Toady, found in the nature reserve

Hello

What a fantastic year it has been for apples, every apple tree I have seen this autumn has been positively groaning under the weight of the crop!

A few weeks ago driving through any village in Dorset you would be met with brimming road side baskets with hand drawn signs saying ‘ Windfall Bramleys, help yourself!’. At Naish Farm we currently have 3  apple trees in what was the old Orchard, and we have enjoyed a plentiful crop. The team have devoured apple crumbles and pies for lunch, with lashing of Dorsetshire cream of course!

In October we had a group of lovely visitors join us for a Foodie Safari, we took them on a Somerset tour the highlight of the day was a tour of Somerset Cider Brandy http://www.ciderbrandy.co.uk/ We enjoyed a beautiful walk around some of their 150 acres of orchard, a tour of the distillery and plenty of tastings, we all came away slightly giggly and rose cheeked! I’d highly recommend  paying them a visit, there are lots of footpaths in the area, nestled deep in the Levels it is a truly magical place.

We are very excited to have received delivery this week of the first fruit trees for our Orchard. One of the fields here at Honeybuns used to be an apple orchard, it was grubbed out in the 1950′s as many of the trees had become too old and damaged. We are now planning to reinstate a section of orchard of mixed fruit and nut trees, we’ll plant around 50 trees, choosing rarer English varieties such as russet, medlar, damson, quince, walnut as well as some old re discovered Dorset cider apple varieties such as Buttery Door, Cadbury and Golden Ball. Our aim is to have a crop through out the season and share it with the local community, like a crop share. For a small donation to our Bee Green fund or some help gathering the crops we’ll invite locals in to help themselves. We’d also like to team up with local schools, again sharing our crop and teaching them the importance of eating with the seasons, celebrating all of the wonderful English produce our special county has to offer.

There are lots of like minded individuals across the country starting similar community projects see http://www.transitionnetwork.org/ to find out more.

Also you are interested in old tree varieties and the history of cider making and how you can get involved this website has lots of info;  http://www.dorsetcider.com/

Our apple trees on a frosty morn

Yet again the wildlife here in the nature reserve has benefited from the setaside areas, our vole population seems to have boomed. We were also very pleased to discover a hornets nest in the roof of the bakery, Hornets have become quite rare and dispute their reputation are docile and very beautiful creatures, we are glad to offer them a home.

Bird life on the farm is also doing well, we have a patrolling sparrow hawk that is seen most days, a small flock of goldcrest in the pine trees and the first flocks of redwing and field fare have started to arrive for the winter.

The nut feeders and bird tables are of course being visited by the usual suspects blue, great, coal and marsh tits, robins, wrens, sparrow, black caps, greenfinch  &  dunnock.

See RSPB website to see how you can encourage birds to your garden http://www.rspb.org.uk/

The team veg & fruit patch and poly tunnel have again given us a plentiful supply of home grown goods, we’ve enjoyed carrots, beans, courgettes, leeks, beetroot, tomatoes, chilli’s,  strawberries and rhubarb.

We created a kitchen garden at the back of the Bee Shack http://www.honeybuns.co.uk/beeshack/index.htm in the summer with herbs and salads planted in old cake tins and biscuit barrels, tea pots and even spuds in carriers bags! – Following our make do and mend philosophy.

We’ll keep you posted with the orchard project, we should start planting next week.

Thanks for reading

Charlotte x

Plentiful veg

Buttercup field, Bulbarrow Hill in the distance

Hello

It’s been a busy month so far, on the 5th of May we held a little office opening party here at Naish Farm and a great time was had by all, it was lovely to see so many friendly faces from the community showing their support.

Our new office is an old mobile classroom that was kindly donated to us by Bishops Caundle Primary School, the use of this new super duper space means our old office – (which was once a pig sty) can now be turned into our Bee Involved community recourse centre.

This hard working space will house a reference library, nature table, local food sampling area, a real tree ! – showing the 4 seasons, interactive activities for children – making bird feeders/ planting vegetable seeds.

We plan to invite groups of children to come along, tour the bakery and nature reserve, sample our local suppliers produce, watch craft demostrations and learn about the symbiotic relationships between traditional crafts, local food production, conservation how they are all entertwined and how they can get involved.

The bird life on the farm has been extraordinary, we have Sparrows and blue tits nesting at the back of the farm house, sparrows ( thinking about nesting!) in the box with the camera a wren in the garage and the swallows have been checking out the barn again, although I saw on the news this morning that the swallows and martins are having a hard time at the moment – because they build their nests from wet mud they have been struggling to find any following the recent dry period, so the RSPB are urging people to put out trays of wet mud, to give them a helping hand.

Check out http://www.honeybuns.co.uk/joaneycam/ to see Mr and Mrs sparrow busy at work nest building!

We heard our first cuckoo in the nature reserve a couple of weeks ago, on a recent walk near Studland beach I saw two cuckoos flying in the woodland – these birds are becoming quite rare so it was good to see them.

I love this country saying about the cuckoo;

The Cuckoo comes in April

He sings his song in May

In the middle of June he changes his tune

In July he flies away!

Work on the vegetable patch is coming along nicely, we have purple sprouting broccoli, radish, beans, carrots, tomatoes, beetroot coming on in the poly tunnel all soon to be planted out into the raised bed.

We are running a team sunflower growing competiton at the moment,the prize being a luxury hamper and the ‘Honeybuns Biggest Sunflower Cup’!

Its getting very competitive already – as the first shoots are starting to come through there is talk of sabotage amongst the camp!

If this goes well prehaps next year we can run a Pumpkin growing competition !

Anyhow bye for now, must pop off and do my watering!

Thanks for reading folks

Charlotte x

Solitary Bee Box on the sunny Bee shack wall

Planting willow and hazel trees

Hello Bee Greeners,

What a beautiful day and how lucky we are to be in sunny Dorset!  The sun is shining, the skies are blue, butterflies are fluttering, Bees are buzzing and to top it all I saw my first swallow today!

I know that one swallow does not make a summer! But the return of these amazing birds always fills me with such joy, knowing that balmy summer days are just around the corner.

The hedges are bursting with blossom and the banks with wild flowers - wild violets, primroses, celandines to name but a few. The warmth of the sun today seems to have released their scent, the smell of Spring is wafting through the breeze….lovely!

I had a successful Bee Green planting day a couple of weeks ago and replanted some willow and hazel trees that we lost in the cold weather, we also planted some more apple and plum trees.

The fruit bed and poly tunnel are next on the list, we plan to plant a selection of currants, raspberries & gooseberries in the fruit bed and lots of veggie seeds & spuds in the poly tunnel, although I need to get a move on, my first early spuds at home are already up, The Bee shack garden spuds are still chitting !

We’ve taken inspiration from http://www.dirtynails.co.uk/ Joe’s pocket guide to the edible garden has been an excellent resource for us in planning our annual vegetable plot.

Now that the birds are starting to think about nesting, Graham will soon be re starting his monthly bird surveys, our team wildlife log sightings have been interesting, the first bats were seen flying around the nature reserve in mid March. Other sightings have been yellow hammers, coal tits, marsh tits, Snipe, sparrow hawks, Kestrels & buzzards.

I thought I’d leave you with this delightful Spring poem;

Spring arose on the garden fair,

Like the spirit of love felt everywhere,

And each flower and herb on earths dark breast,

Rose from the dreams of it’s wintry rest.

Wishing you all a sunshine filled Spring, Thanks for reading.

Charlotte x

Celandines & Violets

Day two hedge laying

Hi There,

Yes it’s that time again, Graham and I have finally made some time to get started on the hedge laying, it’s going really well, even though some patches of hedge are made up of entirely brambles &  dog rose leaving virtually nothing to lay in.

The hedge we are laying is made up of mostly maple, hawthorn and blackthorn that has for years been battered by a hedge cutter! meaning we have long straggly trunks with bushy, half rotted tops ! The hedges laid in the past two years are now looking healthy and bushy, very satisfying  for Graham and I to see.

The first signs of Spring are starting to show, with daffodil bulbs peeping through the grass and catkins in the hedgerows, although we may be in for some more chilly weather if this old country saying is anything to go by;

‘When the cat lies in the sun in February, she will creep behind the stove in March!’

Work has also started in the poly tunnel, the beds have been dug over with manure and more top soil added. Next week I plan to get some seeds planted and potatoes chitting!

Just dug the last few beetroot from the raised bed last week and have pickled them ready for the team to enjoy. The purple sprouting brocoli is doing well and should be ready for picking in the spring.

The birds around the nature reserve are doing really well, each morning I let out , feed and water the chickens and then put seed and fat balls out for the birds, the robins and sparrows are really tame, they now cannot wait for me to walk away after sprinkling the grain and come down to feed just a few feet away, it’s lovely!

We have come across this interesting organisation who are working hard to promote education through food, farming and the countryside. See the link to find out more.  http://face-online.org.uk/join/

That’s all for now folks, I’ll keep you posted on the hedge laying.

Thanks for reading

Charlotte x

Apple trees on a chilly day

Winter wild food

Hello

I hope you have all been keeping warm during the cold snap? We’ve been fattening up on lots of cake !

An old country saying ‘ Ice in November to bear a duck, the rest of the winter’ll be slush and muck’. Not sure if this means it will warm up and rain alot, or be melting snow and mud from the thaw?

Despite it being miserable on the roads and very cold, here at the Naish farm nature reserve it has been beautiful, with ice crystals covering the trees, icicle’s dripping from the thatched roof of the farm house, and plenty of crunchy snow in the fields we’ve been in a real winter wonderland!

My gran said the last time she can remember such a frost with ice crystals covering the trees was during the war!

Our team have been spotting lots of birds taking advantage of the seeds, nuts and windfall apples.

We’ve seen a little flock of 4 bullfinches, marsh tits, field fares, woodpeckers ( green and great spotted), large flocks of starlings, dunnocks, a flock of around 20 sparrows, lots of great tits and blue tits and coal tits to name but a few.

We have recently put up another 6 nut feeders around the farm to give the birds a helping hand in the harsh weather.

We’ve also made some fat feeders by pouring meat fat into a yogurt pots with some seeds, pop in the fridge until set, push in a piece of wire with a loop in the end, then put in the freezer until set hard and the wire  firmly in place, they should then slide straight out and be ready to hang up.

We really need to have a Bee green day before Christmas and start getting things ready for the spring, we have loaded the raised bed with top soil that needs to be dug in, we need to make another compost heap, dig over and fertilise the beds in the poly tunnel plant some bulbs – best get busy!

Much to our disappointment Graham and I have not yet had time to start the hedge-laying, but we will in the new year and keep you posted on our progress.

Wishing you all a wonderfully green and Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!

Charlotte x

Winter sunrise over the nature reserve

Dog Rosehips

Hello all

What a beautiful Autumn we have had so far, it’s been so lovely and warm during the day, but satisfyingly chilly and snuggly in the evenings!

It’s unusual to see all the trees still in full green leaf, my view from the office window over looking Bulbarrow hill still shows a sea of bright green oaks, with only a few horse chestnuts starting to turn.

The swallows have finally gone now though, a sure sign winter is on the way, the last few stragglers we spotted darting around the farm last week.

We are making the most of the glut of produce here on the farm with squash, courgettes, tomatoes, beetroot’s and onions being transformed into hearty stews for the team and the birds are starting to make the most of the windfall apples!

The hedges have been left uncut again, meaning hips, haws,blackberries and sloes a plenty for the birds and mammals.

It’s nearly hedge laying season again, and Graham and I will get started in the next few weeks, we’ll keep you posted on our progress.

Following the discovery that we have bats roosting in our shed roof we have purchased some bat boxes from http://www.alanaecology.com/ who specialise in bat products – boxes, identification charts etc as well as all other wildlife field equipment.

We also ordered some beautiful solitary Bee Boxes from Jon Colman of Bee Happy. John hand makes Bee boxes using local timer. He also runs children’s workshops, teaching them the importance of Bees and other insects and how to create habitats for them.    http://www.beehappy.org.uk/

Thanks for reading

Charlotte x

Apple Tree in the nature reserve

Teasel in Nature reserve

Hello,

Graham has been up at the crack of dawn, walking the fields of the nature reserve and has completed a new bird survey.

We have all seen an increase in Goldfinches over the last few weeks, taking advantage of the finch feeding strip – all the thistles are now going to seed, providing them with their favourite food.

Birds spotted in this month’s survey;

House sparrow, Starling, Blue tit, great tit, Robin, Goldfinch, Crow, Greenfinch, Wood Pigeon, Chaffinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Magpie, Wren, Swallow, Collard Dove, White Dove, Pied Wagtail, Song Thrush, Rook, Yellow hammer, Pheasant, Buzzard & Kestrel.

Don’t forget the Oak fair at Stock Gaylard this Saturday, http://www.stockgaylard.com/oak-fair/oak-fair-at-stock-gaylard.html

a great place to find out more about local conservation groups.

Thanks for reading

Charlotte

Scything a pathway through the nature reserve

Wild Flower Garden outside the bakery

Hello

What a beautiful summer we have had so far, with balmy sunny days and warm moonlit evenings it has been glorious here on the farm.

The birds seem to have been doing well, with doves, wrens, sparrows, blue tits and woodpeckers ( to name but a few) all raising their families in the safety of the nature reserve. Although there don’t seem to be as many swallows and martins this year.

We have also noticed butterfly and bee numbers are down, possibly due to the harsh winter.  The setaside areas have come in to their own providing a mass of thistles & teasels for the goldfinches, with plants such as yellow dotted loostrife, coltsfoot & cut leaf cranesbill flowers also spreading nicely.

The team veggie patch is now highly productive, we’ve been enjoying courgettes, tomatoes, beetroot’s, new potatoes and fresh herbs for our team lunches. With squash and pumpkin plants on the way on the dung heap we should have a fresh veg  supply through the winter too.

We decided to dig up the fruit patch ( as the fruit bushes had suffered from a long dry April!) and plant the seemingly hundreds of tomato plants that we successfully grown from seed in the poly tunnel. Also and a couple of bags of seed potatoes that our local garden centre were giving away – waste not want not!

We are very excited that plans are now under way for our new community resource centre, we are recycling an old mobile classroom that is retiring from a local school, this will house our office and mail order shop packing area, meaning we will then have an extra room to turn into the centre, we’ll then be able to invite local schools and groups to visit the farm, learn about local food production – with info about local food producers and a tour of the bakery, tour the nature reserve and contribute to our nature table and wildlife log book, enabling us to teach them more about nature and conservation.

We are keen to show how Bee Green is linked to everything we do – so for example all of the cardboard we use is shredded and turned to horse bedding, this is transferred to the dung heap where it rots down, then ends up on our raised bed to fertilise the veg plants, which we then serve in the Bee shack cafe.

In June we visited the Green Scythe fair at Thorney lakes, Nr Langport in Somerset http://www.greenfair.org.uk/ This wonderful event happens every year and I would highly recommend it, with live demos, a scything competition, local crafts, lovely food and a fun packed kids area complete with ‘ Play Hay’!  It was a brilliant day out.

We are looking forward now to visiting the Oak fair in Aug http://www.stockgaylard.com/oak-fair/oak-fair-at-stock-gaylard.html which has similar stalls, an art exhibition and food tent. With a conservation area, with a wealth of information from all of the wonderful local conservation organisations and charities.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, Thanks for reading

Charlotte

Lovely Veg

Plentiful veg in the poly tunnel

Hello Again

We have had some glorious weather here again and the vegetables have come on a treat, I seem to have over done it on a few things so we now have tomato , courgette and beetroot plants coming out of our ears! we hope to re home them this Saturday and have a little plant stall at the Bee shack cafe.

A few weeks ago Em & I and some friends went on a little inspirational day out in Somerset, exploring the levels. We had a brilliant day we went to John Leach’s pottery gallery, there he also has a beautiful nature reserve with a large wildlife pond, a short walk from the gallery in Muchelney.  It is a truly magical place, it was a hive of activity with ducks, swans and moorhens nesting on the pond and hundreds of wildflowers on the banks. If you are ever in the area we would highly recommend a visit. See www.johnleachpottery.co.uk for more details.

We also popped in to Burrow Hill cider – and had a few samples ! This is another wonderful place, on an old farm with beautiful old farm building containing the cider and brandy making equipment. You can take your own vessels and have them filled with Cider from the oak barrels in the cellar. They had a lovely apple orchard there with foot paths leading through them, a really nice place to visit especially when the blossom is out. www.ciderbrandy.co.uk.

We have another day out planned soon, we are going to visit Monkton Wyld Court near Bridport this is a Centre for sustainable living. They run courses, residential if you wish, on things like hedge laying, Bee keeping and how to plant a coppice as well as forgotten rural skills, dancing and singing. They also host nice seasonal events so again well worth a visit if you are in the area. www.monktonwyldcourt.co.uk.

Here on the farm things have settled down now we are out of the tree planting season, just focusing now on growing wildflower plugs in the poly tunnel – ready to plant out in the setaside areas. We have purposely left the setaside areas

for a few years just to see what would grow naturally - unfortunately now we are getting a little over run with stinging nettles and docks which we will now start to pull up to make room for flowers and grasses.

Graham and I are now set to work on creating information boards to place around the farm at certain points of interest, made up of a combination of photos and illustrations.  We’ll be compiling data this year and recording what plant, insect and animal species are taking advantage of the nature reserve .

We are very much looking forward to our first group of kids coming to visit our nature reserve, they are coming from the Honeypot Charity, this wonderful charity offers respite care for child carers. A small group are coming to visit the farm in July to have a picnic in the meadow and tour of the bakery. See www.honeypot.co.uk for more info about the Honeypot charity.

Bye for now, thanks for reading

Charlotte xx

Birds nest in Blossom

Apple Blossom and our wildlife log pile

Hello All,

What a beautiful spring we have had so far, be it a little late but now it is here it has suddenly all come at once. The trees are all covered in beautiful blossom and  the  hedge plants and trees Graham and I planted are out in full leaf.  We are now in a lush green oasis here at Naish Farm with the joys of Spring all around us.

We have seen a huge increase in wildflowers around the nature reserve this year, the setaside areas and meadows have come in to their own so far we have spotted celendines, bluebells, lords and ladies, wild garlic, primroses, wood stichwort, dotted yellow loosestrife, pink champions and wild forget me nots to name but a few.

We have discovered an excellent guide to help you indentify wild flowers, see the link ;http://www.judywoods.dial.pipex.com/British%20Wild%20Flowers.html it has a really useful guide with photos of all the flowers in colour coded sections.

The veggies are coming on very well in the poly tunnel, with all the seeds we planted now up and ready to be potted up and planted out. We picked the first spinach and salad leaves last week for the Bee shack , it’s such a lovely reward to have delicious fresh home grown leaves on your plate !

The nature reserve is really taking shape, the coppice areas we have left ungrazed already have young saplings growing, we hope to add to them by planting more fruit trees this year creating a mini orchard.

This is where we will house the new chickens, the run and house is being delivered tomorrow and the chickens are coming next week, we will feed them scraps and peelings from the Bee shack and in turn use their dung as a fertilizer on the garden!

After a huge succes in my own garden I have asked my hubby to make us some Bee boxes, the idea is to provide solitary bees – leaf cutter bees, mining bees, mason Bees etc a safe place to lay their eggs.

The best thing to use is garden cane cut to different lengths, set in a wooden frame to keep them dry that you then hang on a warm wall at about eye level.

The bees then create little chambers with an egg and pollen in each one, blocking the end with mud or leaves. So having plants and flowers to attract Bees and provide them with a good supply of nectar and pollen is very important. Trying to have blooms from Mid March to August is ideal.

The bird life has been incredible too, we have a blue tit trying to nest right outside the office door! We have seen an increase in goldfinches and as I write this I am watching a greater spotted woodpecker on the bird feeder!

Thanks alot for reading and we’ll keep you posted on chickens – photos to follow as soon as they have settled in !!

Charlotte x

New fruit patch, so far containing strawberries, rhubarb and black currants