'Sandra Bannister is a retired university lecturer and with a Doctor as a husband, who had developed their home and land into a smallholding business, in small increments over 3 years. A love of the outdoors, enjoying learning new skills and knowledge, a keenness to grow their own food and raise their own livestock resulted in Midlife Homestead starting in 2018. Since then Sandra and Jon have become grandparents, coped with Jon retiring and then returning to work and expanded their business in 2020, due to the increased interest in locally grown food , pork and lamb products. Becoming a Trustee of Smallholding Scotland in 2019 has given Sandra access to like-minded people willing to share their knowledge, skills and contacts. As neither Jon nor Sandra are from a farming background, being able to ask questions and seek advice is an essential requirement for them being able to care for their livestock, grow successfully and develop their business model. A flock of Shetland sheep, many hens, two donkeys, and at times many pigs and their offspring has resulted in very early morning starts and getting used to working whilst wet and cold…. yet Sandra always reminds herself that it always beats an 8am office meeting. Being able to work autonomously, problem solve and learn from the things that (occasionally) go wrong are her basic tenets of this lifestyle and work that gives satisfaction, a small income and definitely stops any “Midlife Crisis” happening! She’s too busy for that! Midlife Homestead: https://www.midlifehomestead.co.uk/ Produced for the 2020 Scottish Smallholder Festival Scottish Smallholder Festival: https://ssgf.uk/ Smallholding Scotland: https://smallholding.scot/ Supported by The Scottish Government and SRUC. Scottish Government: https://www.gov.scot/ SRUC: https://www.sruc.ac.uk'
See also:
comments