A smallholding in France
Small holdings have been around for many, many years. Can’t say I’m a fan of the term though. What does it actually mean? It just doesn’t conjure up any visions for me. I’m pleased to say a new term has entered the English language - Hobby Farm - and I like it.
It’s descriptive, sums up in an instant what we’re about and negates any embarrassment I may have felt when a ‘real’ farmer, having breakfasted at sunrise, drove past in his huge mechanical beast on route to one of his several 30 acre fields.
It’s official, farming can be a small-scale hobby.
As hobbies go it’s pretty hard work I must say. But, very enjoyable and more rewarding than any other hobby I can think of.
Being new to this way of life we are learning as we go. We moved from the UK - lock, stock, 2 dogs, 1 cat and 3 horses - and into our ’dream home’ in January this year (’08).
Since then we have mostly been fencing, adopting more animals and building appropriate animal shelters. Darren (hubby) has hammered in so many fence posts his upper body is beginning to look like Arnold Schwarzenneger’s.
Our list of jobs to do grows longer and longer every day and our plans become more ambitious as we become more settled here.
The main joys of living here are…
Waking up every morning to see wonderful views of the surrounding countryside;
Looking over our land thinking of yet another possibility (and more work to do);
Watching the horses grazing happily in one of the paddocks;
Watching the piglets and chickens, equally happy, playing or rooting/pecking about their enclosure;
Walking over the fields with the dogs or seeing them mooch about freely, or lazily sleep, as we work;
Feeling pleased with ourselves as we look at the results of our hard labour while we have a well earned drink and decide which parts of our body ache the most;
I could go on, and on… and on!
At the time of writing this (April 2008) we’re still only three months into our residency here and it certainly hasn’t all been plain sailing. The weather alone (e.g. snow, days of constant rain, fierce winds - did I mention we're living in a caravan?) has caused a few headaches not to mention a certain little pony intent on destroying the temporary electric fencing we had and always managing to do so at the end of the day during darkness and pouring rain.
Future plans:
We hope to breed from the pigs and chickens to produce our own free range meat. This will be another first for us and something we have wanted to do for many years.
A vegetable plot is also on the list. Judging by my previous experiences of trying to grow things (and failing) this will be the most challenging project. Green fingered I’m not. Maybe the French soil and climate will make all the difference. I live in hope!