Winter on the Farm

 This will be our first Christmas at Ale Farm!

We've managed to get some lights up outside, even if they don't cover the whole house.  

Inside we've decorated but we haven't bothered to put up our 40 year old plastic tree as we're still looking for the box of baubles! 

 

 

We certainly have a lot of greenery on the farm that can be used for decorations.  We have a lot of wild rose hips too for that touch of red.

This is one of our fields with our lovely big walnut tree overhanging in the foreground.

We plan to turn this into a wildflower meadow.  As it's chalk downland it should eventually have some interesting plants.

First we need to remove some of the grass.  We planted some yellow rattle to help with that.

Here's our new orchard, planted in March this year.  So far all the trees have survived and we've even had some tiny, tiny apples on the gala and discovery trees.

The orginal cooking apple tree is doing well and has supplied us with more apples than we can process.  We've given many away.

We call this Greg's field.  Adam has cleared a lot of the brambles this year.  You certainly couldn't have walked across it a few months ago.

Plans for this field are yet to be decided, however it may have a wildlife pond at some point.

 

 

This is a view of Greg's field from the other side.  

 The greenhouse at the top of the hill is another project.  We really want to use it soon but the rabbits keep getting in.  We think we have a way to solve that problem but it involves a lot of digging.

We call this Bruce's field - long story.

We're lucky to have high metal fencing all around it so we plan to have chickens, ducks and goats here next year.  They will also be moved around the farm to eat brambles, improve the soil and generally enjoy being in different areas with different vegetation.

I'll be blogging when animals arrive.  We're quite excited by the prospect.

The building in the middle of this photo is the old, falling down static caravan.  

We decided to save it, shore it up, insulate and clad it.  It's still a work in progress and the inside hasn't been touched yet.

 More on that next year . . . hopefully.

 

 

This field is going to be our 'edible meadow' of perennial vegetables if all goes to plan.  As it's on a hill, like most of the farm, we're creating three mounds that should catch the water.  They're not finished yet but they're made up of cardboard, logs, tree/hedge trimmings and upturned soil with grass.  They still need to be covered with 6 inches of soil.  After a year we should have more fertile soil.  It's all based on hugelkulture.

 This area is yet to be discovered.  On the left there are a lot of brambles and they gave us a lot of blackberries this year.

On the right are hawthorn trees and at least one badger sett.

 

It may not look like it in this photo, but this is one of the more level pieces of land on the farm.  It is also enjoyed by badgers and we've seen a heron here.

This is the old, very long chicken shed.  It's used for storage at the moment but it is close to falling down.

We think it was last used in the 1970s.  The chalk hill was obviously excavated to make a level area for it to be built.

Another view of the chicken shed.

We've seen several tawny owls in this area.  They're very noisy at night but so attractive.

These snow drops are already growing under our walnut tree!  Signs of spring already.

It's been great to have some colder weeks when things stop growing so that we can finish unpacking and moving into the house properly.  However, this is a gentle reminder of our busy year to come outside.

We're definitely looking forward to 2025.

Merry Christmas! 🎄