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Tree Planting Season Begins
Last year it was 5000 trees on 11 acres at Banks and this year the plan is for some 2500 trees to be planted on a field off Becconsall Lane in Hesketh Bank. The saplings were delivered this morning so now it is race against time to get the bare rooted plants into the ground…
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Harvest Wreath Success!
First prize at the Hesketh Bank Village Show for my ‘Harvest Circle’ creation. I’ve never done any flower arranging before but I couldn’t miss out on the chance to include logs, pumpkins and wreaths so very pleased with coming first! Slices of our home grown Silver Birch made up the base with a simple squash…
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Farmland Pond Restoration Opportunity
Ecologists wanted for Hesketh Bank pond restoration project. Ponds and scrapes provide environments in farmland for aquatic biodiversity covering plants, invertebrates, amphibians, fishes, and mammals. Many farm ponds in the area have already been lost to modern agricultural practices. Our own derelict ponds have now been cleared of most of the overhanging trees, scrub, scrap…
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Cutting Silver Birch Display Logs
The dreadful weather this morning put paid to any outside jobs which was bad news for the pumpkins but good news for one of our local florists. She has been patiently waiting for a selection of premium Silver Birch ‘display’ logs to use in wedding features and flower arrangements. I’ve cut many more than she…
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Event Props: Achtung Minen Sign
A request for a wooden Achtung Minen sign for use as a prop at an event is not an every day request but I have learnt it never to be wise to be asking too many questions. Whilst waiting for it to be collected it has been pressed into active service sending a not so…
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6m x 3m ebay Polytunnel
We needed some temporary storage for keeping the elements off some small farm implements and thought a domestic polytunnel would fit the bill and, if it lasts long enough, could be reused for ‘kiln’ drying wood when the storage problems get resolved. I also had wondered if such a thing would be any good for…
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Hydroponic Trials Update
Celeriac Celeriac being a moisture loving plant that needs fertile, moisture retentive soil I thought it might perform well hydroponically. Our celeriac was grown from seed (rather than the recommended plugs) in 8cm pots. When roots were showing, the pots were then placed in a small NFT system. These have overwintered in a small greenhouse without…
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Clearing the brash from the pond
In between dodging the heavy showers, we have had a few hours armed with a billhook and some loppers to begin clearing the felled overhanging branches and brash from the pond. It is slow work and hard graft plodding through the mud to get at the fallen willow branches and even harder work dragging them…
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Restoring our farm ponds
On our fields at Hesketh Bank we seem to have a comprehensive selection of different farm pond types: A derelict natural pond that has never been cleaned out for ages and is full of rubbish, general detritus and the odd bit of scrap metal. A ‘ghost’ pond where a natural pond used to be but has…
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Fresh wreath making has started!
The first lorry load of Spruce has arrived from Scotland and production of our orders is underway. The first 2016 order is now complete; 30 spruce wreaths and 250 grave pots for a customer in Bolton. One down…. many more to go. We only start Holly wreaths 1st December so at least we have a…