Hay harvest and appropriate technology

After 4 days of intensive labour last Wednesday we finished the first part of our hay harvest. Inspired by the success of using our hay as fodder for the sheep last winter, this year we wanted to harvest as much hay as possible, even though the hay harvest is the most demanding work we have on the farm.

There are different ways of cutting the grass (and storing it when dried) and this is where the dilemmas come; deciding what is the most appropriate method of cutting the grass and how best to store it.
You need to take into consideration that only a small part of our farm is suitable for tractor use, most of the farm is on a steep slope and some fields have a many small rocky out crops. Hay harvest needs to be done whilst there is good dry weather and you never know how long the good weather is going to last. So once you have started you want to get it done as fast as possible in the case the weather changes, (the hay will most probably spoil if it gets too wet.) In choosing a cutting method we also take into consideration how sustainable the chosen method is, its environmental impacts, and the culture and tradition behind hay harvesting.

This year we used three different methods for cutting our hay, they were a hand held scissor mower, a strimmer fitted with a hay cutting blade and a scythe. The method we used in each area depended principally on the terrain.

José Luis (Andres's father) with the scissor mower.

Andres’s father came to cut our largest flattest field with his scissor mower. The machine (over 15 years old) is very well suited to moderate slopes, and it is by far the fastest way of cutting. One person goes in front to check the grass being cut doesn’t clog up the machine, one person guides the machine and one person goes behind clearing the grass which has been cut from the grass to be cut. It uses a relatively small amount of petrol for the amount of hay it cuts. This enabled us to get a large area cut at the beginning of the good weather period and start the drying process as soon as possible.

Dried hay waiting to be bailed

.I used our strimmer fitted with a special blade for cutting hay, this was done mostly in the areas where there are stony out crops. It would be impossible to use a scissor mower here and hard going with the scythe. The strimmer is the least environmentally friendly method and one of our more questionable practises, but it does help us maintain some of the species rich habitats and helps get the job done when time is a premium.

Nigel useing the strimmer in a stoney area

The scythe is the traditional method for cutting the hay and many small fields in Asturias are still cut by scythe. We started using a scythe last year for cutting the meadows and this year cut well over a third of the total area with the scythe. It’s a pleasure to watch a person use a scythe and is the most sustainable method. Most places can be cut with a scythe except in amongst the very rocky areas.

Hugh cutting with a scythe

We wanted to bale as much hay as possible this year as it can then be easily transported and stored. A tractor comes to bale the hay, but we only have one small meadow which is accessible for the tractor. The hay we cut from the other meadows we transported by tractor this year (as we were moving it up hill) where as last year we used a wheelbarrow to move about 300kgs of hay!

One of many journeys last year with the wheel barrow moving 300kgs of dried hay.

Jaunra moving 300kgs of dried hay in one journey this year

When you start to think about the different possible ways of cutting, transporting and storeing hay it’s a good point to reflect on appropriate technology.

Appropriate technology (AT) is technology that is designed with special consideration to the environmental, ethical, cultural, social and economical aspects of the community it is intended for. With these goals in mind, AT typically requires fewer resources, is easier to maintain, and has a lower overall cost and less of an impact on the environment compared to industrialized practices. The term is usually used to describe simple technologies suitable for use in developing nations or less developed rural areas of industrialized nations. It is also often used by communities more interested in a sustainable lively hood. Appropriate technology usually prefers labor intensive solutions over capital intensive ones.

The term intermediate technology (coined by E. F. Schumacher) is similar to appropriate technology. It refers specifically to tools and technology that are significantly more effective and expensive than traditional methods, but still an order of magnitude (one tenth) cheaper than developed world technology.

Tiggy (one of our cats) inspecting the hay
So what’s the appropriate technology for us to use to cut hay?

“Endemic” flora on the farm.

Anthyllis vulneraria ssp. iberica, ladies finger (a subspecies of kidney vetch) – endemic to the coastal zones of western Europe.

“Endemic” is a word that gets bandied around quite a lot, yet by itself it tells us nothing. If a species is endemic, it means that the species is unique to a particular area (or habitat/ecosystem), and does not occur naturally outside that area, and for this to be meaningful we need that area to be defined also. Some defined areas can be very small (northern Spain) or very large (continental Eurasia), and the habitat/ecosystem can range from localised (the Fynbos on the southern cape of Africa) to extensive (the Mediterranean basin). In reality, any species can be referred to as endemic if we broaden the definition enough – even the omnipresent annual meadow-grass (Poa annua) is endemic to Planet Earth (probably!).

Now that the dry science is out of the way, we can get down to the farm. Of the 345 flora species we have recorded so far, none are endemic to the farm! But the natural ranges of several are restricted enough for us to refer to them as endemic, as long as we define the area. One species and one subspecies are defined as being “endemic to the Cordillera Cantabrica” – the Cordillera Cantabrica being the 480km long mountain range that runs from País Vasco (the Basque Country) to Galicia, via Asturias. Four other species and two subspecies are defined as being endemic to larger areas than this, but are still quite localised when viewed from a global perspective.

Saxifraga canaliculata (a saxifrage with no English name) – endemic to the Cordillera Cantabrica.

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Crepis albida ssp. asturica, the Asturian hawksbeard (unofficial English name) – endemic to the Cordillera Cantabrica.


Helictotrichon cantabricum, the Cantabrian oat-grass (unofficial English name) – endemic to the Cordillera Cantabrica, Pyrenees, and the north of the Iberian peninsula.


Linaria triornithophora, the three-birds-flying toadflax – endemic to the northwest of the Iberian peninsula.


Teucrium pyrenaicum, the Pyrenean germander – endemic to southwestern France and northern Spain.



Genista hispanica ssp. occidentalis, the western subspecies of Spanish greenweed – endemic to southwestern France, and the north and centre of the Iberian peninsula.

Narcissus bulbodicum, the scented narcissus – endemic to southwestern Europe (southwest France, Spain and Portugal).

But, however you define endemic, there’s always plenty of stunning flowers to enjoy on the farm!

Entry by Hugh Taylor

Strawberries

Tempting desserts served in the hotel restaurant; strawberry and hazelnut slice

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With the aim of trying to increase the proportion of food we produce for the hotel restaurant we planted various types of soft fruit including strawberries in the winter of 2007. Last year we harvested a small crop of strawberries from those plants which then had only been planted six months. This year with the strawberry plants eighteen months old we are getting bumper crops, picking over a kilo of fruit a day.

Strawberries in the vegatable garden waiting to be picked.

It’s actually quite a lot of strawberries for us to use fresh in the restaurant at the moment even though it is almost full most nights. So as well as serving fresh strawberries, Joe is making a lot of mouth watering deserts such as a strawberry and hazelnut slice or a meringue biscuit with strawberries and a kirsch cream. She is also preparing strawberry ice cream and strawberry sorbet and even strawberry jam which can be used later in the year.

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Freshly picked strawberries

When we have a lot of one particular produce coming from the garden Joe is very talented and imaginative in finding different ways of serving it. So last week strawberries were even included in the salad bar in a rather adventurous dish consisting of strawberries in modena vinegar with asparagus, an asparagus and mint jelly and leaf beet. All very tempting.

Imaginative salads

Buen aproveche.

Samantha

Samantha working in the hotel kitchen.

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At the end of last year our daughter Samantha decided that when she finished her studies she wanted to work in the hotel this season. She had been studying social and cultural animation studies in Gijon and finished her 6 month training period at the end of March. During this training period she worked 3 months at the gipsy association in Gijon, 2 months at a farm school near Oviedo and at a special needs school in Italy for a month.

So at the beginning of April Samantha started working in the hotel, primarily helping Joe in the kitchen making the breads and cakes amongst other culinary delights. She has a natural flare for cooking and is a great help for Joe. She also helps serving in the restaurant and in reception receiving guests when necessary. It notices that her animation studies have helped her gain confidence when dealing with people, but she still has a lovely spontaneous natural way with people.

Samantha on top of a mountain.

Samantha has been a vegetarian for four years now and has an interest in vegetarian cooking, and would like to learn more about it, when she finishes working with us in the autumn. She also has an interest in artisan crafts and enjoys walking. Her boyfriend Andres comes from a family of farmers who keep animals which graze the mountain pastures in the summer.

Samantha and her boyfriend Andres.

Finally I must say I think she is doing very well this year, having to work and live with her parents, it can’t be easy

Dry-stone walling

A completed section of a stone wall.

Think of a farming landscape. Chances are there’ll be a dry-stone wall in it somewhere. But dry-stone walls are as much a product of the landscape as vice versa, because most of them have been made from the local stones. Indeed, they serve two purposes as far as farming is concerned – livestock control (keeping farm animals in and wild animals out), and a convenient way of getting rid of all those bits of rock and stone that are littering your fields and being a nuisance, without having to lug them too far. It often seems as though the latter is the most important reason! Seriously though, to use only what you see about you could almost be the definition of “sustainable”.
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Fitting into the landscape.

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They are called “dry” stone walls not because they are only built on nice sunny days (far from it…), but because of the absence of cement. It could indeed be argued that a dry-stone wall will last longer than a cemented-together wall, not just because stone is a far more durable material than cement, but also because a wall will settle over time, and the absence of cement allows some fluidity within the structure, so that it can move a little without falling over. Plus it will look nicer, be easier to repair or take down if necessary, be a haven for wildlife (lots of small nooks and crannies for animals to live in and plants to root in), and avoid the enormous carbon-footprint due to the use of cement.
A good dry-stone wall will not last for decades – it will last for generations if not centuries. The walls we are repairing at the moment were around long before Hotel Posada del Valle was dreamed of, and only need repairing now due to damage by minor landslides, fallen trees and construction machinery. Around the farm, and indeed the whole area, are walls that have stood there longer than anyone can remember. By seeing where they are, they help us work out the past history of the land.

The three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle

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I love dry-stone walls, and enjoy building them too. They are three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles, and when you’ve finished you don’t just get a pretty picture to break up and put back in the box, you get a useful landscape feature that should still be there long after you’ve gone (the pieces are a bit heavier though…). You start with the heaviest stones as your foundations – they make a good solid base to your wall (they should be dug into the ground a little way) and they don’t need lifting into place, just rolling. Then you build up in layers of uniform depth (in an ideal world!), until you get to almost the height you want. Every now and again you include a “through-stone” to knit the two outer faces of the wall together for extra stability. To finish off, a layer of “topping” or “coping” stones are added – and this is where most of the regional diversity of walls is evident. Here in limestone Asturias it is usual to have biggish flattish rectangular stones laid across the top, but in other parts of the world it can be thin flat stones laid on top, or stood up on their ends, or other variations. The top stones bring the wall up to your desired height (enough to stop the sheep jumping over it), join the two sides of the wall together, and exert pressure to keep the rest of the wall in place. And there you have it, a dry-stone wall.
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A foundation layer ready to be built upon.

A layer of topping stones to finish the wall.

Entry written by Hugh Taylor

Our First Farm Open Day

Sharing information is one of the most important aspects of the work we do at Hotel Posada del Valle. We have a long-term objective of trying to show that diverse cropping systems and organic farming are a sustainable and viable alternative to industrial monocropping

Talking about the narrow bed production system and crop rotation in the vegetable garden.

To this end we planned 2 farm open days for 2009 and held our first yesterday morning with just over 20 people attending. The majority of the people who attended were from eastern Asturias.

Discussing polycropping in the apple orchard

We walked around the farm and looked at the apple orchards, the sheep, horses and chickens and talked about mixed grazing. Next we visited the vegetable garden and finally the meadows where we discussed the advantages for growers and farmers of encouraging biodiversity. There was also plenty of opportunity for participants to share ideas and information. The walk lasted about 2 hours and was followed by a lovely informal light lunch prepared by Joe.

Looking at compost making (and trying to ignore the dog)

For us this was also a learning process, (not only hearing from other people about their own experiences,) but how to organise such events, question who is interested in these issues and how can we encourage people to reflect on them. From the feedback we got people had an enjoyable day, and I am sure we shall carry on organising similar events.

Discussing the benefits of biodivesity in one of the wild flower meadows.

The farm is always open for hotel guests and there is the marked farm trail with informative “panels”, and its particularly attractive at this time of year with the wild flower meadows vibrant with colour.

A stroll through Asturias

When accepting Nigel and Joann’s invitation to write an entry for their Hotel Blog, I began to wonder what I had taken on and why. The why bit came easily. It was several years ago (6 to be precise), when we first came to Asturias and stayed as guests at the Hotel Posada del Valle – 6 years since we first fell in love with Asturias and all it had to offer – so much so we now live here permanently. The hotel was a great base for exploring and experiencing Asturias and the Picos de Europa mountains. Nestled on the side of a magnificent valley with the Suave mountain range as a backdrop, who could fail to be impressed with the stunning scenery and landscapes.
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Asturias prides itself, and markets itself on the concept of being a “natural paradise” that incorporates lush, wooded valleys, majestic mountain ranges, lowland and mountain pastures and unspoilt beaches and coastline – each offering a unique and rich tapestry of wild fauna and flora. Now what to write about?

There is no doubt that the “Natural Paradise” is a great place in which to live, work and holiday however, there are other aspects of Asturias that don’t often get the recognition they deserve – the people, their customs and their history. Of course, Asturias enjoys the trappings and benefits of modern life with cities such as Oviedo, Gijon and Aviles, busy commercial centres are never that far away - but not too distant, is a way of life that is more gentile and less pressured – a way of life that harks back to the days of the extended family, communities coming together and a shared sense of belonging.

Asturias enjoys a rich calendar of customs and practices, traditions and rituals and fiestas and celebrations – a way of life that is often to be envied in this busy and challenging world.Whilst you are visiting Asturias, I would urge you to slow down and take a leisurely stroll through Asturias – slow down and take time to experience the life and soul of Asturias.

A stroll on which you will often experience sights and sounds that have faded in modern society: young and old working together tending family vegetable plots; local farmers scything grass and loading it onto horse-drawn carts for cattle fodder; a village gathering to celebrate a religious tradition or harvest - complete with traditional dress and communal feasts; artists and craftsmen busying their time making useful artefacts such as clogs, stools and baskets; skilled musicians with traditional instruments and rousing rhythms; story tellers and dancers keeping times gone by, alive and fresh in the minds of the young; traditional games being played in village squares; mixes of generations gathering away from the heat of the day to chatter, play, laugh and share their stories.

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In every village, on every corner, in market squares, in a working field or in the shade of ancient chestnut trees there are stories to be heard, pictures to paint, memories to cherish and times for reflection. Make the most of your visit, take time to acknowledge these people – share their culture, enjoy their celebrations, have a great holiday and enjoy a gentle stroll through the life and loves of the people of Asturias.

Entry written by Ian Hicken.