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...

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....

To help maintain my relationship with my daughter, and compete with the demands of adolescence and her iPhone, I have started to discover...

I manage to get the kitchen extension ready for Christmas, and feel like I have finally honed my renovation skills. Meanwhile, the farm...

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....

As the summer kicks in and the veg box deliveries start, I grasp the stark realities of self employment, and the shear graft involved...

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...

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...

It's been a busy and eventful summer. Gwalia Stores, our quirky holiday let, finally came to fruition, while the market garden sprung...

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...

Its been a busy winter, with large compost deliveries, infrastructure developments and website design all taking up time. As spring...

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...

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...

After a strange year full of the whole spectrum of possible problems and emotions, we are now looking towards 2021, and hopefully a more...

Although just words, we are now regarding the "field" in terms of a developing micro farm, and this symbolic shift in sentiment very much...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Spending quality time with your kids is not always prioritised in this fast paced and frenetic world. However, a recent cheesecake picnic...

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...

looking into ways the Smithy field could be best utilised has led me to the idea of market gardening. Although market gardens are not...

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...

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...

Its very early days in terms of cultivating the smallholding, but the design of the site is being actively considered. However, this is...

Arguably the most important structure in a vegetable growing operation is the composting bin, and what better way to make one than from...

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...

After a long wait we finally completed the purchase of the Smithy field today. Although this represents a milestone in our plans and...

After stumbling across an old Ordnance Survey map we decided to attempt a local walk. It reminded me how important maps were in...

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...

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...