December newsy update

I thought it was about time to write a newsy update from the homestead. Yesterday I wrote a “what’s been happening in the garden” December blog which you can read here. Today’s blog is all about “what’s been happening here, other than gardening”.

A Newsy Update

It has been a long time since I wrote proper blogs for my website. Many of my readers will know that I do most things single-handedly: the garden, my small business, writing work, speaking work, etc. So sometimes when the workload is a lot, like most of us, I have to prioritise what absolutely needs to be done: in particular deadlines and paid work (mine is the only income here.)

My wonderful friend Sara died in June, after a long illness with cancer. Her illness, and her death, affected everyone who knew her. I’ve needed a bit of time to process this, and so some projects including the Substack newsletter, You Tube videos and this blog, were put to one side for a while.

This video on my You Tube channel explains some of the reasons why I’ve been unable to write for my blog, or make videos, as much as I would have liked to.

 

I have lots of ideas and projects to share with you, and am really looking forward to doing more videos and writing on my website here in blogs and other content, and on Substack.

The Productive Garden

This year has been especially busy, because I have been working on my next book The Productive Garden: an essential guide towards self-sufficiency. Much of the year has been spent writing, editing, even more editing, sorting the photos, reading and reviewing, etc. It is now signed off, and on its way to be printed. Publication dates are March 24th 2026 in the US, and March 26th in the UK, by Frances Lincoln.

I am looking forward to the book coming out. It’s packed with information including growing your own food, and what to do with your crops, in the kitchen, larder, laundry and bathroom.

The book is beautifully illustrated with photography by multi-award winning photographer Jason Ingram. Most of the photos were taken here in 2024.

The book’s publication is later than originally planned because I was really poorly in January 2025, for about 5 weeks. It absolutely knocked me out, I could barely string a sentence together! So this pushed all the deadlines back. Happily, it meant that we were able to add even more content to the book, so what seemed like a set back actually worked out really well.

The Productive Garden is available for pre-order here. Pre-orders are really important for the success of a book these days. They encourage online and high street shops to stock the book, and help with promotion of the title.

Articles and other writing projects

In addition to writing books, I work as a freelance garden and food writer. I’m a regular monthly columnist for Kitchen Garden Magazine and Amateur Gardening Magazine, and write freelance for other publications and brands. I’ve enjoyed writing a series on Permaculture for Dalefoot Composts, which is available to read (for free) online here.

I was delighted to be shortlisted for Practical Journalist of the Year 2025! The awards were held at the Savoy on November 21st. I didn’t win, but it was great to be a finalist. The winner was Lucy Chamberlain, who is a fantastic writer and the award is much deserved.

During the year I worked on two trials here, for Gardeners’ World Magazine. You’ll be able to find out what I did, and the conclusions from the trials, in Gardeners’ World Mag during 2026.

I enjoy writing book and product reviews. The book reviews are a way of supporting other authors. Earlier in the year, I wrote this blog about supporting small business for free.

Talks, Workshops and Events

I run courses and workshops here at my homestead. This year the topics included no dig gardening, homesteading skills and preserving workshops. The first dates for 2026 are on the website now. I teach across the UK and beyond, but really enjoy hosting courses here. It’s a great way to show how the garden is growing, and an opportunity to explore the various projects here including the new-this-winter food forest garden.

New for 2026 are a series of webinar presentations, masterclasses and workshops. These are all an hour or so long, and cost £10. Details about the first webinars are here, and there’ll be more topics and dates soon.

The first webinar is the Get Ready for Spring Masterclass. To make sure everything works smoothly, this first webinar presentation is free to attend. In return, I ask for feedback – and cheerful understanding if there are any teething troubles! Limited availability – only 30 places. Please only book if you will be able to attend 🙂

During 2025 I gave talks, demos and workshops for groups and events across the UK, including The Royal Welsh Show, BBC Gardeners’ World Fair and Harrogate Autumn Flower Show where I hosted The Maker’s Table (and got to meet the famous happy-with-his-onion man!)

I’ll be adding all dates to the Events calendar for 2026 (haven’t had the time to do this yet!) Bookings so far include Trinity College Oxford on May 26th 2026 and Llandovery Literature Festival on the weekend of May 9th/10th.

Website Update

I’m currently working on a much needed update for the website, including a new homepage, to make it easier to navigate. This should be all finished by the end of the year. All content will be written by me, but I am getting help with the tech side of things.

My homestead cottage

I am delighted that after 4 1/2 years of living here, this wintertime I’ll be starting on decorating the cottage, filling in holes, putting up shelves, painting the walls, etc. It really does need doing! I’ve had to focus on other things but now the brushes and tins of paint are calling me.

As with most things here, this will be accomplished on a shoe-string budget. I’ll be doing most of it myself, with the help of my children when they are visiting. At the moment I am creating a DIY station in my home office (that is also the dining room…!) in readiness for decorating to commence. I know how to paint walls, but some of the jobs will require research and online tutorials.

The 120+ year old windows need replacing. They are beautiful but decades of wild wet Welsh weather have taken their toll. This is a job for professionals however.

Several of the outbuildings need work too, due to a lot of storm damage. So fixing roofs and guttering is on the list too.

It’s going to be fun learning new skills (I hope!)