The Smallholding

Two years ago the smallholding was simply a large, empty field, so it isn't nearly as interesting or exciting as most on the HelpX site, I'm afraid. We've been too short of time and money to develope it as quickly as we'd have liked to have done. My son, Simon, has a small Massey Ferguson tractor which he used to make hay there. As you can see from the photo, it is on a hillside.... hot and sunny in the summer, but cold and windswept in the winter.









First to be added to the field were some tiny Shetland ponies. In this photo is Eric when he was just a few months old. There are six Shetland ponies there at the moment, ready to be trained to be lead, pick up feet and generally behave themselves by helpers who like ponies. Anyone used to Shetlands will know that they are fun-loving, cheeky ponies who who try hard NOT to behave themselves!

For the past two years we've also kept chicken, ducks and geese there. Now we have about a hundred chicken of different breeds and twenty geese. One goose is sitting on eggs - hopefully we will have some hatch within the next few days. Ours are friendlier than most geese, having been hand-reared.

The birds are shut into small sheds and coops at night. During the day they are in large runs, and our small mixed laying flock often have the run of the whole field. The geese are also loose in the field, although they are kept away from the willow as they eat it.

The chicken houses are all mobile, with most of them being moved spring and autumn with Simon's tractor.

This spring I planted over sixty fruit trees and some willow fedges and domes. I also have a small willow bed to produce new plants for next year and rods for basketry etc. in the winter. This summer it will take quite a while keeping these watered - especially as water has to be taken to the field.