What kind of crops, what sort of animals?

The land will yield according to the will and the skill of the people who work it, with soil and climate as the major limiting factors. It should be remembered that farming, and even gardening, are unnatural activities insofar as we cultivate land with the express purpose of providing for human needs and wants, to the exclusion of other living creatures. Nature, if left alone, will create diversity whereas we nurture for a very limited range of crops and animals that conform to our demands. However 'organic' our approach is, we should keep in mind that gardening and farming are specifically human activities and that harnessing nature, as we have done, has the effect of creating some degree of instability -which constantly needs to be overcome.

Thus all the crops and animals we choose for garden or farm have their problems which need to be recognised and, if possible, prevented.

This is not the place to discuss the pros and cons of different kinds of vegetables. There are a great number of books available which deal with vegetables in great detail. (There is a book list at the end of this section). A lot of pamphlets and articles have appeared in recent years about 'new' methods of gardening, from mulching with straw mats, newspapers or black polythene, to the no-dig method, to deep bed gardening. All these methods have their uses but one should not have the illusion that there is one revolutionary new method that is better than all others and which will always work. All methods have their snags and it is an illusion to think that you can get away without a lot of hard graft. For the beginner it is probably best to start with the good old spade and to go over to more skill-intensive methods as you accumulate experience.

If you want to keep animals it is worth considering whether you should grow feed for them apart from grass. For some animals, like pigs and chickens, you'll have to buy in some feed all the year round whilst others, like sheep, goats and geese, only need some extra feed in the winter. If you can grow some of this feed yourselves it will certainly help with the bills, but can be rather time consuming if you haven't got the appropriate tools. Whilst potatoes and roots are relatively easy crops to grow for your animals, there is quite a lot of effort involved in the harvest and storage. If you can grow grains, like barley and oats, so much the better, but, again, you must be sure that you can see it through to harvesting and provide adequate storage facilities.

Storage is, of course, a major consideration for all your crops. A lot of cottages and small-holdings lack adequate storage facil-ities and this can be the cause of much frustration. Most cottages don't have a cellar, and outhouses and barns usually have leaking roofs and are in a state of disrepair.

A lot of new settlers tend to want to do everything in the first year and then find out that they can't keep up with their own ambitions. For example, don't attempt to make your own hay until there is no doubt in your mind that it won't get wet in the winter. This can be very depressing. It is better to rent out your fields for a year or two than to struggle with a job which you are not equipped to do. It is worth emphasising, then, that there is no point in taking on volume crops until you have somewhere to store them.

Animals - all animals have their own particular requirements for space and feed and it is important to get the ratios right. The literature in this field is rather inadequate and so it is worth going into it in some detail. One important thing to realise is that selling animals or animal products is very strictly controlled and the legal requirements strictly enforced: They are briefly referred to in the section 'Law and the Countryside' but it is important to consult your local MAFF office and become fully acquainted with the legal aspects.