Dec 20 – Jan 21
Ok, so it’s not an actual farm (yet!), but as some of you may know who follow the Facebook page, we recently purchased a plot of land. It was a long time coming and we though we would create a bit of a blog as the area takes shape.
In the beginning…
We actually rented an area of around 3.5 acres back in 2015 that had a couple of pools and an area of woodland on. We used this as a small fishery and for growing on some fish and plants. We kept the area tidy but as we only rented, were limited in what we could do. In 2019 we approached the land owner to see if we could purchase the area rented. Unfortunately they were only willing to sell the whole site, a total of around 12 acres of ponds and streams and ditches and a lot of woodland…. so we bought it believing we could get cracking tidying up and moving forwards with some grand business plans! How wrong we were! The purchase took nearly 18 months to complete (for one reason or another and of course COVID!). But in December 2020 it was finally ours.
First steps….
Now there are some responsibilities that come with owning land (or more precisely water). Maintenance is important and one of the first major jobs was de-silting and clearing out one of the main drainage ditches on site along with 2 small ponds. After 25+ years of neglect there was a lot of work to do. Paths needed to be cleared, rubbish removed and so much more!
There were a number of trees that needed to be removed, the majority of which were cracked willow. Somewhat of a pain as they tend to break and crack (hence their name) and then start shooting again! These along with a limited number of other trees were felled and logged. This was to allow a clear area to be re-planted. We actually removed less than our quarterly allowance of trees as there were significantly more dead then we initially thought.
In with the heavy plant next. This would make short work and was the most cost effective way to remove huge amounts of bramble, fencing and clear out the ditches and pools.
We could not believe the amount of rubbish that has been thrown over the fence over the prior years. It must have been a dumping ground for miles around! But all cleared now and work went on to clear the water courses. I’m not sure how someone managed to dump a shed or what looked like 5 tonnes of conifers! But we found it!
Once the area was cleared out, the water started to flow more freely. And then it was on to leveling the surrounding area in preparation for seeding in late March. It was a bit claggy I can tell you and we nearly got the 7 tonne excavator stuck! Thankfully a very skilled operator… not me I might add!
With the bulk of this work completed over a very wet week the area looked a bit sorry for itself! With the winter in full flow it was going to take a while for it to become green once more. Although we have had change to re-plant around 25 metres of hedgerow consisting of Hawthorn, Holly, Hazel and Dog Rose.
Once we had cleared this area some general ground work to remove an old fence was required. Along with clearing the main drainage channel. This took a good couple of days to sort out. The parking area leveled out and the upper pool cleared out. The track to the bottom of the fence was also cleared!
Hopefully we can fulfill our plans over the long term. We have made some progress into rejuvenating a neglected area. Undoubtedly this is going to be a long term project and we are really excited to how we can enhance the environment and one day in the future have a base to work from! We have a lot of work to get done before the end of March (before the pond season really kicks in!). In the meantime I am sure there is going to be more muddy feet!
Mat – MF Aquatics