Coming to the farm in 2000 it was our aim to prove that
farming with conservation can be successful! With endless challenges of
unusually wet weather, foot and mouth, and now blue tongue - It is certainly
challenging to make a living and yet keep these ideals as the vision.
The farm is very diverse with good grade 2 red soil, old pastures and culm grass and river flats beside the Little Dart river. This diversity allows for a mixed traditional system and becoming organic further allowed this development. There are four fields in an arable rotation growing oats, barley, pearl barley whole crop, triticale and a short term clover - key to build fertility.
Being virtually self-sufficient is a good thing. We have a mill-mix in the barn to process food. rolled corn for cattle and sheep, rolled barley meal for the pigs, and wholegrain for chickens.
Arable fields that are organic allow rare arable weeds to grow which provide food for birds like the skylark and yellow hammers. Hedges are on a ten year rotation, to provide nuts and berries for dormice and the birds. The culm grassland is a special place with orchids, devils-bit scabious and many rare marshy plants. The farm has many large trees and we have the generations before us to thank for that.
The farm is very diverse with good grade 2 red soil, old pastures and culm grass and river flats beside the Little Dart river. This diversity allows for a mixed traditional system and becoming organic further allowed this development. There are four fields in an arable rotation growing oats, barley, pearl barley whole crop, triticale and a short term clover - key to build fertility.
Being virtually self-sufficient is a good thing. We have a mill-mix in the barn to process food. rolled corn for cattle and sheep, rolled barley meal for the pigs, and wholegrain for chickens.
Arable fields that are organic allow rare arable weeds to grow which provide food for birds like the skylark and yellow hammers. Hedges are on a ten year rotation, to provide nuts and berries for dormice and the birds. The culm grassland is a special place with orchids, devils-bit scabious and many rare marshy plants. The farm has many large trees and we have the generations before us to thank for that.
