Rainfall ( lack of ) Everywhere around here is dry. The weather pundits say the first six months of this year are the driest for 80 years or so. The country is split at the moment with rain in the north and west but it is hot and dry in the south east. Even so […]
Arable crop farming is by its very nature, seasonal and annually repetitive. I have now been compiling this diary for more than a year and should really be looking back to make sure that I don’t go over the same things as last year. But of course that is inevitable in the general sense. The
Thoughts on the Mega Dairy Read More »
Hands up who likes filling in forms? April / May is full of it for businesses. To start with there are the usual year end Tax Returns. I always get anxious when dealing with statutory bodies that make a thing of penalties being imposed if deadlines are missed; or that errors might lead to inspections.
Form Filling and the Single Payment Scheme Read More »
Easter will long be gone when you read this but, as I write, it is Good Friday and it is damp and cold. Last episode I confidently predicted spring, triggered by the annual appearance of our nesting duck. Since then our Chestnut tree leaves have just broken their sticky buds and the Wheatear has appeared
Industrial Farming Read More »
The weeks of January are fast becoming a distant memory as Snowdrops and birdsong herald Spring, but the snow that fell and laid for an unusually long period for these parts put a soporific blanket over crops. By the middle of February as I write, however, they are starting to look up and ‘ think
Climate Change Confusion Read More »
One bright and breezy day, right at the end of September, someone remarked to me that it was “another beautiful day”; not hot, not cool just a lovely sunny early autumn day . . . . but there was no rain. I got to thinking what about was said and what was meant. In our
Weather Perceptions Read More »
There is nothing more that we can do now. The rape and winter wheat crops are starting to ripen and lighten in colour and harvest will soon be upon us. The rape should be ready to combine at the end of July / beginning of August, the winter wheat by mid August and the spring
Pesticides: Prevention or Poison? Read More »
I’m writing this on Saturday 6th June and at last we have some desperately needed rain, with more forecast over the next couple of days. We have had some very warm sunny days over the previous few weeks and everyone (understandably) has been remarking on the lovely weather. It all depends on how you define
Our crops really get up a head of steam in May and early June before the ear emerges and it starts the ripening process. Mark continues to apply nutrients to optimize this growth and to spray to try and keep on top of fungal diseases which would otherwise reduce the plants’ ability to maximize the
The Importance of Water Read More »
I saw ‘our’ first swallow yesterday, 14th April. Along with hearing the cuckoo this really is a sign that spring is well and truly here. Hedges and trees agree with multiple shades of green. Only the ash has yet to break bud at Polehanger. My father always quotes the old saying that if the oak