Willowford Farm

04/06/2026

The hay meadows have sprung to life now the livestock have been moved off and the longer, warmer days are here. Over the last 15 years they've transformed from a sward dominated by rye and white clover to a species rich medley of grasses and wildflowers that supports a whole ecosystem - from insects to birds and small mammals, their predators and so on. We do lose a little quantity but gain a load of quality forage that the livestock love.

It's a joyful part of the farm.

13/05/2026

Dung beetles are absolutely vital and fascinating creatures. But they are under threat from our modern chemical, grain and shed dependent farming systems. Without them animal dung would just accumulate on the pasture, as they found in Austrailia where there are no native dung beetles interested in recycling the European poo. Not only do they recycle waste and enrich the soil, they also encourage earthworms and other soil life, reduce parasite burdens in livestock by making the dung less hospitable to their eggs, and their tunneling allows air and water to pe*****te over a meter deep. We need to learn to love them and not take them for granted.

Thanks to Dung Beetles for Farmers for their brilliantly informative website.

💩🪲🐄🌱

11/05/2026

It's great to see the market garden filling up with summer crops. They look tiny now but in the next few weeks growth is incredibly strong and the garden changes day to day. The tricky part is keeping up!

06/05/2026

Great to see most of the apple trees I grafted last month seem to have taken 🍎🌳😃

04/05/2026

We're experimenting with some specialist wool breeds to see if we can produce high quality, fine wool in our wet climate in NE Cumbria.

Wool made Britain rich, but in recent years most farmers have moved to meat breeds and wool has little value. But its an amazing resource that is woven into our culture and heritage.

We hope that by crossing super-fine Merinos with hardier Black Welsh Mountains, we might stumble on a compromise between fineness and durability that can be grown here. Time will tell...

04/05/2026

Nature doesn't hang around! Feels like winter is only just over and this dandelion has already flowered and set seed 🌱🌻

29/04/2026

Today is the last day to double your donation to conservation projects like this one to reintroduce lynx to Kielder Forest

https://zurl.co/36b6A

The state of nature in the UK is dire, and we need positive and tangible action to turn the tide. …

16/04/2026

Patches of wild garlic, or Ramsons, have been a part of our landscape for so long that they still echo through place names containing 'Ram' up and down the UK.

For me, they are the scent of Spring and a sure sign that the growing season is here. They are also a staple foraging crop that we collect to add to salads, soups, sauces and pestos.

But ensure you can positively identify them before you pick them, only take what you can use and never dig up the bulbs, which are protected by law.

02/04/2026

Did you know that in the last 100 years we've lost 3/4 of our vegetable varieties? That's vital genetic variation, nutrition and tastiness that we're missing.

At the same time, just 4 companies now sell 60% of all seeds - which means we're also losing control over our food.

But we can resist this by buying open-pollinated seed from small seed companies. Even better, we can start saving our own seed and selecting varieties that work on our patch and that we like eating. Many small, ethical seed companies will even provide instructions for how to do this.

Some seed is easier to save than others but peas 🫛, lettuce 🥬 and tomatoes 🍅 are a good place to start.

25/03/2026

The long month of March lurches between winter to spring in huge, erratic strides. Longer days, stronger sun and even moments of warmth are interspersed with bitter winds, biting rain and winter clart. But the signs are clear that Spring is ascendant. Our oystercatchers have returned from the coast and fly noisily over the farm, the piping of curlews hangs in the early morning mist and on sunny days queen bumble bees are out looking for nest sites. The primroses and celandine are in flower and the first buds of hawthorn are tentatively opening into leaves. There’s a subtle but unmistakable hint of green slowly spreading over the land as life wakes up.

On the farm, our attention is shifting from the winter planting of trees and hedges to the imminent growing season. The greenhouse is filling with seedlings and soon we’ll have lambs leaping around the fields as the cycle of life begins again. Its an invigorating time of the year that inspires optimism and reassurance in an otherwise uncertain world.