Sell the polytunnel?
Not immediately. I was planning on surrendering the field lease in September anyway. The soil is sh1te and we can grow enough for ourselves in the house garden.
I want, at least, to get this seasons veg out of the big tunnel in the field. After that I will need to have a long hard think about it's future. A friend is already making use of 3 of the raised beds for her family and we won't use the remaining 32 beds. Anyone buying the tunnel would not be able to reuse the skin - a new skin would be required. I could use the old skin to recover the smaller tunnel in the house garden (which it actually needs anyway).
I am making good progress recovering the house veg garden. It extends to about half an acre and is more than sufficient for ourselves, with veg to spare for friends/neighbours as you do.
I quit my original suit job because it was burning me out. The intention was to be as self sufficient as possible, and sell the surplus veg to bring in the cash. OH's job at the Parliament was getting him down too, and he was going to quit to help with the veg and develop it into a veg box business. OH's job has taken a serious turn for the better and he is loving every day and doing really well. My new post will not be half as stressful as my old job and I will be out and about 4 days out of 5 - I know where you all live, so get the kettle on!
Last year we lost 5,000 plants in the field due to the poor poor soil and wet weather in May and June. The raised beds inside the tunnel looked like 8ft by 4ft swimming pools for weeks. It was so disheartening to see that many plants which all had been raised from seed, pricked out, potted on (sometimes twice) and planted out, drown in the waterlogged soil. It would take years to bring the soil upto a decent standard. In the meantime I have been working a day a week for my old boss and and a day a week one of her clients directly. It is this client that has offered me the post.
The house garden will produce loads of veg for us. We will reduce the number of hens and relocate from the field to the house garden in September. Pigs will be an issue in the future, but we have often kept pigs for our parents and vica versa so perhaps they will get the pleasure of keeping them on their land and we can still get the great meat.
It's going to be a big change, but at least I can say I tried the veg business. Got it out of my system if you like. I learned loads. Found this forum and all you people.
I will still uphold the Ish principles, be a smallholder, even if it is on a smaller and part time scale.
