What on earth does “Low Carbon Farm” mean?

In the near future our food will be produced locally by a sustainable agriculture that adapts to climate change and rising fuel costs. Either that, or we all go hungry.

It’s a stark fact that’s increasingly evident to consumers, policy makers, environmental campaigners and enlightened farmers. The jargon, “low carbon”, and “locally grown” sounds cosy and wholesome, but what is the reality for farmers that want to meet this need?

My aim is to reduce the Oak Tree’s carbon footprint at every point in the production and delivery of produce. Some fertilizer I will grow on site, last year I met Iain Tolhust who wrote "Growing Green", which convinced me it can be done, with occasional deliveries of woodchip to the farm. The rest I will get in from very locally, for example the pony paddock next door or the council delivering woodchips to me rather than the depot because it saves them money on diesel.

The equipment will be small scale; the only powered equipment planned is a two wheeled tractor and a chainsaw.

Delivery will be by bicycle trailer, and when I can afford it, a cargo trike.

We'll have an online ordering system which will enable people to order their choice of veg for delivery the same day – but only within cycling distance!

I’m talking to a helpful lady at Sustain about setting up a local food coop/farmers’ market, and I also plan to sell at the local Ripple Food Coop and my local Country Market.

I’ll combine the “Growing Green” techniques with Elliot Coleman’s “The New Organic Gardener” book’s technique for a small scale veg growing business, alongside 2 hectares of woodland for fuel (a long term project, but we need to start growing wood now for future fuel wood demand) and agroforestry. Martin Crawford is the expert so I’ll just give you a link to his site www.agroforestry.co.uk he is a truly amazing guy whose work is now starting to be properly recognized.

Rabbits. Lots of them.

The Oak Tree has rabbits. Lots and lots of rabbits. And rabbits like veg. And in the recent snow, they even liked the bark of some ivy I left lying on the ground after a session of felling dead trees to make ready for new saplings.

So what am I going to do about these rabbits? There are many options for rabbit control, and crop protection from rabbits, none of which seem to be problem free. There is no doubt that rabbits are a promising source of food, with impeccable green credentials. I’m certainly not going to have them gassed, I don’t like the idea of killing them that way, and it is a waste of a useful source of food.

I’ll be putting rabbit electric netting around my vegetable crops, but there is still a big risk of them breaching this and causing a lot of damage. So some sort of control of numbers is needed. I’m going to try humane trapping and possibly drop netting.

If these methods fail I’ll consider either an air rifle, or someone with ferrets. Shotguns are out as I am too close to public roads and footpaths.

Every part of the rabbit will be used, meat, skin (I’ll cure them for gloves, scarves etc) and the bones will be boiled up in rabbit casserole for a rich and very nutritious sauce. I would like to work out a way of converting bones to bone meal to enrich soil, but I am still working on that idea.

Very first signs of new growth

As the snow melts, there is an amazing amount of greenery left looking healthy and vigorous, including young leaves of the edible hedgerow greens, Alexanders. Apparently the Romans brought them to the UK as a pot herb, personally I'm not very keen on them as they have a very scented flavour, but many people do like them.

I met another neighbour this past week, one of the ladies who keep horses in a neighbouring field. She explained that the big dip in the middle of the Oak Tree land was caused by a bomb in the second world war, which was a complete surprise. I'm planning to turn it into a pond/water reservoir in years to come (subject to planning permission again...). This would give the combined benefits of a wider range of wildlife to keep pests in check (for example frogs eating slugs) as well as a source of water for irrigation.

We were both delighted when I cautiously asked if I could use some of their strawy manure, which by all accounts has been maturing for many years. She was delighted and asked if I wanted to be paid to take it away, and I was delighted that she didn't want to charge me. It seems kind of crazy that such a valuable resource is treated as waste, but in this case I am most certainly not complaining!

A New Year at The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm

While the snow looks wonderfully peaceful on the land at the moment, I am busy making preparations for the first growing season, as well as cutting down dead trees to make space for planting new bare rooted trees in the dormant season, that's to say soon!

I am slowly getting to meet my neighbours, all of whom have been charming and helpful, including Lux Farm, just up a footpath from me. They supplied my delicious Christmas goose, which I collected on foot as the roads were so icy, and I ended up loading up on lots of other delicious real food for the festive season. I took the opportunity to ask their advice on local contractors who could help with the initial cultivation of the soil.

Meanwhile, I am applying for planning permission for a 10' by 14' timber building for storing tools. As The Oak Tree is under just 5Ha (roughly 12 acres) the planning rules are far more stringent than for larger farms, so I am left with a race against time to have a building to store my new two wheeled tractor and implements in time for March when the planting will really start in earnest. Meanwhile the govenrnment says how much it wants to help small local food producers... I think a little more "joined up thinking" is needed there!