23/6/09
I suppose that I feel rather guilty about not keeping this blog up to date. I am amazed that there are so many kind people who have taken an interest in my ramblings. Thank you all for your kind messages.
Life has been very hectic both privately and farming wise, and some things will have to be left unsaid for the time being; but I am healthy and the crops look good in the sunshine so I will try not to complain too much.
A few random thoughts to bring you up to date :
The planners decided that the proposed 56 caravan ‘travellers’ sites were not a good idea as sewage needed to be pumped up hill from a regularly flooded green belt site. Unfortunately, the politicians have not been as decisive as they wait for the result of the next General Election when, some of the barmier ideas of the present regime may be reconsidered. Meanwhile, we are still blighted with possible destruction of our carefully nurtured environmental strips and sensitively managed arable land.
The surveys by Rothamsted and TAG have shown that the ELS strips and other voluntary environmental measures that we apply to our farming are having a very positive effect on our flora and fauna populations. I am very proud that we are still able to run a farm which (with public investment, not subsidy, in some environmental schemes) is producing a viable arable business, homes for wildlife and access for the wider local population.
Good and bad news on the ‘fly-tipping’. The good news is that less seems to be in our gateways, the bad news is that it is being dumped in the middle of unlit and hedged lanes. It makes cycling and journeys after dark quite interesting. As ever, it is fairly obvious where much of the rubbish comes from (vans piled high with rubbish at night and empty in the morning, at times when approved tips are closed), but the authorities seem reluctant to challenge this traditional ‘fouling’ of our countryside. I have suggested that these vehicles could be stopped, in transit, and the drivers ‘waste disposal licences’ examined, but this would, apparently, be harassment.
Thistles have had a late flush in the spring beans, but apart from them (and the volunteer barley which was imported with our certified wheat seed) Andrew’s recommendations have the crops looking very well; lots of monitoring for beetles, aphids and other potential plagues, but all looks well at the moment. This is the first year, for a long time it seems, that the seasons have behaved themselves with discernable winter, spring and early summer weather. Let us hope that the harvest and autumn is a little easier than last year.
All for now, but I will try to keep the blog more up to date!
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