It makes my heart sing that you guys are so thoughtful in how you are planning and working to create a little paradise for pollinators, trees and plants. Good on you, you are doing a FANTASTIC job. Amazing. It is a joy to follow your progress. Well done.

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Thanks so much for your feedback, Barbara, we're chuffed that you're enjoying it with us. Our planet is in such trouble that we had to do something in our own small way - it sort of makes the 10-hour days and aching joints/muscles worth it to see that nature is responding so positively to all our hard slog!

Grand work. Bravo. it never ceases to amaze me how nature responds to man living in harmony with nature.

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Thank you Scott :-) it's our 'happy place' because of the balance we're establishing with nature and seeing new creatures and wildlife benefiting from our patch is a joy for us and reward enough for all the hard manual work we're putting in! Glad you enjoyed the video :-)

We have acidic soil that benefits from additions of alkaline materials. We started making simple biochar by quenching our burning brush piles with water. The biochar is then spread back on the orchard. This is much less work than shredding and it still retains the carbon for the soil vs burning the branches completely. However, the suitability of this method depends on your pH needs.

@labollapugliaYT

29 күн бұрын

Thank you for that idea. We don't know about the acidity or alkalinity of the soil here so that could be worth looking into in case it would benefit from biochar, although we're trying to keep burning to a minumum. Will explore further...

Once you get some mulch in these beds your property will flourish even more

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Thank you, that's what we're aiming for :-)

Do you know what these trees need? More life, not chemicals and not tilling. Give it the cycle of life, namely the by-product of animals. It was a revelation when my RV waste tank overflowed and within two weeks everything in the flowed area was growing like crazy.

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Agreed!!

Just found your channel, just lovely! We are currently living in a fire region and just to mention traditional firebreaks are 10 feet wide here. Best of luck, look forward to following along!

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Thank you, and wow, that is much bigger! When we say we 'think' it's a legal requirement here, that's what we've been told in the past but don't see many others (who don't rotovate their whole terrain) doing it, but that may just be lack of enforcement and too much work!!

Hi Guys... just wanted to say hello.. just stumbled across your chanel and we've now binged watched every episode.. great stuff.. looking forward to seeing what comes next..😊😊 you keep filming and we will keep watching. All the very best. Chris.. x

@labollapugliaYT

29 күн бұрын

Hi Chris, that's pretty impressive if you made it through all of them!! Welcome onboard :-), Sally & Pete

I feel your joy! What a fabulous farm! I so hope that you can fend off that disease! Perhaps some of the locals will start implementing some of your techniques, once they see your results!? I would love to be able to grow those lovely lemmons, for cooking, Lemmon ice sherbet, and even limoncello!

@labollapugliaYT

28 күн бұрын

It's our happy place, and I've made a start by buying some California poppy seeds for our Italian friends who live close by and who stopped to admire the flowers out the front! We've got Limoncello coming out of our ears, have done lemon curd and limonata...hadn't thought of lemon ice sherbet, however!

Hi, guys! Thank you for sharing your journey with us! Watched all your videos already Can't wait for the next one From Ukraine 🇺🇦 with ❤❤❤

@labollapugliaYT

26 күн бұрын

Hi Vitalii, and Ukraine :-), lovely to have you with us on our journey! The next one's all about Pete's planning of our solar system...let us know what you think when it comes out, it's a bit different to everything else we've done - lots of calculations going on!!

@vitalii.mykhlyk

26 күн бұрын

@@labollapugliaYT Solar, rain water harvesting, land regeneration & reforestation are my favourite topics. Whatching your videos together with my wife. We bought property in similar climate as yours but Russians invaded it. We are happy you can follow your dreams even though it takes lots of effort and dedication. It's a joy to see such a progress. P.S. You have great aesthetic taste in planting and renovation!

Wow!!!

@labollapugliaYT

21 күн бұрын

We say that quite a lot along with "help" or "crikey"

Hallo from New Zealand, I am stunned/impressed to the point of emotional happy to listen to what you have achieved !!!!! WOW WOW, you achieved wonders and thank you for what you do for the olive trees as I love them and all the best ahead. I will watch all you video's.

@labollapugliaYT

20 күн бұрын

That's such lovely feedback, thank you for taking the time to comment 😊! We're working so hard in the 6 months a year that we can spend at La Bolla that we often forget just how far it's come on since we got here. Comments like yours make us glow with pride, thank you 👍

Nice to see others out here, too. 😊

@labollapugliaYT

26 күн бұрын

Hope we're doing it justice. If only we could be here full time!! Running 4 acres on 50% of the year is quite the challenge :-), are you in the same boat as us? Sally & Pete

I haven’t seen your channel until now; I think your intuitive procedures are good for the ecosystem. Nice to meet you (subscribed).

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Thank you so much, we're learning as we go and like to think we're making a positive difference for nature in this little corner of Southern Italy so it's good to hear others agree! We look forward to sharing more of our progress with you :-)

Just found you and your Intuitive and Innovative approach in restoration. It is Inspiring. A lot of Hard Labor. You don’t seem afraid to Work. Inspiring. We’re trying Garlic around our fruit trees. Wormy flies, Ants and unwanted parasites, wasps. Planting Garlic in the Composing rings. Less need for Stinky bottles hanging about. You can also harvest Garlic, just not All.

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Hi, and thanks for your comments and observations. We both had a vision of what we wanted to do at La Bolla, so the hard work is necessary and even though all our muscles and joints ache at times, we're finding it rewarding and more manageable after nearly 2 years of doing it. Having spent our careers managing change in organisations, we're excited to be able to apply ourselves while we're still relatively fit and healthy to this venture...if we'd left it much longer, I'm not sure we could have done it! Garlic is a great deterrent and we're going to experiment with spraying homemade garlic water on some of the more affected plants and young trees, so the planting is one for us to think about, thank you. Just need about another 12 hours in a day!!!

I read somewhere a tree has 2 choices energy to growth or energy to seeds. Distress = seeds. Relax = growth

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Hi, that would certainly tally with what happened on the plant side...at least two of our 550 or so dry garden plants didn't even survive their first 2 months but somehow managed to sprout babies around the area where they'd been planted and now we're swimming in them!! Thanks for your comment and also for watching :-)

I just found your channel and subbed! #421! I need to binge watch your other episodes but really enjoyed how your hard work and more natural way to farming is paying off!

@labollapugliaYT

19 күн бұрын

Hi and we're delighted that you found us! It's a new way of life for us and we're relying on our instinct a lot of the time, so it's great to get positive and encouraging feedback, thank you! 👍

I have be waiting for the new video! It was worth waiting for! Do you have any farm animals? I have heard that a very good way to improve soil quality is to increase carbon levels in the soil. This allows the soil to hold and retain more water when it rains. Part of the best way to do this is to eliminate tilling and rather to use animals to rotationally graze your pasture land. If you don't have animals, you can mow the grass short and leave the cuttings or clippings on top of the cut grass to break down as fertilizer. You can then top dress the pastures with chicken manure or other animal manure that is higher in nitrogen. Then, let the grass grow and repeat the process. If you have an aerating tool (its like a tamper with spikes on it) you can aerate the pastures in between mowings. It probably sounds crazy because it goes against the historical farming methods of the area but if you think about water retention in the soil, you want to keep as much foliage covering the soil to protect moisture and to keep erosion from taking place. We implemented this method on our very barren cattle station in Australia and it took many years to see a difference but now it is amazing how rich the soil has become. Fantastic video. Thank you for explaining all the details and showing more of the progress! I love the videos. Can't wait for the next one.

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Hi Jacqueline, are you sure you can't wait for the next one, it's all about the solar system that Pete's planned and our desire to be self-sufficient electricity-wise??!! The work on your Australian cattle station sounds incredible, hats off to you and your family, it must have needed some very hard graft...As for us and animals, we are unfortunately subject to the Brexit regulations that came into play when the UK left the EU, and we can only be home at La Bolla for a maximum of 90 out of 180 days. It's been like that ever since we moved out here 18 months ago, we no longer own a property in the UK so we go travelling to non-EU countries inbetween. It means that the garden and land only have us for 50% of the year, which is why it's always such intense work when we get back, as everything's grown/become overgrown while we're away. We're working on a plan to try and sort that out in the longer term, but for the moment - no animals possible! Great tips re water retention on the land - we don't have an aerating tool yet but sounds like a good idea, and we let the strimmings lie in situe to mulch down around the meadows. By growing plants and letting meadows grow, we've noticed that the land no longer floods in patches, the way it used to when there is a storm, so something's working! Glad you enjoyed it and thought it only fair to warn you about the next one!!

@jacqueline_beretta

Ай бұрын

@@labollapugliaYT I think I will watch the next one in entirety (even though it's about solar). What you are doing is really not that far from what I grew up doing. And my dad is a solar fan (he installed solar all over our farm in order to put energy back into the grid). I want to learn as much as possible! Thanks for the warning though...

Just discovered your channel and am very intrigued to see how the various measures are working. I picked up that you're not permanent residents but still manage to keep these ecological ideals front and center. I recently completed a pruning course where xylella was discussed, our instructor talked about how better soil management was, according to him, key in stopping it from spreading and your practices seem to confirm the same. It was done through the scuola potatura of Giorgio pannelli and certainly worth the 100odd euro and 2 day investment. I am located in central Italy (Umbria) and share your desire to bring back the 'good old days' where producing oil was a worthwhile and satisfying pass time. I subscribed and will keep looking forward to more updates. A few questions before I go: - you mention that rotovating around the trees enables you to incorporate organic mayyer into the soil. Once you've done this for a number of years do you foresee stopping this altogether or do you foresee the same process in the long term? - you have a broad variety of fertilizing methods and products, would love to hear your thoughts on the bokashi vs purchased products. I myself have a mobile chicken coop and rotate my small flock among the trees.

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Thanks for your positive feedback and that course sounds really interesting too! The requirement to rotovate the ground directly under the olive trees comes from the agricultural agency here in Puglia because it's a step to try and stop the infected spittle bugs from getting into the trees and spreading the devestating Xylella. So, unless they change that requirement, we'll need to do rotovate for as long as necessary. As for the Bokashi vs shop-bought fertaliser, it's too early for us to see a difference between their effectiveness, as we've only been looking after them for 18 months...we're talking about some very large and established trees!! Hopeful that both will be having a positive impact, however - fingers crossed. Your chicken manure will inevitably benefit the soil and therefore the trees, we wish we could do the same but unfortunately keeping animals isn't an option for us atm. Thanks for watching and your thoughtful comments :-)

Well done. A greywater system will give you more irrigation water. No cleaners containing sodium though. Brad Lancaster out of Tucson, AZ is the Godfather of greywater systems. The University in Bari has a wealth of resources on dealing with the bacteria killing the old varieties in Salento. I know you clean your tools with a water/bleach solution. Italian Ag is frustrating. Not plowing with contours, no nitrogen fixing cover crops and the old man method of burning Ag waste. You have done a great job. I hope you have time to enjoy Salento and Apulia. Someday I will get to the Taranta Festival in Melpignano. Happy gardening.

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Good evening Ken, when we have time to get out the Taranta Festival will be on our list. Did consider a grey water system but could not implement one during the restoration. Will definitely look in to it more and it would be something I would love to do in the longer term. Our rainwater harvesting is going well, I am expanding it by 50% to be more efficient, especially for irrigation. We only use about 100 litres of water in total for 2 of us, we work really hard on that. Will look at the University of Bari information, what we have done just feels like of common sense. Not everyone has the time to do what we do and we are both exhausted everyday but love it. Tools are always cleaned and kept sharp in order to make the best cuts possible, minimising damage. Glad you enjoyed it, next episode is a change of tack, Pete's solar system plan, a desire to be electrically self sufficient as well. Pete and Sally

Wow. How interesting. Lovely to catch up with your vlog. Will backtrack for the others. Best wishes from Australia.

@labollapugliaYT

16 күн бұрын

Thank you, Shirley, it's good to have you with us! 👍

Have a look at charles dowding and no dig methods. Might be worth a look if youve time to experiment...

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Thank you, we'll look into that because we'd like to use the no dig methods in our allotment and cropping area down the side of the land. The soil is so poor here that we need to build it up a bit first to make it usable with the no dig approach, but we'll get there...eventually! :-) Thanks for the encouragement, Sally & Pete

Nice work and thanks for the information. Because we are still building, we cannot intensively maintain the trees ourselves and we have outsourced this. Our agronomist follows more or less the same method, pruning away what is infected. He also sprays with a mixture of foliar fertilizer and copper and fertilizes the soil. Jan & Marjolein (l'Abbraccio).

@labollapugliaYT

16 күн бұрын

Hello both, we remember what it was like at the building stage - hang onto that vision! Good to have you with us, we're chuffed that you're enjoying the videos 👍

Wonderful that these methods could be the first drop in the ocean of change that could Ave the way things are farmed in this area .only when people see how wel your producing and how other crops are failing will they start being curious...until then they will probably think you outrageously mad. This year our neighbors planted herb pasture and sunflower in a few of their paddocks as soil improvement, people came from everywhere to walk the lane withe the sunflowers...and I have noticed other farms doing it also, it is so benificial to protect the soil from drought. In the 80s our neighbor were organic and my ft her gave them endless hassle about the time and energy they worked on their farm , but they were the pioneer game changers. Here is a wonderful movie documentary you may like to watch , if you haven't already called the biggest little farm .very inspirational dealing with the same issues as yourselves. Look forward to watching more of your chanel. From NZ

@labollapugliaYT

12 күн бұрын

Thanks so much for your encouragement and for joining us, all the way from NZ! We will take a look at the video you suggest 👍, Sally & Pete

@labollapugliaYT

12 күн бұрын

Thanks so much for your encouraging comments and for joining us, all the way from NZ! We will take a look at the video you suggest 👍, Sally & Pete

Very good work and information. I was just south of Bari and so many Olive orchards.

@labollapugliaYT

12 күн бұрын

Thanks and glad you found it interesting 👍. Xylella is gradually making its way north towards Bari...if only they could find a way to stop it or the landscape will change completely 😥

Just found your channel via this episode, and subbed! Love what you are trying to do! Are you still having to leave every 3 months?

@labollapugliaYT

19 күн бұрын

Thanks for watching. Yes we are having to work within the Schengen 90 day rules but we are confident that we will only have to do that until late this year or early next year if all goes well. Full time is our aim and it will certainly help reduce the aches and pains!!!!

Very interesting. I instinctively don’t like rotovated earth but if you say it’s against an imported pest... I think a bit more relief on the land, with a shrub layer would be nice. Ah and poultry is freat against ground pests and flies qround trees. Free range in a net. But you’d want to live there permanently

@TheEmbrio

19 күн бұрын

You are seeing great results of being more careful with touches of cultivation instead of rough techniques.

@labollapugliaYT

19 күн бұрын

Thanks for commenting. We planted 38 shrubs along Zone 1 (the 100m stretch of land at the front) which is more than has ever been here before (!) and about 10 'ornamental' non-fruiting trees and shrubs (like pistacia Atlantica, cercis silaquastrum, Montpellier maple etc) have been dotted around between the fruit trees. We're hoping the birds might like the permanency of these trees and shrubs, as they won't be subject to pruning like all the others! This time next year, we will also have wild flower sections all over the 4 acres, in anticipation of their seeds spreading into the unrotovated parts - we will obviously need to do a follow-up video then! Hopefully 2025 will see us being able to get residency, so we won't have to try and run the place on just 50% of the year too!!🤞

Nice to see some thoughtful practices being used and considered. That said, I don't understand why you'd cultivate the soil at all? You're simply disturbing whatever beneficial fungi that poor soil might have. Why not simply mow the ground? With so many trees, I'd invest in a commercial-grade chipper and use it all as mulch/chips. I spread 4-6" of chips everywhere in our garden and it makes a huge difference during the summer keeping moisture in the ground and a place for beneficial insects to live, as well as depressing weed growth. It also keeps the soil from compacting when using equipment - the chips act like a sponge. We get local tree services to drop off truckloads of chips every year.

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

Hi! To answer your question, we are required to rotovate the ground under the olive trees by the agricultural agency here in Puglia. Rotovating the ground makes it harder for the infected spittle bug to reach the tree and they are responsible for the spread of Xylella fastidiosa, which has so far killed 11m olive trees in the region. Unfortunately, other trees are also prone to Xylella, including almonds (of which we have 12), peaches, cherries...seems to be anything with a stone in :-(. So, while we'd rather not have to rotovate, we also don't want to put the trees in more jeopardy than necessary from Xylella. Once that risk has passed, we may be able to stop... Shredding is not widely carried out here, most people just burn, so we're doing the best we can to shred as much as possible but it really doesn't look very much atm! You make a very good case for it, so we will simply 'Carry on Shredding'!! Thank you for your comments :-)

@labollapugliaYT

Ай бұрын

We invested in a semi-industrial Honda-powered shredder which we bought second-hand when we first arrived. If they rented equipemnt here then we'd rent a larger one occasionally, but unfortunately equipment rental doesn't seem to be a 'thing' here! So we are pondering about investing in a larger one, - the sensible time to do that will be when we can get residency, as we're currently not here for 6 months of the year :-( PS when we use the shredder, we've been asked by the locals what it is...they're not commonplace around here, they just burn, and burn, and burn!!

i'm not sure what you are all allowed or able to grow in Italy. but a lot of people use clover and short grass mixture around trees, or a thick bed of wood chip mulch. tilling the land kills the microbes, and hurts soil health. definitely look up no-till and low till practices, and permaculture.

@labollapugliaYT

17 күн бұрын

Absolutely agree! We've started mulching around the 54 young fruit and 18 established almond, fig and persimmon trees (needs 3 wheelbarrows of mulch per tree, so it's going to take us a while 😀!) and our aim is to not rotovate at all under those trees. Unfortunately, due to the Xylella being spread by infected spittle bugs, we are required to rotovate as a minimum the circles under the olive trees (most locals still till all their land, not just do circles under the trees 😞). Luckily we can still add to the soil in the meantime with green manure and bokashi, but we'd love to be able to stop rotovating too. Thanks for the comment, Sally & Pete 👍