Chop Wood Carry Water Plant Seeds is a blog about Self-Sufficient Homesteading. How can we live by creating a sustainable bio-diverse world, instead of by consuming and destroying the only one we have? What kind of teaching have you got if you exclude nature?

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

The Willow Farm Overview

Finally !!! We have got internet today !!! :)) I didn't know internet will make me so happy :) Now I can continue blogging and researching about organic farming!

There so much to show and Im not sure if you would appreciate a VERY long post so I will try and give a short overview only:

This tree was the main reason for us calling our farm The Willow Farm. This willow tree stands in the middle of the courtyard. Salix matsudana x alba is called Troll Willow in danish and I very much wanted to call our farm The Troll Willow Farm but my wife and her parents didn't like it so we simply named it The Willow Farm. This is not the only willow on our 2,5 Hectare property. We have huge amounts of the "normal" Salix viminalis used for basket making.
Previous owners planted a Spruce forest which was to be sold as Christmas trees but they found no customers for it and the trees grew too big for that use. Thanks to that we have a small forest part which is in a shape of a letter O. There is a small field surrounded by trees like Spruce, Birch, Willow, Hazels and Alder, I am planning to build a Forest Garden in there since it is perfectly protected from the cold winter winds. For now we are planning to keep 2-3 Sheep here and hope to get some Lamb too this year.
Half of our property is arable land used by a local farmer. Previous owners let the farmer use this land for a small rent. He has right to use it until the next harvest which is in Autumn this year I think since he planted AutumnWheat last year. I plan to have a large kitchen garden in the front part and grass land at the back for Sheep.
Until then I will have to grow food on a small lawn beside the workshop
In this image you can see the stable with a chicken coop in it. I started creating a decent size chicken yard. My plan was to have the hens free range but the neighbors dog is known for killing hens so we decided to keep them caged yet still outdoors.
Chicken coop/stable
Beside the forest there is an apple orchard with 9 apple trees. I'm planning to keep here either one more sort of Chickens (Danish Landrace Hens and Sussex) or the Muscovy Duck to keep the grass cut and to fertilize the apples. I hope to be able to sell eggs locally and some chicken meat too.
I have a decent size workshop :) Please excuse the mess, we just moved in recently. Must get in there one of these days and organize it. Soon to build a few more bee hives.
Meat Smoker
The stable is divided in two parts; one for the animals and one is a cold storage room and a meat smoker :)) cant wait to smoke some pork and fish :))

Soon to start digging the lawn area for the kitchen garden and building the green house. Stay tuned!

4 comments:

  1. You have some projects there :-)

    Looks like a perfect smallholding.

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    1. I hope you can visit me at some stage :) would love to show you around

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    2. I will visit you.

      In autumn this year I will go to Germany and Holland with car. Then i hope we can arrange a visit at your little farm and your family :-)

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    3. Thats great :) please make sure to tell me when you know which day you are visiting so to be home. You can stay for a few days if you want. We have many guest rooms :) no shortage of space!
      Looking forward to meeting with you my friend.

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