10,000 WHEELBARROWS TO MOVE

So I don't have much time to make videos right now. It's the first week with a very small team here and we've had a lot to do. Just every time we introduce a new team at the farm takes a long time just to get to learn where things are. And we've had this massive job of just overhauling the beds. So we've done about two thirds of the beds now and then. Still all the wood chipping to do. But here's some little clips of the last days. Just give you a flavor of what we're up to in this glorious weather and spring in Sweden. When you and entering the toilet. Day one Gordon the Irish. Things are going downhill. So it's a big year for us. We are resurfacing all the beds and we're re wood chipping which seems to last about five years. This is 40 cubic meters and we've got easily 60 cubic meters of compost going down. We've had success tilting up the bedding. Compost that's got a lot of straw in with the tilther. And so now we're just covering. We're putting about four wheelbarrows per bed. And it seems like wheelbarrows are the most logistical easeful way of moving stuff. And then this is going to resurface all our paths because we're finding like the material that's been there originally is just disappearing now. A lot of stuff to move. South. Beds pre breakfast testing with the paper pot for spring onion. That's what this tool was designed for 45 years ago. And it's time to get these in the ground. You see they're yellowing off and we actually lifted them up off the air and you see they've air pruned themselves again, which is ideal. Good timing to get them in the ground. Logistics today the compost truck is stuck. Yesterday they dropped 40 cubic meters of compost on the road which we had to clear quickly. All part of the day's work. And he's pretty stuck. So we're just seeing if we can help dig out the tires. But last load came in okay. But we're moving about 20 cubic meters of stuff in there so it needs a few more deliveries like this. So this is now before brekkie. How are you finding the paper pot transplanter? Good. Just learning the ins and outs. Yeah, but yeah, it's way quicker. First spinach in. So here's a good example of some of the winter bedding where you've got a lot of straw left over and this is no good for the paper pot to run through. So we're using the tilper specifically to smash this stuff up, which becomes quite nice. And then we put in new compost and then we'll be putting new wood chips on top. So we're coming to take the rest of the timber, trying not to break our water line, which is in use now. But there's a bunch of mess to clean up here in top gale and a couple of days work to get the rest of the timber out. So I'll be cleaning up again. I've already cleaned all our timber off the plaster here. So we're moving about 50 tons of this compost. We're adding some cow and chicken manure to it. We've got a lot of wood chip. That's half of what we'll be putting on. But big resurfacing going on this year. You can see some of the beds are hammered after last year with the drought. And the reason why we're resurfacing is because you see where root crops are pulled out, it's just back to bare soil, which is no good. We want that covered up. So some beds are actually fine to replant straight away. But for the rest of them we're adding four or five hundred leaders. It's a big job but, you know, once every few years we're putting on this amount, then we're going to fill all this with wood chip. It's going to radically transform this. So big job at the start of the year. But this was set us up for the whole season. Gordon's getting the hang of the transplanter. Multi sown spring onions on the 5 centimeter chain. Beautiful. It's April. Dan's here, Gordon's here. Ragnar's sleeping day's finished. These guys are going swimming. The ice just melted last week and what do you reckon the temperature is, Danny? I'd say it's not so bad actually. Say hi to everyone on YouTube. Yes. Insects gonna eat it. We've put on some insect net on the brassicas here and we're still hardening off although we've raised up the trays on wood so that things don't root into the ground. And things seem to air prune themselves again even if we've left them a bit long. So that's good. Oh, Sako can eat. Oh, Saku, you can't sit on the bed. She doesn't eat insects. But yeah, things going good in here? It's. We're just bordering with one of these silly Things because we're not got the drip in installed. We'll have drip line in here for the tomatoes. But we've got too much with bed preparation to deal with everything but going well. Lots of good growth. Lovely spring days. You can see the forestry machine has got a day more after today picking up timber and then it's their job to fix up the pasture. So looking forward to that. Just see the birch trees all leafing out and green. Here's some of the soil erosion that's been going on since they cut the forestry. I've just come up to see what they're up to because they're clearing the last of the timber today and tomorrow. And I don't know, as I said before, I haven't made a video about the whole process because I just feel so gutted and looking back, I don't think I would have bothered cutting it ever. And based on what's happened and the mess they've made, I mean, they're in their contract to clean it up. But it's devastating and it's not worth the money. You know, it's a chunk of money in the bank, but it's. It's not worth the hassle and heartache that it's cost in the way. I don't mean that in any ungrateful way. I just think it was a really badly planned job and just bad timing with the weather. And there's a massive mess in our pasture to clean up, which is. I can't get eggmobiles out till they've done that. But I just. Yeah, my reflection on the whole thing in short summary is based on the mess that's been made, it's not really been worth the heartache and the cost. I mean, we had to cut this forestry at some point because our neighbors has the right of way through our farm. So it would have made the same mess if he was just cutting his forestry. But I think they could have done a much better job. To be honest, I'm pretty knocked at the attitude they have with such big machines and you know, just prioritizing their workflow and trashing fencing and plantings in the meantime. And I don't know, I don't want to be too bitter, but I. I wouldn't have bothered doing it based on the amount of money we get back in. It's, you know, it's just not worth the heartache really. So still a couple of weeks till hens arrive and hopefully the pasture will be cleared up. Where the forestry machine's been running. Things Change fast. At this time of year, it's really quick for everything to green up and it won't be long now until everything just bounces back into life. I'm really looking forward to it after the long winter. So bunch transplanted and it's going to be beautiful once we get the wood chip in here. Just learning the nuances with this paper pot transplanter. It takes a little bit of fiddling because different compost needs slightly different pressure. We've got the depth sorted now. First spinach is in, there's some turnips in, but it's going to look beautiful in here once we get the wood chip done, which is much lighter work. Shouldn't take so long, but nice to give the beds a whole fresh resurfacing here. I'm looking forward to seeing it really come alive soon. So busy, busy days. It's a lot of material we're moving. Leaves are just coming out on the trees now, which is beautiful. The whole landscape is going green suddenly after the long winter. But it's a massive job at the start of the year and so we're all exhausted already. A week in the weekend is coming up and we have some downtime to recuperate and the wood chips will also be a big job, but after that's done, it's kind of plain sailing for the season, so looking forward to it. Can just make out the cows. They're up in the old pig paddocks, keeping them off the grass until things really get going. You see, the. The pastures are greening up now, but it's going to be two, three weeks till we want to get the animals on the ground and start their rotation. So busy times and lots to do in the garden at the start of this year and we've got a bit of a break because poultry is not starting up for a couple of weeks yet, so. So it's timed pretty nicely and we should be. We're on target right now, which is great. And as people are here a bit longer, they get to know the ropes a bit better and we'll start zooming through. But it's going great so far and amazing work from an awesome team so far. Last load of composts today. We are doing 15 beds in here and then getting on with the wood chip just to have an easy Friday. Then We've still got 30 beds in here and then all the beds on the other side. Well, 20 beds on the other side. So again, there, some of the beds are fine. Like I was saying before, this is the chicken Compost, which is basically peat moss and chicken manure with the tilfer through it. And these beds would be ready to come go. We're going to add more compost just to get it all the same. These Apache beds that just had the same type of compost last year and there's bits of bare soil where we've just been pulling out leaks and stuff. So getting it all tidied up and by the end of the day, By the end of the day we should have at least a bunch of the wood chip in, which is going to be awesome. So this is the end result. We're just getting one of the caterpillars together. A week of moving stuff, but it's glorious. Back to the original condition with the wood chip in as well. Got a lot to do but squeaky clean. No weeding for us to do. We're watering early today so we can get off Friday afternoon, have a beer. So we transplanted a lot. Now here in the tunnel you can see the mitsuna that was the first test with the paper pot is doing well. First signs of flea beetle out. So we've covered this all up. Just watering in here. So here in south beds we haven't put in any of the wood chip yet, but we've got first kales, lots of spring onions, peas, spinaches in. It's going to look beautiful once the wood chips all in there. Up here on the east beds We've put in seven beds of asparagus, two rows on 30cm. We've put in some crowns and then the top beds. These are all the beds that aren't 10 meters, so we're putting flowers and do a few bouquets. Thought that'd be rather charming to have some flowers. But it's all going in north beds. Putting the wood chip in there. Well, this is what it looks like when we got the chips down deep. Compost and beautifully covered with chips. So no weeding for us. It's easiest for these paths to just barrow in wood chips in buckets seems to be the easiest way. We've got a bunch of spring onion in here, spinach and first turnips, mustard greens. Got the insect nets out. Beautiful. It's going to be a joy to have all this turn. Oh, perfect multi. This perfect spark. This is heritage Hiel Koo beef forest raised sausages. Gordon the Irish on bow and arrow. Shredded it. Goodbye forestry machine. Timber's all out down there and we're on the last 30 or so beds. Last bit of compost still a lot of wood chip to move. Gustavo is on fire. What a beautiful back garden. We do live in a magical place, that's for sure. It. So we finally got around to cladding this wash station, Just setting it up for the season. We're not going to be harvesting for a while yet, taking stuff off to harden off. So a week later, all beds have renewed compost and We've got about 60 beds of crops in and started direct seeding already. So we're doing great. Things are taking well. Just got all the wood chipping to do now, but it's a dry year. Groundwater is super low this year and there's already fire warnings for grass and forest fires here in Vamland. And if it's as dry as last year, we're in real trouble because of the lack of resources in the ground. Having all this new compost on the beds is really going to help and we're just going to have to do our best. We only water from our pond, so if the streams dry up again. You remember last year, you know, it was devastating. There was dry stream beds with dead brown trout lying in the bottom. And it's a disaster for everything. But it's. It's hopefully not going to be so dry. They predicted it'll be dry in the start of the year and then rain later on, but temperatures seem like they're going to drop towards the weekend. It might go down to zero and snow again. So we'll have to cover up all these crops with row covers and make sure everything's good. We got a nice early start to the season, but you've got to be aware of the seasonal changes and just be ready for the weather to drop down. It can happen all the way into June, but we've done extremely well for a small team. We've moved, you know, 70 cubic meters of compost, over a hundred tons of stuff in a week. So we only started last Tuesday and it's Monday now and we've had a really nice weekend off. We've been having beautiful barbecues and taking time easy. So that's a big part of this year for us is like finding really good work and play balance. And we've been having a lot of fun, so some busy days ahead still. We've got basically three weeks till the first training at the farm and that involves getting all the yurts up, caterpillar tunnels up, getting our birds out on pasture and starting the rotational grazing and just generally getting things tidied up after the forestry work. But an epic start. We've done really well to move all this material and probably a day, a day and a half of moving wood chips still to go. Well, that's it for now, folks. It's been really tiresome, but amazing week just to introduce a new team and we've been having a lot of amazing food and nice times and beautiful weather. It's just been glorious. And I'm pretty tanned already for April in Sweden. But yes, thanks so much for watching, folks. A little update on the book. I've had some amazing praise from people like Joel Salatin, and it's been really heartwarming because my editors told me I've got a lot of work to do, but it seems like this book's really gonna set a standard in the genre, hopefully, and I'm really, you know, proud of that. And I also know that there's a whole load of work to do, so it's gonna be delayed. It'll be later in the summer, hopefully that we get. So I'll let you know as I know, but I, you know, it's going to take a while and that's the process that we're in. But we're having a great time at the farm. I'm going to hopefully be putting out more videos now as we really get going on the ground with this extraordinary start to the year and letting you know what's going on, how we're responding to the drought and how it's affecting us, etc. So I look forward to making a bunch of videos as we get going with birds on the pasture and things rolling again in this beautiful place that we're in. Thanks so much for watching. 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