In this update about the farm I've got a little about my wildflower meadow project!
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In my previous post Why I'm a Wannabe Farmer I talked about my dream of farming. In a nutshell; I'm to inherit 40 acres of land that's been left to go wild over three decades. The challenge? To move there and start a new, farming life. There are a few hurdles in the way that prevent any immediate move so over the coming two to three years, I'll be working the land and 'preparing', if you will, for our arrival.
So far, I've begun planting a 3.5 acre wildflower meadow, have young saplings growing at home for later transplant, have installed owl boxes, sown the beginnings of a brand new English bluebell grove, started to clear bramble thickets and undertaken a new project restoring and revitalizing a couple of old ponds.
The challenge and goal? Nurture the land back into life, both in terms of biodiversity and land fertility, so that when I'm given the green light to move and build a home, I can hit the ground running when it comes to launching the small farming business.
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Wildflower Meadows
It was the thought of wildflower meadows that really kicked things off on the farm. I was watching 'The Great British Garden Revival' on BBC2 many years ago and Rachel de Thame was talking about wildflowers. I remember thinking 'I'd love to do that one day'. It then dawned on me that our family had 40 acres of farmland sitting largely vacant and neglected; it was about time to do something about that. So, a quick call to my Dad, another to our tenant farmer, and the smallest 5 acre field was mine to start getting to work on.
Initial Start
Now, I've never been particularly flush with cash. I was up for hard work and encouraged by other people, but buying all that seed? I couldn't afford it. Luckily, in a time of crowdfunding it took only a few hours to get the project on IndieGoGo and start the funding process. I didn't raise all the money but I did raise about £500 to get as much seed as possible. Very kindly, the seed firm threw in some free too.
Sowing
As with most things in life, nothing is ever perfect.
In my favour;
- The land had been cultivated and then ploughed the year before but not fertilised; perfect poor soil for wildflowers
- Because of the plouging there was also NO grass for my seeds to compete with.
Working againt me;
- The site is a two hour drive away.
- I don't have any machinery and was literally armed with a rake and two scythes.
- We had no onsite water.
- There seemed to be thousands of wood pigeons waiting for the seed.
- Spilled oilseed rape plants had grown across the entire field.
- The field hadn't been tilled so with heavy clay, it was rutted and undulating (and, to this day, it still is).
'Whatever', I thought. 'We'll just put our best foot forward and make do'.
So with that in my mind, my little work party marched across the field sowing the first seeds of the wildflower meadow to come. That was in 2015.
A Maturing Meadow
The first year was a disappointment. It failed to rain after we sowed the seed and I visited the site two months later to find almost nothing had grown. I expect much seed had been snacked upon by mice and birds, and many of the annuals hadn't even had the chance to germinate. There were, however, many perennial wildflowers that gave me hope that whilst the first year wasn't spectacular, following years would be.
And I was right....
I was worried that the oilseed rape wouldn't die off, but it seemed that secondary seed and possible flea beetle worked in my favour. This is last year; a field covered in ox-eye daisies.
This year the ox-eye daisies are extremely prevalent, but more perennial varieties have started to appear too. Amongst the daisies there's plantain and poppies, mallow and birds foot trefoil, clover and campion and yarrow. The number of insects seems to be on the rise too, as are the number of rodents. And they've brought in tawny owls and barn owls....and now deer have been spotted as well.
Ongoing Maintenance
The field is vast. Well, I said it at the start; it's five acres. Now, not all of that is due to be wildflower meadow as I want to plant native trees and expand the existing woodland onto the property. At the moment, just a small strip is planted with wildflowers. Each year I've been going back and scything and cutting that little runway and expanding into the borders too in the hopes seed will gradually expand across the field. And, to my delight, it's working.
In the future when I actually live there, I'd love to create a local scything event - a community thing where we can have competitions across the field and make a whole weekend of it. What fun (though I'm sure insurance won't be cheap - sharp blades, soft squidgy human limbs etc).
I'm really thrilled with how it's progressed. And from that tiny seed of an idea, the wildflower meadow has spawned an owl nesting box campaign, pond restoration and new English bluebell grove projects, not to mention the eventual longing of moving and starting a real farm here.
But for now I love my little wildflower meadow and the inspiration that it brings.