A wheelbarrow!
That's correct. We brought back a wheelbarrow. Not actually from Lammas, but from a supply shop in a nearby village. It was one we worked with while mixing the cob and I noted how strong it was and how deep it was. It also had the price on it and where it came from.
Last holiday we brought back a ditch spade as our souvenir. There seems to be a pattern developing.
A Wheelbarrow Full of Inspiration
But we brought a lot more back from Lammas. We brought back ideas and inspiration by the bucketload (or even the wheelbarrowfull)
We have to be realistic about our age and the nature of our smallholding. It is probably too late to start over again. I may have the energy now, but it has diminished even in the eight years since we moved out of London. I have to think about eight years time when I will reach the ripe old age of 60.
Our current jobs are good and rewarding. Giving up everything and starting again, though tempting, is probably just one step too far. If I were leaving university and had been exposed to all these ideas it may have been a different story.
Volunteers required
The most obvious thing we can take from Lammas is how they shared what they did with others, one benefit being that they got a lot of their work done for them too. We are not in the same position, but it is certainly possible that we could attract a couple of volunteers. Not only would this give us the opportunity to share what we do with others, which is my one big regret about the lack of community feel in our area however hard I try to get things going, but it would also enable us to undertake bigger projects and release us to learn and practice new skills.
I am particularly keen to develop my basketry skills - if I can become good enough these could be skills I could share with other people at some stage. Sue is becoming more and more interested in woolcrafts too, especially felting.
Flirting with Permaculture
Secondly, we brought back inspiration. Inspiration to keep pushing forward with new projects and ideas. I am becoming more and more interested in permaculture. I don't necessarily agree with all its ideas about growing food, though I probably incorporate more of them than many others, but I am becoming more aware of permaculture in its wider sense, for it is about sustainability, about sharing and about people.
I have tried to incorporate a lot of this in the work I do for Fenland Smallholders Club, but we are linked purely by smallholding and not by our outlook on life.
Getting Started with New Plans
There are a couple of practical things I shall be looking into straight away. One is growing Elephant Grass. I have already fired off a few emails to try to track down a source of rhizomes. The other is to start a proper plantation of basketry willows. And the third (I know I said a couple) is to grow more willows for biomass. I have already adapted my composting system to make it easier to turn more frequently.
Of course, for the willows and the elephant grass I will be needing a proper chipper. I rarely purchase machinery and am most certainly not a consumerist smallholder (and believe me there are many), but sometimes the proper machinery is required to do things properly. At other times sheer determination, brute force and improvisation will do the job!
The Long-term
Bigger projects, which I may never get round to, include looking into generating our own electricity (unlike Lammas, we do not have the advantage of a spring or a hydro system), looking into a borehole for water and, of course, building a round house and maybe even a cob greenhouse.
The bigger projects will depend on our success in attracting visitors and volunteers to Swallow Farm. I get the feeling that repeat visits to Lammas and other similar places will be sufficient to give me the knowledge and inspiration to keep moving forward.
So there you have it.
Big plans.
I got a lot more from this one week holiday than I could possibly have hoped for and more than I would from a whistle-stop tour of some foreign clime. I have done my fair share of that in the past and it has broadened my horizons and my appreciation for nature and other humans. But now I feel it is time for something more meaningful.
All these principles and beliefs which I have basically held and developed through my adult life are beginning to form into a workable plan.
The next eight years may just be even more exciting than the last eight.
