Grass growth has been poor, but we have managed it as best we can. We haven’t used any fertiliser for three years now, as a friend of mine said, you can grow more grass by managing it with an electric fence than you can with a bag of fertiliser. Our sheep and cattle have coped well and until the past couple of weeks we have managed to hold off supplementary feeding. We have had to start feeding hay out in the past couple of weeks, but the recent rain will hopefully kick start an autumn flush of grass.
We also seem to have a good number of acorns and hazelnuts around too. Inspired by a friend of mine I intend on picking a few small bags of acorns, hazelnuts and sweet chestnuts to germinate and plant in the spring. I am happy to plant trees, but it has to be the right tree in the right place; so rather than importing them from goodness knows where, I intend on growing our own where possible, so watch this space!
Elsewhere on the farm, fencing is ongoing. We have almost finished fencing off the hedges I laid last year and are about ready to start hedging again! There is much talk about hedge trimming at this time of year and like all owners of land against a road, we have a duty of care to trim them back for safety. On the farm, we will do about half a day a year, trimming alongside tracks and lightly on the newly laid hedges, which helps them bush out. We try to leave the hedges to grow up for shade, shelter, habitat and food for wildlife and ourselves, choosing to use the saving to pay for laying on a 20-year cycle.
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Of course, hedge laying, pruning, coppicing and dealing with fallen trees generates firewood. I have almost finished filling our sheds for the coming winter. Living where we do, our only other options for heating are electric and oil, neither of which are particularly desirable for cost and obvious environmental reasons. So, we have improved our insulation, reduced draughts and installed a second wood burner. Heating our home with wood from our farm cannot be a bad thing. It’s either that, let it rot or sell it for chipping and neither of those suits our context.
LIVE24-SEVEN.COM
ENTERTAINMENT ON THE FARM
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