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Photo Credits: Roe Deer, Claudia Coggan / Mangalitza Pig, Lexy Foxley-Johnson
It has been a very wet winter, which gave us a good chance to see how our soils were changing. Drone footage showed us that our soil infiltration rate has improved, with surface water soaking into the ground more quickly in these extreme weather events.
Enjoying those soils, are our trees and scrub.
“Being part of Wilder Doddington brings me hope that the world can be healed, and we can hand over a healthier planet to future generations. Our initial activities are revealing steady and consistent results, enabling even more ambitious plans to be put in place, which is so exciting to be a part of. Our growing community, full of enthusiasm, commitment, and can-do attitude, gives me a very special sense of belonging, and the personal growth I have gained from spending time with these full-hearted and widely experienced people has been immeasurable. All in all, I know that the future is in good hands at Wilder Doddington.”
“One of the reasons I volunteer for Wilder Doddington is that I believe farming for nature is fundamental in combating climate change, and for our health. It gives me hope that others will follow in their footsteps.”
“I see rewilding as a way of future proofing the joy of the outdoors for my grandchildren.”
“Hope comes through job satisfaction. This job was under a very prickly, deep thorn hedge several hundred yards long, perhaps 30 years old. The original shrubs had been planted a foot apart. Some had died. Many had developed additional shoots. And most were still embraced by the original square, tough, plastic tree guards often going six inches into the soil and tightly held inside and out. This posed a completely different challenge to the thinner, more modern and brittle spiral guards which can be unwound, or prised/sliced off if they haven’t already splintered.
A short-handled daisy root grubber, a Stanley knife, a very old coat, gloves and hat, and a kneeling mat were the necessary tools. Crawling ability was also handy. The root grubber then created some wriggle room inside and outside the guard box . The knife, low cunning and brute force did the rest. Over a few two hour sessions I achieved about half of the length. The bags of hard-won tree guards show I’d made a difference. Other volunteers did the rest of the hedge soon after. And thus plastic had been removed from another part of the Doddington Estate. That in itself brings hope.
And that hope is strengthened when walking along the track by this hedge with a class of pupils from a local primary school knowing that this particular area is now free of non-biodegradable material and won’t be part of their legacy!”
