First we marked out the 2 metre spacings for the digger man

We decided to space the tree rows 2 metres apart and trees 1.5 metres from each other.

The photo belows shows the tractor marking out the 1.5 metre spacing with its wheels.

Then Dessie the diggerman arrived to do the most important job, placing the mounds.



He dug the trench, using the soil to make the mounds on both sides.
Eventually, after several days work the site looked like this.

Creating a new forest on Bradley's Farm

In March 2010 we got the go ahead to establish a forest on our farm here in N. Ireland.
We got two grants approved for this project.
The Woodland Grant Scheme which provides a lump sum to cover the cost of preparation and planting and the Farm Woodland Premium Scheme which will provide us with and annual income for the next 15 years until the initial thinning takes place.

How June has grown

This is a photo of June, on the left, with her mother Tess, taken about a week ago.
She is now about 17 months old. We hope Tess is in foal again and will get her tested shortly.

A trip to the orchard

We visited the orchard today and picked some redcurrants.



















The blackcurrants are coming on nicely and should be ready in a few weeks.So it's time to have some redcurrant and raspberry pavlova.A few of the apple trees are showing some fruit for the first time. It will be interesting to see the results in autumn.
One new plum tree is producing fruit and the old one it laiden again this year.

New addition to the family

Tess with daughter June.

We have a new addition to the farm. Our younger donkey, Tess, provided us with a new baby a few days ago. We have decided to call her, June. Mother and daughter are doing very well.
They graze close to the house so we can see all that goes on. Tess is very protective of her daughter but June is getting more adventurous every day.

At the beginning she stayed close to mum but recently we have noticed her circles ever increasing. There are sheep and calves in the field with her and I'm sure she will be mingling in no time.
More photos to follow.