With camping taking a back seat for a while we have finally given ourselves the time to work on a new website for our alpaca walks and handmade crafts. www.freerangefibre.co.uk
We are still pottering around in the background getting ready for what we hope will be a late opening season. But a quieter, more reflective time has allowed us to slow down and take a look at the bigger picture on the farm. We love our animals and working with their natural fibre and would like to develop this further.
We have been planning to make changes for a while as the pressures of rising expenses on our small farm continue to increase every year. Our smaller fields also make life difficult for farm contractors with large machinery.
Small fields are perfect for dividing up as plots for grazing however, and so the idea of introducing herbal leys and restoration grassland across the farm was born. Herbal leys provide the perfect mixed diet for grass fed animals, but also a fantastic habitat for insects, birds and other farm wildlife. We would need help to manage the new environment as we don’t have enough sheep or alpacas to graze an 80 acre farm. By providing top notch grazing for other local farms producing specialist meat boxes we can manage the land for the benefit of the environment and support local businesses. I am currently in the middle of putting together a Mid Tier Countryside Stewardship application that will help us to make the change next year to low input, grass fed livestock and environmental plots for farmland birds and insects.
The change will give us wonderful grazing for our own fibre producers as this part of our farm business grows. We have been developing a range of products using our alpaca fibre over the past couple of years, and this year we are also hoping to process our sheep fleeces. So whilst I have been putting an application together, Neel has been busy creating a new website for our alpaca walks, with an online shop where you can buy yarn, felted soaps and handmade crafts. We hope you like it!