WHAT A YEAR!

This month Stephanie Hafferty reflects on a year of hard work and takes satisfaction from what she has been able to achieve in a relatively short space of time

- Stephanie Hafferty

In the chill of a December morning, I am in the back garden harvesting parsnips and herbs for our festive meals. The beds around me are filled with beetroot, kale, cabbages, leeks and other vegetables to see us through the winter months. Through the gate into the orchard, I can gather perennial kale from under the apple trees, and in the polytunnel there's an abundance of winter salads, herbs, Asian leaves, brassicas, and spring onions to gather.

Stored in our stone cottage there are squashes on shelves, sacks of potatoes under the stairs, jars of dehydrated tomatoes, bunches of dried herbs and bundles of garlic. In the freezer I've stashed bags of runner beans, home-grown ratatouille, and roasted summer veg to add to winter produce.

Nine months ago none of this was here. No veg beds filled with food, no herb garden, no polytunnel: just an expanse of weedy lawn and some established fruit trees. In this short time I have made a start on my small homestead on a Welsh hillside, where I plan to eventually be 80% self-sufficient in fruit, veg, herbs, and flowers. I hope to be self-sufficient in compost and firewood too.

Moving house is incredibly stressful: sorting out the mortgage, waiting for completion dates, hoping that everything works out with the removal company and exchanges of contracts. The Covid pandemic lockdown made it even more challenging! After 20 years of living in Bruton, Somerset I was uprooting myself and my three young adult children and moving us all-including much of my garden - to rural Ceredigion in Wales.

PREPARING FOR NO-DIG

Shortly after moving here, on March 31, I started the first bed of my new no-dig garden, using the card and compost method.

1. Strim or mow the lawn on a low setting.