Fencing the orchard
Posted: Saturday 22 October, 2011
Finally, Dan and John are starting the fencing in the orchard. We've had a few false starts and lots of planning but I think we're really underway. After a minor "whoops" this morning when we thought the timber company had delivered the wrong posts, they're off.
We've set aside a one acre paddock and plan to plant 100 apple trees. The acre will be divided into thirds and each third will accommodate a flock of 40 hens. Each hen pen will be divided into three smaller pens and the hens will spend 20 weeks on each in rotation, thus each pen gets a 40 week break during which it will be limed and reseeded, and possibly grazed by sheep depending on the season and whether we can adequately protect the trees.
The new drain seems to be helping the drainage in the orchard, even though it doesn't actually extend that far. There is a hedge on the west and north sides and a tree wind break on the south. We intend to plant some hedging through the trees there next year to improve its wind reduction capacity.
I've asked Dan to take some video of the work - a picture, after all, paints a thousand words 
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