Is Smallholding Right For You?

Lots of people are interested in having a smallholding but very few realise how hard work it can be. How do you support yourself financially and spend quality time with animals or managing a productive garden? Smallholding rarely makes a living and most people would admit that their animals and gardens are more of a hobby.

Living off the land and being self sufficient is probably attainable to an extent but can be costly to set up. We try to be as self sufficient as we can but in reality know that we could never be totally self sufficient unless we won the lottery. But would winning the lottery make us happier? It would certainly ease things a little but I doubt we'd live that much differently than we do now!

Before jumping into smallholding it's worth doing research and planning what animals you could keep, what you could grow and making sure you have the time and energy to look after everything as it needs done. There are far too many eager people who take on too much only to have things go belly up, it's better to start small and if you cope well then think about expansion.

Maybe you could start out with an allotment from the local council, they're usually quite cheap to rent, most areas have them and you'll meet some fantastic people and gain lots of advice and knowledge.