I
met Mik and Gill Bedson in their warm and cosy kitchen at Chapel Farm, Suffolk,
over coffee and biscuits to chat to them about their lifestyle. I wondered if they had any links to farming
or smallholding. The answer to that
question was ‘No’, only Dads who grew vegetables. Their passion came from wanting a better life. They weren’t happy with the way food was
being produced in this country – mass produced, factory farmed, with seasonality
disappearing altogether.
Mik & Gill Bedson
Roll
back the clock to 2004, Mik and Gill are living in a small village, near
Leighton Buzzard in Hertfordshire, both are commuting to London, five days a
week. Mik is working for a telecoms
company and Gill, a health company. In
the small back garden of their country cottage are some hens, home grown vegetables
and the occasional two weaners, ownership being shared with friends.
Mik
is then given an opportunity of a lifetime, to go and work India, so Gill
resigned and off they went. As she had
no need to work, plus household servants, Gill developed a passion for Art. This passion for Art stays with her after three
and a half years in India, when they decided to come back to the UK. On their son’s advice they moved to Suffolk,
because it’s a ‘nice’ county, close to their children and still within
commutable distance to London for Mik’s work.
Gill decided not to go back to work, to concentrate on smallholding and developing
her art. I asked them if it was a joint
decision to smallhold. They both agreed
it was, although slightly more biased towards Gill as Mik was working full time.
Chapel
Farm was purchased in 2008. Five and a
half acres of gently sloping grassland, a large veg plot and fruit trees, a
small orchard, plus various outbuildings for storage and a workshop. Weaner pigs were purchased then a few
sheep. The pig enterprise was then expanded
to include two Oxford Sandy & Black gilts for breeding. Then the jobs started; the whole site needed
stock fencing, the veg plot digging over, animal shelters constructing and
copious amounts of equipment purchasing, all whilst Mik was still working in
London.
The mixed flock of sheep and variety of chickens
Then
came the blow, Mik was made redundant and they had spent up. So another big decision had to be made – what
to do? Should Mik go and get another
job? Or were they both committed enough
to smallholding to make a go of it and become self sufficient as far as they
could, and live off a smaller income?
Suffice to say, he gave up work!
Roll
the clock forward, Gill is pursuing her Art career, Mik is working part time
for a community project, based around producing local food, and they manage the
smallholding between them. Extra income
is earned through selling their surplus meat and livestock. All their garden produce is eaten fresh or frozen
for leaner times. They produce their own
milk and cheese, courtesy of their small herd of pedigree English goats. Pork, bacon and sausages are produced from Saddleback
or Oxford, Sandy and Black pigs. Lamb
and mutton are produced from their mixed flock of sheep – Leicester Longwools,
Lleyns and Jacobs. Varying breeds of
hens produce a good supply of eggs, meat chickens are produced for the freezer
and about half a dozen Norfolk Black Turkeys are fattened for friends and
family at Christmas. All of their livestock
are rare breeds, they produce wonderfully flavoured meat. Gill uses them for inspiration for her art
work, ‘because they are pretty to look at’, she says.
Old English milking goats
Saddleback sow (Blossom) and her piglets
They
have had their ups and downs, it has not all been plain sailing. The first lambing was a baptism of fire,
truly awful, Gill recollects. All four
ewes had difficult births, multiple lambs, some lambs not feeding; twelve lambs
from four ewes, a lambing never to be forgotten. Having got used to a very lucrative lifestyle
when Mik was earning, one of the worst things to get used to was learning to
live on less money. Lack of knowledge
was never a problem, with the internet, books and always someone who knows more
than you. The emotional side of dealing
with dead livestock is something that you never really get used to, they
say. Livestock you have nurtured over
the years, ones you have brought into the world, there is nothing you can do
when they die – heartbreaking. Another downside they both agree on is the winter
weather; rain, snow, wind; the cold is just foul and then there’s the mud, ‘Say
no more’, says Gill. Being tied to the
smallholding Gill finds difficult sometimes, you can’t just up and leave when
you have livestock to consider; their children don’t always appreciate this when
one of them has a crisis that needs mum or dad’s attention.
The
best bits for them are numerous; not
having to get up and go to work for someone else; the flexibility of life;
attending to jobs as they arise e.g. catching loose sheep; learning new skills,
Mik says, building lambing sheds, dealing with livestock problems, medical or
otherwise, he reckons it keeps him young.
In essence they feel they are time rich, cash poor. I also asked them if there was anything they
missed from their ‘old life’. Mik likes
his gadgets and due to the lack of spare cash, he’s upset that he can’t have
the latest iPad, but certainly doesn’t miss the commute or the job. Gill misses the thrill of helping people
through her nursing, but volunteering for CRUSE helps with this. Another question was if they were to start
again at Chapel Farm would they do anything different? Mik would’ve loved to have put in some sort
of water collecting device, either sinking a tank or borehole, it’s all
hosepipes, which is a nightmare when it freezes; field standpipes would have
been a better idea. Essentially they
would’ve liked to have been more ecologically friendly all round, with a wind
turbine, solar panels and a solid fuel heating system preferably, unfortunately
lack of money put a stop to this.
Then
the ultimate question – Do they make a living from smallholding? The basic answer is, ‘No’. Essentially their
smallholding income comes from selling eggs, meat and young livestock. Selling the surplus covers the cost of
growing the animals in the first place, plus the cost of slaughter and
butchering. This allows them to eat what
they want for free. Mik found the
economies of scale quite difficult, too many pigs were not cost effective;
there is no market for that amount of meat at their level.
I
reach the end of my interview with them gaining a real sense of satisfaction
from Mik and Gill, they are happy with their life and their lot, not wanting to
change much at all. Two more satisfied
smallholders; this life really is a joy.
Proudly surveying his charges, on a wet breezy day
Stats today -
Eggs produced = 12
Sales -
1 x 250g Tomatoes £1.00
1 x Cucumber £0.60
1/2 dozen eggs £0.90
Expenses -
Nil
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