WELCOME TO MICROHOLDING

It's smallholding on a smaller scale and self-sufficiency in everything, including home and finances. It's about self-sustainability, frugal living & homebased working. From shed working to allotments, from windowsill gardening to rearing livestock in your garden. Microholding isn't just about frugal living.

It's about a new way of life.

It's about Frugaldom.

Vegetables in square foot garden style raised beds

Assorted saleable items from a microholding

Day old lavender Araucana chick

Microholding is the term we use to describe everything concerning 'Frugaldom' and the lifestyle. It's like smallholding on a tiny scale. It's a mini farm in a garden. It's self sufficient (ish), self sustaining, frugal living.

There's no limit to how small your patch of land need be, anyone can create their own microholding. It's about lifestyle, community, camaraderie and willingness to pursue the dream of establishing a degree of self sufficiency, be it for business or pleasure.

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We all need to start somewhere, so don't worry if that somewhere is nothing more than a fixy-up terraced cottage with a tiny garden, a patio or even a windowsill with a pot of herbs. We each can find space to grow and learn. A true smallholding comprises anything from 2 to 50 acres. On comparison, the largest microholding is dwarfed by this.

We have a specially designated section for Microholding in the free to join, Frugaldom Forums. Feel free to ask questions, make suggestions, share your trials and tribulations.

Follow the frugaldom blog, where you can leave your comments or ask questions there, too. We have an entire micro community right here, waiting to welcome other like-minded people such as you. Welcome to the concept of microholding and the wonderful world of Frugaldom.

Man's home is his castle, so the first thing we need is a secure roof over our heads. Any adjoining garden offers essential growing and rearing space to provide edible produce, be it fruit, vegetables, herbs or eggs from the garden hens. Ideally, our microholding could provide us with meat, but we haven't, yet, ventured into the realms of putting what we rear into the food chain.

If you ever fancied life as a smallholder but haven't the time, energy, space, health or wealth to do so, then will power and the ability to adapt one thing into another is all it takes to create your very own microholding. Finding the right property might seem like a problem, but frugaldom means adaptability, so we shall overcome all these problems in due course.

We have now found our own renovation project! This will see the realisation of all we set out to do - only with a great deal more work than first anticipated. We have, at long last, come face to face with the reality of developing our very own Frugaldom microholding. But first, we need to make the house habitable - on a very frugal budget! With the help of companies like Buildstore, we should be able to learn as we renovate.

I hope to record all progress by way of the forums, blog and websites and accompany any updates with the associated photographs. Our frugal property development project should begin mid-April 2011 and we'd love to hear from anyone else in a similar situation or with an interest in doing similar. Join us in the Frugaldom forums, where there's a section for 'Microholding'.

Remember - There's no minimum land mass requirement - a patio, balcony or even your windowsills could provide you with the basis for your own microholding project. "Micro", by definition, means very small or, in other circumstances, suitable for being operated and maintained by one person, so the prefix associated with a smallholding sounds apt to me. Any corner of rough land can be adapted. You can even use the term in reference to property, a shares portfolio or your personal investments.

Our plan is to be as self sufficient as possible, earning a living by working from home as mini smallholders and frugal entrepreneurs - otherwise known as microholders. You might like to invest in a home study Garden Design Course or hone your skills in Property Development in anticipation of your future success. Knowledge is something you can never have too much of, so it's something we all need. It's a definite longterm investment that can pay rich rewards by way of living our chosen lifestyle and you can start that right now.

Quail eggs

Generating an income from your microholding could include egg sales, gardening services, home produce or even becoming a virtual assistant, doing computer based work from home. If your microholding isn't big enough to rear hens, you could consider the possibility of rearing quail, but you'll need at least 3 of their eggs to every 1 hen egg. On the plus side, quail eggs are considered a delicacy and can command a better price.

Quail eggs fall outside of the stringent legislation governing the sale of fresh eggs. The birds themselves, however, are classed as 'poultry' within the definition cited by Defra for the purposes of mandatory registration onto the GB Poultry Register.

I chose to pursue some Home Study Courses. First and foremost, I sought out the relevant certification that enables me to make and sell homemade preserves on a small scale. A Food Hygiene Certificate costs just £25 + vat and should be sufficient to meet current legislation governing the making and selling of your home produce. It's always advisable to check with your local Environmental Health Office if you have plans for expanding on your idea, in case you need to register your kitchen and/or other preparation areas. Always be prepared to take the next step forward.

On the other side of this virtual coin, there's money - the hard cash that we all need in order to survive within the realms of modern society, leading a normal life, paying bills, investing, saving for the future. In this respect, 'microholding' is about the small investments made in an attempt to grow and safeguard your own financial future. Think of it as growing your own money trees. Your personal investments portfolio may be miniscule (or micro) to begin with - a mere handful of seeds - but it is yours, bought and paid for by you, for your future. It is your responsibility to ensure its safekeeping. Even if you're only earning chicken feed, every penny counts.

Just like sowing the seeds that produce the food in a garden, you need to sow the seeds of individual investments, ensure they are provided with the best possible opportunities to germinate then carefully cultivate them to ensure their future productivity. Just putting food on the table isn't enough, you still need to think of the future. In our present economic climate, during these times of what's being called, "austerity", we need to do more than just save a few pennies. Secure your own future, start your microholding now. Knowledge is power, so start learning how to develop your own self-sustainable future.