We are trying to live a self-sufficient life on our English smallholding, our British homestead. These are the adventures from our smallholding, on a hill, often in the clouds and often with Hazel, the pup!
Mesquite can be chopped to the ground and turns into a huge tree in two to three years. I had it growing in my Phoenix az garden. Planning to try it in the high desert.
Great video. Was hoping you'd talk a bit more about that aspen, as well. I'm here in the PNW. We have a good bit of water, but also get hot summers and long days. We've got willow and aspen growing. They both seem to enjoy the somewhat more wet and clay soil our property has. No alder, though. Probably would do well too. If aspen grows in your area, grows as fast as it does, and also sends out as much new growth from root shoots as it does, why isn't it in your top picks?
You live in an exposed area, how is the tunnel up there? Or did you manage to shelter it? I would like to get one but the only place I can put it would take the full force of the wind.
Hi, we have a 2 meter high hedge on three sides that really helps. However, the tunnels are meant to be quite robust. We have had some serious winds and have had no damage apart from the strawberry baskets landing on the floor!
I just cut a whole branch off which was around a foot long and rammed it into the ground about 6 inches approx two years ago. Now its 3 foot tall and doing well. Lots of new branches and healthy foliage
I can't tell you how lovely it is to have a fluent, articulate and intelligent commentary - Bravo! Is the soil underneath clay or peaty? If the former, then Black Poplar would likely do well and maybe you might have room for a couple as keepers. Being large, they are great for making a flat landscape more interesting. But the real attraction is that they are now Britain's rarest native timber tree - maybe only 8000 left - and are marvellous for habitat. And wagon wheels!
Hi, that's very nice of you to say! Our soil is mostly clay and very wet. We bought 3 female black poplars from the breeding program at Chester Zoo and they are doing well. Now we just need to get a male one so that they will reproduce.
I think we should always invest in a variety of wood sources for firewood. Seems to me that every few years another pest, disease or fungus gets imported into different parts of the world. Look at the devastation caused to Ash trees, and that happened so fast. Had Ash been a primary source of your firewood, it would have been devastating. I grow Hazel, Alder, Willows are coming up, some 'disposable' pines to be rotated, and Birch.
Good information! I have lots of aspens around my leach field go figure. But I want to get them into another area on my property and wondered how. Great video thanks!
That’s a good hint. I’m going to try it on 3 acorns per hole, maybe 9 per square foot. I might just hand cast though because it’s still back breaking work.
It is hard work. Might be useful to get the acorns in the ground at least a little if you can. Otherwise the wildlife might eat them. Good luck with the growing!
Great video, thank you. I want to coppice to produce chippings for pathways. Our field is a bit boggy, normal Somerset clay, but in the summer it will dry out. Would you recommend willow or alder please?
So… this Kiwi agrees with you. And great info on the calorific value of wood by weight. We live in Central Otago, New Zealand. Have always cut our own firewood, was pine, now willow. It’s a pest/ nuisance species here. Every riverbed is full of it. We cut it green, split it straight away: it’s really easy to cut and split when green. It dries super fast in our climate. I’m burning some now that I cut green in late December: it’s too dry, under 10%. I usually cut it from February onwards, start burning mid April. We get through about 10 cubic meters a winter. It has a bad reputation as firewood here, but that’s perhaps because folk season it too long, or only cut dry dead willow as a last minute option.
@@theviewfromtheclouds I live in Southern Finland and the winters can be really cold here. I have managed to keep some cuttings alive outside, but even willows look bad after this winter.
Really glad to have found your channel a few months ago. I’ve subscribed and I’m learning loads from you. Just wondering how high you had to do your deer fencing, and how effective it has been? We are struggling in West Yorkshire because they’ve eaten most of our apple trees and a lot of the Willow whips we have planted. 👍🏻
Thank you for that! Sorry to hear that your trees are being eaten by deer. Our fence is about 1.8 meters tall because there are red deer not too far away and they can jump fairly high. If you have any other type of deer, 1.5 meters will be fine. Do you have much land to fence in?
I love watching your videos. They give me so much great information and lots of inspiration to keep trying to build my own little homestead. Cheers from Sweden!
my eye went straight to the wrought iron hinge you have in that hedge line ...I love finding bits of usable iron like that. Brilliant to see you removing the old wire instead of just putting more over the top. I know our recyclers hate the stuff it gets knotted in the machinery and really difficult to get into the crusher. I don't know what you are replacing it with but have fun.
Yes, I am really hoping that the recyclers take it all. We don't really want a heap of it laying around. We now have a proper deer fence all around our land, so that bodged together deer fence won't need to be replaced and that area will be fence free. I am really happy about that.
@@theviewfromtheclouds something I have done in the past with fencing is to roll up the whole lot with the posts and any brushwood from the fence line and burn it. It makes the wire a lot easier to compact into a manageable block. Its not the best way to get rid of fence posts but you can put the ash in the dustbin. I have managed to get a 12foot high loose springy roll of a fifty metre fence compacted down so it went into a 7ft trailer with room to spare
Hi. We tend to just put them straight in the ground once they have roots, so we haven't potted them up before. Hope you have success with them. Thanks for watching our video!
i would imagine reminders would havr to be seasonal, as new generations come through. ever thought about electrifying other sections of fence or putting something to put badgers and hares off? seen badgers eat eats, that could be an idea too. or, but badger gates where is smells of badgers?
in the early 2010s i was speaking with a rep for a Swedish bio mass company who said that they used willow because of the higher moisture; the steam provided more medium to impart heat to the heat exchangers they were using. the burn chambers had special refractory materials and that so long as the gasses were above 700c and you kept providing oxygen, everything would flash off and all you'd be left with is co2 and water vapour. in fact at certain stages of their burn cycle the water cracked into hydrogen and oxygen and of of course "burned" back to water vapour. this is measurable using laser spectrometry amongst other methods. in a rocket stove or rocket mass heater once your firebox is up to temp and your design includes secondary or even tertiary air then green wood is less of an issue. a couple videos by honeydocarpenter illustrate this quite well. edit: here me go: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kMpKc0g6zzg.htmlsi=YF_VAIPGNgjIGZw1 i will end that for most people with the sort of wood burners you'll get from the high street, yes, the dryer the wood the better and make sure you keep your chimneys clean and get a recoheat whilst you're at it, i got one for a mate of mine on a narrow boat and he's very grateful.
I would love to eventually get a home that can be heated with firewood, so this kind of knowledge is very appreciated. Also, that beautiful dog is just spoiled with cuddles hehe :)
It is very satisfying - I hope you get a home that you can heat with wood. I keep toying with the idea of getting some bees myself. Thanks for your videos!
@@theviewfromtheclouds Bees are wonderful little creatures, and I know of a few UK beekeepers you might get knowledge from: Gwenyn Gruffydd, Black Mountain Honey and Richard Noel (while Richar's moved to France, he's a great beekeeper with plenty of knowledge about beekeeping) 🙂
Hello from Cumbria! Good luck with the homesteading. Quiting your job to go for it is something I can't quite bring myself to do. I applaude your bravery!
@@theviewfromtheclouds Thanks! You must've watched some of our videos. I've been building the business for 7 years now. I would recommend starting small and keep building on the side until you can't afford to work for somebody else in a job any more. :D
I have wondered about this too. I think they just don't like to push on things with their noses. That's the only explanation I can think of. Not sure though.
Hi, Hazel never seems to eat the leaves, but if your dog is prone to eating things it shouldn't, I would be wary of having cherry laurel. Might be best to err on the side of caution.
