Restoring our countryside
Help us to make britain a better place for you and your loved ones to enjoy
Imagine a vibrant countryside full of colours and life...
Enjoy colours and fragrance of flower-full meadows
Enjoy the beauty of orchids, knapweeds, harebells, scabious, speedwell, vetches, burnets, ragged-robin, oxeye daisy, and trefoils.
Fall in love with nature.
Experience wildlife in the countryside
Let colourful butterflies and other insect, birds and lizards to bring you happiness of simplicity of life.
Create a future for your children
Do you wish your children and grandchildren to love nature as much as you do?
Let vibrant countryside teach them about the miracle of nature and life.
Eat naturally nourishing food
Healthy vibrant land means that animals are healthy and so is your food.
Livestock can get all minerals and other nutrients they need from diversity of herbs, hedges and trees.
"A nation who destroys its soil destroys itself."
Franklin D. Roosvelt
Wait a second... Where is this colorful countryside?
What’s wrong with current pasture land
You go out for a walk in the countryside and all you see is a sea of tightly grazed pastures.
Where are the flowers and butterflies?
British meadows have been largely “improved” to become a monoculture of rye grass. Rye grass is a quickly growing grass and is robust enough to resist overgrazing. It loves application of fertilizers and responds by quick regrowth.
All sounds good, doesn’t it?
The problem is, the roots of rye grass are shallow and cannot mine minerals from deep within the soil. That means that the livestock that is grazing it needs vitamin and mineral supplements.
And yes, they come in artificial forms of buckets and licks.
You might say that’s alright. But the problem is, the supplements are in a certain ratio and the cow which is licking it cannot separate magnesium from selenium. So it overdoses on a certain element in order to balance another one. Not a great idea.
But that is not all.
The fast growth of rye grass and application of fertilizers suppress growth of other grasses and plants.
And that’s how the countryside around you has become lifeless. Well, apart of crows.
Where have our meadows gone?
After the World War II, industrial agriculture arrived to UK.
The food production increased, but the quality of food decreased, and many wildlife-rich areas were degraded including the quiet disappearance of colourful meadows that used to be everywhere.
Can this situation be reversed?
Yes it can!
But it will take some time. It took decades if not centuries to degrade the land to the state you see it in now.
We love nature and wildlife. We want all the plants, flowers, butterflies, insect, birds, bats and lizards back just as much as you do.
If not even more.
What are we doing to restore the countryside?
1. Restoring meadows
We are turning our pastures into diverse and vibrant meadows.
We do this by correct grazing management which allows many dormant seeds to sprout to life.
No overgrazing. Or undergrazing.
So rye grass has some competition in form of native grasses. These can outgrow rye grass easily, without being weaken by overgrazing.
We sometimes over-seed traditional grasses and herbs. Mostly in places where rye grass doesn’t want to give up.
Our livestock loves their diverse and herbal pastures. They pick and choose which plant and herb they need for the day.
No need for external supplements. No buckets, no licks, no medicines. Wildflower meadows provide it all. Naturally.
2. Managing grazing to increase soil health
Our animals graze a piece of pasture for just 1 or 2 days and do not return until 5 – 15 weeks later.
In this way, the grass and the land has fully recovered.
Over time, carbon and organic matter is increasing in the soil. It provides food source for microbes, fungi and other organisms that make up a healthy soil.
3. Planting hedgerows
In the past, many hedgerows have been ripped out. Farmers wished to increase size of their fields. And those hedges were in the way. But why? Because new big tractors arrived on the scene. They were huge. It was harder to do corners. I mean, spray them with herbicides and pesticides. So the hedges had to go.
Since our farmers don’t need tractors to raise livestock, they are doing the opposite. They are planting new hedgerows and restoring those they have.
Why bother?
Hedgerows are important bird nesting sites. They are a place of food, safety and shelter for birds, small mammals and insect.
4. Planting trees
We love trees.They are so versatile.
Livestock loves trees as well. When it’s hot and they need some shade. Or when it’s a blizzard and they need a shelter. They feel happy with trees. They also eat leaves of trees when they need a medicament. Or a super-food. They get minerals they need out of tree leaves. Animals are clever.
So we plant trees on our farms.
Wildlife loves trees too. There is never too many trees on a farm!
Do you think your countryside deserves to become vibrant again?
Support work of our farmers who are bringing back wildlife. And abundance.
About naturally nourishing food
It’s not just about producing a quality beef and lamb. For us, it’s about all the other things. The soil, land, wildlife and the planet.