I'm excited about this for several reasons, not least because it means I'm progressing through the Land Management design that formed part of my diploma portfolio. It was really interesting reading back on this design over a year after it was finished (and two after it was started) so I thought it would be useful to go through my pattern level design to see where I'm up to.
Plans for 2018
We moved here in February 2018, and very much planned for 2018 to be an observation year, with some small, non-permanent projects. This is pretty much how it turned out.
We got our first chickens! We acquired four rescue hens in September 2018 and have had a succession of chickens ever since. This is easily one of my favourite things we've done. I adore them.
My plans for 2019 were a little more ambitious, and we achieved some, but not all of them.
First of all, some major building work - we had the joists replaced in the kitchen ceiling. This was an epic job, involving a lot of stress, but at least it was the only big thing to do to the house that we couldn't do ourselves.
We also planned other DIY projects, and did one of them - decorating the hall. The others remain undone - we've not yet finished the kitchen or the bedrooms.
Also planned for 2019 was a hay harvest, which we achieved - this was part of another diploma design about restoring a traditional hay meadow. I was unable to get someone to come and scythe the meadow, so ended up doing some of it by hand, and letting the neighbour's cows in to eat the rest.
Our other plans for 2019 - removing the small garage, and weatherproofing the chicken run, did finally get done in 2020.
Plans for 2020
Ah, 2020. I think everyone's plans have got a little awry this year. Still, we got some things done. We had the small garage removed, and it's made such a big difference to views and light from both the front garden and the house.
Plans for 2021
So what's on the cards for 2021? More DIY - on the list was the living room and music room, but priority needs to remain with the kitchen, then the bedrooms, then the bathroom. I doubt we'll get all that done in 2021.
We want to create a small seating structure of some kind in the sanctuary field, to sit and look at this view.
I got quite anxious about the whole thing last week, and I'm trying to drag myself out of that by (a) being rational (who exactly do I think is going to tell me off, and do they have any real reason to?) and (b) getting other people excited. I've spoken to everyone I know who is knowledgeable about trees (a surprising number of people), and while several of them have expressed (different) opinions about whether the planting plan is appropriate, they've all been enthusiastic about the overall project.
We've got aspen, beech, blackthorn, crab apple, elder, field maple, hazel, willow, rowan, sessile oak, and silver birch. One friend thinks it's not warm enough here for maple, and not dry enough for beech, and he would have expected alder and Scots pine. Another says there are too many blackthorns, and I'll be fighting my way through a Sleeping Beauty style thicket within a year or two. I suppose there's never one right way to do anything like this. It might not be what others would have chosen, but I'm going with the tree list provided by the national park (who are, after all, providing the trees and paying for the planting).
Anyway. In the process of getting other people excited, I've become more excited about the whole thing myself. I think there's a lesson in there somewhere.
So that's where we are in terms of my land management design at the end of 2020. We've done plenty of other things, of course (including creating a fenced area for growing veg), but that was part of a separate plan.
I might spend some time this winter updating the overall land management design. It gets very vague after 2021, and I feel like we're in a better position to make some other decisions now we've got this far. Watch this space.