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Category Archives: tools
Visit to Chagfood CSA in Devon
(or “what Joanne did on her holidays…”) I’m not very good at holidays. That’s to say I spend a lot of my time away thinking about, and planning the future of, The Oak Tree. Last week Richard and I headed … Continue reading
Posted in building, community supported agriculture, CSA Network, cultivation, general news, harvest, local food, tools
Tagged Chagfood, ideas, tractor, visit
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Creating our new irrigation system
Last weekend saw the arrival of this beast, hired for the weekend to dig the trenches for our new irrigation system! Many thanks to The Big Lottery Fund for making this possible! Aha! I hear you say … that is … Continue reading
Posted in general news, low carbon, tools
Tagged ditch witch, irrigation
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Electronic Wizardry at The Oak Tree
The observant CSA member may have notied Joanne’s other half, Richard, more busy than usual with all kinds of boxes of electronic gadgetry at the farm: a box of strange looking control panels has appeared in the main shed and … Continue reading
Posted in chicks, cultivation, general news, tools
Tagged labs, soil temperature
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Introducing Fraser’s extraordinary veg box carrier
I did have to smile last week when Fraser came to collect his neighbourhood groups veg boxes last week. Fraser is a talented mechnical engineer whose innovations are to be seen around the farm (including as co-designer of our bicycle … Continue reading
Posted in community supported agriculture, general news, local food, low carbon, tools
Tagged bicycle, bike, veg box carrier
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Tracking temperature at the farm
Richard has built a box of electronics wizardry that will track the temperature of a number points around the farm. These are the first results from one of the polytunnels… interesting to see the temperature dropping below zero – too … Continue reading
Posted in climate change, general news, tools
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Harvesting potatoes at the Oak Tree
We have a new attachment for the tractor, a potato lifter to get the potatoes to the surface where they can be bagged ready for storage. Harvesting the potatoes was great teamwork – Frans found this fine toad which we … Continue reading
Posted in community supported agriculture, cultivation, general news, tools, wildlife
Tagged harvets, potato lifter, potatoes, toad
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Breakdowns and a learning curve
I’m sat at home (ten minutes from the Oak Tree) here waiting for a bottle of specialist tractor oil to be delivered which I then have to get into an impossibly small looking hole on the rotovator fitting, and then … Continue reading
Posted in general news, tools
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Home made cold frames
Many people have admired our lovely coldframes. I’ll come clean and admit that I didn’t make them, Richard did! He’s written how he built them, in case anyone is interested.