Charcoal, Saddlebacks and Best Wishes

What's the best way to keep warm over winter? Make charcoal. Standing next to the burner on cold winter days on top of the Mendip plateau is the green way to get a glow on. Alex from Chew Valley Charcoal is taking up residence at Fernhill Farm. He takes wood from loads of local woodlands, helping those small woods that are in desperate need of tending. Visitors will be able to take away bags of charcoal and get that Mendip glow in their own home or on the BBQ!

Talking of winter, we're holding a Ladies Christmas Fair in the new barns in aid of Priddy Pre-school. It will be on November 29th. We're after any stall holders who want to sell their wares. Get in touch with us for more details. 

We're selling pedigree Saddleback Maiden gilts and some weaners in the coming weeks. Get in touch with me to discuss prices etc. If you have no idea what a pedigree Saddleback gilt is go to www.saddlebacks.org.uk to discover the wonderful world of Saddlebacks.

Best wishes to the 3rd brood of house-martins who've set of on the epic journey south. We always take it as the sign that summer has nearly arrived on Mendip when the house-martins come back. Til then I'm off to stroke my Saddlebacks!

The Mendip Mind

We Love Wet Summers!

Well, to be more precise our waste water treatment process, commonly known as a reedbed,  loved the wet summer. Back in April it was just a field, a few months later we've got a wetland system that treats all our waste water. Filtering it down through a series of ponds full of native plants and thousands of willows around the edge. The willows have grown 6ft in as many months. You can almost sit and watch them grow. The amount of wildlife around the ponds is fantastic. Standing water is a rare habitat on Mendip, water just seeps through the limestone geology normally, leaving great caves but few ponds. So the reedbed is cleaning our water and providing an incredible home for wildlife.

We had the Mendip Hills AONB Service Sustainable Development Fund panel up today for a guided tour of the reedbed and wood burning boiler, which they helped to fund.  They also got to have a bowl of home made soup in the new barn that was opened a month or so ago. More about the the semi-circular barns next week though.

The Mendip Mind