Nigel and Cassandra Lishman

Plot 8

We are Cassie, Nigel, Ted, Davi & Bea, and we hope to be developing our own low impact smallholding when Lammas is given planning permission in summer 2007. We have experience of yurt living and the low impact life, but have yet to build our own house.

We will start with building a workshop, which will have a turf roof, straw and cob walls, and a passive solar design. We intend to build a rocket stove to heat it. We will live in this structure for the first year, while we build
our house.

As part of Lammas, we intend to raise sheep for wool, ducks and chickens for eggs & meat, have an orchard, a herb garden and a walled vegetable garden. We will also practice forest gardening and permaculture, using layering and multicropping for example to maximise our production.

Cassie makes felt crafts and living willow play structures and sculptures for a variety of clients, and will use her own willow and wool from the land.

In addition to our land based livelihood, we are part of  a not for profit social co-operative which offers training for disadvantaged people and environmental education activities and workshops. We will continue our work with the co-op in addition to developing our low impact livelihood.

Illustrative layout plot 8

Nigel is a carpenter and intends to make some furniture to sell, but mainly intends to support and enable people with a learning disability to visit our gardens and engage them in horticulture and woodworking activities and experiences, ultimately with a view to creating part time employment for them. Our son Ted has a learning disability,(see www.williams-syndrome.org.uk) so we are committed to empowering disadvantaged people and creating opportunities for them to engage in the wider community. We hope that Ted will find a job on our smallholding that will give him great pleasure and ultimately a practical vocation.

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