Some of you will remember my last blog post about digging our latest Pond, well I promised an update as soon as I could and here it is. You will see by the photo that it is filling nicely with water from the field drains, it's by no means full yet but the dogs both managed a lovely swim in it on Bank Holiday Saturday.  The ditch that was dug is steadily trickling into the pond and its at least stopping the adjoining field from flooding!! Often that field causes flood risks to our newly planted seeds, and the loss of a great deal of nutrient rich topsoil too. This has happened for several years and was what prompted Chris to dig the pond and ditch too.   I am amazed at how quickly the wildlife has adapted to using the pond, when we arrived there were two ducks swimming across...

It’s been said again and again “What a Year 2020 has been”, well, 2020 is now consigned to the History Books, thankfully, and here’s hoping that 2021 will be the year for recovery both for the economy and our freedom thanks to the vaccine that is being rolled out throughout the UK. Its been an unusual year here on the farm and a year of some firsts too.  The weather has not been kind to us or the crops sadly, the drought that arrived with the first lockdown lasted for over  three months, during the vital growing season so that our crops didn’t receive the best start which was sadly reflected in our harvest. Then when the rain arrived it was so untimely, right during the harvest and planting time for our Winter crops. It feels like it has rained every day since September, the fields are sodden and will take...

Although we are growing thousands of hazel trees in our new woodland eco project, as well as oak, holly, rowan, beech and many more trees it was the hazel trees we were originally determined to plant. Whilst I appreciate that tree growing isn’t a short term hobby and many of the trees we have planted will take more than our lifetimes to look like the forests I had romantically envisaged before planting, I appreciate that some of our trees are looking rather more interesting these days rather than just a few leaves on a stalk inside the protective biodegradable tubing . This clear tubing is used to protect and nurture the baby trees from the elements, and hopefully speed up their growth.Chris planted some hazel trees in some spare rough ground near our house many years ago but these were eaten by deer and died sadly but he had also planted...

I’ve been trying to find somewhere cool for the last couple of days as the heat has been rather enjoyable, but at times a little too much if you’re trying to work! Its fine if you are on the beach or relaxing but not so much fun in our dusty farmyard.  The dogs have been walked early morning and, in the evening, other than that they have been flopped out in the cool passageway trying to enjoy some cool breeze through the back door. Tonight, we went in the pickup to inspect the new hay crop, yes grass is considered a crop, which the dogs really enjoyed, trying (and failing) to cock their legs on each and every bale in the field! They will be kept away from the pumpkins when they’re ready for picking I can assure you all! Amazingly this year our hay crop was cut and turned, then...

They’re here!!! – a once every 10-year migration of Painted Lady Butterflies, and we have seen them in our new eco project and woodland, how amazing is that? I had no idea about this until I looked it up when we got home, all I knew was that as we walked the dogs around there were clouds of these beautiful butterflies hovering over our heads and landing on the thistles. I can honestly say that I have never seen so many butterflies in one place at any one time and am totally in awe that they decided to visit us. My photo is lousy, but we decided to just enjoy the situation rather than worry about getting the best photo possible. Apparently, these tiny butterflies fly at speeds of up to 30 mph and at a height of 1km to reach our shores from Africa en route to the Arctic Circle,...