Nearly Sufficiency

Wednesday, 26 August 2009

Back from the woods......

It's been a long time since I've been on this site and after a few years of wandering the wilderness I think it's high time I collected my thoughts and submit a few more experiences.

I'll be back to continue the saga soon............

Friday, 16 November 2007

Exmoor red deer

The stag, a young one

The hinds, suspecting something is not quite right

The amazing row of beech - these are positioned along the traditional bank and wall field boundaries.

October took me to Exmoor for the red deer rut. The weather had been incredibly mild over the past few weeks which didn't give high hopes of seeing any red deer fighting action - the colder weather brings the hinds down from the moor peaks and thus the horny males follow.

We pulled up at a good site at about 6am when it was just gettin glight and as soon as the car engine stopped running we could hear the bellow of the males echoing over the valley.

We came close on numerous occasions to groups of deer, but alas no actual scrapping. In the distance we could hear the clash of antlers and the continuous roars but could not get close enough. Still, it was an excellent experience of which I am keen to experience again next year.

Saturday, 10 November 2007

The Giant Chestnut

Back in June 2007 a small group of us visited Dinton park near Salisbury, Wiltshire. The grounds were owned by National Trust and we were kindly shown around by the warden.

One of the highlights was this fantastic Sweet Chestnut tree in the grounds of a private dwelling on the site. The girth of the monster was a massive 9.70 metres and as you can see from the photos all of us stood next to it look dwarfed! The tree is in healthy condition and new growth can be seen reaching for the sky on the upper limbs. It is interesting that the tree does so well as just out of shot is another equally impressive beech tree which does not seem to pose a threat to the chesnut at all....remarkable. I entered this baby on the Woodland Trust's Ancient Tree Hunt website.

Check it out http://www.ancient-tree-hunt.org.uk/

Bring on the tears

The spuds are out...the onions are in. Lets hope they fair better...not too many things like to devour onions. By spring the first crop should be ready for an early years salad. The fleece is for added protection if the frosts ever return here. Already (after 2 weeks) the onions have sprouted and have put on about 4 inches in growth.

Thursday, 4 October 2007

Harvest Time

The first (small) crop of spuds, these were delicious simply boiled with a dash of mint.

The cooking apple crop from the fallen tree also gave up a bumper crop...pies, pies and more pies!

The wildlife pond has settled in great. A bit of turf kindly given to me improved the steeper slope. Pond weed has establised itself well...though I can see myself having to periodically remove excess weed. There's plenty of waterboat men and diving beetles which naturally appeared. Rocks are set in place to provide shelter for overwintering newts and frogs/toads. The observation bench just to the left of the picture is a great spot to sit and contemplate things after a hard days weeding and digging. The other day I watched a dragonfly from a neighbouring wetland area arrive to lay eggs underneth the rocks.

Thursday, 13 September 2007

Stop growing you lot!

Everyting has gone a bit crazy in the orchard (formally 'top field'). Here's me without a mower!

The spuds are doing okay, they've spurted upwards...but closer inspection below reveals not too much progress...I think a late Oct early November might yield something, if the frosts don't come.

There's signs of slight blight so may have to get some Bordeaux magic to sort that out.

As for the pond....fantastic. Add a bit of water and magic happens, already there's diving beetles, water boat men, strange snot worms, mosquito larvae, pondweed and algae.

Rabbits and Muntjacs have been seen visiting too and a Roe came in for a drink.

Here's a little collection of the pond progress: