Autumn/Winter 2015 Update

A quick update for all you permies out there. The last couple of months have been challenging as I have been unable to get rid of an elbow injury, meaning I have been about as useful as a chocolate teapot! Doesn't mean nothing happens. Winter sculpting is well in progress with Andy and our long-term WWOOFer, Remi, picking up the slack from my disabled arse!

We need more hedgerows to break up the wind... So we have scythed a load of grass... laid out wood from a recently coppiced hazel (see pictures below) and covered with aforementioned grass.

This baby hedgerow will be planted with a variety of trees and shrubs over the winter.

Water is of upmost importance as we want to encourage predators to our land in the shape of frogs and toads.  Also we'd like some ducks to compliment our growing menagerie of animal helpers.  Freya offers us some context here so you can see how deep it is.

We get down to the woodland as often as we can.  This is dictated by the weather as felling trees is difficult in windy conditions.

This was last week, early morning fog was rolling up the valley from the stream.  It was peaceful and pretty.

The Kelly kettle is an essential piece of kit to help keep hydrated. 

At the Yurt-end of the main field, Andy needs additional protection so has sculpted some rough beds and transplanted a number of small trees from our nursery.  Over time this should form a formidable barrier.

Remi has been continuing to work on some interesting Hügelkultur beds.  Updates over the coming years will illustrate their importance and utility.

We are focusing our felling on a previous site that we did not clear completely.

Proper coppicing will only work effectively if you clear enough of the canopy to allow new growth from your coppiced stools.

This was one of our small fields we had let our voisine (neighbour) use.  They have sadly moved  to Ferte Mace, with work, so Remi has been utilising the cultivated space for a "hidden" garden... his words not mine.  The key thing is to heavily mulch to prevent weed regrowth.  This year we will be mulching like mad men.

It's incredible how much wood can be cultivated from properly managed stools.  This hazel stool had not been cut in a number of years, but with this new haircut should regrow beautifully.

This basically sets the pattern for the next 3-months.  A lot more felling, wood is our primary source of energy and a lot more landscaping.  The additional help of a WWOOFer has certainly allowed us to push ourselves, next calendar year we will hopefully have the accommodation to have more than one!

What tools we use - Permaculture Principals - Earth Care

We will avoid the Permaculture definition of Earth Care/Care of Earth and define this in terms of what we are actually trying to achieve at La Fieffe. These aren’t prioritised in any particular order, as far as we are concerned each of these are as important as the next. I will take a look at each one and advise on what we are attempting to do.

Soil Improvement - healthy soils are a complex mix of worms, bacteria and beneficial fungi.  These soils promote good plant growth and typically have fewer problems with pests and diseases. Improving soil condition needn't be the reserve of master gardeners or horticultural specialists.  Your soil is hungry for organic matter which can include, paper/card, weeds, grass clippings, manure, hair and kitchen scraps.  As these break down the nutrients from them are made available to growing plants and the action of decomposition improves the soil structure allowing free movement of air and water.  This soil also becomes better at holding onto both nutrients and water acting like a sponge for both.

(These images above are typical of most of La Fieffe at the time of buying it, devoid of anything other then over-grazed grass.)

So, what is the simplest action you can take to improve your soil?  Compost.  Give your compost pile a name and treat it like a pet.  You feed it with a mixture of organic materials ensuring your mix of carbon and nitrogen are kept in balance.  Too much carbon and you will not create enough heat, too much nitrogen and you will create too much heat leading to a gaseous emission of ammonia!  Treat it like a science experiment and you should be able to achieve admirable results in no time.

(In this picture you can see a mixture of cover cropping and mulching taking place.)

Other soil improvement strategies can include the planting of legumes or green manures and plenty or mulching.  Plants like peas and beans belong to a family of vegetables that "fix" nitrogen with the assistance of a beneficial bacteria called rhizobium.  Nitrogen is taken from the air in the soil and "fixed" on nodules that the bacteria live within.  Couple this with the planting of a fast growing "cover" crop like mustard or clover and a good amount of winter mulching or your beds, you will improve the organic matter, beneficial organisms and earthworm activity in your soil; you improve the soils moisture retention and it's ability to prevent erosion; you provide habitat, nectar and pollen for beneficial insects which in turn will reduce your pests; with any luck this dual approach will lead to persistent weeds being smothered.

(Careful management leads to improvement in soil condition which leads to production of healthy organic produce.)

Organic Food - one of the key principals of growing organic food is health.  Organically grown produce has more antioxidants, fewer pesticides (if any) and less cadmium (a toxic heavy metal).  In fact a recent study by Newcastle University found that in terms of the antioxidants you’re getting, a total switch to organic crops could be equivalent to adding another portion or two of fruit and veg to your daily diet! (http://blog.journals.cambridge.org/2014/07/new-study-finds-significant-differences-between-organic-and-non-organic-food/)

 (This image above shows palm kale, an extremely nutrient rich brassica with a legume to help the soil condition and a fast growing and insect attracting nasturtium.)

(Apart from my gorgeous daughter, you can see raspberries and strawberries on the left foreground, corn, sunflowers, beans and squash left background and more palm kale on the right foreground.)

(It's important to attract the beneficial predators, in this example, the human child Freya has been attracted by lupinus.)

By striving to grow organic produce, your actions are improving the health of the soil, the health of the animals grazing it, the health of the humans eating from it and the health of the greater ecosystem too.

Sustainable woodmanship - We only have 1.5 acres of, mainly, beech woodland, but if we carefully identify already stooling plants we can sustainably manage our small woodland area indefinitely.  This identification process is not the biggest challenge we face...

(The biggest challenge is getting the processed timber out of the valley, just take a closer look at the image above and below.)

(Processing a stool in the winter has made us pretty hardy, Shands in this picture modelling the very fashionable red head cover and matching hoody!)

(This is the same stool as in the image previous, Freya adding 'scale' to the picture.)

(Danny, our first 'volunteer' ahem, using a four foot cross cut saw to process our wood, in unison with me of course.)

The majority of the wood we process will be used as a fuel source as our entire house is run on it.  Heating, cooking and hot water all get their energy from wood.  Some of it though, is selected due to it's straightness (if that's a word), for our impromptu building follys as evidenced in previous posts.

(The more time you spend in the woodland, the more little lads and lasses you come across.)

Hedgerows - Biodiversity has a natural tendency to increase; an accumulation of plants, insects, beetles, reptiles, amphibians, small mammals and birds will quickly fill ecological niches and develop a food chain. More plants mean more food, which means more insects, more birds, more reptiles, more mammals, which means more balance. Hedgerows play a hugely important role in supporting this biodiversity growth.

(These two pictures, above and below,  illustrate the type of hedgerow we find on and around our land.  It is stunning and needs our help to protect it.)

Sadly, as is evidenced by this report, http://www.hedgelink.org.uk/files/Hedgelink%20-%20Report%20Visit%20to%20Normandy%20May%202010.pdf, hedgerows are taking a pasting in Normandie!  But, by now you must be getting a feel for the Palmers of La Fieffe and we are intending to "buck the trend" and do all we can to improve existing hedgerows and plant some new ones too.

(Freya preparing the 'nursery' for its first little 'uns)

(The willow growth after 12-months.)

(Hazel and hawthorn in this image.)

(Both these images, above and below, were taken last weekend after 18-months of growth in our nursery.)

 

We intend to take the plants growing in the previous picture and combine them with some shrub-like plants (raspberries, blackberries for example) and develop them into new hedgerows.

(Above and below show 'building up' where we think hedges would be best located to protect plants and create micro-climates.)

 

(Above and below show a mixture of plants that we are using, this is the most developed of our hedges.)

Provide a surplus - we recognise how lucky we are to live where we do and the choices we make each year on what we should grow always leaves us with surplus food.  It's not hard to give away such beautiful produce, we are very proud of what we produce and know that those that eat it will benefit from the nutrient dense foods.  If there is anything you struggle to find in the area and want us to grow it for you, please ask... we may say yes!

(In both these images there are a number of veg growing, see how many you can identify!)

(Onions curing in the sun.)

(Kale)

(Plump raspberries.)

(The three sisters.)

(Our first garlic crop.)

(Sharing the surplus with friends and neighbours, above and below.)

(And not forgetting organic free-range eggs... delicious.)

Next, what tools we use, Care of People.