Category: 2018
Putting the garden to bed (Bridport Times, November 2018)
We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.
I often get asked by people what on earth I grow over the winter. There is a pretty strong misconception that not much can manage over winter, and although it’s true that there is less variety of things that grow, and that what is in the ground really slows down, there is still a lot that’s harvestable and a lot to do in the garden regardless!
Continue reading “Putting the garden to bed (Bridport Times, November 2018)”
Hardy Country (Bridport Times, October 2018)
We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.
When we took on the conservation grazing land at Cogden in 1995 we changed our herd of mixed cattle with its wonderful array of colours and shapes to mahogany coloured, deep bodied pedigree Red Ruby Devons. These hardy animals (also called North Devons) are particularly known for living outside all year round on the wild coast and moors of North Devon and Somerset, but have been local to this part of Dorset too. Continue reading “Hardy Country (Bridport Times, October 2018)”
Homespun (Bridport Times, September 2018)
We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.
We do complicate our lives by having a lot of different breeds of sheep. Each is a different colour, has specific needs and their own rams. And they have very different personalities.
We did not select them all for good hard-headed business reasons.We chose the Herwicks (our most recent breed) in a reminiscent mood: we lived in Cumbria early in our married life where we saw and loved them when walking and climbing in the fells. Continue reading “Homespun (Bridport Times, September 2018)”
A Necessary Obsession (Bridport Times, August 2018)
We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.
The weather is a British obsession. “Oh isn’t this rain terrible?” “It’s so cold!” “Could you believe the wind this morning? Blew my washing all over the garden”… But even more than that, it is a farmer’s obsession.
For winter crops we want late summer rain to allow early cultivation after harvest, and dry to kill the weeds before we sow seeds; we don’t want saturated or cold soil over the winter but we do want some sharp cold to kill some of the bugs. We want a warm moist early season to get a good leafy growth on the wheat then Continue reading “A Necessary Obsession (Bridport Times, August 2018)”
While the Sun Shines (Bridport Times, July 2018)
We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.
Our stock live on the grass which grows here. In the winter, there is not enough fresh grass to keep them comfortable and growing. We need to save the riches of the summer to fill the space in the winter larder. The way we save it is to sun-dry grass: we make hay.
In my memory, hay making is a time of sunshine, of sticky warmth, hard work, well-earned aching muscles, and hay fragments down my bra. Now it is different but it has the same quality of urgency and vitality and is an iconic part of the farm’s summer. Continue reading “While the Sun Shines (Bridport Times, July 2018)”
Ruminations on Grazing (Bridport Times, June 2018)
We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.
There’s an old saying that “the best manure is the farmer’s boot”, meaning that careful and frequent observation of your fields and crops is the key to farming. Every day, come rain or shine, we visit our grazing animals spread around the farm to see them all and make sure they are well. We observe how many are relaxing and chewing the cud, whether they look well-fed and contented or whether they are noisily complaining to us that the grass looks greener Continue reading “Ruminations on Grazing (Bridport Times, June 2018)”
The Hungry Gap (Bridport Times, May 2018)
We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.
It’s May; in recent years the weather has been practically summer, and could be the best sun we get until September, but in terms of growing food, we are still in the notorious “hungry gap”. And if we were careless or unlucky we’d be at the end of our stores as well.
So what is the hungry gap, and is it still relevant to us today? It is the gap in crops between winter and summer. The time when Continue reading “The Hungry Gap (Bridport Times, May 2018)”
April on the farm (Bridport Times, April 2018)
We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.
For us April is all about lambing, about new lives blinking at the world for the first time, learning to stand and to skip and taking joy in exploring it all.
We lamb in Spring to coincide with when the grass is rich and growing most strongly. Many farmers organise the date of their lambing for the winter and have the ewes indoors when they lamb. This is because there is a price premium for lamb ready for the Easter market, and also because being indoors makes it easier to keep an eye on any ewes that might need help. Indeed, we used to do this ourselves, starting lambing in January, taking shifts in the lambing barn to ensure that help was on hand if it was needed 24/7. But years ago we decided to change to April, using the warmer weather, the spring grass and longer days to lamb out of doors as deer and many other animals naturally do – and we’ve never looked back.
We like it because Continue reading “April on the farm (Bridport Times, April 2018)”
Soils and Spring (Bridport Times, March 2018)
We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.
Taking on a National Trust tenancy of 200 acres immediately adjacent to our farm 20 years ago was a chance for us to expand our arable production. Perhaps we should have been warned by the name of the farm, Labour in Vain, and better remembered the history of it: more than 30 years of continuous intensive grain production had eroded the top-soil and lost organic matter so that over most of the area the soil had become a glue-like clay.
We knew it would be difficult to improve, but taking on this land meant we could increase the arable rotation from the 20 acres we had on the home farm so we were keen to try. It has worked for us in many ways Continue reading “Soils and Spring (Bridport Times, March 2018)”