The Good Life in Real Life is a detailed manual to start, plan and manage your own smallholding.
The Smallholder's Handbook is a detailed manual to start, plan and manage your own smallholding. Suzie explains the level of work involved, how much space you need and how to prepare your land. There are chapters on keeping poultry (chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese), as well as pigs, goats and sheep, cows and bees. She also explains why having a variety of animals makes the best use of your resources and how many of each type to keep. Comprehensive advice includes choosing breeds, transporting, feeding, housing, daily care and wellbeing, as well as international legislation that applies to livestock.
Suzie Baldwin grew up on a farm in Devon and has kept chickens for more than 20 years. Her interest is in promoting the positive welfare of chickens, particularly now that they are increasingly part of the urban and semi-urban landscape. She now runs Hollywater Hens, a smallholding in Hampshire with over 300 hens, including a variety of organically reared hybrid and pure breed chickens. Suzie also holds regular courses on chicken keeping, many of which are for disadvantaged children, whose lives, research suggests, are enriched by looking after hens.