It was fairly early on in my growing career I realised that succession sowing and germinating all year round is vital if you want beautiful veggies and flowers on your farm or in your garden. Surprisingly there are some absolutely stunning flowers that you can grow in winter. These won't actually flower in the cold months, but will put out roots and leaves to establish themselves. It means when spring arrives and the longer hours of daylight come, hand in hand with warmer temperatures, the flowers will burst into life. GROWING CONDITIONS Before we get into the list of flowers to grow during wi ..read more

I love a mobile chicken coop and have long been a fan of the models used in the US. However, unfortunately for us UK folks, a lot of those chicken tractors use cattle panels and the like for the main build; components we just don’t have. So, with some inspiration from Kev Alviti over at An English Homestead, I went about making some of my own from Heras fencing. Heras panels are traditionally used for construction site fencing. They come with clips and large, weight blocks to move one long, sturdy perimeter boundary for places such as housing developments or road maintenance works. However, th ..read more

I’ve been on a our 37 acre farm for two years now. The focus has been on setting up the farm business; after all, conservation projects need funding and I still have to make a living. However, I’m lucky enough that after my grandad died the farm was mostly left to it’s own devices for two decades so the rewilding project hasn’t had to start from scratch. Combined with the fact my granddad had also avoided any form of intensive farming, rather than starting with a blank canvas, I’ve come into a site that’s already pretty wilded. I’ve been heavily inspired by Knepp rewilding in the UK (Wilded ..read more

You hatch a load of fluffy chicks. There’s cuteness overload as they begin to grow and you fall in love with them. And then … they turn into roosters and start ruining your life. That’s a slight overstatement, but for many of us having a rooster in our coop isn’t always ideal. Depending on your zoning, it may not even be legal. Personally I love the sound of a cockerel crowing and it’s inevitable that if you hatch chicks, there may be a rooster or two. Even if you buy a breed of chicks that can be gender identified at birth, there may accidentally be a cockerel. So it’s important to know when ..read more

Extending the growing season whether you’re a home grower or a farmer can be a great way of producing vegetables for more of the year. Not only does it offer extra seasonal food that can tide you over the winter months, but if you’ve had a difficult growing year (such as the drought I’m currently experiencing) it means there’s still time to rebound and find some little mental hope. Kale growing strong in autumn Whilst August might seem the time to wind down when it comes to sowing, it can actually be a very good time to begin plants. There are still long hours of daylight, the soil is warm bu ..read more

Choosing the right gift can often be difficult. When it comes to farmers, often more so. We’re outside most the time and we probably spend more of our money on our livestock than ourselves (I know I do). Below are 20 gifts ideal for Christmas and the holidays. They’re the sort of thing I’d love to receive as a farmer; both creative and useful. #1 WATER & STAIN RESISTENT TEES Not going to lie - I’m sweaty and after a day on the farm, a hot mess. These sustainable Tees (made from bamboo fibres) are waterproof and stain resistant. They are super comfortable and I highly recommend both the te ..read more

In my personal opinion, Brinsea are one of the best incubator manufacturers around. For years I was put off my the high price, making do with cheaper models and the poor hatch rates that came with them. Finally, I bought a Brinsea Ovation 28, filled it with as many eggs as possible expecting a 60% hatch rate and was gobsmacked with almost every egg developed and hatched. For that reason, I’ll never go to another model for my farm’s primary hatching means. Below are my three favourite models. Maxi 24 Advance Automatic 24 Egg Incubator The perfect model for small numbers of eggs without the str ..read more

Ornamental pheasants are some of the most beautiful birds in the world. They come in a huge variety of colours and feather variations, and can be a fantastic addition to farm, garden or homestead. If you keep aviary birds, they can be a great addition to utilise the ground-space or you can set up a run or coop just for pheasants themselves. I should point out from the very start that pheasants are not like chickens. Though their dietary needs are somewhat similar, their characteristics are completely different. You can eat the eggs, but they only lay seasonally. Most breeds will not become tam ..read more

At first glance, goats and sheep seem very similar. In reality, however, they are not and it’s for this reason I highly recommend not keeping them together in the long term. Whilst sheep have been heavily domesticated, goats remain fairly unchanged from their wild counterparts meaning behaviour and physiology can be difficult to integrate with sheep. PARASITES Though the majority of parasites such as worms and flukes are species specific, they are interchangeable between sheep and goats. This isn’t a problem if you’re taking management parasite loads carefully and ensuring they’re minimal at ..read more

If you’re starting a market garden, one of the first questions might be ‘how do I price my garden produce?’ This, too, was one of my significant issues when I began so here are some tips to get you started. Let’s get one thing straight; you cannot and should not sell at supermarket prices. Large stores more often than not sell vegetables as a loss leader. These cheap products bring people into the stores, who then pick up extra purchases as they shop. These additional products make up the short-fall seen in the vegetables. Instead, focus on your farm and garden’s values and price accordingly ..read more