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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 2h

Today we put on four new oyster mushroom growing columns.

The spent mycelium from a previous batch was added to 150kg of substrate (coffee grounds and straw).

In around 6-8 weeks we should begin harvesting. These columns should yield over 20kg mushrooms.

Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 7h

Clearing the brambles from the roof of the glasshouse.

This is slow, tentative work, but the last of the clearance. Once we’ve finished this job we’ll patch up the structure and begin ground prep.

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 2d

Spring onion flower head loaded with seeds.

We increasingly leave a number of plants to go to seed in the beds. Once ready we either harvest to sow next season or sprinkle the seed directly where we want it to grow.

The result is often a delightfully chaotic mix of plants.

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 2d

A new harvest for us; one that’s taken two years to reach maturity. This is hopniss, Apios americana, a vine producing root crop from North America.

It develops tubers along its roots, which can be sliced and fried, or baked/boiled. Taste is similar to a floury potato.

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 2d

Spent the day flipping beds. Potatoes and courgette are out, garlic and wheat is in.

This is the first year using our home saved garlic to plant. We’ve put in 300 garlic and 20m2 of wheat

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 5d

The vetch/rye we’ll cut to the ground in early spring prior to planting. We’ll either need to do shallow till or cover with mulch to kill off

The white clover is experiment in perennial living mulch. Idea is to strim back hard prior to adding more robust plants like squash or corn

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 5d

Very much mixing it up. I’d say about 25% to cover while the rest either still has plants, will imminently be planted or will get a thick cover of mulch.

It’s late in the season so limited on choice however roughly half to hairy vetch and rye and the other to a white clover

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 5d

Yesterday we spent getting the market garden beds ready for winter.

We harvested the last of the potatoes, weeded and sowed any empty beds to a winter cover crop.

We still have plenty of plants in the ground to harvest over the coming months (think spinach,greens, brassicas and herbs)

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 6d

We’ve set up a rudimentary tree nursery to grow saplings to plant on the farm. It’s very much an amateur affair; plant in seed trays then wait and hope for the best.

We’re on the hunt for hazel, good eating walnuts and holly. If anyone could help out please give us a shout!

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 7d

We have a merry band of goldfinches that make short work of the seeds on the sunflowers dotted around our market garden.

These flowers provide a decentralised feeding site to the birds, avoiding disease issues that come with a static feeder. The attracted birds also help with pest control

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 7d

We give em a quick rinse in fresh lemon juice. Helps against oxidation.

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 8d

Harvested our maincrop potatoes today.

We’ve left them to dry out for a day or two under cover before we box them up and move them to a cool dark storage spot.

Plenty to keep us going for the coming months. Pics show about 1/3 of the yield

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 13d

Hannah making some serious inroads into the ‘small’ glasshouse.

You should have seen this place a few weeks ago, it was an impenetrable bramble thicket.

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 14d

Yeeesss 💪🏼

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 14d

Ah yes you’re on the route! Did do a cheeky stop at the Station House for refreshments on the way back. I’ll let you know if I’m passing again

Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 15d

That’s a. 40km round trip done, phew!

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Briar Farm @briarfarm.bsky.social · 15d

A few weeks ago we went to watch the hay cut at Kings College Cambridge.

Today we collected the first of the bales ready to spread and seed our own meadow.

It certainly turned a few heads cycling a bale back to the farm through central Cambridge and the villages!