Hey all!
Looking to probe the knowledge of this huge reservoir of people here, hope you can help.
I've purchased 16 acres of land in SW England to start a natural farm, based on Fukuoka's principles of observing and following natures prompts as much as possible.
Original plan was to start a small area of around an acre to kickstart the area, land has been heavily ploughed and sprayed and is in a poor condition right now. Loamy soil, South facing and gently sloping to drain. I've been focusing on growing some trees like Alder and other quick growing nitrogen fixing species and have planted some fruit trees. It's a temperate and generally moist area of the UK, not too hot or particularly cold in Winter (maybe max -5c as a norm). I've been adding mulches, manures and peas, vetches, field beans, alfalfa and other green manure type seeds to to overcome the grasses and docks/thistles that are covering the ground just now and give a better chance for micro organisms, from where like starting a fire I'm expecting it will spread out. Best results so far actually are with clovers and these are assisting the other introduced seeds to begin to establish. Plus as it's only been 9 months here a lot of my time is just observing and getting into tune with the land anyway. For anyone interested I've started a substack to document the journey and publish some of the research and discoveries I'm finding out about.
https://thenaturalfarmer.substack.com/publish/home
Would welcome any feedback or tips and thanks in advance! Adam
