Say Goodbye

Podded runner beans ready for boiling up

This is it, folks. The growing season is over. My last leek sold. The garden is being put to bed for the winter. The polytunnel's doors will soon be drawn shut for the last time this year. In three days time I will lock up my caravan and venture south for the winter on the balmy shores of Dorset.

It has been quite an incredible experience, this first year growing vegetables for a “living”. Back in March I really didn't know if anything much would grow at all, in this soil which has never previously been used for growing. I didn't have a polytunnel or any panes in my greenhouse (though these were top priority and by the end of March they were in place). The fact that most things have grown reasonably well is encouraging; it can only get better as I improve the soil with lime, manure, compost and organic fertiliser. And before this year I had never actually sold anything to anyone, really, certainly not as a trading business, now my income depends on it.

Before

After

Through selling salad bags locally I have met nearly everyone up the nearby Cwm Cewydd lane, and some have become friends. By having a stall at the local farmer's market I've got to know all the other regular traders, as well as getting my face known by the people from the village, again some of whom have become friends, inviting me over to dinner occasionally. Beginning to attend the local church has widened my circle further, and given me a chance to play the piano! The Mach veg bag scheme has been a great way to meet the other veg growers in the neighbourhood, and we've all been able to encourage each other by cooperating in this way. And although I'm on the periphery of the Mach social scene, being thirteen miles out, I do occasionally get invited to parties!

Red cabbages

From time to time someone enquires whether what I'm doing is sustainable, by which of course they mean financially, not ecologically. It is a very good question. Everyone knows that there's no money in veg. Of course if you asked the same question to a large-scale farmer, you might find that their business is only tenable due to subsidies which sadly are not (yet) available to small-scale growers despite the fact that the environmental impact is tiny in comparison (and arguably has a positive impact on biodiversity if the right permaculture practices are followed). Also not many businesses are profitable in their first year, so the proper answer is “ask me in a couple of years time”.

But to give you an idea, anyway, here are some figures. This year (from June to November when I actually had any crops to sell) my veg business brought in about £1240, largely thanks to the Mach veg bag scheme. Business expenses were around £1500, but £1000 of that was the 15 metre polytunnel. I expect to be bringing in more next year, both because I'll have more growing space thus more veg, and because I'll be getting better at both growing and marketing.

I've broken down my earnings by vegetable. Runner beans win the prize for highest earner, netting me £305 (but then I did have over two hundred plants!). Second place were the salad bags, bringing in £179. Courgettes won bronze, with £176, and in fourth place were tomatoes at £85.

I keep tabs on all my daily expenses so I know that since I arrived in March I've spent around £2100 on non-business stuff – mostly food and petrol. Fortunately I've been able to balance the books by a combination of a) letting out my land for pheasant rearing, b) doing occasional odd-jobs for people, and c) registering for Working Tax Credit. 

So now it's time to say goodbye - till next spring!  I'll continue to blog on my mattswanindorset site over winter so you can't get rid of me completely. Happy winter everyone.

\the bog will survive the winter without me