Slow Summer Snail Farm re-opens its doors for the summer on Saturday 28 May with Kent’s first Snail Festival and hot snails Spanish style, to celebrate National Escargot Day.

Our edible snails, Helix aspersa maxima, will be enjoying the outdoors at Grow at Brogdale right through until the first frost in October. Brogdale Farm at Faversham is the home of the National Fruit Collection so the snails will be looking forward with us to enjoying this year’s fruit crop.

Slow Summer Snail Farm is registered with Kent Children’s University as a Learning Destination. Admission is free but we charge a small amount for taking part in educational activities. In return we provide a workbook for those who want to get their passport stamped together with paper and crayons for drawing and colouring or writing about snails. Some days there will also be snail races or the opportunity to take part in a quiz or make miniature gardens.

Meet the Snails: You can watch the way the snails use their antennae and mouths to explore the world around them: to see, taste and feel

• Admire their brown and gold intricately patterned shells.
• Tempt them with different kinds of vegetables and fruit to find out which they like best.
• Handle the snails and feel them gently exploring your fingers
• See how they use their muscles to move slowly
• Find out about the history of snail farming
• Learn all about these intriguing molluscs

When we first started farming edible snails it was difficult to find the information we needed. That is why we have produced a Smallholder Guide to Rearing Edible Snails. We also offer a predator proof snail pen so that other people can have a small scale set up next to their chicken house to rear snails for their own dinner table.

Our mini snail farms are proving to be a winner with animal lovers, both adults and children. 6 baby snails and everything you need to look after them: the ideal gift for that special occasion.

Live snails prepared for cooking can be ordered and collected at the farm gate and at special events we offer hot and bottled prepared snails for sale.

From 28 May we will be open Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 10.30 – 3.30 and at other times by arrangements. Telephone 01227 728613 or email info@snailfarm.org.uk. The snails are available to visit schools all year round to take part in Meet the Snails days. They are accompanied by Helen Howard who is a scientist and qualified teacher.

Open Days for teachers will be held on Saturday 21st May 11- 3 and Tuesday 24th May 3 – 4.45 pm.

Click here here to visit the Slow Summer Snail Farm Website.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by CJ Wildlife for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

“There’s no good flock without a good shepherd, and no good shepherd without a good dog.”

It’s a hackneyed saying in sheepdog circles, but no less true for that. Whether you have 16 or 600 sheep, a dog under good command will save your time and your temper, not to mention avoid unnecessary stress for the sheep.

But how to achieve the “dog under good command”? A trained dog will often cost several thousands of pounds. The price reflects the cost saving of the dog’s work, often replacing a full or part-time employee, and the hours and patience spent training the dog from puppyhood upwards.

For the smallholder with a small commercial or hobby flock, the cost may be impractical or plain impossible, but if you can spare 15 to 30 minutes, a few times a week, you can train your own dog to gather and control your sheep.

The process is quite straightforward. Once the dog’s interest has been aroused it needs to learn to circle the sheep calmly, without “cutting in” and scattering them, while keeping a good distance between itself and the sheep. The dog needs to learn to move the sheep to you, to balance them and to flank smoothly around them in both directions on command. It needs to walk up confidently on its sheep, and it needs to stop on command too. These are the basics on which to build, but a dog working even at this level will be earning its keep as well as providing a great companion.

Andy Nickless has helped hundreds of Border collies, and Border collie handlers, on the path to effective sheep work through his successful and popular sheepdog training classes. This expertise is now available on DVD to help anyone get their collie started with sheep – “First Steps in Border Collie Sheepdog Training – From Chaos to Control” .

At the start of training collies will largely fall into one of four categories: disinterested; rough and reckless; the “stand and stare” type; or the natural performer who’s just born to it. Needless to say, the first three are the most difficult to deal with, but “First Steps” shows examples of all three types of dog, and how to work around the initial challenges.

Whether you already have a farm collie around the place or want to start with a new puppy, “First Steps in Border Collie Sheepdog Training” is a DVD to guide any newcomer through the early stages of training your own sheepdog. Made for the complete novice to sheepdog handling, the two-DVD set explains how the dog works, and why, how the sheep will influence the dog and your training, and how you can work with the dog’s natural instinct and ability to become an effective working partnership.

No prior knowledge is assumed, and unlike many other training DVDs on the market, “First Steps” also shows how things can go wrong – and how to correct them.

The Working Sheepdog website contains a wealth of information about training and common commands, as well as a range of DVDs of interest to sheepdog enthusiasts in the online DVD store.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by Gill Watson for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

This post was submitted by Gill Watson.

Villageways.co.uk relaunches on 1 June 2009 as a site dedicated to Smallholders Classifieds.

Villageways.co.uk is a very busy website, receiving lots of targeted traffic for smallholdings and smallholders. We asked Villageways why they have chosen to dedicate the site to Smallholders Classifieds

“Running a smallholding is becoming a popular alternative lifestyle for people. We believe that there is a need for a dedicated site to take care of all the classifieds adverts that are specific to smallholdings and those that run them, the smallholders. Villageways.co.uk will be a one-stop shop for smallholders and associated businesses to buy and sell their goods, stock,  and services.

The categories we currently have available are:

• Animals
• Equipment
• Livestock
• Personals
• Poultry
• Supplies
• Wanted

We will add new categories as and when they are needed / requested, to help the site grow at a natural pace.

It’s totally FREE to advertise at Villageways.co.uk. People will need to register if they wish to place an advert (or adverts) on the site. Once registered they will have total control over their own accounts, and will be able to have as many advertisements as they wish on the website.”

Pop over to Villageways.co.uk and register today!

Article written by Rural Smallholdings Magazine
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