Are you trying to make more of your meals from scratch? Maybe you’re interested in producing your own food and eating more seasonally? Here on the smallholding, eating freshly prepared food, made with seasonal home-grown ingredients is the main objective! Home-grown, freshly cooked food tastes so much better, it creates very little waste and there…
Are you struggling to stick to your budget? Do you find yourself overspending each month? Here are the tactics I use to live on a fairly restricted budget. My decision to take an extended career break, to spend a little more time at home prioritising my family, has obviously impacted our household income. Even though…
Are you keen to swap shop-bought compost for your own home-made blend? Here’s how to turn your kitchen and garden waste into black gold, and bring new life to your flowers and vegetables! Introduction Maybe you have lofty ambitions for your garden, such as self-sufficiency or prize-winning roses. Or perhaps you are just starting out…
Are you concerned about your carbon footprint and keen to move away from using fossil fuels to heat and run your home? Have you considered using wood for heating and cooking? Are you interested in the practicalities of relying on solid fuels such as wood? Here’s how we make wood burning work for us. Introduction…
How much can a smallholder accomplish in five years? We have recently celebrated our five-year anniversary on the smallholding. So here’s a review of all we have done in that time! Chickens Once we had moved in, the first big objective was to get ready for chickens. We had previously kept back-garden chickens some years…
Are you thinking of moving to a smallholding? Would you like to know why established smallholders took the plunge? Read on to find out all about our journey from city dwellers to running a smallholding in rural Scotland. Let’s Start at the Very Beginning George and I met through a mutual friend when we were…
Are you working towards a more eco-friendly lifestyle? Are you wondering how to approach life with a zero-waste mindset? In this post, I outline the key tenets of the zero-waste movement. And I’ll explore the swaps you can make to minimise waste in every area of your life. What does “Zero-Waste” actually mean? The zero…
Are you considering a swap from Teflon or ceramic pans to cast iron? Or are you just wondering how different it is to cook with cast iron cookware? Keep reading to find out more! Why Use Cast Iron Cookware? There are several reasons to make the swap to cast iron cookware. First and foremost, it…
Are you wondering how to entertain your toddler on a budget? Are you looking for fresh ideas for activities that won’t break the bank? I’ve compiled a list of my favourite toddler-friendly activities that will fuel their imaginations, support their development and burn off some energy without cluttering your house with even more toys or…
Have you ever considered the impact that your laundry habits might have on the environment? Would you be prepared to implement some changes to make your laundry routine more eco-friendly? This week, our washing machine broke down. We inherited the machine when we bought the house six years ago, though we think it had only…
