£500 of Wood

Just what does £500 of wood look like..?

Prior to the end of July this year Rayburn offered £500 of free wood for orders confirmed before the month was out. It seemed too good an offer to miss as we needed to replace our old range cooker, but nobody could really tell me what that value of timber would mean physically. Today the answer arrived at around 3pm.

 The 1.4m high stack on the pallet is made up of 80 bags of quartered logs, six boxes of kindling and 2 boxes of natural firelighters. Each bag contains around 12 logs, dried and ready to fuel the new Rayburn when it arrives in October.

I had to smile when I eventually found the name of the supplier under all of that plastic: 'Certainly Wood', very clever.

http://www.certainlywood.co.uk/

Word Cultura; Agri v Horti

What's the difference between agriculture and horticulture?

Horticulture

The industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings.

Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic engineering, plant biochemistry, and plant physiology. The work involves fruits, berries, nuts, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs, and turf. Horticulturists work to improve crop yield, quality, nutritional value, and resistance to insects, diseases, and environmental stresses.

The word horticulture is modeled after agriculture, and comes from the Latin hortus 'garden' and cultūra 'cultivation', from cultus, the perfect passive participle of the verb colō 'I cultivate.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the development of civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science.

The word agriculture is the English adaptation of Latin agricultūra, from ager, 'a field' and cultūra, "cultivation" in the strict sense of "tillage of the soil". Thus, a literal reading of the word yields 'tillage of a field / of fields'.

Straw Lessons

We're buying pigs!

And pigs need bedding and a house to live in. I'll write more about the pigs as the time nears to pick them up. Preparation however is everything. The breeder advised against buying specially designed pig ark accommodation as that can be difficult to move and the plan is for the pigs to earn their keep by helping with land clearance, so they'll be moving around the farm. She recommended building a house from straw bales and using corrugated tin for the roof. Luckily we haven't scrapped all of the latter just yet and we have some clean pieces we can use. So straw for the walls and bedding, but what straw and where from..?

I don't how many times I've driven past the church at Knayton just off to the left of the A19 south of Teesside... I've often wondered how such a large church came to be so remote from a congregation; it looks as if the village has been removed, leaving the church behind. Tomorrow I'll get a bit closer to knowing a little more as I'll be collecting straw from the adjacent farm. It looks to be a large concern: http://www.gepeacock.co.uk/index.php 

Finding the straw was actually the first challenge; typically the agricultural industry poorly presented the desired information, as with many others products and services, on-line. Google searches revealed some independent suppliers, with a five or six on eBay, but none in our immediate area. Fortunately Peacocks, apparently a large business, have a relatively good web presence and one phone call saw a deal done for 20 bales, at £2.50 per bale, about an hour and 30 minutes drive away.

'Straw is an agricultural by-product, the dry stalks of cereal plants, after the grain and chaff have been removed. Straw makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat.' (source: Wikipedia)

If fresh straw is provided pigs will keep their house clean; they do not urinate ordefecate in their house, so straw in their house will last quite a while. In fact, pigs prefer to sleep on clean dry straw at night. How many bales we'll actually need for bedding is a question and an answer we'll have to leave to experience. The dilemma is one of supply and demand; later this year supply will diminish as demand increases with the inevitable price increases and scarcity. A recent report on the Farmers Weekly website examined the pressures on supply as a result of the 2011 spring drought: 'Plan for for straw shortage, farmers urged': http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2011/06/27/127538/Plan-for-for-straw-shortage-farmers-urged.htm

But straw isn't just straw... Nothing is that simple!

'Straw has good thermal properties and moderate absorption capacity, making it an effective bedding material. Usually, pig farms use wheat and barley straw and occasionally oat straw, some may even use bean straw. However, due to changes in cropping and weather conditions it could mean the range of straw and bedding types used may need to become wider. Wheat straw is the most commonly type for bedding...' (source: pigsite.com)

So, with a borrowed trailer, I'll be headed around the Moors via Stokesley to Knayton tomorrow to buy our wheat straw. Can't wait...