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Liz Wright is Editor of Smallholder Magazine, which she compiles from her smallholding in the Cambridgeshire Fens. In her spare time, as well as keeping bees and growing fruit and veg, she works with her Exmoor ponies, which include a stallion, and sometimes even gets to ride her Welsh cob. She also covers Cambridgeshire for the Donkey Sanctuary, which is based in Sidmouth. She's a parish councillor and a school governor for a local secondary school and her friends say that she clearly spends more time outside than inside to judge by the state of her unfortunate house! Liz says she doesn't mind if one of them offers to clean it for her but so far no one has! Liz really enjoys visiting other landscapes and is very fond of Wales where she has always felt very welcome during her time of involvement with the RWAS Smallholder and Garden Festival held in May. Her really big vice is second hand books - she collects farming and gardening books from the pre and post war years - and sadly ebay has fuelled this rather space occupying habit so that the books now have more room than the family!
This picture shows Liz with Duckle. Her book, Choosing and Keeping Ducks and Geese (available from Amazon), is dedicated to Duckle.
This is an archive of Liz's articles. For her latest news, see her most recent article.
February 2010 - A Touch of Summer Through Seed Packets
January 2010 - A Chilly Lambing Season
December 2009 - 'Tis the Season to be Jolly
November 2009 - Every Mile is Two in Winter
September 2009 - What is a Smallholder?
February 2010
A Touch of Summer Through Seed Packets
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| You need to really fill a hanging basket with plants to get a colourful effect |
It’s so cold here tonight and we are rapidly getting through the logs so carefully hoarded in the summer. We had to have a very large willow tree topped and kept all the wood – contrary to popular belief the resultant logs have not spat in the fire but that might be in some degree due to the fact they were left outside for over six months to dry. I know we have a hedgehog hibernating in one of our log piles so we cannot use that one!
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| This is a round basket - two half baskets pushed together. It is quite difficult to get enough water into it but very effective as it blooms all the way round |
It looks like it is going to snow tomorrow (oh no not again) so I have prepared for this by filling up all the waters, giving more bedding than usual and topping up all the bird feeders for both my domestic and my wild birds. So how shall I spend the freezing cold weekend? Possibly not out in the garden or giving an in-depth groom on my very muddy welsh cob. I also don’t feel like pressure washing the unused hen houses and giving them a timber treatment. I think when the livestock are fed and watered tomorrow I shall get out my seed packets and my seed catalogues and plan my strategy for the seed sowing season of 2010.
This year I am going to be very organised. A well known supermarket was selling hanging baskets for around 30p each last Autumn and Mick (my partner) kindly bought me about 30 of them. So now I have to fill them and also the 20 or so that I already have and the seed pouches bought from the local boot sale. I started making hanging baskets when I had a lot more free range poultry than I do now and it was almost impossible to stop them pulling up all my plants. Therefore I started growing many things up high. Unexpectedly I was quite good at this and to my utter amazement, the hanging baskets looked remarkably professional. I started to do more and more until last year, I ran out of space and gave some as presents. This year I plan to sell some, all bedded up. This means I need to raise some seedlings. I have tracked down some window sill seed trays that will utilise all my spare windows (many conveniently if not sensibly having radiators under them).
I also have to clear out the greenhouse and arrange the shelving for maximum effect. It is full of plants that have overwintered but sadly not my fuchsias, which I failed to bring indoors before the first lot of snow – the bit before Christmas – and I think I have lost all of them. Such a shame and my own fault.
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| Sprouting seeds can be grown indoors all year round and are very nutritious |
I also have a sort of back kitchen area that needs clearing so I can do all these things in preparation and I can plan which seeds to sow and put get them ready for the appropriate month. Many old gardeners (hang on I suppose I could be in that category!) say not to sow too early as seeds will catch up as the weather improves and they are spot on with this advice. But there is a tempting number of seeds that say “sow in February under glass or on a window sill” such as Sweet Peas and some Geraniums. I really do want to get on with those. I’m also quite keen to do a bit of research to find some annual bedding plants that are good for bees – I’m told the impressively reliable Bizzie Lizzie and Petunias are not great for bees.
I also want to play about with some herb hanging baskets and some perennial baskets plus there is an increasing number of veg varieties that will happily grow in baskets or tower type sacks. I have two good compost bins but as we hardly waste any food and the chickens have vegetables to compliment their layer’s pellets, we don’t get quite as much compost as we need so I will have to buy some I think for the baskets and also I need some liners. Sheep’s wool is said to be good but I no longer keep sheep so these also might have to be purchased.
I’m feeling all excited about this just writing it down. Whatever the weather outside, in my mind I will be in the spring and summer, visualising the riot of colour, the tasty veg and aromatic herbs that will spring from the seed packets.
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| A demonstration garden at the Smallholder and Garden Festival showing how much can be done with a small garden |
In Smallholder magazine this month (www.smallholder.co.uk) we have our seed special – look out for the delightful inset picture of the (very) young lady on our cover holding up high her very first crop of carrots. I was also inspired by an article from Send a Cow charity on bag gardens, much used in Africa but equally applicable to smallholders large and small. For their size they give good yields and allow you to keep crops close to the house for quick picking and to keep them away from sharp chicken beaks. I shall be trying this idea myself and also have a “keyhole” garden to try (Smallholder magazine – March issue – out 4 February 2010).
On the livestock front, my poultry have ground to a halt in the egg laying department – they were going so well until the snow – and the ducks have not come on stream yet. So I had to creep into a supermarket and buy some free range eggs – the first bought eggs for years and years and I am determined they will be the last. I plan to get some day old chicks in the summer and rear some more layers. I could get them now but I think I will wait until the weather is a bit better just in case we get any power problems. I have my dull infra red light ready and waiting to make the chick crèche!
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| Salad leaves in pots at a seed trial |
The bees – well all I can do is hope as I dare not look at them in this weather. I just pray I have fed them enough to keep them going. I hope to get into them very soon to check and add fondant. I’ve paid my membership to our local Bee Keeper’s Association and have noted several good talks that I want to attend. Incidentally, the bee keeping display at the RWAS Smallholder and Garden Show 15/16 May at Builth Wells includes a “live” demonstration whereby fully bee suited visitors can get a taste of handling bees. (Check out www.smallholder.co.uk for more info on the weekend). Throughout the UK, most Bee Keeping Associations are running courses for beginners and it is the best way to start so don’t wait, if you want to keep bees get on to the BBKA website and find your local bee club and get enrolled. Many of the clubs have schemes that loan out hives and provide a mentor and believe me, you will need some practical help and friends to discuss the strange ways of bees. Bee keeping is a very steep learning curve.
The Exmoor ponies are still in their element- they don’t notice the mud any more than they noticed the snow! Perfect for our weather. Meanwhile my donkey turns reproachful eyes on me and asks “make the sun shine”. Really I should have two donkeys as they bond for life, but she isn’t over keen on other donkeys and gets on well with the ponies. The Donkey Sanctuary at Devon (www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk) have some excellent free leaflets on donkey care so if you are thinking of getting a donkey then do contact them for free advice. They also have a foster scheme whereby you can foster pairs of donkeys.
So it’s off to find the seed catalogues now and get a whiff of summer sun. Spring really must be on the way somewhere…..
Liz is reading RHS "How to Grow Practically Everything" (published by DK) – this is a great book with clear illustrations and ideas for all levels of gardeners. She’s also reading “Farming month by month” by J Gunston and published in 1946.
Mole Valley Farmers sells a great variety of seed sowing and other gardening equipment. Browse the online shop or visit your local branch to find all the latest special offers, help and advice.
January 2010
A Chilly Lambing Season
It’s freezing cold, not that you need any reminding I’m sure. Much of our festive holiday was taken up with breaking water and feeding hay to ponies living out while continuing my bird feeding here at home on the smallholding. You know its cold when Fieldfares head towards the bird table and start squabbling over the apples and pears that I put out for them. I’ve become a regular visitor to the bird feeding section of agricultural merchants where I select feed stuffs and feeders for my ever growing flock. It is very important to keep the feeders clean to prevent disease so I choose easy to clean feeders and recently surprised myself by spending £20 on a Niger feeder* – a 16 perch Niger feeder no less. I was more than rewarded for this expensive purchase by the sight of no less than 11 goldfinches on the feeder. I also put out anything I think the birds might find useful that is in the pantry e.g. old dried fruit or old cereals. Quite by mistake I discovered they loved old bananas too. *Niger seeds are used as a 'tonic' for wild birds. Niger seed feeders are available from Mole Valley Farmers - see the Copper Plated Niger Feeder or Supa Aquatic 8" Niger Feeder, plus of course the Niger seeds to put in them!
So against the back drop of this cold weather, it’s hard to imagine spring let alone the lambing season. For some this has already started and how cold must that be! For most it will start around February or March, to catch the good grass at optimum growing times.
Either way, you will be thinking about your sheep now. If they are due to lamb in a few weeks then you need to bear in mind that the foetus will be taking up a lot of room in the ewe and thus not allowing her to eat as much bulk as she needs. You need to supplement her with concentrates and consider a lick as well to ensure she gets the energy, minerals and vitamins that she vitally needs. Without these she will fall prey to serious metabolic diseases that could have been prevented by paying attention to her late pregnancy nutritional needs. Ask your local Mole Valley Farmers branch or call the FeedLine on 01278 444829 for expert help. Also make sure she has plenty of water as she will need fluid to allow her foetus to flourish and to help her milk supply as she gets near to her time. Break the ice not once but two or three times a day and ensure that there are plenty of water troughs so that the most timid ewes also get sufficient to drink (the same is equally important of food of course – don’t let the greedy sheep get all the food, take time to stock watch and make sure that all the flock can feed).
A high quality forage ration will also help take them up to lambing safely – remember they cannot eat large quantities of food at this stage.
Make sure you have the lambing equipment already in place and that you have attended a lambing course (if not then try and find a local farmer who is lambing and ask if you could spend a day watching and helping). You will need to have lubricant, surgical type gloves that allow you to feel, disinfectant (check with Mole Valley Farmers – you don’t want anything too harsh for actual use when lambing but you will also need something to wash out the lambing pens), navel dressing spray or dip, thermometer to check the temperature of the lambs and if you are confident to use it, you will need a stomach tube and syringe or funnel. You’ll also need a warming box which you can make with a heat lamp – you must be very careful not to over heat the lamb or even burn it. I would also have a supply of powdered colostrum. I used this with huge success, sometimes just topping up after straightforward births. It’s also invaluable if a ewe has more than two lambs to make sure that all lambs get sufficient colostrum. You’ll also need milk replacer powder as you will need to supplement any births that produce more than two lambs and in some cases, the weaker lambs in double births. Use Mole Valley Farmers' handy check list. Make sure you have enough hurdles for quickly constructing pens, clean straw, water buckets and the a copy of Andrew Eales; Practical Lambing (Wiley Blackwell), one of the best books ever written on lambing and one which helped me enormously (and the girls!). Two other excellent books for shepherds are A manual of Lambing techniques (though I was taught not to use lambing ropes) and The Veterinary Book for Sheep Farmers.
In Smallholder magazine this month we look at preparing for lambing and how to lamb successfully including a look at the diseases associated with lambing (www.smallholder.co.uk).
Be sure too to have your vet’s phone number to hand and if new to lambing, have a chat with your vet beforehand to make sure you are fully organised and have everything you need. They might be able to provide certain drugs that will also help. Be prepared to keep records of the lambings. I cannot tell you how much you will want to refer to them in the future.
From personal experience I would also say make sure you have warm clothing handy, good lighting in the lambing barn, good torches for getting there and an understanding family – as they won’t be seeing much of you!!
On my holding I am obviously worried about my bees in this weather and really hope I fed them enough to take them through the winter. My plants around the house are devastated and I think I will have to do a lot of restocking this year. My winter salad in the greenhouse has given up the ghost more or less despite a greenhouse heater and I fear for my fig tree and herbs. It has been a tough winter (and more of it yet to come) but perhaps I am being too gloomy 
and more will survive than I think. Needless to say the Exmoor ponies are totally unmoved by the weather and refuse to even go in their shelter, preferring to stand against the hedge. Me, I rush into my shelter and cower against the open fire – thank goodness for a log splitter and a supply of logs. I think our boiler is going wrong and when it finally does so (oh please let it get through this winter), we shall be casting our eyes towards log burners for our future source of heat. The aged poultry keep on laying though to their credit and some of the new ones have come into lay as well so the poultry pellets must be doing their job in this cold weather. So, no winter salad but plenty of free range eggs for January!
December 2009
'Tis the Season to be Jolly
I’ve just collected some new ducks – a trio of Abacot Rangers. My much loved duck died back in the summer and that left me temporarily duckless. I have really missed the quacks and the excited waddling so when a friend told me of their huge success in breeding a number of these ducks and asked if I wanted some, I immediately agreed. The Abacot Ranger is, like the Khaki Campbell, another product of enthusiastic duck breeders in the early to mid part of the 20th century. The duck was strongly valued as a source of meat and eggs and duck laying trials abounded.
This breed came out top of the egg laying trial at the Wye College Duck Laying test in 1922 with a very creditable 923 eggs in the four bird section. That’s well over 200 eggs per duck so I am looking forward to some baking (duck eggs contain a higher percentage of fat than hen’s eggs which makes them ideal for this purpose), some lovely creamy tasting boiled eggs and maybe even some pickled duck eggs. Some people worry about salmonella and duck eggs, still the result of a scare way back in the 1950’s but like all eggs to be absolutely safe they need to be cooked right through. Having said that, I love runny fried eggs and I’m still here! But it’s best to be on the safe side especially for the young and old and anyone with an existing medical condition or a pregnant woman.
Again like many ducks of the time these are a breed developed from the Indian Runner duck which is a prolific layer but not so meaty – I am assured these ducks are excellent on the table as well but these three are not destined for that job. Unlike many other developed ducks they are apparently good natural mothers – which is how my friend came to have some for sale. I look upon it as an early Christmas present to myself. They are confined in an airy pen with a large bowl of water and when I think they have acclimatized I shall let them out in the afternoon, a few hours at a time, until we can free range them during the day, being shut in from dusk until mid morning.
Speaking of Christmas, ‘tis the season to be jolly and although the rampant commercialism does grate upon my ingrained green beliefs, I do enjoy cooking and preparing food and buying the odd present. I am a bit scrooge-like and don’t buy very many but I do try and match them to the person. I am never afraid of giving a really useful present and these go down particularly well with my smallholding and horse owning friends – you really cannot have too many riding gloves, grooming brushes, chicken feeders or bee hive brushes. I always hope for useful presents myself and appreciate warm hats, socks (I’m that rare person who likes socks, especially the amusing patterned ones of ponies, donkeys and chickens that you can buy) and hand cream – rather boringly I get through a lot of that as well. I would love a good torch, one of those wind up ones would also be helpful as we suffer from powercuts and I’ve always fancied a really good pocket knife, you know the sort that get boy scouts out of horse’s hooves (er I think I have that the wrong way round). Of course a really good present would be a year’s subscription to Smallholder magazine as that’s a present that lasts all year! I love to buy the animals special things too from rabbit chews to pony treats - in fact my ponies have their own advent calendar. My partner was very upset when he realised it wasn’t chocolate.
To people with animals, Christmas isn’t vastly different to other days in that they still need feeding, exercising and cleaning out and I always ride on Christmas morning, even it its just ten minutes. It’s my own Christmas tradition. Sometimes we take the donkey for a walk Christmas afternoon but this year we are going to take the donkey and her pony friend to the beach on New Year’s Day – last year severe flu (mine) stopped play. The donkey has an engagement first in the Crib Service at Ely Cathedral on the 24th December – she loves to go out and meet people.
Meanwhile I want to have a go at some marrow chutney before Christmas and I have several large pumpkins that I need to deal with – have been searching for pumpkin pickle type recipes but think I might make a pumpkin pie or even cake. My winter salad is getting there rather slowly; I think its time to dig out the greenhouse heater. Finally this is the month that I finally put the bees to bed – they have already been well fed but on a fine day I shall check they have enough fondant left and batten down the hatches so to speak until spring comes again.
And indoors I shall admire my Amyrillis, I’ve never had any before and they are entrancing me. In our latest issue, luckily, it tells me how to keep them for next year so I will be following those instructions carefully when they have finished their spectacular blooming.
I’m looking forward to a bloomin’ good Christmas and New Year with all my livestock, family included. I wish you all a peaceful and happy holiday.
November 2009
Every Mile is Two in Winter
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| Welsh cobs on a foggy, frosty winter morning |
So says an ancient country proverb and don’t you just know what that means? It means going to work in the dark and getting home in the dark and fitting the livestock round this. If you work from home as I do or have a full time farm or smallholding, the situation is only marginally easier in that you do have some light hours but so much to fill them. I’ve developed a strategy over my many years of livestock keeping, not to let winter catch me by surprise. This year that was made harder by the fact one minute an Indian summer, the next wet and winter. But I was prepared. My partner has a huge log pile gleaned from other people’s unwanted fallen trees or tree trimming so we have plenty of fuel for our house while I have laid in warm waterproof clothes, a selection of hats and gloves and some good torches. If you haven’t already done so, have a think about winter heating inside and out. Check out the latest log burners and boilers – if you do have access to wood they can be very economical and these days are constantly developing to be increasingly efficient. And get sorted with the clothes. I made myself throw out some of my worst offenders – the jacket that doesn’t do up, the jumper with huge holes, the gloves with split fingers (deadly on icy days). If you are working outside, like any worker you need good equipment to protect you from the cold and that you can move in easily. Boots too need attention. I have changed all my outside boots now to those with toe protection – again products have moved on from the clumpy boots of several years ago and are now much lighter, trendier (if this bothers you!) and easier to wear. So now I know if a horse treads on me or I drop a log on my feet, it won’t hurt me.
We do have electricity outside but we live in a semi-rural location (as the estate agents say when they mean rather desolate) and we are subject to power cuts. A collection of efficient torches is essential so we can find the much older oil lamps that provide light on these dark occasions. (Why does the power always go off when it is dark?). I also have proper candle sticks and candle snuffers and also a small gas cooker or we can use the open fire as we still have these. It is surprising how fast you adapt when you have to though I feel sorry for anyone who needs the power for medical reasons, the old and the young and also anyone incubating eggs or rearing chicks. In our case it is just inconvenience and we cope and remember what it must have been like to live without instant power - a sobering lesson.
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| Hedgelaying at the National Championships |
This month in Smallholder many of our expert contributors are thinking about winter but winter is not all about sheltering and survival. It’s also a time to think about planting hedgerows and trees and it’s becoming attractive to choose species that provide fruits for foraging such as hips, brambles, crab apples or nuts. This is of great benefit not only to wildlife but to make mouth watering and traditional recipes for the family. This year we have made blackberry and elderberry jam (supposed to be good for warding off colds), pickled walnuts from a self sown tree and rosehip and apple jam. We’ve also looked at an alternative use for garden snails – as a delicious delicacy – no not for the song birds but for the table with garlic.
On my own smallholding we’ve almost dug up the last of the beetroot. This crop does particularly well on our land (light fenland soil) and we have pickled and pickled and eaten it hot, cold, raw and cooked and still it comes! My winter salad in the greenhouse hasn’t leapt into action as quickly as I would like but it’s getting there slowly and I am still picking peppers. This year I have moved some herbs into the greenhouse because I have become accustomed to using fresh herbs very liberally and I want to carry on doing so for the winter.
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| Liz making friends at Shepreth Wildlife Park near Cambridge |
On a sad note, we had to have an elderly pony euthanized – never an easy decision but he had underlying health problems and facing a possibly harsh winter, it seemed to be the right time to call an end. Having made the horrible decision, the vet carried out the deed quickly and kindly and he didn’t know what was happening and the end, with me talking to him all the time, was quick and peaceful. We let his friends say their goodbyes and a very long chapter came to an end – he was in his thirties. Wherever you are, we hope you are happy Billy pony.
The other ponies have big thick winter coats and with their solid shelter and well drained land, they are set up for whatever the weather throws at them, living out as nature intended, helped only by some extra food when needed. They are Exmoor ponies so they really appreciate this free living. The Welsh Cob, despite my telling her she should live on a mountain, is ready at dusk to get into her warm stable with feed as is the donkey. Smallholder features an article on donkey care – unlike horses they are not adapted to wet winter weather and their own coats are not waterproof so they always need a good shelter and to be warm and dry. Which brings me back to warm, dry clothing for farmers and smallholders – everything feels better if it is wearing the right clothing be it a super duper Exmoor pony natural coat, a turnout rug for clipped equines or in my case, a waterproof coat, hat, gloves and scarf plus a good slap of face cream. Bring on the winter!!
For more information log on to Smallholder magazine – www.smallholder.co.uk or find the magazine in the newsagents and in selected WH Smiths and Tesco branches.
October 2009
Autumn Days
October is the month of the great country fairs, the goose fair, the cheese fair and of course the grain fair. There were also hiring fairs, where farm workers put themselves up for hiring for the coming year. Some of these still survive today in some form. All I can remember directly of October quotations attributable to my mother is that the “the Devil drags his tail across blackberries on 30th September” which means you shouldn’t eat them after that. Quite why the country people thought that or believed they were bad to eat might come from pre-climate change days but my mother was adamant that they shouldn’t be picked now. I’ve just picked some rosehips with the intention of making rosehip and apple jam, and green tomatoes wait in my pantry for green tomato chutney. Not quite sure yet what to do with the surfeit of peppers, most of them rather too hot for my taste. Should I dry them, put them in oil or pickle them in vinegar as was suggested to me at the weekend? And then will I remember to drag them out for chillis, curries and casseroles during the cold days of winter? I feel another note pinned to the fridge coming on!
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Liz's partner is persuaded to put on a bee suit and help Liz's mentor |
Meanwhile I put the second lot of varroa treatment into my bees this weekend and noticed that they had taken all their sugar syrup. Now I will feed some fondant and ensure the hives are well insulated for the winter. Why are our bees disappearing? It could well be climate change, pesticides and varroa mite but I do believe that some of the responsibility lies with bee keepers too. Feeding bees is quite a complex subject and requires an understanding of how the insects work. For example, while it is hot and lush for us in late August, early September, around here at least there is little for the bees to find with the summer flowers at the end and the ivy not yet out. And because they are active, they are hungry. Without the help of a more experienced bee keeper it would not have occurred to me to give additional feed but thinking about it, it is an obvious thing to do. I shall also be looking much more closely at providing all year round sources of pollen and nectar. Sadly many of the lovely, showy bedding and basket plants don’t actually provide much for the bees to find. I ensure that we always have a good management article about bees in Smallholder but for our latest issue we are actually looking at honey and health – how honey can help to keep us smallholders well all winter.
To clip or not to clip? That is the question if you have a horse or pony and we’ve tried to address this in Smallholder this month. Personally, I’m quite lazy and although I might have to clear a saddle patch on the hairy welsh cob monster that is my pony to ride in the winter, it is not comparison for having to rug and clip. But if I wanted to do more than a little light hacking or riding in the ménage I would need to clip at least partially. And I have to admit to providing a light rug even without clipping for the muddiest days. I do like the look of a well clipped and rugged riding horse or pony and today’s modern clippers (mine are cordless) make it much simpler and safer than ever before. Points to remember are preparation of the clipping area, cleanliness of the horse and safety first plus having a good rug available straight away to provide warmth. 
One of my hens has chicks – they are about four weeks old now and seem to be unaware that this is the wrong time of the year for chicks. She is a superb mother and they are perky little things. I had to go and buy chick crumbs to get them off to a good start. We have a variety of poultry and it’s also time to think about worming. I’ve commissioned our poultry expert in Smallholder to take a long, hard look at how and when to worm as its something we need to consider very carefully. We worm other animals but sometimes the poultry escape the notice and they need worming as much as anyone else. They also need continually checking and treating for red mite which is an ever increasing problem. Thankfully there are now products that can control it but vigilance remains the watch word.
My top tips for October are to make sure the greenhouse is cleared of summer crops such as tomatoes and that the crisp winter salads are in grow bags ready for sowing through the winter.
Also ensure that you have correctly calculated the amount of hay and straw you will need until, I think, at least May and that you have sourced it and budget for it. Buy the best hay you can afford; it is a good investment or consider haylage from a reputable supplier for dairy animals such as goats (most good suppliers test their haylage).
I also like to look at my clothing, now is the time to get a new coat if necessary and don’t forget that ever important hat and a supply of gloves, you know some drying, some to wear and some spares! And get a good barrier cream for your hands and your face.
Winter has its upside; you might actually manage to get to sit down for a bit in the evening and watch television or read rather than be on the go through all the daylight hours! There really is something rather special about relaxing by a fire after a hard day in the crisp cold autumnal days. Go on – you deserve it.
For more information log on to Smallholder magazine – www.smallholder.co.uk or find the magazine in the newsagents and in selected WH Smiths and Tesco branches.
September 2009
What is a Smallholder?
Liz Wright, Editor of Smallholder Magazine, gives a personal view...
I am a smallholder and have been for over twenty years. By that I mean I have access to a moderate amount of land and produce some of my own food. But what is the true definition of a smallholder? According to Longman’s dictionary a smallholder is one who works a smallholding, which is defined as “a piece of farmland smaller than an ordinary farm (usually less than fifty acres)”. Alan Thompson, in his book “Your Smallholding” written just after the war in 1947, has several definitions which vary as to whether they are given by a large farmer, a bank clerk or a government official but the smallholder himself says “it’s a little bit of everything and that he has not had a holiday in ten years but he would not give up his independent life”. They are both good definitions – the only question being the lower limit of amount of land. Back in 1910, the then editor of Smallholder Magazine was telling a man who lived in the town and had just bought three laying hens that he was “well on his way to becoming a smallholder”.
It’s all of these things and also, I would add, it is a way of life where you choose to eat “free range food”, not only livestock and eggs but also “free range” vegetables, that come from your own patch still covered in soil and bursting with life and vitality. Just looking at our current issue brings home the diversity in the smallholding way of life.
We’ve been running a series on what you can do with a specific amount of land and this month we are looking at how much you can produce from an acre and it really is a surprisingly large amount. It might not be that you can quite give up you day job (unless you are especially nifty with the poly tunnel) but you can seriously reduce your food bills to almost nothing and eat seasonally and well. But that’s dependent on extending the growing season through the winter by using winter hardy crops and some protection – another subject we cover this month.
On my own smallholding, I plan to grow winter salads throughout the cold months and at a recent seed trials I was very impressed by the hardiness and prolific nature of some of the oriental vegetable seeds now coming on to the market. I’ll definitely be following the instructions given by a practical contributor on the subject of “hot beds” where the writer claims that while the crop is growing inside “snow can be tipped off the frames”. Can’t go wrong then I hope! Inside the house, on the window sills, sprouted seeds, harnessing the superior nutrition of the very young plant, grow reliably and provide a variant of flavour while being packed full of vitamins.
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| Liz with her Horticultural Cup for 2009 |
Winter is a good time to get out and go wooding. Our log fires are not only warm and friendly but also reduce our heating bills and the logs are all from trees that have had to be topped or have fallen. In our area it appears not many people are as interested in logs as we are so we are finding them fairly readily. I might have to enlist the help of one of my native ponies to do some horse (or in this case pony) logging (clearly they can’t cope with the size of trees pulled by a large draught horse but then we don’t really get massive trees in Fenland). The original horsepower is a subject taken up in one of the livestock articles where the writer argues that even if you don’t want to work a horse yourself, finding a traditional horse logger might be the solution for many small wood owners.
Last month we looked at growing willow for fuel while this month we examine other renewables for home heating. Because smallholding doesn’t stop at the back door – it is a way of life that is carried through into the home where we still preserve surplus harvests for the winter perhaps in the freezer, perhaps in a more traditional jar and where us smallholders try to tread as lightly on the earth as we can and rely on our efforts and what we can find wherever we can. In fact why not recycle textiles as well in the long dark nights? It’s much easier than you think and makes for colourful clothes. Our guide to this is from a woman who really practises what she preaches. So although the dark days are heading our way, there’s a lot to do outside and inside on the smallholding and every season brings its benefits.
My top tip for September is to gather hedge fruits while the weather is good (but do leave some for the birds) and put it in the freezer, open frozen so that they are spread out on a tray not touching each other. Then when the weather is bad and you are ready to make elderberry chutney or blackberry jam or rowan jelly, they are ready for you to use.
For more information log on to Smallholder magazine – www.smallholder.co.uk or find the magazine in the newsagents and in selected WH Smiths and Tescos.
Words and photographs by Liz Wright.
Liz's latest books, Keeping Pet Ducks and Self-sufficiency: A Practical Guide for Modern Living will be published in 2010. They are available to pre-order from Amazon.
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