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The life of a part-time farmer
Most of us smallholders who use our plots for“ agricultural” activities do so“ on the side” as it were. If we generate any profit at all from our properties it will probably be no more than a small part of our income, if it is profitable at all. Thus, at best, we can be called part-time farmers, and the reality is that we only get things right part of the time. It ' s not so bad if you keep animals. With the exception of those that require milking twice daily, the care and maintenance of most livestock boils down to feeding, cleaning out stables and letting the animals out into paddocks during the day and bringing them in at night. At a push, just about anybody can accomplish these relatively quick tasks before leaving for work or school, or later, upon one ' s return home. And if one is lucky enough to have a farm worker in one ' s employ, a little bit of training will mean that even these tasks can be handled by somebody else. This will mean that nothing more than a routine of daily inspection for health and welfare, and the occasional session of hoof trimming, deworming or inoculating should ensure a smooth-running enterprise. These activities can, and most often are, accomplished on Saturdays, when one has time after breakfast to ensure one has the necessary assistance, yet can still get to the local co-op or vet before they close for the necessary medicaments and equipment. But it ' s the other aspects of mini-farm life that can drive a cart and horses through one ' s plans( mixed metaphor fully intended). For if there ' s a pump to break, you can be sure it will do so 24 hours before your planned departure on holiday, or a week-long session of important meetings in the city. And, of course, stock thieves and petty burglars don ' t respect one ' s busy schedule when it comes to cutting fences and breaking doors and windows. These unfortunate incidents invariably occur at the most inconvenient time possible, usually when one is away and has a caretaker to look after one ' s place.( This is also, of course, the time that one ' s pets will become sick and require a trip to the vet. Or worse, when beloved old animals decide to die( which has happened to us not once, but twice, both times while our plot was being looked after, very kindly, by one of our adult children who not surprisingly as a result in no longer available to us as a caretaker.) But it ' s when one gets into seasonal farming activities that the pressure really mounts on a part-time farmer.
Here we are, in May ~ Autumn ~ after a wonderful summer season of plentiful rain and lush growth. We spent months planning our sowings, watering, weeding, trimming, fighting pests and disease and picking the crop. Now, however, our fruit has ripened and been harvested, and preserved for winter in one way or another, as have one ' s summer vegetables. A time of dormancy and rest awaits us as we head towards winter. Except it doesn ' t, because in two months ' time the grass in one ' s fields and on the verges around one ' s plot will have become a fire hazard. One carelessly discarded cigarette butt, a puff of wind and, hey presto, one faces losing everything to a runaway inferno. Thus, with the spectre of a catastrophe looming a few short weeks ahead, you work out what needs to be done. First, cut the grass. Then rake it into windrows. Then bale it( if you ' re lucky you might be able to sell the bales you don ' t use yourself for a bit of pin-money). Then you need to make firebreaks which, if you ' re burning them, requires planning for a calm, windless day and liaising with your neighbours. Then you need to brushcut the grass around your fences, and on your verges( because the council probably won ' t). So now the pressure is really on. After a wetter-than-usual summer our grass is higher than usual, so cutting this year is more important than in most years, even if your field is a jungle of weeds. And the cuttings must be removed from the field else they, too, are merely a fire hazard. But you can ' t rake, bale or stack wet grass, and what have we just enjoyed? A wetter-than-usual summer, which has extended into a gratifyingly damp autumn, which is great for the garden, and keeps the lawn green for a few weeks longer, but is a pain in the proverbial when one is trying to fit haymaking into a life that includes work deadlines, month ends and school holidays. And so you figure and scheme and plan how to do it all, and at last the appointed Saturday arrives and you head off to hitch your slasher to your tractor. And? The tractor won ' t start. Back to square one. Plot life ain ' t for sissies.
WRITTEN BY SMALLHOLDERS, FOR SMALLHOLDERS