Tom Addlesborough has some warming thoughts
The single tractor on a smallholding is more than a workhorse. It's an old friend. It's something that takes the back break out of every day work, that lets you help friends and neighbours and in the winter, it's where you can retire with a cup of something hot (or stronger) and a good radio progamme, to keep an eye on running repairs. But in the summer it comes into its own. Yes in the winter it can shift trailer loads of muck to waiting fields, it can run a log splitter and it can cart stuff about but the tractor really shines in the summer.
Take haymaking for example...
Well you take haymaking. I'd rather not. It is for our family, the most anxious time of the year and one of the most exhausting. If we have any surplus hay then I sell it. Sometimes people quibble at the price off the field or ask if it can be delivered for that money. I see my partner looking nervous at this as I launch into my “hay should be a tenner a small bale for the time, trouble and effort it takes” speech. Anyone who has ever made and carted their own hay in small bales with a 1970's tractor and no bale handler, will relate to this one.
Denne historien er fra July - August 2017-utgaven av Small Holding.
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Denne historien er fra July - August 2017-utgaven av Small Holding.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
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Practical suggestions from Joy Whitehead
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We were lucky, we hadn’t been looking, well we had, but not seriously and this property just crept up on us.
Smallholding In France
The end of what had been feeling like an endless summer, arrived with a bit of a shock, with early November temperatures suddenly falling from the high 20’s, to the surprise of waking up to a light frost.
Wool And Fleece In Winter?
Although the main shearing season for sheep is from May to September across the UK, there is plenty of fleece being harvested at other times of year.
New Year Resolutions
Jessica Wombwell looks at improvement ideas to stick to
Rearing Your Own Christmas Dinner
The project will be both challenging and rewarding says Janice Houghton-Wallace
The Moult Is A Natural Process
Jessica Wombwell explains why there is feather loss in poultry
