"Christina Websell" wrote in
:


I have a paddock down in the village, a mile and a half away that I
kept goats on for many years.
Since my last goat passed away of old age quite a while ago, I have
hardly visited it, it was very overgrown and a target for flytippers
as a public footpath runs along oone side.
A few weeks ago my brother suggested that we cultivate it as a family
and I was very pleased, as 1/3 acre of nettles and brambles was too
daunting for me.
He has a friend with a mini digger and he was pleased to have a chance
to play with his boy's toy, so they spent a whole day clearing about
half of it ten days ago and making a path towards the tap, yes, it has
water on site!

We'll be able to grow organically as never a touch of chemicals has
ever gone near it since I bought it in 1982ish.
I've had an enquiry from a beekeeper who would like to have a few
hives on there and will visit him to discuss. I'm likely to agree to
that. He also wants a plot and I will probably say no to that atm.
I spent a nice few hours down there today with my brother who has the
week off work, me sowing salad vegs (just lettuce, radish and spring
onions for now) on a bit my bro had dug over, removed all the nettle
roots from and raked to a fine tilth, while he dug another bit over to
make a separate bed. My garden at home is large in area, but long and
thin and shaded by trees. I try to grow veggies but they certainly
suffer from the shading and don't do very well.
The paddock is wide and open, no trees, plenty of sun.
This will be wonderful, if my bro maintains his interest. He has 3
children under 12 to feed so he probably will.
When the digger was there all the neighbours came out of the woodwork.
"Can we have a plot, buy a bit?"

I was in a desperate situation when I bought this land. I had a
rented place with stables for my goats and suddenly the owner gave me
3 months notice to quit as he wanted to build there. I had seven
goats at the time and the only land available was this piece. The
current owner of it had been refused planning permission on it so he
was up for selling it, but like villages are, the word had got around
that my goats would soon be homeless. I ended up paying half as much
as my house cost at that time for it and had two large mortgages, more
so as I had to pay the loan for the land off in 5 years.
I'm not inclined to let plots off for 10 quid a year or whatever is
the going rate, more so because I discovered that if I do I need
liability insurance.

Hey, I'm really excited. I want to grow everything that I never could
in my shaded garden!
However, it's quite rough atm. Even the digger did not get rid of
some of those dreadful tufts of grass and there is huge heap of the
ones that it did. 20 yards long and three feet high. Will this rot
down to grow courgettes in? she says hopefully.
We haven't attacked the brambles yet. 50 yards x 15 yards at least.
How to do it organically as that's the way we want to go? I suspect
slash and burn.
Now if I still had goats, not a bramble will live as they love them.
Tina


A BIG project, but how I envy you.

By the sound of it you might do well cultivating the one half for this
year and get some veg. plants into the rough areas, some spuds, loads of
them. The season is getting on now, but still lots of time to get this
veg plot started big style.
That digger is going to be a godsend when that heap rots down.

What about a couple more goats?
I would love to have chickens on a plot such as yours.

Let us know frequently how it's going please.
Baz