Wildflower meadow Hay

[Sarah Wood]

Hi, this is my first time posting here, but I do want to say a big thank you to everyone as I have learnt a lot from following the conversations over the last year.

I have a 2 acre orchard in Landscove with a few very old trees, and a new tree planted each time one falls over. I have been working on increasing the wildflower content and I now have about 25 varieties and this year the yellow rattle has germinated at last so I am making progress. I have two issues that I would appreciate your help with please:

1: I now only cut the field in August (due to cut next week if dry) as I understand this is the best way to support wildflower growth. I used to manage the field by having an early cut of hay as well as a late cut and the contractor who does this would take the hay and apples as payment. Now with the one cut I am paying for the process and need to sell the hay to cover the cost as he no longer wants the hay.

Any ideas on how I can do this differently would be appreciated please

2: Unless someone has a radical suggestion regarding my first question I will have Hay Bales for sale in a couple of weeks. Normally the field produces about 100 small bales, and I have removed most of the dock seed heads and there is no ragwort. It can be short cut or long cut. Can anyone suggest the best way to sell this please?

Happy to post pictures of the field pre cut and a list of current wildflowers

Oh..and the apples. I may have spare cider apples if anyone would like to give them a good home

Thanks in advance for any input. Been doing this alone so the community sharing here has been great for me.