Cambridgeshire fenland-based Guild Member Liz Wright stepped down from her long-standing role as editor of Smallholder in February to take up the reins of a new magazine Practical Sheep, Goats & Alpacas being launched by Kelsey Publishing.
The quarterly title’s first edition is due out in April and Liz will also edit a new series of smallholding ‘bookazines’ for Kelsey.
“I’ve always been passionate about farming and the countryside, and bought the smallholding where I live in 1987,” says Liz. “I took over as editor of Smallholder in the same year, so after 25 years I’m moving to pastures new.”
Liz says of her time on the magazine: “I doubt whether my time with the magazine will ever leave me! For nearly half my life I have researched, written about and met smallholders and described smallholding projects; I’ve been privileged to share the journeys of many readers, some hugely successful and some that had unexpected outcomes – but all taken with passion and vision.
As a smallholder herself, Liz is still ‘living the dream’ with its intermittent nightmares of mud, life and death, and money worries.
“I’ve kept sheep and goats for many years, as well as pigs and a cow,” she adds. “Now, due to work commitments, I keep just poultry and bees, and breed Exmoor ponies – oh, and I do have two donkeys!”
Liz, who is the author of several books on smallholding books, notes that the choice of small field animals has widened thanks to the work of dedicated breeders.
“Each breed offers opportunities to the keeper, and that will be reflected in Practical Sheep, Goats & Alpacas,” says Liz. “We’ll offer practical management help and inspiration, sign-post the many uses for these animals, and draw on my experience to provide an information-packed magazine that will help flock keepers get the very best from their livestock.”
The new magazine will be available at newsagents throughout the UK and Ireland, and in feed barns and farm shops. Fellow Guild members can contact Liz by email or on 01354 741538 with stories, news or information on events suitable for the magazine.
