What's New on the Farm? Orchids, Pond Wildlife and More

in #homesteading6 years ago

With 40 acres of prime Suffolk farmland, there's always A LOT to do. I currently live a two hour drive away, so all of my work on the land is conservation and future-farm-dream based. In addition to making the land an oasis for wildlife, that means I'm planting nut tree and fruit trees, hedge laying, bramble clearing etc in preparation of moving there in the future.

Currently I'm trying to get there at least once a month to give a day's work, and when possible, we go camping so I can really put in some decent hours. The problem with starting projects (_such as the wildflower meadow, for example) is that as time goes on, not only do you need to tackle new challenges but you've got to maintain the things you've already started. And all of that takes time!

Last weekend was a camping trip, and you can watch below to see some of the progress on things like the wildflower meadow and the pond restoration. There's also a few little captures of wildlife and wildflowers such as a beautiful British native meadow orchid and also a Muntjack deer skull we discovered.

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What's Going On?


At the moment, the wildflower meadow is taking care of itself, so during the summer months the main work is continuing wildlife diversity studies and bramble clearing. Not only do the thickets around the pond need clearing to get more sunlight onto the water, but the area for the future nuttery needs chopping. I'm hoping to get this done by October/November so I can start planting the nut trees, buddleija hedge and willow dome.

But for now, here's a few pictures I took over three days.

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Buttercups are always a welcome sign of summer.

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A native dog rose attracts pollinators into the hedge.

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Clover's not only great for bugs, but fixes the soil too!

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The pink blush of an unopened dog rose flower.

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This wild cornus sits by the pond.

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Elderflower buds open, unveiling nectar and perfect to pick for homemade cordial.

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A wild, native orchid growing near one of the ponds.

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Even the grasses and plantain are picturesque against a warm sky.

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Ox eye daisies proliferate in the wildflower meadow.

Thanks for watching and reading. Hope to have many more updates of the farm over the coming months!

Geoff


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It's looking cracking such an exciting project. Would love some land to do the same. Your very lucky. Nice to see you back 💯🐒

Nice to be back!

Good to see you back in town.


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