Thursday, 19 September 2013


How do you get away, when you have so many animals, so many commitments, and so little money?

We have dear friends who have house, horse, dog, sheep and goat-sat for us before, but the milking is a rare accomplishment, and combined with all the other stuff, makes it a full time job for anyone not doing it all on auto. It should be a full time job for me.

I discovered this today when the door was being tapped, then knocked, then hammered on, while I was at work. When I'm at work there's a sign on our front door that basically asks you to pretend you found no one home. This is because, I am at work. I am on my phone, on my computer, in  my bedroom - but actually, to all intents and purposes, I'm not.

I'm in an office in London, I have their phone lines, their computer system - I'm committed to working several hours, and until those hours are done, I'm not here.

I digress. The hammering on the door became insistent, and I had to commit the cardinal sin of logging off from work unexpectedly.  It's the virtual equivalent of finding the person at the desk next to you just tele-ported off to some inter galactic conference, or vapourised. Anyway, as it turned out, the person on the doorstep was the person with the garden next to one of the bits of land we rent. And she had sheep in her garden and a goat in her hedge.

I'm cross because they should have been moved. They are exploring because they're short of grass. It's on the list. But the list is long and my time is short. I should be doing this full time.

With no one to help and very limited time, my best shot was to fill the boot of the car with hay, trot down there and bribe them to stay over the other side of the field with said bounty, come back, dig some old electric netting out of the hedge, and go and improvise a fence (without benefit of fencer unit, so, in short, a fake) to keep them from wandering further.

Winter has not yet begun, and we are tired. We needed a break this summer, and we didn't get one.  The thought of another long winter, with no let up, is beginning to look like a deal  breaker.

If you are a homesteader, small farmer, smallholder or just awash with animals, birds and projects - how do you get away? Do you have any tips? Anyone want to play smallholdings for a week?!

[caption id="attachment_544" align="aligncenter" width="640"]IMG-20130919-00667 The Beulahs acting innocent. You can see the vast quantities of hay, hiding in the nettles. They were shamelessly bribed to come over this side.[/caption]



  1. I have a friend who recently dropped everything to come here at short notice because I needed to not be here for a bit. I don't think I can express how much I appreciate her.