Back to farm sweet farm after a busy work week. It was very productive. But there’s also work waiting at the farm – never-ending list that kept piling up – everything needing maintenance, repair and tending to. I’d fallen behind, but I’m slowly starting to restore order here.
Finally got to the chicken coop today (I built it years ago and named it Cluckingham Palace) and got to long-overdue cleaning. The good stuff -manure, feathers – went straight into prepping my potato patch.
I used to overthink potatoes. Digging trenches, watering, fertilising etc. These days I simply place seed potatoes on the ground, cover them with compost (mostly coop debris) and walk away. I used to cover them with pine needles collected from the farm as mulch, but I can’t be bothered these days – no watering, no mulch, no weeding. Just let winter do its thing. In a few months, I dig them out by hand.
When I first got the farm, I bought compost and mulch. A farmer saw the bags, laughed and asked why was I paying for what I already had.
“Go to the neighbour’s shearing shed. There’s 8000 sheep there. Ask permission, crawl under and scrape out the sheep shit. That’s gold.”
Since then, I’ve worked off the principle of nothing wasted and nothing bought unless absolutely necessary. Use what the land provides – complete the cycle.
It takes more toil and time, but it’s regenerative in every sense. My 4 sheep clear the garden of grass and weeds before planting. Then wheelbarrow loads of coop waste feed the potatoes. Leftover potatoes are replanted for more potatoes. It’s not neat, but it works. Full-circle system that thrives on imperfection and resourcefulness.
There’s a lot to be learned from the farm. Imperfection is one thing I struggled with when I first got here. I pictured a very neat and curated farm. Everything had to be perfect. But I quickly learned that my time, energy and resources are absolutely finite. So it’s really about being more efficient and strategic in managing things – which, in a way, also mirrors work life.
Other farm headlines this week: one dead cow due to illness.
And a small fire broke out on my farm, likely from a cigarette butt tossed from a passing car. Regeneration’s got no chance against stupidity.