Carnau
Description
A small farm in West Wales run by ecologists for nature conservation and food production. Carnau is run by two ecologists who aim to maximise habitat diversity over all 25 acres, helped by a small flock of sheep, a few cows and some pigs. We also have chickens and geese, but these don't really contribute to the land management.
Carnau is small traditional Welsh farm which has been neglected since the 1970s and thankfully modernisation and intensification have passed this farm by. We're working on restoring our farm to it's former glory.
As well as working out a beneficial grazing levels on the permanent pasture and marshy grassland areas, we have had a field ploughed mainly to support overwintering farmland birds, but also for straw and animal feed and will be planting up one enclosure with trees this spring. Another area will need fencing to be reinstated so that it can be returned to marshy grassland. We're working on the remaining boundaries to regenerate damaged hedgerows and allow some odd corners to scrub up into woodland in the long term. Wide boundaries will have adjoining rank grassland for small mammals, reptiles and ground nesting birds. We've also planted a traditional orchard with various old welsh strains and some suitable modern varieties.
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RECENT FACEBOOK POSTS
facebook.comI've just been clearing out the sheds for winter and made a big muck pile on the yard. The amount of dung flies there today was impressive! They might not be everyone's cup of tea but obviously hugely important and a important food source for various birds and bats. Bit late in the year now but I put out a static bat detector out there to see if anything turns up to the feast!
Added Clavaria fumosa - smoky spindles to our farm list of grassland fungi - spotted by my 3 yr old son. I had to use a web image as I can't find it at all today (24 hrs later!) for a photo! Since there were at least 3 large clumps it's possible the fruiting bodies are just shortlived and it's gone! http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Li0_cIrRs7E/UknW8H0N6gI/AAAAAAAAFKU/2E9WG3VTWq8/s1600/Broadhead+Clough+25-09-13+Clavaria+fumosa.jpg
Our honey bees are loving these poppy seed poppies - we're going to get two for one on this crop!
The rains have brought out Citrine waxcaps and butter waxcaps in the pastures the past few days. Hopefully we'll get another new species to add to the list of 10 or so already
Timeline Photos
Power Grazing
Great video on the benefits of mixed organic farming. I often hear millionaire farmers on Farming Today saying they 'spray four times a year with fungicide and herbicide etc etc... because they are looking after the soil' - they never get called out on the total hypocrisy of that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9-abhGe4KU
Cwmcou Organics
Timeline Photos
FIVE flavours of sausages made this year, including 2 new recipes- one using the chestnuts we gathered in the autumn!
Events and Meadow Visits
Some meadow conservation events going on in Carmarthenshire this summer: https://carmarthenshiremeadows.com/events-and-meadow-visits/
Organic food is well worth paying for - for your health as well as nature
New evidence of damage caused to bees by pesticide use, researchers claim
Quiz
