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Author Topic: Trees for the farm  (Read 8242 times)

aboud

  • Joined Jul 2017
Trees for the farm
« on: December 07, 2017, 08:56:54 am »
Morning all,

Earlier this year we opened up a small farm for young people with disabilities.

We currently have sheep, goats, donkeys, pigs, guniea pigs, ducks and chickens.  We are now hoping to do a bit of landscaping and work on the appearance of the farm.

Would anyone be able to recommend some trees that would be suitable for planting around the farm?
Obviously nothing poisonous to any of the above!

Thanks, Alex   

Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2017, 10:03:54 am »
Plant something that you can do something with - i.e. coppice - hazel willow etc etc.  Plus also something with flowers or berries for the wildlife.  Check out the woodland trust's website, there is lots of info there - you might even be able to get some help with funding from them.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2017, 12:23:35 pm »
Do you have room for hedgerows?  They are of such benefit to wildlife if you choose the right species, especially if they can join up with neighbouring woody areas.  Children can learn so much from hedges and maybe even see some bird nests once the plants have grown a bit.  When we planted up our trees, we chose native species, and included a few which will eventually grow into full sized trees, such as oak, ash, Scots pine, beech.  We also have smaller trees such as rowan, elder, holly, wild cherry. birch, hazel and so on. For the hedges, these trees are included, well spaced out, but left to grow above the hedgetop, or cut along with the hedges themselves.  The main hedge species are made up of 50% hawthorn, with hornbeam, beech, various wild roses, field maple, spindle, and so on - no willow in hedges.  We recently planted a dozen junipers in our 'wildlife strip', as they are a tree native to our area but there are hardly any wild ones left.


Many of our trees are from acorns and holly etc which children have grown from seed, then not known where to plant them out.  Your visitors would love to do that.  Currently we are trying to work out how to get four 8' tall conker trees, in 2' buckets, up here from the south of England.  My youngest grandson planted them a few years ago and now wants them to be here.  The half grown conker we have was grown by his dad, our younger son, when he was a child - it's lovely to have history attached to your trees.



There is nothing which grows fast enough to become large within a few years except willow, but something like a weeping willow would provide a 'house' for children to play in in years to come.
Something else you could plant would be a willow bower for playing in and picnicking, maybe with a 'secret' entrance - all fun, but you do need to keep them under control - the willows that is.


Would you also want to grow some fruit, such as apple trees, and raspberries, so the children could pick and eat them on the spot?
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2017, 02:12:11 pm »
We'd love to do more hedgerows here...  One day...

[member=4333]Fleecewife[/member], I love  :love: :tree: spindle but had understood it was quite toxic to livestock.  Is yours restricted to the wildlife area?
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2017, 03:46:09 pm »
I didn't know it's toxic Sally but serendipitously it's not in any bits the sheep can reach.  At the moment it's got its amazing neon pink and orange seeds and calyces showing.  I can never believe they are really colours from nature, but maybe She feels like being psychedelic sometimes  ;D
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2017, 04:39:52 pm »
Exactly!  That's why I love it :)
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Backinwellies

  • Global Moderator
  • Joined Sep 2012
  • Llandeilo Carmarthenshire
    • Nantygroes
    • Facebook
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #6 on: December 08, 2017, 07:24:04 am »
Check out the woodland Trust site Sally  .... lots of info there  and tree packs for sale
Linda

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SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2017, 11:34:19 am »
This previously posted on the wrong thread!

Oh, I’ve had a lovely time reading up about trees in general and spindle in particular. :)

It would seem that the berries of the spindle tree are indeed toxic, causing abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea in humans and also affecting dogs, cats, horses and goats.  Not sure if cattle or sheep would be affected, but didn’t find any specific mentions.  Possibly sheep are too canny to eat it - ex-BH had fields with yew overhanging and we never had any problems with the sheep.  (Cattle didn’t graze that field, it was a sheep only field - not because of the yew but because of the tourism!).

I also found, which is obvious now but I hadn’t realised, that the wood of the spindle tree is very hard and used to be used for...  think about it... spindles!  :spin:  (Not quite the right emotiwotsit, but it was the closest we have.). Now I definitely want to grow some :)
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #8 on: December 16, 2017, 12:25:37 pm »
I wouldn't recommend blackthorn, which is often in a native species hedging list.  It suckers into the field and the wounds from the thorns suppurate and are very painful.   I once got one in the capsule surrounding a finger joint  and it stayed swollen for five years!  Hawthorn tends to grow out horizontally once it's been cut back as a hedge and can be armed with vicious thorns at head height within a season.  Sycamore is non-native and a thug, which will seed everywhere and give back nothing.  Oak, of course, is the best for wildlife of all kinds and will grow away quite well in the right conditions.  Ones we planted a dozen years ago are now around 4 metres high.  Horse chestnut for conkers, of course.  Willow grows very quickly and can be cut and woven to make a living hedge, which can be a fun project.  Make sure you source from the UK as a lot of the diseases which are threatening our trees have come in from nurseries in Europe.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #9 on: December 16, 2017, 12:32:47 pm »
The spindle for spindles thing is why I got my first spindle cutting from my Dad, years ago.  That first tree has gone but its offspring survive but hey, guess what?  I haven't used them as spindle shafts yet (where's the lazy emoji when you need it?).  I was originally intending to make one for the medieval spindle whorl we found here when we first arrived here, but I never got a Round Tuit, so now you've reminded me I'll go and find a suitable small branch  :spin: :tree:


I totally agree about Blackthorn Marches farmer - hateful stuff  :rant: I thought the scar on my arm which suppurated for a year was bad enough, but 5 years!!  It does have the earliest blossom in the hedgerow, but the down sides of voluntarily adding it to your place make the blossom unimportant.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #10 on: December 16, 2017, 02:59:00 pm »

I totally agree about Blackthorn Marches farmer - hateful stuff  :rant: I thought the scar on my arm which suppurated for a year was bad enough, but 5 years!!  It does have the earliest blossom in the hedgerow, but the down sides of voluntarily adding it to your place make the blossom unimportant.

Oh, but sloes!   The blossom is beautiful, the fruits make the very best hedgerow wine...  :love: :tree:

But yes, the thorns are a pest, both to humans and livestock. 
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #11 on: December 16, 2017, 03:00:16 pm »
The spindle for spindles thing is why I got my first spindle cutting from my Dad, years ago.  That first tree has gone but its offspring survive but hey, guess what?  I haven't used them as spindle shafts yet (where's the lazy emoji when you need it?).  I was originally intending to make one for the medieval spindle whorl we found here when we first arrived here, but I never got a Round Tuit, so now you've reminded me I'll go and find a suitable small branch  :spin: :tree:

 
We shall await the pictures!   :spin: :tree:
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

arobwk

  • Joined Nov 2015
  • Kernow: where 2nd-home owners rule !
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #12 on: December 16, 2017, 06:09:07 pm »
I would throw in Common Whitebeam and, if you like the idea of a friendly substitute for blackthorn, Bullace plum.
Apparently Whitebeam fruit are edible when very ripe (haven't tried them), but loved by birds:  just don't plant a Whitebeam where you might be parking cars as falling soft ripe fruit and the birds do end up making quite a mess (on two counts)!   
 

Perris

  • Joined Mar 2017
  • Gower
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2017, 07:54:45 am »
To focus on your intended visitors rather than livestock for a moment, elder has the bonus of lovely scent and human edible high vit c berries, plus provides opportunity to collect flowers to make delicious cordial.

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Trees for the farm
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2017, 09:17:39 am »
I seem to remember reading that elder was poisonous to livestock.  That said, my Badger Face will scoff it if they have the chance while I'm moving them through the wood.  We once made hedgerow jam using just that - hawthorn, rosehips, rowan, blackberry, elder.  Best jam ever - but remove the seeds from wild rosehips - they don't soften and it's like eating shrapnel!

 

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