It has been a little over a year since we have been able to ‘properly’ call ourselves smallholders — in so much as we now have a growing menagerie of animals, a burgeoning orchard and, of course, the obligatory plans, schemes and wild dreams. It is along this journey that I have acquired an appreciation for the hitherto unmarked seasons (at least what passes for seasons in our wet and windy slice of the world) and the changes they bring.
First spring, like a much beloved but long-time errant friend, arrives in a riot of colour and growth. All around nature seems to breathe a collective sigh of relief. New shoots spring forth, new life erupts with playful abandon and birds return with joyful and heartening song. Grass grows and the drudgery of eking it out, or hefting hay up the hill to the ponies, dwindles to a dim and distant ache in my lumbar region.
Along bowls summer. Fruits ripen (fingers crossed that the malicious rabbits haven’t destroyed the fruit bushes), drinks cool and the smell of back garden barbecues pervades the length and breadth of the country. Long, languid, seemingly endless days offer boundless possibilities to complete the myriad tasks around the holding, teamed with just as many excuses to put them off for another day. Shorts are worn and anaemic legs are aired. At precisely the same time, the biting horseflies make an appearance, raising many an unsightly welt and turning my legs knobbly like two oversized twiglets. Somewhat bemusingly, summer’s paradox finds us spending as much time and energy fending a potentially laminitic pony off growing grass as winter does the obverse.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2020-Ausgabe von Country Smallholding.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2020-Ausgabe von Country Smallholding.
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The Secret World Of The Honey Bee
Who knew that honey bees are the best builders? Nicola Bradbear from Bees for Development reveals how they build their parallel wax combs with extraordinary accuracy
Tip the light fantastic
The latest offering from Ifor Williams Trailers is the Single Axle Tipper, which is simply perfect for small-scale farmers
The legacy of The Good Life
The Good Life captured the public’s imagination when it first aired in 1975. On Country Smallholding’s 45th birthday, Jeremy Hobson looks at this and other programmes with a self-sufficiency slant that have captivated urban and rural dwellers alike over nearly half a century
‘The hens took shelter under the pig trailer in the paddock'
A tree Armageddon frightens poultry diarist Julian Hammer’s flock and leaves him with a mammoth clear-up job
Tools of the trade
In the second part of his mini-series on tools that are useful around the holding, Kevin Alviti takes an in-depth look at the iconic scythe, a thistle paddle and forks that were once virtually indispensable to small-scale farmers
The nightclub bouncer of the sheep world
Adam Henson waxes lyrical about the Texel, which boasts such a stocky body that it resembles a box of muscle on four legs
Buying on a tight budget
As demand for smallholdings increases and prices continue to rise, is there a way to achieve your dream without forking out a fortune? In the first part of a new mini-series, Liz Shankland explores the possibilities
Crazy for crafts
In an ordinary back garden and single paddock near Kidderminster, Kay Dalloway has created both a thriving smallholding and a successful fibre business — all while working full time for the NHS. Helen Babbs drops by to find out about her ventures
Game on
A little preparation in the autumn months will help to make the transition into winter smoother and put your garden and tools on a better footing come the spring, says Stephanie Bateman
1975 And All That
Country Smallholding is 45 this month. To celebrate, Jeremy Hobson takes a look at some of the changes — both good and bad — to small-scale farming over that near half-century