Chapter two: steps forward, one step back
After taking a reality check at the end of last year's miserably wet summer, I returned to my old job and tentatively placed one foot...
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Tom Edwards
- Dec 8, 2023
- 5 min
Full Circle
It's been a difficult summer, that's seen me tirelessly implement a plethora of strategies to try and make a go of Pili-Pala Farm....
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Tom Edwards
- Jan 13, 2023
- 4 min
Paths
To help maintain my relationship with my daughter, and compete with the demands of adolescence and her iPhone, I have started to discover...
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Tom Edwards
- Dec 18, 2022
- 3 min
The Calm before The Storm?
I manage to get the kitchen extension ready for Christmas, and feel like I have finally honed my renovation skills. Meanwhile, the farm...
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Tom Edwards
- Oct 1, 2022
- 5 min
Let go, don't be dragged
As a hectic and experimental season draws to a close, I reflect on the ups and downs and contemplate the idea of building a farm shop....
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Tom Edwards
- Jul 17, 2022
- 4 min
And the rest is history
As the summer kicks in and the veg box deliveries start, I grasp the stark realities of self employment, and the shear graft involved...
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Tom Edwards
- Mar 7, 2022
- 4 min
The importance of being earliest
Its my 45th birthday, which marks two eventful years since I started this blog, and I reflect on the progress we have made. We finally...
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Tom Edwards
- Dec 6, 2021
- 4 min
Community
With my previous job now a fading memory, I am embracing the freedom and independence of self employment, and I feel so much better for...
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Tom Edwards
- Aug 28, 2021
- 5 min
Time to move on
It's been a busy and eventful summer. Gwalia Stores, our quirky holiday let, finally came to fruition, while the market garden sprung...
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Tom Edwards
- May 21, 2021
- 4 min
Becoming a farmer?
Despite the relentless slog, I somehow manage to fit in a tree house project for the twins 9th birthday, although i'm beginning to wonder...
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Tom Edwards
- Apr 28, 2021
- 3 min
The fruits arrive
Its been a busy winter, with large compost deliveries, infrastructure developments and website design all taking up time. As spring...
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Tom Edwards
- Mar 25, 2021
- 4 min
Just another growth ring
As we approach the spring I realise it was a year ago, almost to the day, that we purchased the Smithy field and symbolically made that...
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Tom Edwards
- Feb 3, 2021
- 2 min
The family orchard
What better way to start the year than with planting fruit trees. Such a simple act is loaded with so much symbolism, of life and...
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Tom Edwards
- Dec 26, 2020
- 7 min
Blooms & Berries
After a strange year full of the whole spectrum of possible problems and emotions, we are now looking towards 2021, and hopefully a more...
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Tom Edwards
- Nov 13, 2020
- 2 min
The Smithy Field becomes Smithy Farm
Although just words, we are now regarding the "field" in terms of a developing micro farm, and this symbolic shift in sentiment very much...
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Tom Edwards
- Oct 6, 2020
- 5 min
3 tons of compost, a pile of cow shit and a slight change of direction
The last few weeks have seen the market garden take shape with an import of compost and manure, and this has given the venture a real...
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Tom Edwards
- Sep 4, 2020
- 5 min
The beginning is nigh
As this strange summer draws to a seemingly premature close I have become increasingly eager to hang up my social work hat and put on my...
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Tom Edwards
- Jul 9, 2020
- 4 min
Lost without a mountain to climb?
At the end of next month we will have been living in Wales for a year, and the fact these 12 months have rolled around so incredibly fast...
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Tom Edwards
- Jun 10, 2020
- 6 min
It never rains
You can't really live in a house without any water, so when our well dried up our future at the Smithy suddenly became uncertain. With no...
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Tom Edwards
- May 29, 2020
- 4 min
Father and daughter time
Spending quality time with your kids is not always prioritised in this fast paced and frenetic world. However, a recent cheesecake picnic...
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Tom Edwards
- May 21, 2020
- 4 min
Developing the market garden and creating "no dig" permanent beds
After contemplating the lay out of the site for some time, today we finally staked out an area of the field for the "no-dig" vegetable...
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Tom Edwards
- May 7, 2020
- 5 min
Market gardens, vegetable boxes and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): The future of farming?
looking into ways the Smithy field could be best utilised has led me to the idea of market gardening. Although market gardens are not...
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Tom Edwards
- Apr 20, 2020
- 3 min
Meet Pepper
After a few years of successfully resisting the temptation to get a dog we finally caved in. We now have an untrainable nut job that...
61 views
Tom Edwards
- Apr 19, 2020
- 3 min
The chronicles of Gwalia
Part of the wider plan is to set up a small holiday let business, although these need to be molded from budget property purchases that no...
231 views
Tom Edwards
- Apr 13, 2020
- 5 min
Smallholding design: Permaculture, nature and the importance of observation
Its very early days in terms of cultivating the smallholding, but the design of the site is being actively considered. However, this is...
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Tom Edwards
- Apr 10, 2020
- 3 min
The composting bins
Arguably the most important structure in a vegetable growing operation is the composting bin, and what better way to make one than from...
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Tom Edwards
- Mar 31, 2020
- 2 min
The first shed
After lying in pieces on the drive for several weeks, the toolshed can now be erected on the Smithy field. Desperately needed to get my...
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Tom Edwards
- Mar 20, 2020
- 3 min
Finally through the hedge
After a long wait we finally completed the purchase of the Smithy field today. Although this represents a milestone in our plans and...
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Tom Edwards
- Mar 8, 2020
- 3 min
The joy of maps
After stumbling across an old Ordnance Survey map we decided to attempt a local walk. It reminded me how important maps were in...
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Tom Edwards
- Mar 6, 2020
- 2 min
Counting sheep
Its my birthday and a blustery but sunny evening in March 2020. We are 2 weeks away from buying the 4 acre field and woodland next to our...
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Tom Edwards
- Feb 29, 2020
- 21 min
1 wedding, 3 kids, 6 renovations and almost a funeral: The story so far.
Like any fate, they are preceded by a story, and this story charts the decade of blood, sweat and tears that led us to our fate here at...
138 views
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