Hedges – That time of the year again when the leaves have dropped and into a winter routine, we tackle our hedges. Over the last fifteen years we have ‘remade’ most of the hedges on the farm including several hundred metres of new hedges, mainly as part of a Countryside Stewardship agreement. the agreement and scheme has long since completed however we are still keen to improve our hedges and remake / lay a stretch of old overgrown hedge each year. Well made and maintained hedges make amazing homes for wildlife and a smart tidy boundary.

Helpers – We are lucky to have a core of regular helpers at the farm but also have some less obvious help at present. We have 40 of a freinds sheep on the farm for the winter who will help to eat off late grass, tidy up field headlands and add thier homemade fertiliser. Really nice to have sheep on the farm. We are also noticing small gflocks of winter birds visiting at present busily eating grubs and insects, again really lovely to see enjoying our organic stubble fields, but could it be a worrying sign of a hard winter to come. And at weekends my children normally come to the farm with me to ‘help’. This weekend they were busy with a big bonfire of hedging which children love, especially when it can be used to toast marshmallows at tea time!

Probably our most unsung but invaluable helper this time of year are the masses of earth worms within our rich and chemical free organic soil. The worms work tirelessly to keep our soil structure light and airated which really shows at the moment as, despite the amazing levels of rainfall lately, our farm drains really quickly, i was driving across fields with tractor and trailers of woodchip for the hen houses this week virtually without marking the ground, amazing.