By: Simon Brooke :: 22 February 2021
Contents
- Monday: Standingstone
- Tuesday: Cattle
- Wednesday: Shed and Fencing
- Thursday: The Wood
- Friday: Machinery
- Saturday: Carbon
- Sunday: Wrapping up
I'm in charge of the @SmallholdersUK account next week. This is my overall plan for the week.
Monday: Standingstone
Introduction: programme for the week
What Standingstone is and why we're here
Rural homelessness
Local roots
How we work together
Contribution to the village economy
Minimum Viable Village model
Tuesday: Cattle
Feeding the cattle — ideally with video; introduce the cattle shed
Talk about how I got them, choice of breed, management of meadowland, wildflowers
Introduce them as individuals
Ghost, and her shyness, and why she's shy, and why it's a problem
Goblin, and his life story, and why
Daemon, Beelzebub, and cattle as food
Ecological/carbon impact of grass-fed cattle
Wednesday: Shed and Fencing
Reasons for the shed
How the shed works
How the handling system works
Building the shed
Problem of the lack of a yard
Problems with fencing failures
Thursday: The Wood
Theory of management
Fuel wood and structural wood
The storm, and how that changes things
Future plans
Friday: Machinery
Tractor, baler, hay cutting, turning, trailers, the link box
Things I don't have that I'd like, and why: harrow, roller, tipper
Choice of tractor for smallholding
Tractor maintenance
How we do farm traction post carbon
Potential alternatives
Saturday: Carbon
Living off grid
Turbine and panels, advantages/disadvantages
Wood for heat and carbon impact
Carbon cost of the tractor
Farm plastics, the problems they cause, and how to replace them
Sunday: Wrapping up
Economy of smallholding
Food economy of smallholding
Philosophy of caring for land
Responding to feedback
Expanding on things which people have asked questions about
« On Violence, with reference to the invasion of Ukraine | | The Union: Sketch outine for a Cyberpunk mod »
