What was your best lesson learned (the hard way?) in 2017 ?  Too hard.  I’m not sure, never will be sure, exactly what caused Katy to lose her calf, nor Hillie to develop weak lungs (rather like broken wind in a horse), but I’m guessing the move, the mingling with the resident Dexters and the outwintering with what transpired to be insufficient shelter for the number of cattle we had all took their toll.   

What is your main goal/plan for your smallholding in 2018?  I’d really like to do three things.  Get the ponies doing a bit;  consolidate the simple cheese recipes and get others making those routinely, and get a hard cheese to the same state; get the Animal Centre specified and built before next winter.

What is your main goal/plan for YOU in 2018?  Do all the above and do lots of spinning and weaving too!

If your dream came true in 2018 what would it be?  I’d do all that and have lots of time and energy spare for just being too.

[Lesley Silvester]

Best smallholding moment - anything to do with the goats.


Best lesson learned the hard way - my hands are getting worse and it was time to give up milking and prepare to give up keeping goats.


Main goal/plan for the holding - to grow even more vegetables and to thin out the fruit so I have fewer but larger apples and pears.


Main goal/plan for me - to do a lot more spinning.

[Rupert the bear]

Top milking goats
What was your best lesson learned (the hard way?) in 2017 ?
Mud + Pigs + gravity  = A hosing down in the yard from Mrs RTB !   video may work , or may not
What is your main goal/plan for your smallholding in 2018?
Keep improving the land and the  stock, goes hand in hand.
What is your main goal/plan for YOU in 2018
Regain my health and mobility
If your dream came true in 2018 what would it be?
Loose 25years, 5stone ,and retain my boyish good looks 

[Womble]

What was your best smallholding moment of 2017?

Mrs Womble delivering a lamb when I wasn't there to er, "help"!

What was your best lesson learned (the hard way?) in 2017?

Sometimes things go wrong and you can't fix them (e.g. three of our ewes coming down with mastitis and having to be muttonised). Roll with the punches and try to do better next time.

What is your main goal/plan for your smallholding in 2018?

Finish off the workshop (it's now 3 years since we started rebuilding it, but the roof timbers are finally up!).

What is your main goal/plan for YOU in 2018?

A major change of direction professionally (and  a massive pay cut). However, hopefully this will be more satisfying, and will also give me more time to progress things on the smallholding.

If your dream came true in 2018 what would it be?

Needing less sleep and having more energy!

[Backinwellies]

my own.....

Best smallholding moment 2017:
Finding a calf I wasn't expecting out in field with mum (AI held when I thought it hadn't )

Best lesson learned the hard way:   Goats can escape through, over, or under anything  and will get in the garden and eat Rhododendron    (Womble I like your answer here)

Plan/goal for 2018  OK going to cheat here and have 2!   
1. Get unfinished projects finished and sell/clear out 'stuff'.  Polytunnel has waited 3 years as a metal skeleton,  The shed extension needs finishing and must get mud under control! (Don't know about you others in Wales but this year has really been challenging with continual wet for us)
2. Find a way to use our smallholding to help others ...  investigating .... ideas include having people who would benefit from 'helping out' here such as NEETS, or disadvantaged families,  or taking animals out to visit people... needs to be at least self funding.  IDEAS anyone?

Main goal for me:  Adjust diet so I can fit into a great dress for my son's wedding in Aug.  (note I didn't say lose weight!)

If your dream came true in 2018 .......  My smallholding would not be on a spring line and it would enjoy sunny days most of the year!   

[Backinwellies]

come on everyone ...... get 

[alang]

What was your best smallholding moment of 2017?
Getting my zing' back for life and joining his forum

What was your best lesson learned (the hard way?) in 2017 ?
Plan, plan and plan again. Every plan only survives first contact

What is your main goal/plan for your smallholding in 2018?
To start my meat rabbit production and plan for chickens

What is your main goal/plan for YOU in 2018?
To learn more about smallholding and get a job

If your dream came true in 2018 what would it be?
Have enough money to buy a smallholding and a (large) wood/forest

[Black Sheep]

What was your best smallholding moment of 2017?

Finally completing on our smallholding and being able to get started.

What was your best lesson learned (the hard way?) in 2017 ?

That everything takes longer than you anticipate and that chickens can untie knots and then try and swallow the string.

What is your main goal/plan for your smallholding in 2018?

Learn how the land changes through the seasons and plan infrastructure and how we operate around this. Develop my understanding of the sheep and an eye for what is normal and what is not.

What is your main goal/plan for YOU in 2018?

Remember that leave days from work are not to be used to do more work for other people but are needed for a break and to spend time doing things on the farm.

[graemeatwellbank]

Best smallholding moment was taking up residence on our return from India a year after buying the place - or having a home grown turkey (7.5kg) and everything else for Christmas dinner.
Best lesson re-learned was that weeds are the Kim Jung-Un of the plant world.

Main smallholding goal for next year is to get my 4 highland heifers in calf.
Main personal goal - none.

Currently living my dream so no other required unless I revert to greed and lottery winnings, but I don't do the lottery.

[ellied]

Best moment - safe birth of the first foal born here in 3 years

Lesson the hard way - verbal quotes often double after the job is done when there is nothing you can do about it, so get a good quote and save up more than you are told it will cost, because it will cost more somehow.  On a rare occasion when you're wrong, use the spare on something else on the neverending list of jobs to be done!

Main smallholding goal - focus on things that bring in income, not try and keep everything going

Goal for self - I have 12 monthly challenges set up for the year and my goal is to complete each one and end the year with a new sense of self, a broader range of experiences, newly discovered tastes and feeling good.

If my dream came true - no nonsense cash buyer turns up with a flexible entry date and offers way over the value of my holding.  I sell up, conveniently finding an affordable block of land for sale with stunning views, privacy but not too isolated, and am permitted planning for a small log cabin style dwelling for myself with a couple more to let that are a bit of space away.  Ponies hens cats and myself move and live debt/mortgage free off a tidy remaining sum plus my healthy but not overwhelming sports massage business.  There is enough help on hand and spare cash to go on an overseas (warm) holiday for a month next winter, if not 3 months!  And since it's my dream, I also find the new surroundings so positive that I finally finish writing my novels and get a publishing deal - but not one that requires a book tour!  And we all live happily ever after..

[sabrina]

Best moment 2017 was taking Dolly out for a hack after not riding for about 11 years. Lesson learnt. Nothing goes to plan when its sheep. main goal.Keep trying and keep learning and never give up. Goal for myself. Survie another year. if dreams came true. I would like my health back and no money worries.