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Recycling telegraph poles for farm gate posts
Since all the horrible additives were banned from pressure treated ‘tantalised’ wood we have found that modern fence posts last little more than 3 years before rotting off at the base. Whilst this has dramatically increasing the maintenance bill for stock fencing it is totally impractical to replace corner posts and gate posts so frequently.…
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LADS farm study 2018
I’ve just come back from a few days away on a Farmer Study Tour to Mannheim, Germany, with the Liverpool Agricultural Discussion Society (LADS). Lets get the well deserved credits at the top of the page: Antony Ollerton (LADS), Colin Mountford-Smith (BASF) and Cornthwaites (John Deere) for organising the event and BASF for putting in…
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Harvesting Hazel sticks
A nice frosty morning allowed a quick venture into our hazel coppice to select and cut some sticks for our stock of blank walking stick shanks catering for local stick makers. In the main they only get offered for sale after being seasoned for at least twelve months (necessary for the stick straightening process to…
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Land For Sale at Banks, near Southport
Land For Sale SOLD SUBJECT TO CONTRACT An extremely rare opportunity to buy an approx 2.77 acre field of Grade 1 agricultural land presently designated as Greenbelt and laid down to grass. Located just off the A565 dual carriageway at Banks roundabout, the land benefits from being easily accessed from Banks, Crossens, Tarleton, Southport and…
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The menace of Sky Lanterns
It makes you wonder just who does not know how dangerous sky lanterns can be yet we still get them landing in grazing land. Today’s find was of the dreaded bamboo and wire construction which landed on fields grazed by sheep. I only wish I knew who had sent this beautiful paper lantern up into…
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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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Big pumpkin season review
Well that’s another year of big pumpkins over and, it is fair to say, Halloween gets bigger every year. The professional carvers took more than ever of our large pumpkins but the giant pumpkins remain in a very niche market. I think how difficult they are to handle is one reason but the other is…
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Pond Cleaning Begins
The long anticipated cleanup of our ponds began today. Hooray! The right machine in the hands of the right driver makes light work of what would have otherwise been an insurmountable task. It poured down in the night so even after a couple of hours work with the digger it looks like a pond again.…
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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…