Playing With Water

Since we will not be making silage this year as we had enough left from last year and will be making hay weather permitting instead, we have used the dry season to begin some other projects which have been on the list for a few years.

A new drive entrance, replacing the current North drive by Comielaw,  the issue being a blind summit when exiting the North Drive, and the new entrance is intended to make the turning much safer. A chance to get busy with laser levels, construction kit and best of all a Risk Assessment before starting. Overhead power lines, underground services and diggers are not great bedfellows.

Farmstrong Having just completed a Farmstrong course with Cameron Dickie on problem solving, we put the tools to use immediately and came up with some pretty colourful plans.

Highlighted by the swing from wet seasons to dry extremes, we have also been playing with water. Digging several ponds at Balcormo which have been created and planted with bullrush and iris. The purpose was initially driven as the water coming from old mine workings in Newton of Balcormo is full of Iron Oxide, creating rust red Ochre bloom when it reaches air. Historically it was piped to the Dreel Burn, where the oxidation happened, but as part of the “Dreel Burn Clean-up” the drain has been diverted through one of the ponds to oxidise and clean up before re-entering the watercourse. In turn it also catches floodwater and retains a constant water body for wildlife, encourages diverse species and looks pretty.

In addition, new flood ponds have been created to take flash flood water from the road during heavy rain and filter/slow it down to prevent flooding in the units at Balcormo Farm and control flow into the Dreel Burn.

 

From Saturday 14^th June, we will be hosting Balcaskie Community Engagement event at Bowhouse. This documents some of the milestones over the past 20 years and explains the direction of the estate in the next 20 years. The process is one which is being encouraged by Scottish Government, to be more open about land use/management, and we thought that the best way to show this was to take a look back too, showing what has been achieved and giving some context to the future. If you are in the area and would like to drop in, we will be leaving the display up at Bowhouse for the following week after the market.