Posts Tagged ‘Short Rotation Coppice’

Let The Willow Coppicing Begin

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

Short Rotation Coppicing - Rows

Short Rotation Coppicing - Rows

We have always aspired to recycle as much as we can and ideally be self-sufficient. We seem to have made a slow start on the latter, but at last our plan to create our own coppice to sustain us with firewood has begun!

Today, following Tam’s careful plan, we marked out the 12 rows varying between 12 and 16 meters long. Not as easy as it sounds as we first had to shift tons of sand/soil etc which was in the way! Now the rows are marked out we need to get the turf/meadow cut so we can strip it off.

(more…)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Energy Saving and the Environment, Garden Improvements, Living the Country Life, Posts with Photos, Self Sufficiency, Trees | No Comments »

The Cows are gone (Moois Cowis – for Mad Maggie!)

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

CowsThe cows have gone to pastures new, and I don’t mean they have died! Despite only being 8 of them (a mixture of heifers and young bulls) they have done a pretty good job of eating the grass down to nothing in the top paddock. So Mr P’s Uncle John (to whom the cows belong) decided they needed to be moved off. It is sad to see them go, they were rather nervous and skittish, but the kids were just getting used to seeing them around. (In fact I am not sure who was more nervous of who! In fact it took quite a bit of convincing our youngest that they were not in fact ponies at all!)

He was also a bit concerned they were getting a little feisty, and having seen them stampede around, I would not have wanted to get in the way of them.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Living the Country Life, Posts with Photos | 2 Comments »

Which Ride on Mower, Garden or Compact Tractor???

Friday, September 12th, 2008

Arrghhhh!!!! After trying to get my head round what is going to be the most appropriate ‘mower’ for the job, I am still no further forward in my thinking, or at least in acquiring one. The trouble we face is that at the moment we have 3 different areas that need managing: the top paddock which is rough with lots of thistles; the bottom paddock which is grass/meadow which is now well past cutting with any lawn mower; and the lawn/grass which is next to the house and will soon be too late to mow.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Garden Improvements, Living the Country Life | No Comments »

The First Step to Self-Sufficiency?

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Pile of kindlingOK, I admit, it’s only a very small thing, but it feels good, and like a step in the right direction on the path to becoming self-sufficient, which in many ways is our ultimate aim with Waterloo Farm. The picture shows the pile of kindling that we generated by stripping the branches from the (soon to be completely deceased!) Weeping Silver Birch [see here for the post about it]. Big son and I spent several hours (some in the rain, we were enjoying it that much!) with the secateurs, loppers and bow saw making the kindling out of the smaller branches and as you can see, there was actually quite a lot of it! It will need to be seasoned (dried) for a year before we can use it, but it will feel like a real achievement when we come to burn it next winter, knowing it is available because of our hard work, and better still, was free!

(more…)

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Living the Country Life, Posts with Photos, Self Sufficiency | 2 Comments »