Sunday 30 September 2012

Fate

Isn't it funny how life steers you in a certain direction to meet people? I felt that really keenly today.

I got up this morning, and we decided to all go to watch Taylor play football on the spur of the moment. We don't often go because I don't drive, and Pete can't take us all as he isn't always here, but today we all squished in the car and went along.

We got kind of lost as the directions given by the team manager weren't great, and when we finally got there another family were having the same problems finding it so we were both late. At least we weren't the only ones! The mum and I got chatting during the match, and when I mentioned that we were going to a local chicken farm to have a look afterwards she said that she'd love to keep chickens, and that she grew her own veggies at home. Cue me telling her all about the smallholding, and asking if her and her boys would like to be involved once we are up and running. It was always my plan long term to put posters up looking for a couple of local families to get involved and help me eat the food we produce, and run it as a community smallholding, so meeting her was just perfect! We were so busy chatting we missed practically the whole game. I gave her the location of the field and she was going to pop in and have a look on the way home, and she texted me a while ago to say she'd been and was really excited.  And to think I nearly didn't go to that football match today.

So hopefully we'll be starting the fence repairs in a week or so, then I will be on the lookout for my first two pigs. I have had the paperwork and it's all signed now, and I now know the official name of my field; Runwell Glebe.  Isn't that a pretty name?  I'm going to make a sign for the gate.

Taylor's football game was rubbish by the way(what I saw of it).  They lost 7-0, bless them.

Wednesday 26 September 2012

Waiting

While I'm waiting for the paperwork to be signed and the hard work to start, I'm having lots of fun thinking about fencing, shelters, hen houses and chicken/pig varieties. I am so excited about my pigs and chickens. I've set myself quite sensible achievable goals for the first 6 months, I think. First
job is build a pig pen with a shelter, then get two weaners. They are going to clear the ground for me, so I can move the pigs to another spot after Christmas, and grow a few veg on the cleared patch. I am restricted as to what I can grow this year, in the freshly turned and manured earth, but next year I should have a free reign and get lots of lovely veggies. I may build some raised beds too. I also want my chicken house on site in the spring, and I'm having a great time looking at all the different types of chicken out there. I love Brahma's, and Cochins, Maran's and Wyandotte's, but in reality I will just go to our local breeder and choose 6 birds that are all slightly different so that the children can tell them apart.

Monday 24 September 2012

Handy Tool

Today I have mostly been playing with this garden planner from Sutton's Seeds.  Not only is it fun and pretty to play with, it tells you what to plant where year on year, and sends planting reminders via email.  I love it!

Sunday 23 September 2012

Change

A lot has changed in our lives in the last year. Firstly, after years of planning & dreaming, and always failing to action those plans, we moved from a horrible council estate that we'd been stuck on for 11 years, to a close, but totally different, rural-bordered town. After many disappointing false starts where we'd selected towns, fallen in love with areas, houses and jobs and then not been able to move(I think this happened at least 4 times over the years), I finally managed to pull it off in the space of 4 weeks last May. So, we moved from this:












To this:
Unfortunately, my new garden is North facing and after a complete disaster this summer where nothing grew or ripened at all, bar about 5 tomatoes, I'd all but given up on my vegetable growing that I'd enjoyed in our previous tiny garden.  So, when I was travelling through the local village of Runwell a month ago and saw a 'To Let' sign at the gate to a small meadow, the wheels in my head started turning. I called the agents who told me that I needed to put in a bid to rent the land, but after asking a few questions I found out that there was a chance it had to stay as permanent pasture and couldn't be turned over, so I decided not to bother bidding.

A month later I had a voicemail asking me if I was still interested, as they had received no other bids and were happy for me to turn over the land and start a smallholding. A few visits and phonecalls later and hopefully by next week I will be the proud renter of this: