Farming - some techniques that may help preserve soil, enhance wildlife value, and be better for the planet...
Knepp is an English farm whose hereditary owners were struggling to work the land in traditional ways, given it is deep clay. They changed tack, letting the land look after itself, aided by an array of large herbivores. Knepp in 25 mins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usCDSulDmdI
Adam Henson takes a lesson in farming from David Wilson, and mulls over whether to turn a field over to no-till, will the economics stand up? Meanwhile, Treflach Farm saw the light years ago, and ditched chemicals. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0015xj6/countryfile-seasonal-hub
David Wilson is on Fir Farm, here his sons speak of their concern and care for the soil: https://firfarm.co.uk/land-unlocked-what-could-farms-look-like-in-2030/ (Dive around that website!)
Wildfarmed Grain, Wildfarmed sows wheat direct into grass, allowing other species to grow, using grazing animals on the land and avoiding chemicals and soil disturbance. They used to use heritage wheats, that demand less fertility and can outgrow blackgrass, so here are some real heraitage advocates:
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQRHhmGnc2Y&list=PLNSHtMBQRdj9JNG5Tzuz2srLtxmUS6pT2&index=80
Heritage grains deserve nurturing - https://www.heritagegraintrust.org
For grains, flours and baking equipment including mills, plus courses, artisan baker jobs, recipes: https://www.bakerybits.co.uk/. Hodmedods are also good: https://hodmedods.co.uk.
Seller of heritage wheats, as used up to WW2: flour (1.5kg min) and grain (3kg how far will that go? 30g sows 2sq m, 3 kg 200 sq m) https://www.heritagewheat.co.uk + £5 pp. (weedkillers used)
Food programme – Wheat revolutions. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000my18
Robert Penn's account of his search for the perfect bread made from ancient wheat grains. SLOW RISE: A BREAD-MAKING ADVENTURE. Over the course of a year, Robert Penn learns how to sow, harvest, thresh and mill his own wheat, in order to bake bread for his family. In returning to this pre-industrial practice, he tells the captivating story of our relationship with bread: from the domestication of wheat in the Fertile Crescent at the dawn of civilization, to the rise of mass-produced loaves and the resurgence in home baking today. https://robpenn.net/slow-rise-a-bread-making-adventure/
David Wilson is on Fir Farm, here his sons speak of their concern and care for the soil: https://firfarm.co.uk/land-unlocked-what-could-farms-look-like-in-2030/ (Dive around that website!)
Wildfarmed Grain, Wildfarmed sows wheat direct into grass, allowing other species to grow, using grazing animals on the land and avoiding chemicals and soil disturbance. They used to use heritage wheats, that demand less fertility and can outgrow blackgrass, so here are some real heraitage advocates:
- Rupert Dunn uses a collection of old wheat varieties, no chemicals and saved seeds. https://www.loafoftheland.org/
- John Letts, Heritage Harvest, here he argues their benefits - don't need great fertility, outcompete weeds, less inputs make the poorer harvest worthwhile - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b0b3b4lx
- Henry Astor - https://groundswellag.com/speakers/henry-astor/
- In Scotland, heritage wheats that require low fertility, three strains used: https://scotlandthebread.org/our-work/grain-research/
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQRHhmGnc2Y&list=PLNSHtMBQRdj9JNG5Tzuz2srLtxmUS6pT2&index=80
Heritage grains deserve nurturing - https://www.heritagegraintrust.org
For grains, flours and baking equipment including mills, plus courses, artisan baker jobs, recipes: https://www.bakerybits.co.uk/. Hodmedods are also good: https://hodmedods.co.uk.
Seller of heritage wheats, as used up to WW2: flour (1.5kg min) and grain (3kg how far will that go? 30g sows 2sq m, 3 kg 200 sq m) https://www.heritagewheat.co.uk + £5 pp. (weedkillers used)
Food programme – Wheat revolutions. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000my18
Robert Penn's account of his search for the perfect bread made from ancient wheat grains. SLOW RISE: A BREAD-MAKING ADVENTURE. Over the course of a year, Robert Penn learns how to sow, harvest, thresh and mill his own wheat, in order to bake bread for his family. In returning to this pre-industrial practice, he tells the captivating story of our relationship with bread: from the domestication of wheat in the Fertile Crescent at the dawn of civilization, to the rise of mass-produced loaves and the resurgence in home baking today. https://robpenn.net/slow-rise-a-bread-making-adventure/
Soil care - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_NtNyvOyRM
How to live offgrid for 50 years on 400 acres in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qcsWajivnI
How to live offgrid for 50 years on 400 acres in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qcsWajivnI
Innovative Farmers is a network of farmers and growers who are running on-farm trials, on their own terms. They share field lab findings on their website. They offer a small grants scheme and research tools to help get you started. https://www.innovativefarmers.org/
Seeds
The Seed Cooperative offers organic, biodynamic and open pollinated seeds of veg, herbs, flowers and green manures. You can also grow seed for them, for which they pay. See https://seedcooperative.org.uk/
Real Seeds offer certified organic seed that they’ve grown, along with seeds from non-certified organic growers and occasionally non-coated seeds from other sources, when they’ve no alternative. They have a network of growers. They sell vegetable seeds and perennial roots (eg oca, yacon), some unusual. They encourage seed saving, and have lots of information on their website to help you. https://www.realseeds.co.uk
The Orchard Project. They plant new orchards, restore old ones, create wildlife habitats, train and educate, build community, work with schools, and offer consultancy. https://www.theorchardproject.org.uk/what-we-do/
(On their map, they show one in Mid-Cheshire – at Delamere Park.)
Hedge Care, 1.5 hours, very detailed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXHy5LP_epw
Website: https://hedgelink.org.uk/
Healthy Hedgerows app, on the PTES website: https://hedgerowsurvey.ptes.org/healthy-hedgerows-survey
Water Friendly Farming Hub. The Mersey Rivers Trust have developed an online hub for farmers or anyone who has an interest in farming and the environment. It has information on water friendly farming practices, sources of funding, case studies and useful links. See MRT website.
Oxford Real Farming Conference is held in early January. Talks are videoed and available online. Try these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjqRITICp7c
The importance of animals in agriculture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OT3PIMVTF8
Free Range Beef
Nantwich: https://www.facebook.com/JanesFarmShop, with more customers than beef!
Chester, Mickle Trafford: https://www.facebook.com/huw.rowlands.5283
The Seed Cooperative offers organic, biodynamic and open pollinated seeds of veg, herbs, flowers and green manures. You can also grow seed for them, for which they pay. See https://seedcooperative.org.uk/
Real Seeds offer certified organic seed that they’ve grown, along with seeds from non-certified organic growers and occasionally non-coated seeds from other sources, when they’ve no alternative. They have a network of growers. They sell vegetable seeds and perennial roots (eg oca, yacon), some unusual. They encourage seed saving, and have lots of information on their website to help you. https://www.realseeds.co.uk
The Orchard Project. They plant new orchards, restore old ones, create wildlife habitats, train and educate, build community, work with schools, and offer consultancy. https://www.theorchardproject.org.uk/what-we-do/
(On their map, they show one in Mid-Cheshire – at Delamere Park.)
Hedge Care, 1.5 hours, very detailed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXHy5LP_epw
Website: https://hedgelink.org.uk/
Healthy Hedgerows app, on the PTES website: https://hedgerowsurvey.ptes.org/healthy-hedgerows-survey
Water Friendly Farming Hub. The Mersey Rivers Trust have developed an online hub for farmers or anyone who has an interest in farming and the environment. It has information on water friendly farming practices, sources of funding, case studies and useful links. See MRT website.
Oxford Real Farming Conference is held in early January. Talks are videoed and available online. Try these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjqRITICp7c
The importance of animals in agriculture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OT3PIMVTF8
Free Range Beef
Nantwich: https://www.facebook.com/JanesFarmShop, with more customers than beef!
Chester, Mickle Trafford: https://www.facebook.com/huw.rowlands.5283
Some No-Till Farmers
Tolhurst Organics, producing veg for veg boxes. https://www.tolhurstorganic.co.uk/
Wakelyns Agroforestry, landrace wheat development, lentils, apples, cherries (nearly 50 varieties of apples, pears, quinces, cherries, walnuts, hazelnuts, along with trees for timber and coppiced willow and hazel for thatching and biomass fuel.), community supported agriculture. https://wakelyns.co.uk/
Down Farm, crops such as wheat, barley and oilseed rape, as well as holding beef and sheep, by-products such as hay and straw are sold on a retail basis in conventional bales. Since 2002 we have operated a green waste recycling operation, providing a service to local landscape contractors and tree surgeons, and producing compost for use on the farm, where it replaces some of the inorganic fertiliser needed to grow crops. https://downfarmodiham.co.uk/
On ramial woodchip use: https://www.organicresearchcentre.com/our-research/research-project-library/woofs-woodchip-for-fertile-soils/
Whitehall Farm, organic silvo-arable agroforestry. Has been certified Organic since 2008 with cereals, vegetables, fruit and areas managed for wildlife & biodiversity. The Silvoarable agroforestry combines fruit trees and cereals over 52ha (125 acres) making it the largest commercial agroforestry in the UK. Organic wheat is grown using modern and old varieties and supplied direct to artesian millers and windmills to make flour and bread. Barley is sold for malting, which is used to make beer. Dotted around the farm are lots of beehives which are important for pollination of flowers, fruits and vegetables. We also love our earthworms and provide food using cover crops and minimise soil disturbance wherever possible. All fields have wide grassy and flower rich buffers strips to protect water courses. Ditches are deliberately left ‘scruffy’ to provide habitat for insects, invertebrates and birds. Peterborough. https://harvestbarn.co.uk/about-us/
20-22 May 2022 Agroforestry Open weekend. https://agroforestryopenweekend.org/uncategorized/would-you-like-to-visit-one-of-our-farms/: Nothing local!
At: Clinks Care Farm, Norfolk;
Dartington, Devon;
Helen Browning’s Eastbrook, Swindon, Wilts
FarmED, Shipton-Under-Wychwood, Oxon, 3.5 miles from Kingham Station
Fellows Farm, Gosbeck/Monewden, Suffolk
Maple Farm Kelsale, Suffolk
Shimpling Park Farm, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Slieve Aughty, Galway, H62 DX77
Wakelyns, Suffolk, IP21 5SD
Whitehall Farm, Peterborough, Lincs.
Charlynch. Mixed crops, heritage grains, sourdough bread and agroecological pigs, with Fred Price and team at Gothelney Hall, Charlynch, Somerset, TA5 2PQ. Not no till, but concerned about soil quality. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0017t32
Tolhurst Organics, producing veg for veg boxes. https://www.tolhurstorganic.co.uk/
Wakelyns Agroforestry, landrace wheat development, lentils, apples, cherries (nearly 50 varieties of apples, pears, quinces, cherries, walnuts, hazelnuts, along with trees for timber and coppiced willow and hazel for thatching and biomass fuel.), community supported agriculture. https://wakelyns.co.uk/
Down Farm, crops such as wheat, barley and oilseed rape, as well as holding beef and sheep, by-products such as hay and straw are sold on a retail basis in conventional bales. Since 2002 we have operated a green waste recycling operation, providing a service to local landscape contractors and tree surgeons, and producing compost for use on the farm, where it replaces some of the inorganic fertiliser needed to grow crops. https://downfarmodiham.co.uk/
On ramial woodchip use: https://www.organicresearchcentre.com/our-research/research-project-library/woofs-woodchip-for-fertile-soils/
Whitehall Farm, organic silvo-arable agroforestry. Has been certified Organic since 2008 with cereals, vegetables, fruit and areas managed for wildlife & biodiversity. The Silvoarable agroforestry combines fruit trees and cereals over 52ha (125 acres) making it the largest commercial agroforestry in the UK. Organic wheat is grown using modern and old varieties and supplied direct to artesian millers and windmills to make flour and bread. Barley is sold for malting, which is used to make beer. Dotted around the farm are lots of beehives which are important for pollination of flowers, fruits and vegetables. We also love our earthworms and provide food using cover crops and minimise soil disturbance wherever possible. All fields have wide grassy and flower rich buffers strips to protect water courses. Ditches are deliberately left ‘scruffy’ to provide habitat for insects, invertebrates and birds. Peterborough. https://harvestbarn.co.uk/about-us/
20-22 May 2022 Agroforestry Open weekend. https://agroforestryopenweekend.org/uncategorized/would-you-like-to-visit-one-of-our-farms/: Nothing local!
At: Clinks Care Farm, Norfolk;
Dartington, Devon;
Helen Browning’s Eastbrook, Swindon, Wilts
FarmED, Shipton-Under-Wychwood, Oxon, 3.5 miles from Kingham Station
Fellows Farm, Gosbeck/Monewden, Suffolk
Maple Farm Kelsale, Suffolk
Shimpling Park Farm, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Slieve Aughty, Galway, H62 DX77
Wakelyns, Suffolk, IP21 5SD
Whitehall Farm, Peterborough, Lincs.
Charlynch. Mixed crops, heritage grains, sourdough bread and agroecological pigs, with Fred Price and team at Gothelney Hall, Charlynch, Somerset, TA5 2PQ. Not no till, but concerned about soil quality. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0017t32
The Water Cycle
The water cycle – how to do it wrong: https://youtu.be/G4l8QrsMmnI
And how to restore it: https://youtu.be/fTnh7eTXD1M
Sepp Holzer on respecting nature: https://youtu.be/fTnh7eTXD1M
Working with water - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPgC_ZUtLzk&feature=youtu.be
The water cycle – how to do it wrong: https://youtu.be/G4l8QrsMmnI
And how to restore it: https://youtu.be/fTnh7eTXD1M
Sepp Holzer on respecting nature: https://youtu.be/fTnh7eTXD1M
Working with water - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPgC_ZUtLzk&feature=youtu.be