I realise that my profile name doesn't really tell anyone anything much about me. So I thought I'd introduce myself a bit better and tell you all a bit more about why I started my project The Miniature Smallholding.
Hi, my name's Cara and I'm an introvert.
I'd like to say I'm the cute chick!
I'm not comfortable seeing myself in photos and rarely post any of me, so I don't get surprised when people online think I'm a man and I don't get offended. Don't worry if you have made that assumption!
I find it much easier to communicate online than I do in person, because I can say what I want to say without being talked over by louder people and I can make any alterations before posting, so that it's not just me babbling and making no sense. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike loud people at all, in fact in social situations they make things much easier for me as I don't then have to try and figure out what to say and what the current social etiquette might be. However, I can't do loud or crowds for long periods of time and need my quiet space back to recuperate. There are people I love, but can only manage in short doses.
So being such an introvert, might beg the question as to why I decided to put myself out on social media. I'll be honest, I was never keen on the idea of it, but I came across a homesteader called Justin Rhodes and he said that whatever you do, document and share it. I thought, why not? If I want to do this there are likely others who will too and the more we share the more we can help one another.
How The Miniature Smallholding Came into Being.
When we bought our first house in South Australia, one of the things I really wanted was enough room to have a veggie garden and the house we chose had a small one ready to go. It even had fruit trees and as spring arrived we got to discover what each one was. I didn't do a great deal with the garden at first, but the more I did the more I wanted to do. More and more of the lawn got turned over to growing edible and medicinal plants.
I'd already dabbled in poultry in the form of four bobwhite quail we'd kept in a little mobile cage at the rental house. When we got our own house, however, I really wanted to upsize to chickens. The quail were sweet, but not big layers and their eggs were tiny.
I soon realised that my biggest desire was to have a smallholding/homestead, but there was no way we could afford a large area of land so I decided to see what could be done with the garden we have. Our smallholding would be smaller than usual and that's why I came up with the tongue in cheek name of The Miniature Smallholding.
My goal was to share how we are learning to work with the restrictions of growing in suburbia and small spaces. Here are some articles I've already shared about what we've learnt in this area.
Overcoming the Drawbacks of Small Scale Urban Homesteading:
Introduction
Using Every Space
Planting Choices
Trading and Outsourcing
Keeping Livestock
One day I would love to take the knowledge I gain here and apply that to a larger smallholding, but until then we'll remain miniature.
Look at you :)
Love it. See you tomorrow?
Hopefully. We'll likely be a bit late again.
An excellent reintroduction. I didn't know you were introverted. Next time I see you, I will give you a thumbs up and a wave, just to let you know that I acknowledge you but I won't bug you if it makes you uncomfortable.
I was checking if you changed your steem profile introduction or website and i saw you did that already.
Mr. Great-Writer-friend seems to have really pushed you for reintroduction.
I don't think i am an introvert but there is a same relationship between me and my self photographs.
They say good writers are mostly introverts and here is a living proof.
Blush!!
I feel happy to connect with you and my assumption was right as I checked your other social channels long ago as soon as I first visited your account here. We both have similarity as I also feel as an introvert myself. Justin Rhodes was right, we should share and document even it. On steemit, I am sure you found cool people like you who really care about such passion and support each other. Since my childhood, I am fond of birds and trees. I loved to look father pigeon and already have some at my home, some ducks and some chickens too excluding our farming business. Thanks, Cara for making the post and reintroducing yourself for us.
I have been quite surprised by how many like minded people I have discovered on social media. I think more of us are introverts than I would have guessed!
I think so too MSH aka Cara :D. I'd include myself as an introvert emboldened to express himself more freely via the relative anonymity of barge. I do not like fighting to be heard, I don't like feeling like it's my fault for not fitting in. Animals are great for introverts :)
Social media is certainly an equaliser in that way. There are no pre-judgements on whether you are worth hearing, because no one knows how quiet or loud you are.
And there's also the fact of asynchronous communication, which allows for a considered response free of the 'hurry-up' pressure that often comes from voices just waiting for you to finish so that they can be heard :D ....perhaps there is indeed a large percentage of introverts on the blockchain.
I never knew what a smallholding was. This whole time it was just another word for a homestead!
It is the English word for homestead. Many are changing to use homestead online as we connect with so many Americans. Makes it less confusing because there are more of you. :D
...those grapes look super, sultana's? :)
Yup! You know your grapes. When I got the plant I didn't realise they'd be so small and thought it was my bad cultivation! Lol.
Hi Cara, yes you are: cute and ginger. I'm definitely assuming you're not the gray fluffy one.
I never heard of "smallholding" before - it'd be interesting to do a quick study and find out why we call "homesteading" by that name.
The articles on suburban homesteading are great! It definitely is a whole different challenge from homesteading on a more normal-sized plot of land.
We're on the way to having a miniature smallholding ourselves: it's funny how we keep losing more grass as the yard gets turned into other projects. Though it'd be a fight with the city for us to keep chickens even though the state has made them technically legal as long as we demonstrate intent to sell the eggs. Plants for the foreseeable future, then!
You never know, the chickens might be more intellectual than you think here! 😉
I never thought I'd be the sort to remove our lawn, but here I am. To think that at one point we were considering a fake one!
Ben is definitely appreciating the reduced mowing; but I don't think he's noticed yet that by replacing the lawn with garden, it does take quite a bit more overall work - weeding, planing, enriching the soil, harvesting, etc.
Yes! Traditional lawns end up being very nutrient deficient. So hard too grow anything where they were the first year or two.
happy to put a face to the words! two cute chicks! i'm happy your documenting your experience here!
Thank you. 😊
@minismallholding I was just about to ask where you've been, as I haven't seeing your presence in a while. Had no doubt you were a woman, surprised people even make the assumption.
I realize we are quite similar in personalities too...even though mine may be a bit extreme
Anyway I just wanted to check up on you
Thank you. :)
It's been a bit crazy of late and I haven't been managing to get onto my feed much, let alone write. I haven't even managed to get into my garden might either. :(
Things should get a bit less busy by next week though.
Good too see you're doing well. Look at your rep! I see you're close to minnow status too.
Great, would be looking out for a few articles by next week
Reintroducing comes with many pieces of information. It fulfills our demand. Thanks for your nice presentation.
Congratulations @minismallholding! You have completed the following achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
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