On a very wet Saturday in July a group of North Pennines smallholders met at The Hagg farm to have a cup of tea. We eventually walked down to the meadow, in the rain, to discuss various types of meadow management, agri-environment schemes and harvesting and spreading (upland hay meadow restoration). We were then delighted …
A meadow management workshop has organised by the North Pennines AONB and this will be held on Saturday 19th July in Allendale. What could be nicer than a few hours walking around the beautiful meadows of the East Allen Valley on a (hopefully) warm and sunny July day? Full details for the event are available …
Just a quick reminder that there is a workshop being held on July 5 at Burnlaw Centre to provide training and experience with wildflower and bumblebee identification. The event will cover identification of common wildflowers found in upland hay meadows during the morning with bumblebee identification in meadows and gardens in the afternoon. This is a …
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Following the meeting in Allendale at the end of March about the Flexigraze system, the presentation given by Stephen Comber from Flexigraze is now available for download here. Flexigraze Presentation (PDF format) Please use the North Pennines Smallholders forum to post any ideas, comments or suggestions about setting up a similar system within the North …
The North Pennines AONB Partnership has arranged a meeting for anyone (not just North Pennines Smallholders) who would like to find out more about machinery rings and also how a skills/labour/scything group could be developed. The meeting is tonight (Mon 14 April) in Allendale but full details are on the event calendar. If you would …
One of the main points to come out of the original North Pennines Smallholder feedback was the idea of a Machinery Ring to establish a database of any machinery that members are willing to share. The North Pennines AONB Partnership is holding a meeting for anyone (not just North Pennines Smallholders) who would like to …
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The North Pennines AONB Partnership is holding a meeting in Allendale for anyone interested in a ‘Flexigraze’ type system. At the meeting Stephen Comber will give a presentation about Flexigraze and also advice about the potential to do something similar in the North Pennines. There is some further background information on Flexigraze at the Northumberland …
Details of the Nectarworks open meeting on Wed 2 April have been added to the event calendar and they are suggesting that anyone who is interested should book their places in advance . You can download the agenda for this event from the AONB website (using this link) and the following is some further background about …
Ruth Starr-Keddle has received 29 forms back and would like to thank all those who gave feedback. Workshop Choices Here are the rankings of the workshop choices: Meadow management for wildlife Rush control and drainage Weed/pest control, i.e. rabbits, ragwort, thistles and creeping buttercup Pasture management for wildlife Woodland creation and management Sheep farming, animal …
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Wool on the Wall, a new event in the heart of Hadrian’s Wall Country, takes place this year on Sunday, 13th July, in the Greenhead Hotel, just across the road from its sister event, the Hadrian’s Wall Farmers’ Market at Greenhead – together celebrating the whole sheep, you might say! July is clipping time for …