Hazel, willow, beef and storytelling from Bedfordshire

Monthly archives for January, 2012

A hazel tunnel

A hazel tunnel

A couple of weeks ago I built a four metre long tunnel using hazel poles. This was for a client who is developing a great garden and wants to grow more veg. She spent the day helping which was great too. The idea is to create something that will carry climbing plants – lots of […]

Storytelling training for the Wildlif...

Storytelling training for the Wildlife Trust

Jane’s been at Randall’s Farm today running a training course called “Storytelling in Environmental Education” for the Wildlife Trust. The course was designed for anyone already working in an area where storytelling could add to what they do. There were Forest School practitioners, Wildlife Trust staff as well as others who lead guided walks and […]

Wassledine willow harvest

Wassledine willow harvest

Sorting willow for length We’ve started cutting willow at last. At this early stage, as usual, it feels like an ordeal, but we’ve made some progress this week and the weather has been fairly kind – just an hour of rain so far.  The quality seems good this year although in some varieties quantities are […]

Little egret

Little egret

For the second time in the last month, I saw a little egret, Egretta garzetta, on the farm this morning. It’s a big white bird and very much a relative of the grey heron which we see pretty regularly around the fields. Although this one, we saw at a distance of several hundred metres, there’s no […]

Let it rain

Let it rain

Finally we’re running on rain water and I’m feeling great about it. It took ages to get around to sorting out the various stages involved in getting the roof of the barn connected to a massive tank and then to a trough inside. For the last few weeks the supply has been nothing more than a […]

Farm bird survey

Farm bird survey

Taking money, as we do, from the EU through the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, sometimes bothers me. Partly that’s due to a bit of guilt in taking public money for what could be seen as private gain and partly because it’s got to be better not to be so reliant on a grant that inevitably will end at some point. However, […]