Enjoying the White Winter

In winter there is still something to be done on a farm. We are renovating our guest room now and Im building a few new bee hives for the next year. Feeding the animals and cleaning snow is another task. But most importantly I try to find time to enjoy this idyllic season covered in snow :)

The snow has arrived at last

 Bailey is a very good farm dog. He is very gentle with all the animals we keep

 The sheep are using their shed if its snowing or raining

 One of the sheep is limping :( I did catch her and inspected the hoof in question which was a bit overgrown so I cut it. The problem remains because the "nail" tissue has broken on the side of the hoof which I dont know how to manage. I will keep an eye on her and see how shes doing in a few days.

 The forest garden looks idyllic but the soil is over saturated with water. I will have to make some sort of drainage there otherwise the fruit trees will not fare well.

Fencing the Plum trees

 Since we do have Deer around here and these trees are still very young there is a big chance of deer munching away the bark. Fencing is the easiest way of providing some sort of protection at least to the main part of the tree. I have also mulched the trees with a thick layer of seasoned wood chips. This will help in containing moisture next summer and it will introduce some carbon source to the soil to help mycorrhiza to form. Trees do better if mycorrhiza is present.

I am so happy to see so many fruit trees and bushes being planted by us the first year on our new farm :) Next year planting some more :))

Electric sheep fence and new Plum trees

It took me 2 days to fence 1/2 Hectare of grass land for the sheep we bought recently. I wish I had some help but I managed alone.

The sheep are now officially free range :) They seem very calm and happy with their new home. They started grazing as soon as they touched the grass :)

 We bought 10 various Plum trees. We got them very cheap :)

They will be planted inside our forest garden 7 meters apart from each other. So happy we could afford this. For me it is very important we start planting fruit trees now because it takes 4-5 years before they will bear fruit. Next year I plan to plant 10 more fruit trees very likely Pears and something else depending what we can get. I will protect these Plum trees from Deer with a wire netting and will mulch them well so their roots have enough moisture next summer.