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Hand shearing, progress made
So far all the sheep here in Hopesay are done. See here some examples of my work. Speed is (slowly) increasing and the amount of collatoral damage seen as small dots of blue spray are reducing. The...
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Rearing Laying Hens
We have long since raised our laying hens from day old chicks, there is a scarcity of point of lay organic hens and when they are available the cost can be prohibitive. One of of main problems when...
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What is it?
An insect found in Hopesay, not seen this one before, it can articulate its neck and seems to have a large ovipositor. Click on the image to see the detail more clearly.
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Veggie progress
They say you need a lot of water for runner beans. It all started so well with beans germinated under a cloche they seemed to be ahead of a "normal" season. Now they look battered and water logged...
View ArticleLambs weaned today
At last I ahve weaned the lambs today, a couple weeks later than planned but I should be able to put the tup in with the ewes a bit earlier this year as the ewes are in much better condition than last...
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New arthropod
Her is the latest in the unusual insects found in Hopesay. This one is a Pseudoscorpion, not the actual one nor I suspect the same species but pretty similar. Ours was about 3mm long and very active...
View ArticleGood, bad and lessons learned
This is the strangest season I've known we are by my reckoning four weeks behind what we have come to regard as normal. By far the most demanding of years as almost everything has been negatively...
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Article 17
The bees have had another poor couple of weeks, I was hoping that the warm spell would continue for two or even three weeks but the weather closed in again and the bees were put back to maintaining...
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This years lambs
Millie about to round up the lambs for a quick inspection This years crop of lambs looking good so far, I am hoping to sell the ewe lambs at the annual Radnor sheep sales while the males will be...
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The vegetable plot
For the first time this season we are seeing a good growth rate on the vegetable plot, brassicas are moving ahead well and we should see a reasonable crop. The leeks are coming on, not so sure if...
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Late late swarms
This year is the biggest years for swarms I've seen. We just had what looked like a prime swarm land on our property in the second week of August. Then the next day another was spotted flying past,...
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Article 13
We still have four sheep from last year waiting for the Farmers Markets. These are Badger Face with one Wiltshire Horn cross, looking good with particularly neat hair or fleece style all hand finished....
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I just lost my best mate
At just three years old we have lost Millie our working sheepdog, and companion. We had Millie as a pup and spent two years training her and she has been my constant companion in almost anything I...
View ArticleThe Autumn so far
The summer as has been documented was one of the worst growing seasons in living memory. Most crops have been between three and four weeks late right through the season. In my experience most crops...
View ArticleFuture of food production and climate change
The year has been and still is one of the most challenging in living memory. Harvests almost without exception have been reduced and many arable farmers are struggling with sowing winter crops. How can...
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Woolly Bears, Dog and House Martins
We are renewing some of our hen equipment with two new houses and new feeders, There are a plethora of feeders on the market, we have bought one of these Emperor feeders which so far seem robust and...
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Shrewsbury Organic Gardeners (SOGS) visit
Last October we had a visit from SOGS. Click here to see a nice range of images.
View ArticleNew Year Plans
With the new year well under way we have been considering how to take the enterprise forward. Late last year one of our regular workers decided to follow other interests namely producing his own local...
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Article 6
Latest development of the farm We've have been off line for the past year while working out how to take the farm forward, we considered loads of options including concentrating exclusively on retail,...
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Article 5
Changing climate affecting beekeeping This year we are experiencing yet another change in weather patterns. We have had almost no frost and a season which has started 4 weeks earlier than average and...
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Article 4
More on Jethro We had a visit from Roxanne who mans our stall once a week and she took this pictures of jethro and his Mum now a week old
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Festival of the working Horse
At Daylesford Organics Farm summer festival they hosted the Festival of the Working Horse this year looking at horticulture. I went along to look at equipment available in the UK While there I got...
View ArticleBiodynamic Apprentice Scheme
We have decided to offer an apprentice place under he Biodynamic Apprenticeship Scheme this is a 2 year scheme based at the training centre in this case Hopesay Glebe Farm and with off site...
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Progress in the tunnel
The dwarf french beans have come on well this year, we used trickle irrigation under the Mypex which so far has worked well. The garlic is harvested from the tunnel and has been dried ready for sale,...
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Horse Training, exciting days
From previous post you will know that we have started our horse traction project. Our training progressed steadily from introduction to harness to pulling a pallet. Then it got a little exciting, the...
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