JUNGLE AT THE FARM - What's going on in the SECRET MEADOW? 

Let those who are telling you to do things their way take the risk of selling their house, buy a farm and bring it back to life, all the while planning and building a house. You just do your thing.

It’s your property, you can do as you wish. If you want to mow, then mow! 👍😎

Hi Tim and family 👋 just us2 saying hi and thanks again for sharing this video update and information and what you are doing 👋 den and sue 👍👍👍🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🚌🚌🚌

You are living my dream. Hats off to you and the family 👍👍

I like your plans & mowing what you need to for making a happy place for both yourselves & your piggies, sheep & wildlife!

Farming is always a learn process no matter how old you are.

Love the walk around and Explaining what your planning and the reasoning around it. If it doesn't work as you expect then So long as it doesn't cost loads of money you can try it differently. OR a work around as such.

Great overview Tim, what a fantastic landscape you've got, with such diversity and room for the family to roam around and explore!

Really admire your approach to the land Tim.

Beautiful property and another incredible video. Congratulations and hope you have fun with the family weekend.

Tim you are really starting to sound like a farmer, 😀 it's amazing what you and the family are doing. People always think that they know better! You are showing that you are doing research, to make sure that you are doing the right thing, keep up the good work, love the videos keep them coming, have a great weekend with your family, and hope Rosie has a great birthday 🎂.

Great you guys making your own way

This is great guys. I have been pondering your method and wondering how you stood on the environmental aspects of farming. I am happy now though, I think it’s very responsible of you to allow some areas for nature. Stewardship was the first commandment given to us and you’re doing it right!

I’m loving this new journey you are on ….I don’t need any explanation because I doubt what your doing ! But I enjoy your explanation as why and what’s next …so I’m learning and understanding as you move forward many thanks! Hope the party goes well! 💕🙋🏻‍♀️💕🇬🇧jane

It seems to me that a lot of people have a lot of opinions. Opinions are like a**holes. Everyone has one. You are doing a wonderful job. Love your work 👍

There is a TV series here in Canada called Striking Balance about all the Unesco Biospheres across the Country. A Biosphere is a place of recognized biodiversity or where there are important natural resources (animal or geology) that needs to be taken care of. But where it differs from a reserve or a park is that it has not taken humans out of the equation. People need to be included in the equation of how to protect and preserve. So in a biosphere the people who live in them work together to protect and preserve but in such a way that they can continue to live and work and farm. It's fascinating to see how people have come together and solved the specific issues they face. I bring this up for a reason. There's an episode on the Waterton Biosphere in southern Alberta. The land is primarily ranch land that abuts the foothills of the Rockies and one of the biggest problems they face is Grizzly Bears. Their solutions are amazing. But that still isn't why I'm mentioning it here. The ranchers of the Waterton Biosphere are not only trying to continue to make a living from their ranch they are also looking at better, more eco-friendly, more natural ways to do so. One family decided to take a step back and look at how the land was used even before ranchers. Buffalo grazed it in herds of thousands, tens of thousands, so the land *can* support the animals. But modern ranchers need to overseed their paddocks and very few years because the quality and quantity declines. So how did the Prairies support such huge herds of Buffalo? The ranchers realized that those herds were always on the move so the grass was never eaten right down, there was always quite a bit left after the herds had moved on. So these ranchers decided that they would be more hands on, they decreased the size of each paddock and moved the cattle every couple of days. They found that the Prairie grasses became healthier and more diverse, they recovered quickly, were less susceptible to dry weather and they didn't need to be over seeded because they were able to seed themselves. They also found, as you mentioned with the sheep, that the cattle were more healthy and had fewer problems with parasites. All this to say that the rotating paddocks you're doing is fantastic. I'm not sure, though, that stopping that pattern in the winter in the hay field is the best idea. The natural fertilizer the sheep will deposit is great, but you may find that you'll need to over seed the hay field after a few years because their grazing hasn't been structured. The parts with their favourite plants will be over grazed and the parts with edible but not their favourites will become overgrown by comparison. I'm sure you have almost zero time to be watching TV/documentaries but if it's available to you in the UK it might be something all of you can enjoy. It certainly will show you some of the amazing areas in Canada; East to West, North to South. Congrats if you made it to the end of this epically long comment.

Living the dream.

for the nettle area, you should add one to three goats to your sheep herd. and you should change the wooden post of your birch trees to a more flexible version or your trees will not develop a stable root system. ❤

The bees - if you get some - will love the meadow

All a question of balance, think you have it right

How did you become so knowledgable about land management? Is there a go-to book or resource that you would recommend? Keep up the good work

Your farm reminds me so much of my parents' old farm in Kentucky. We called the flood meadows "bottomland" or "the bottoms". But I think that sounds different in the UK.

hello i us a ride on at work we just starting to cutting meadow's on a lot of site''s now all good for wild life. all the best ivan

Sickle-mowers off the rear of the tractor are great for creek-banks and around ponds. And for really overgrown fields. Following up with a rake can be annoying though… :) A number of years back, in preparation to carve 10 acres of horse paddock out of a quarter-section of land, we had cause to drag some vintage farming equipment out of retirement. a sickle-mower and ground-powered rake, and even a vintage self-propelled 3 wheel Massey 12’ swather. Took some rebuilding of the swather to get it going, and was certainly a challenge to put into service a 1960’s bit of kit that had been sitting idle for at least 20 years, but all this old gear worked well enough. I’d be hard pressed to do 640 acre farms with it, but for a small hayfield, it’s just fine.

The horizontal hedge cutter attachment is a sickle bar, also known as a three legged dog maker. I’d personally not have one around kids or animals unless they were no where near when it was in use. 👍👍

We have a Spider bank mower we hire out if needed.

Those steep banks would benefit from a good visit by the pigs too. That would save you loads of work. Perhaps the same with your brook edges...

No mow no may Man-ah mah-ah

Get rid of the baseball cap and get a wider brimmed hat, especially for the summer, and don't neglect the sunscreen on the ears. Sun hats may not be the in thing but even during the Spring a long day of exposure to the sun is bad. My dad has had three operations because of cancer that started on the top of his ear and you don't want to go down that road. Also choose a sunscreen that doesn't attract flies or bees. 😁

Did I miss something? I've been cutting my grass for weeks already now (in Ireland). Was I not supposed to?

I do think the original 'no mow May' comment was intended as a joke, must confess I did give it a 'LOL'. With the flood plain area, how about a bunch of Christmas trees on there??? Or could you grow Wasabi??? I think you could do with a cash crop to go alongside your 100 guests :).

I think the tractor is going to need full on agri tyres or it’s only going to be moving in the summer

Price allowing you are able to get a rear PTO hedge cutter that should fit your tractor, a miniature/compact version of what you see on full size tractors. It would be very useful as it would allow plenty of reach for doing the banks but you also have plenty of hedges that are going to need cutting each year plus various other rough terrain where an articulated hedge cutter on the back of the tractor would be ideal. Though without the saftey of a cab a flail one is unlikely to be safe enough for you. Another option is to get whoever you get in to do your hedges to mow the banks also once a year if going down the contractor route for such jobs. You can get the type of cutters you described, a hedge trimmer on its side, normally known as a finger or sickle bar cutter, which you walk with as they are often used on banks but it sounds like your banks may be too steep for this. They also come as you say tractor mounted and they can be articulated with a long reach. But I would consider your hedge cutting as you might end up with 2 bits of equipment rather than 1 going that route though I guess no reason you can't use the finger bar cutter on your hedges. A quick search online for Compact Tractor Hedge Cutter or Compact Tractor Finger Bar Cutter will bring up a good few options both new and second hand and for not as much as you might think. The extra reach of an articulated one I think would be well worth paying a bit more for over a fixed one. Probably worth costing it out to see which is the best option money and flexibility wise for you. The finger bar cutters can also be got for mini diggers which is something I think you mentioned you might look to acquire when prices return to something more normal.

So how long till a pizza oven build for the parties?

Ignore the mow-ners.

Oh no! Here we go again! Armchair experts starting to interfere with genuine effort. I have learned so much from Tim sharing successes AND mistakes. JUST DO YOUR THING.

That slope is crying out for a zip wire across the stream.

The first world problems for the keyboard worries. These things are bound to happen when you put your life on a Social platform. People who aren't in the same shoes as you not living the life you lead telling others what they should be doing. Myself enjoy what you are achieving on your land. Always stop what I am doi g to watch your vlogs, have a lovely family weekend and happy birthday Rossie.

Armchair experts are at it again,I know what I would tell them to do…

You know that nettles are proof that the soil is very nutritious? Caterpillars usually thrive on them, the next stage of catepillars are butterflies… so if you eradicate nettles, the butterflies will also disappear. You can also make your own manure water from nettles. And pick the thin leaves and cook a very good and iron-rich soup. Nettle extracts are also said to be good against hair loss… 😉

I think you will find over time the meadows will get cleared of the useless stuff and the grass will come through. And I also think you are beginning to realise how busy you are going to be..

Why do ppl feel they have the right to instruct you on what you should or shouldn’t be doing, you’re sharing with them for their enjoyment. You’re property, you’re rules, if they don’t like it move on!!!

If I could, the secret meadow would be the place to site a home, too bad its in a flood zone.

This is your farm to do with as u see fit. I wish people would just mind their own business.

I think this is the first time I realize how large the area is. ❤️🏳️‍🌈❤️🏳️‍🌈❤️

Its your land you can mow what you like, no one tells me when to mow my lawn so why should they tell you when to mow.

Can I ask how much of a contribution these keyboard warriors with attitudes are providing for you?

Hi, I note your problem and the high of the grass, but there are hundreds of buttercups and dandelions as well as those stinging nettles that attract bees and they are facing big problems that also could give us a big headache because they are an essential part of the lattice of life. If some toddlers are likely to want to talk over there, would it be such a problem to ask the parents to make sure they have wellies, so they do not get stung, and they could also enjoy a splodge in the stream (under supervision of course)