The message
from James Fidell contains these words:

I'm not really sure what constitutes a "smallholder", but I'm trying to
gather together a list of websites relating to growing fruit & veg,
keeping livestock and anything else that might be useful (a Dummies Guide
to Hedge-laying might come in rather handy in the near future, for
instance).

Any smallholders reading this group and care to own up? Care to post
(or email) sites you find useful?

Technically it's land that's registered as a smallholding (one step
down from agricultural land). Our last place was registered, from many
years before we acquired it, and every year I had to fill in a Scottish
Office return about the land use, livestock and labour etc. In practice,
lots of people who have upwards of an acre and produce some of their own
food, call it a smallholding although its not registered.

Hedgelaying..try local conservation groups etc; they often want
volunteers and will teach you how. I wouldn't rely on a hedge for
keeping stock inside your boundaries, though.

For general stuff you could look through the archives of
alt.permaculture, at www.google/groups, but bear in mind that the
contributors are sometimes talking about conditions in other parts of
the world.

Janet