Darvills Hill Farm reports by Charlotte Downing - Revision history

Joan at 11:02, 15 January 2025

2025-01-15T11:02:37Z

Joan at 10:52, 15 January 2025

2025-01-15T10:52:04Z

Joan at 08:20, 11 January 2025

2025-01-11T08:20:48Z

Joan at 12:16, 7 December 2024

2024-12-07T12:16:28Z

Joan at 09:48, 11 November 2024

2024-11-11T09:48:17Z

Joan at 09:43, 11 November 2024

2024-11-11T09:43:17Z

Joan at 09:38, 11 November 2024

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Joan at 09:31, 11 November 2024

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2024-11-11T09:27:29Z

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 The film (which runs for 96 mins) will start at 7pm, followed by a half hour question-and-answer session with a panel of fantastic Chiltern farmers and producers who themselves are working hard to provide an alternative to the UK’s industrial food system.
-Tickets on sale via the Oxmoor Farm's website www.oxmoorfarm.co.uk/the-barn/
+Tickets on sale via the Oxmoor Farm. ebsite www.oxmoorfarm.co.uk/the-barn/
 See you there!
-'''A word on flerds'''
+'''4. A Word on Flerds''' by Charlotte Downing
 For the past four years our small family farm, at the far end of Flowers Bottom Lane, has been home to a flock of mixed rare breed ewes, their lambs and our two Soay rams Chesyne (the One and Only) and more recently Ken Enough. Our ambition however has always been to bring cattle back onto the farm and finally, having installed all the necessary infrastructure in the way of fencing, gates, water and cattle crush (a medieval looking but necessary animal handling system), we are ready to welcome a handful of bovine boys.

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:52, 15 January 2025
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−	~~[[File:Darvills Hill Farm 02.docx\|thumb\|/]]~~
	click [[Darvills Hill Farm]] for the history and Deeds		click [[Darvills Hill Farm]] for the history and Deeds

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	'''3. 'Field of Dreams' and Fledglings at Darvills Hill Farm''' by Charlotte Downing		'''3. 'Field of Dreams' and Fledglings at Darvills Hill Farm''' by Charlotte Downing
		+
		+	I went to Groundswell recently, a regenerative agriculture festival in Hitchin. Yes, these things do exist, with DJ Andy Cato of Groove Armada / Wild Farmed Wheat fame headlining at the Earthworm Arms on Wednesday night. What's not to love? It is a rapidly growing event from a handful of farmers chewing the fat around a campfire nine years ago, to a two-day extravaganza attended by over 6000 people with an interest in food production and the environment, with the regeneration of soil at the heart of it all.
		+
		+	One of the great questions posed while I was listening to the impeccable Annie Landlass of Soil Mentor talk about indicators for good soil health, specifically high numbers of earthworms was ‘How do they get there in the first place?’ I suggested to my nearest neighbour, that maybe it was like the Kevin Costner film Field of Dreams and the immortal line ‘If you build it, he will come’ Unsurprisingly, they looked at me blankly and edged away. I think Kevin was onto something though, if you create the right conditions and have some patience, after a while things do just seem to show up.
		+
		+	Four years on from when we first started to mindfully graze our sheep, plant trees and regenerate hedges it feels like we are starting to have our own small groundswell. We are finding more earthworms when we're doing our soil sampling, the taller, wilder plant life in the meadows and hedges has created space for more small mammals such as voles to inhabit, which have in turn created the opportunity for some apex predators to move in. We were ridiculously excited when an inspection of our barn owl boxes by Bucks Owl and Raptor Group (BORG) this summer found three Barn owlets getting ready to fledge.
		+
		+	For better or worse, human beings, like earthworms and owls, are a keystone species, that is we have a disproportionate effect on the natural environment relative to our abundance. One of the great things we've discovered though is that you don't have to use lots of inputs or energy to have a positive effect, you do need to pay attention though and have fun dancing to some of Groove Armada’s classics in the process.
		+
		+	Ps We have arranged with the fabulous team at Oxmoor Farm, Great Hampden to put on a community screening of the film ‘Six inches of soil’ on Friday 13<sup>th</sup> September 2024. Tickets are free. Small plates of locally sourced food by chef Paddy Maynard of Oxmoor Farm, and drinks will be available to buy (and eat!) from 4pm.
		+
		+	The film (which runs for 96 mins) will start at 7pm, followed by a half hour question-and-answer session with a panel of fantastic Chiltern farmers and producers who themselves are working hard to provide an alternative to the UK’s industrial food system.
		+
		+	Tickets on sale via the Oxmoor Farm's website www.oxmoorfarm.co.uk/the-barn/
		+
		+	See you there!
		+
		+	'''A word on flerds'''
		+
		+	For the past four years our small family farm, at the far end of Flowers Bottom Lane, has been home to a flock of mixed rare breed ewes, their lambs and our two Soay rams Chesyne (the One and Only) and more recently Ken Enough. Our ambition however has always been to bring cattle back onto the farm and finally, having installed all the necessary infrastructure in the way of fencing, gates, water and cattle crush (a medieval looking but necessary animal handling system), we are ready to welcome a handful of bovine boys.
		+
		+	I wasn't entirely confident about what we would get if I mixed our flock of sheep with a herd of cows, but I was reassured by You Tube sensation and relentlessly optimistic regenerative Missouri farmer Greg Judy, that it is something called a ‘flerd’.
		+
		+	This word was only recently added to the Oxford English dictionary but it describes a process that has been around for millennia, and for as long as grassland habitats have been in existence. In the wild, diverse varieties of herbivores form a cohesive unit grazing and moving together, to keep safe from predators. When animals were domesticated, they were still grazed together as farmers instinctively understood that cattle and sheep have different grazing methods which are not only compatible, but positively enhance the biodiversity in the soil and pastures on which they are kept.
		+
		+	This traditional knowledge has got a little lost in recent decades in the race to intensify agriculture, however it is becoming more commonplace again. Our ambition to work with nature, creating more space for diversity on the farm means we are well placed to undertake this form of pastoralism. Our cattle will be a slow growing, hardy breed as they will be living outdoors on pasture all year round, just as nature intended. Once our ewes have finished lambing this May, we will slowly be introducing them to their ruminant relatives. I’m now wondering what you get if you mix a brood of chickens with a flerd? Answers on a postcard please.

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:20, 11 January 2025
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		+	[[File:Darvills Hill Farm 02.docx\|thumb\|/]]
	click [[Darvills Hill Farm]] for the history and Deeds		click [[Darvills Hill Farm]] for the history and Deeds

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:16, 7 December 2024
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	Ps If you are interested in finding out more about the importance of soil in improving the health of the planet, I would recommend the 2020 Netflix documentary “Kiss the Ground”. It is worth a view.		Ps If you are interested in finding out more about the importance of soil in improving the health of the planet, I would recommend the 2020 Netflix documentary “Kiss the Ground”. It is worth a view.
		+
		+	'''3. 'Field of Dreams' and Fledglings at Darvills Hill Farm''' by Charlotte Downing

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 click [[Farming pre 1823]] for this era
-# Tree planting at Darvill’s Hill Farm   by Charlotte Downing
+# '''Tree planting at Darvill’s Hill Farm'''   by Charlotte Downing
 A great deal has happened in everyone’s lives since November 2019, when 60 friends and family helped us plant 2200 trees at our small farm on Flowers Bottom lane. However, in the life cycle of the trees we planted, it has been just one growing season which started with relentless rain in early 2020, then the long, hot, dry spring and summer. So, it has proved to be a challenging year even for the trees. We continued on our tree planting mission over the last year and have added a further 1000 trees, including 150 oaks from the ‘Save the Oaks’ campaign (www.savetheoaks.org) and we aim to continue planting more trees each year.
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 We are slowly immersing ourselves in the world of regenerative farming and would love to hear from anyone interested in this approach to improving our community ecosystem.
-.  Musical Sheep at Darvills Hill Farm
+'''2.  Musical Sheep at Darvills Hill Farm'''   by Charlotte Downing

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:38, 11 November 2024
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	click [[Farming pre 1823]] for this era		click [[Farming pre 1823]] for this era
		+
		+	Tree planting at Darvill’s Hill Farm by Charlotte Downing
		+
		+	A great deal has happened in everyone’s lives since November 2019, when 60 friends and family helped us plant 2200 trees at our small farm on Flowers Bottom lane. However, in the life cycle of the trees we planted, it has been just one growing season which started with relentless rain in early 2020, then the long, hot, dry spring and summer. So, it has proved to be a challenging year even for the trees. We continued on our tree planting mission over the last year and have added a further 1000 trees, including 150 oaks from the ‘Save the Oaks’ campaign (www.savetheoaks.org) and we aim to continue planting more trees each year.
		+
		+	We have been mulching the saplings during February and March, to keep the grass from competing them, and doing a check on their health at the same time. It has been amazing to find that about 95% of the trees have taken root and, although early in the season, some are already starting to bud. We would welcome anyone who would like to come and check in on the trees they planted.
		+
		+	We are now planning to expand our carbon sequestering enterprise beyond tree planting, diversifying the farm’s ecology at the same time. We will be improving the hedgerows by in-planting towards the end of the year and during this grass growing season we are undertaking holistic planned grazing with our small flock of 40 Soay and Herdwick sheep. This process allows the sheep to use their natural ability to manage grasses to improve the farm’s soil organic content, capturing more of that pesky carbon in the process.
		+
		+	We are slowly immersing ourselves in the world of regenerative farming and would love to hear from anyone interested in this approach to improving our community ecosystem.

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:31, 11 November 2024
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−	.	+	click [[Darvills Hill Farm]] for the history and Deeds
		+
		+	click [[Farms]] for a list of other local farms
		+
		+	click [[Farming pre 1823]] for this era