Poultry Discussion

Why poultry discussion? Well we are chicken farmers and all too often when we talk with family and friends we start with talking about chickens then end up talking about anything from food and food safety, climate change, wildlife, birds, our farm. We started this blog to communicate what we are finding out about the world around us and how we try to farm in a sustainable way so that our farm is here not only for ourselves and our neighbours but for the future too.

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

Permissive access map

The map is all finished for our permissive access on the farm - check it out!

Monday, 15 November 2010

New parking area

The new parking area for the permissive bridleway and farm walks has started again supported by the Higher Level Scheme (HLS) - so exciting!

Monday, 8 November 2010

New disabled access to the Baptism Pond

The first of our capital projects paid for by the Higher Level Scheme (HLS) is a disabled access pond to view the Baptism Pond and the vineyard - a really exciting development

Monday, 1 November 2010

Autumn colours

Monday, 25 October 2010

Autumn Berries

Autumn is so full of colour and lots of berries this year - a sign of another snowy winter??

Friday, 22 October 2010

Grass mix in the autumn

The grass margin plots - these plots promote spaces for beetles and invertebrates

Tuesday, 19 October 2010

Moles are busy

The moles are busy in the fields amidst the stubble!

Hill Farm, Castle Frome, Herefordshire

Hill Farm is about 300 acres in size - an acre is about the area of a football pitch. This year we are growing feed wheat; winter beans, spring beans and oats. We also have 50 acres of woodland.

The wheat was planted in the autumn and will be harvested in August. We will feed the wheat to our chickens and sell some of the straw to other farmers who will probably use it for bedding for their livestock. We will bale some up for ourselves and chop the rest and incorporate (put it back) into the soil to improve soil structure. Beans were planted in the spring along with spring oats.

The woodland areas are traditional mixed woodland with conifers and areas of deciduous trees. There is a myriad of wildlife on the farm - mammals, birds, insects ... we will tell their story in this blog. They live in the woodland, fields, lakes, and streams. We hope that you will enjoy the story of our farm.