Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland

All the snow certainly seemed to bring Christmas in with a bang! The pregnant ewes were top of our list for food and water and they were pretty keen to be fed! The woodland is continuing through its re-generation process and it is really starting to take shape! We also have some fantastic native plants to put in the under growth which will encourage more wildlife. There is lots going on with the veg beds but for now it is safely tucked away under a layer of compost! The winter pots on the other hand are showing off in all…
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End of April update…

The horses have now moved onto their summer grazing and are very happy to have lots of lovely grass to gorge themselves on! We went up there on Friday morning to find all of them having a morning snooze! Basil couldn't even make the effort to stand up and greet us... The farm shop is slowly filling up again, with lots of contributions from the wood work team. The shop will fill up with lots of produce from the vegetable beds over the next few months... Summer hanging baskets will be available to order soon, in the mean time the…
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Weather Watching!

The difference in weather during the space of a couple of weeks has been remarkable! Hopefully this week will see the real arrival of spring and we can enjoy some good weather! Minus the April showers if possible! The heater which keeps the young plants warm during the spring cold snaps decided that it would be a good time to break down, and as a result we lost some of our young bedding plants unfortunately. The remaining plants got treated to a few nights in the office until the new heater arrived to put in the green house. The gardening…
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Busy times!

As usual we are all trying to keep up with the weather at the farm! All the materials needed to make this years hanging baskets have arrived, with a bit more warm weather the plants will be ready to go in them ready for a brilliant summer display! Over the last two weeks almost everyone has been helping to cut back the hazel nut and hawthorn trees in the top horse field so that over the next two years we can train them to grow in a hedge. Billie's eye is on the mend, she's still under the supervision of…
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Update time!

Wow time soon disappears and we haven't updated anyone for a couple of weeks on what has been happening at the farm sorry! The weather has made a dramatic difference and has given everything a kick-start in its preparations for spring! The horses have started to lose their winter coats and the green house is filling up with lots of plants and vegetable seedlings. We will soon be taking full advantage of eating our lunch in the sunshine and overlooking the field on Berry's cafes brilliant decking. Please be sure to pop down and have a coffee or lunch with…
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Snow fun!

What a change the weather has bought! The farm is under a blanket of snow, all the horses have their nice warm rugs on and the chickens are in the stable keeping warm! Everyone at the farm would like to thank everyone involved with fun in the park in Solihull, organised by Solihull's Soroptomist society. They have very generously raised £1500 for the farm! The money will be put to good use around the farm and we would once again like to thank all those that went to and organised the day! As you can see the blog has changed…
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We can’t get enough of digging…

We just can't get enough of digging here at NBF and now we have moved all the sand into the arena it was time for a new challenge. Que 120 tonnes of top soil kindly donated by the NEC for us to use around the farm.  It looks like we have some super size moles around the farm! Thank you so much to the team at the NEC for dropping it off to us and for letting us have it. It's already made its way into the cottage garden and will be making its way down to the veg beds…
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Quiet time…

Well compared to shovelling all the sand last week, this week has been a little quieter on the farm. The sand is in the arena and our new motto has been roll roll roll! We will hopefully be getting the rubber to go on top as soon as possible and we will soon be able to use the arena as much as possible! There is some exciting news in the horse care, with a new addition arriving on Monday!  Badger is a 13hh piebald (black and white) gelding (boy) who has a lovely easy going nature and a very chilled out attitude towards life!  There aren't any pictures of…
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Horse arena construction…

The arena has started to be filled with the new surface and already 70 tonnes of silica sand has made its way to the farm all the way from Cheshire. Once all the sand is in we will add a top layer of rubber to ensure a nice springy surface to work on and ride the horses in. Here's a little about what we have done so far... Laid a hardcore base layer Put a geotextile membrane down for the surface to lie on Spread silica sand 10cm thick all over and roll, roll, roll! We still have lots to…
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Boat anyone???

Well the weather is definatley testing out everyone's patience here at the farm! None of us know whether to wear waterproofs or sun cream! But as always there has been lots to do an its been yet another busy week. Firstly a huge thank you to a group of seven Lloyds bank staff who came to the farm to volunteer last week! One of the veg beds is now ready to plant up with some thing tasty for chef to use in the cafe! And another huge thank you goes to National grid again. Another group came to the farm all day…
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