Nature is part of our business
If there is plenty of life in the ground, there will be plenty of life above the ground too. Because we do not use chemical pesticides, our farmland is full of little spiders, beetles and other insects. Together with the worms in the ground they from a healthy diet for birds and their young. Especially young partridges and skylarks need these little animals. The large number of skylarks that sing their songs over our fields every year prove that nature is doing well here. And it is wonderful to see a pair of patrtidges and their young flying up when we are walking on our land. Many yellow wagtails have their nests on our fields.
As a yearly crop rotation we make a winter feeding field where lots of goldfinches, linnets, finches and other birds can forage. A couple of kestrels and their offspring keep the mice under control. All this was reason enough for the Agrarische Natuurvereniging (natural society of farmers) to nominate John as the most bird friendly farmer of 2018.
Wildflower field margins
Along the borders of most parts of our land we created wildflower field margins..In the summer, when
Huiberts Organic Flower Bulbs
In February 2013 we started cultivating our flower bulbs in a more sustainable manner.
In previous years we had
Planting under mixed green manure sods
After harvesting our organic bulbs, we carefully till the soil just under the surface. Then we sow the wildflower field margin mix and spread compost over the fields. When the
Soil biology and no-till farming
An essential part of cultiviating organic bulbs is soil biology. Our principle now is that the soil in ..
Mixed green manure
Plants are essential for the soil biology. As soon as possible after harvesting our organic bulbs, we sow a green manure mixture, plants that improve soil fertility.