Compost # 1 - Success!

I'd read "An Agricultural Testament" by Sir Albert Howard (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Agricultural-Testament-Sir-Albert-Howard/dp/8185569185/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345238154&sr=1-1) without realising that it is probably the seminal work on composting, and tried to follow it's advice as far as practicable here on Tymawr Farm.

So far, we have 2 'bins', as can be seen below:

I've constructed them from old doors, which can be had from various sources for nothing, or next to nothing and are ideal in terms of dimensions & strength for the job.  I roughly drill 2 holes in each corner and connect them with cable ties - cheap, strong and easy to mend if they ever break.

All the compostable waste we generate goes into these bins: Alpaca manure, chicken manure (including sawdust and hay bedding), grass cuttings from the lawn, food waste (including any bones / meat waste), all cardboard, some paper waste and leaves (predominantly from the 'Great Oak').  Every foot or so I try to add a thin layer of wood-ash, to try to neutralise the acidity caused by the carbon-dioxide created by the breakdown process of the nitrogen-rich manures.  In very wet weather I cover the heap, otherwise leaving it open to get watered by the rain, and my 'yellow gold' when I go and shut up the chickens.  The heap on the right of the picture is about a year old and in that time I've also turned it twice, trying to get some air into it.

I was very pleased the other night, having not looked at the 'composting' heap for a while, I decided to dig into it and found that it had composted brilliantly;  it was thick with healthy looking red worms ("just like worms used to be"), nearly black, smelling pleasantly concentrated, a little damp and airless I think, which should be easily addressed by turning more regularly next time, and perhaps adding a bit more carbonaceous material.  Overall verdict; Not bad for a beginner!  I'm very happy with that!

I lightly sprinkled a shovel-full over perhaps half a square metre of ground 3 days ago and it's nearly all been incorporated into the grass.  A job for one weekend soon is to spread the first bay of compost over the 200 sq.m of field in which I fold the chickens.

I hope we'll see a continued improvement in this area, we've already seen a fairly decent improvement brought about by having the chickens in the area, and trying to 'top' the weeds before any seed can set (and basically trying to exhaust the weeds by cutting them down every time they have a spurt of growth!).

Vision # 4 - Enterprise List

Jo & I have just finished brainstorming our ideas for the land - we appreciate any thoughts or comments that anyone might have!......

1.  Rare breed pigs - in the 1/2 acre or so of scrubby woodland / bramble.  We've loved keeping pigs, and if we can make a little money and also work towards being self-sufficient for pig food (not happy about the idea of feeding grain-based feed which has probably come from a farm many miles away from any animals and coaxed begrudgingly into life with artificials) it would be a massive bonus.
2. Controlled grazing of rare breed sheep, followed by mini egg-mobiles (by which I mean little chicken fold-units).  Adapting the Joel Salatin plan to sheep (www.polyfacefarm.com).
3. Pastured poultry - another Joel Salatin, probably in our case split around 50% free range eggs and 50% table birds including chickens, geese and turkeys.
4. Quarter acre farm - our rotation of pigs, chickens, ducks, vegetables and grass, aiming to rehabilitate our tired permanent pasture.
5. Holiday let - with some work our 'annexe' would become a great holiday let for a couple or small family who wanted to explore beautiful Monmouthshire and beautiful Tymawr farm!
6. The Craftroom - a large outbuilding within which we could run courses on small business skills e.g. Project Management, Finance for Non-Financials, Strategy, Marketing, Lean Thinking (www.lean.org.uk) etc. etc.
7. Firewood - with more than 2 acres of hardwood woodland there is enough scope to be entirely self-sufficient for heating, and have enough left over for some small sales of firewood and wood-chip.
8. Cider Orchard - we have a West-facing field of around 2 acres which would make a wonderful orchard, in my mind I see a building housing the cider making equipment and vats, and a tasting room with a great view of the reservoir (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llandegfedd_Reservoir).  I would also love to produce Apple Brandy!
9. Christmas Trees - in the season I see a magical walk through the narrow woodland path, probably illuminated with Christmas lights, then out into the Cider Orchard for a glass of hot mulled cider, and then into the Christmas tree plantation to choose your own tree.  We could then upsell home-grown Mistletoe, Oak-logs for the fire, Cider, Apple Brandy, meat etc. etc.
10. Yurts / Holiday Cabins in the woodland - it would be a wonderful area for a family holiday - surrounded by native British woodland, Rare-breeds to see and feed, a Cider orchard to wander through, and the lovely Monmouthshire countryside to explore.  We're also located on the edge of the Brecon Beacons which are beautiful!

We need to make enough money to pay the mortgage and to keep ourselves and our children in a modern and generous fashion (which I articulate as 'self-abundant') - with all these ideas I'm sure it's possible!