The small farm comprises of a low house and a small yard separated by a railway line.
The farm buildings include a Wills SS30 barn kit that has been improved with a layer of Polyfilla fine surface render.
Just a couple of scenes in the farmyard, the farm is a tiny dairy unit, just three working buildings around a courtyard.
The 'futtersilo' a must-have on any farm from Epoch 2 onwards but this is the actual reason why there is a silo
The earth cellar.
Whilst looking around an old farm we found an odd feature found beside the farmhouse, it was a small stone hut built into the side of the hill. It was the entrance to a cold store or 'Erdkeller' for the 18th century farm, although farmhouse had a basement it also had a separate earth cellar.
In terms of room height and shape, it penetrates far less deeply into the ground, only two steps lead down to the brick entrance. The quarry stone vault of the cellar is also completely covered with soil and potatoes are stored here over the winter - dark, cool, but frost-free.
There were a couple of other similar garden cellars in the village, one was not built into the side of a hill, instead merely cut into the farm garden and covered with the displaced soil.
A small family home in the DDR
A small Faller building carefully rendered and weathered
The cottage garden has a couple of fruit trees, vegetable garden and chicken coop.
I
remember that in my childhood, chickens (and other domestic birds) were
bustling around in every village. The owners of the poultry seemed to
have no concern for their safety at all. A constant image was the birds
taking carelessly walks along the road running through the village
buildings. And this sometimes ended in a tragic accident under the
wheels of a car.
There are a couple of vegetable gardens on the layout and it’s a
sight that greets visitors on the approach to almost every town in
Germany -- the clutter of ladders and rakes leaning against the back of
the structures, neatly ordered flowerbeds, well-tended fruit trees and
picture-perfect picket fences are lined up like regiments of tin
soldiers. The phenomenon is known as a Schrebergärten -- an area outside
the city where the gardening-obsessed Germans can rent out a small plot
and plunge their fingers into the soil.
Ordered, trimmed, enclosed, ornamental, each strip has some kind of
glorified shed with floral and vegetable displays. As for people,
they’re only temporary visitors, because however fabulous the
summerhouse/cottage/shed – and some are very fancy –one of the many
hundreds of rules is that a Schrebergärten is strictly non-residential
and rules are there to be obeyed.
I
like creating Schrebergärten, mine are largely Busch, Noch and scratch,
they include strawberries, green and red cabbage, cauliflower, green
and red lettuce.
The
layout is home to three small vegetable allotments, a reflection of
what I see from my workbench and each is slightly different both in size
and scope. The
small garden is part of the farmhouse, the original is at least 20 years old and used on two previous layouts.
The farm worker's garden
The
oldest is attached to the farmhouse, the cottage has a more formal
arrangement whilst the station garden is tucked away near the end of the
station.
The station garden
Naturally, the allotment must have a shed and it must have an armchair.
Trackside Flora
Noch offers an excellent iris that is easy to plant but needs a dab of yellow or purple as preferred
Weeds
Many years ago, inspired by Gordon Gravett, I took some bristles and dipped them in green flock, today they were finally planted beside the barn - Just a few left-overs with dabs of Dulux tester.
Buddleia - the butterfly bush
Known as the butterfly bush, the fragrant flowers of buddleja are a favourite nectar source for butterflies. These undemanding, mainly deciduous shrubs, find a place in every garden with their spectacular displays of blooms and honey scent.
