The Green Loo.

I have had help recently from Paul and Raphael via wwoof and helpx. The loo structure is finished thanks to Pauls carpentry skills. The garden is finally coming to fruition we have strawberries,beans, potatoes,onions, garlic, salads and herbs, We had a long rainy evening racking off ,sampling and bottling the homemade wine and mead. Last years summer wine (strawberries, redcurrants and rasberries) is a great success. Raphael had spent time on vineyards in France and had a great vocabulary to describe the wines. I have started this years wine off with the elderflowers.
We managed to extract some honey and this is now in jars and for sale at the local butchers.
The bees are still struggling, too many wet days spent indoors one colony potentially has a drone layer I won't know for sure till I revisit on the next sunny day.
Chris is making progress rebuilding this years baler and haymaking is on the horizon.

Unseasonal weather

We are waiting for a warm calm day to extract our first honey of the season. it has been very cold and wet.
95.5mm of rain in April, 65.5mm in May and 36.75mm in June so far. We luckily went to the Suffolk show on Thursday and spent some time selling honey for the association in the beekeepers tent and talking bees. The show was cancelled on Friday due to the high winds. There is a hosepipe ban but I seem to spend a lot of time each day emptying the overflowing water butts.
Lots of fledglings the black spotted woodpeckers are the most amusing to watch.
I have made my first batch of gardeners barrier handcream, the onions are going to flower already,lots of unripe strawberries and the garden seems really slow and behind .
Have been doing a lot of willow weaving and will be at Aldercarr Farms strawberry fair 30th June.

Red Kite at Bungeons

A kite flew out of the hedge yesterday it was incredible to see so close, there has been a lot of bird alarms in theses overgrown ashes.
We have 2 mums with chicks and given another family away. At the moment the mums are staying safe in the runs with their chicks . Nora our wwoofer helper has put straw around the strawberries and cut the heads of the docks, too late to dig them up.

Opico Grass Harrow

From this..

To this

Chris, Ken and Thomas have been converting this 12m machine to two 6m machines
It folds hydraulically for transport and they have added an air seeder to apply grass seed mix as part of grass rejuvenation

Weird and wonderful wood

Small woven willow fence A mixture of our own coppiced willow.
This week end is Weird and wonderful wood at Haughley it is always an inspiring day out loads to look at, food, music and the chance to hunt for tools and books.

The hay bale hen and chicks. She managed to get 6 chicks from the hay bales across deep muddy rutts standing water, tall grass, pouring rain and into the hen run , there were casualties along the way. She is incredibly fierce  We made the right choice to leave her alone.
We managed a quick visit to the bees One hive is very hungry I am feeding them syrup and still getting dead bees, when we looked inside it doesn't seem right a bit muddley and they were not happy at being disturbed There is a laying queen . They need some sun and warmth.
Izzy has created a facebook page for bungeons.

Oak before Ash...

We have had 3.9 inches rain 99.5mm in April a total of 8inches for the year so far.
The nucleus when moved on a rare bee day into Francis' brood box was not flourishing I don,t know why it was fine, so now we need to get some eggs and brood into the box but the weather is not good for bees I haven't been able to visit my bees since the end of March. I have put sugar syrup on top for them.They can't take advantage of all the rape fields which are surrounding us due to the heavy rain.
On Saturday I will be at Hartest farmers market selling my willow plant supports and on Monday at Beccles for the fete to raise funds for the Kenyan exchange  http://www.sjlhskenyaexchange.weebi.co.uk/
I saw my first swallow about a week ago but no sound of a cuckoo. A hen has raised chicks up on the bales behind machinery we don't know how she will get them all down in one piece and into a dry space, meanwhile the cat sits close by watching.. again the dilemma to interfere and possibly make matters worse or let nature take her course.

Woven Plant Supports

Sunday May 20th is the next willow workshop to be held here at Bungeons farm. Please contact me if you would like to book a place.
It has been a true Blackthorn winter -cold,frosts, hail, rain and wind I think there may have been some damage The fruit blossom ,sugar beet seedlings and asparagus have suffered, but the rain has been so welcome we have finally been able to mulch the willows, fruit beds and orchard and also move a few plants about.
I have one hen sitting tight, we have moved the nucleus to its new home but we are still waiting for bee weather to move them into the brood box, I am sure they are outgrowing their small home.
I am really looking forwards to tasting some fresh honey and making up creams and potions with the wax.