SMALL FARM SUCCESS

Taranaki Daily News, 18 February 1933, Page 10 (Supplement)

SMALL FARM SUCCESS

FAMILY ON TWO ACRES. A COMFORTABE LIVING. A striking demonstration of how a very small area of land can keep a family is provided by the experience of an Ashburton worker who has a large family. The truth of the man’s statements is vouched for by Mr. F. Ferriman, of Ashburton, who is a frequent visitor to the Waikato. * In a letter to Mr. D. V. Bryant, of Hamilton, the man states: “My home is built on two acres of land in Treverton, about half a mile from the Ashburton River, and we have lived on it for the past 13 years. The land was once riverbed and is composed of shingle, clay and sand in different patches. All my spare time has been spent in shifting the clay to the shingle and the sand to the clay and levelling the section generally. We have all spent many happy days, both the wife and the children.

“We had a good cow for eight years and made our own butter, and we both milked. We found that keeping the cow on such a small area was rather an extravagance. We also fattened five to ten pigs a year, but after commission had been paid we did not make enough out of them. We now have the whole area in garden, which we dig twice a year (planting and winter' digging), and have planted it partly with fruit trees raised from our own seed. These include pears, apples, cherries, nectarines, apricots, peaches, various plums, gooseberries, red and black currants, raspberries, and strawberries. (started with few plants from neighbours), and we find all this pays us the best. “Although there is plenty of work, we get a good return from it all. We keep a few bantams and fowls and we have eight rabbits, caught down the river bed when young, which we fatten and kill when necessary. The boys snare and trap rabbits for food and keep the house well stocked with firewood for cooking. The firewood all comes from the river bed. We always have plenty of vegetables, parsnips, carrots greens, beet, silver beet, marrows, pumpkins, tomatoes and potatoes. Our potato crop would be about one ton and we put them away for the winter. We have lived on the new potatoes since January 1, 1932, which is very satisfactory considering the dry season.

“I have had no practical experience as regards gardening and this land is not the best for that purpose, but my experience goes to show that one can do if the heart is willing and one has something to work for. We chiefly live on fruit and vegetables; and my wife puts down the eggs in pickle for the winter, bottles fruit and makes as much as 6cwt. of jam. At the end of the year it is all gone. We grow lupins and barley to dig in and stack all the leaves and weeds for manure. • “Without my wife and family all this would be impossible. I find my time fully occupied. This sort of life is the most happy and satisfying for us all”