The Accidental Smallholder

Rosemary Champion, the Accidental Smallholder

The Accidental Smallholder (TAS) was born in 2000 although it didn’t make it on to the worldwide web until 2003. Since then, TAS has been growing and producing their own food in increasing quantities. TAS’s ambition is to help others do the same.

So who is TAS? TAS is Rosemary and Daniel Champion.We have a smallholding on the banks of the River Forth in Clackmannanshire in Central Scotland. We moved here in 2000 because we liked the view and quite fancied renovating an old property. Smallholding wasn’t on the agenda and our food production exploits were limited to growing a few veggies.

We were becoming increasingly concerned about the quality and provenance of the food we were eating and decided to try to grow our own. The vegetable garden was followed by a small orchard.

After acquiring two puppies and a cat, we moved into productive livestock. We bought some laying hens, then weaner pigs, which came and went, followed by sheep and meat chickens. We have had and continue to have successes and failures – and we’re looking forward to sharing these with H&C readers.