Back Farming

A few of you have been asking and yes I did make the trip to Wembley to see Yeovil. It was a little odd to go up to London as a visitor. Making the trip with a few people from Crewkerne, I was not sure if it was their influence, but I did seem to notice more graffiti than normal and London was looking a little grimy around the edges, although drizzle never adds to the attraction of a place. I have always found it odd that country people complain about cities being dirty and city folk seem to have an aversion to country side mud. Anyway it seems I have already been de-sensitised to mud even in my short time back here.

Obviously the result was not what I wanted to see, but it was a more attractive game than the FA cup final a week before. Although having a leg hacked off with a rusty saw would have been less painful that watching the game the week before. Wembley is a great stadium it seems to have been worth the wait a few pics below.

My analysis of the game, well I simply think the Yeovil team did not turn up and their big performance was at Nottingham Forest to be able to make the Wembley trip. It may have been a blessing in disguise as Yeovil would most likely have struggled in the Championship and could have ended up going into free fall, perhaps this was a little in the back of the minds of everyone else as well.

Our tunnels are up with three 6am starts last week, one for each tunnel, to take advantage of the light morning winds. Thanks to all those who turned out to help us including our four students, as well as those who we press ganged into helping us with promise of strawberries Richard, Jenny, Charlie and Malc.

One up on Monday

All three up by Wednesday.

Just as well considering the weather we got over the bank holiday weekend... else we would be concerned about very wet strawberries.

We have now stopped picking our young asparagus to enable it to gain strength for next year, our established plot is still being harvested. The shoots are now turning into strange ferns as below.

Our two rows of peas are also starting to come along as well.

Also started picking our first strawberries from our tunnels as well, these were sold at the door, the farm shop opens tomorrow with pick your own strawberrries available as well. On Saturday we wish we had opened the farm shop early, but by Monday with the weather we had made the right call. A tray of strawbs below.

I see there have been a few questions on bees recently, watch this space for a bee update!

Hot off the presses we have our some options for the sticky labels that I want to create. Plus it may have some other uses stuck on picking baskets, t-shirts, fridge magnets etc.

Anyway ourselves we have narrowed them down to three options. If you looking at them then the top left middle left and middle right.

The issue is we like the scribbly strawberry but the writing is not quite clear, I don't think the plain font which is easier to read would suit them. All comments gratefully accepted!!

It is possible the pigeons are off the hook, the suspicion now lies with rabbits being the guilty party, so the pigeon breast with red current jelly is off the menu, but rabbit pie could be on. Well if the truth be told I prefer pigeon to rabbit so they are fairly safe.

Anyway we have chosen to deal with the rabbits by building our own version of the rabbit proof fence, ok it is only 100 meters and we have not yet had three small children make the incredible journey along it back their mothers, but it appears to be doing the job at the moment, which is more than you can say for the Aussie version. Picture below shows some runner bean plants with the leaves nipped off for a rabbit snack.

I have been finding and repairing leaks in our irrigation systems that have sprung up over the winter. Work has also continued building some more table top strawberry rows, which are the pictures in the last blog.

Our earliest strawberries should come from our field strawberries (picture below) of which we have had a couple of rows under fleece to bring them a week ahead of the rest. The most pressing issue is to get the covers onto our poly tunnels above these strawberries; the recent breezy weather has meant we have been unable to attempt it for fear of taking off and interfering with local air traffic. It is important to get the tunnels on to protect the field strawberries from any rain, once the fruit starts to ripen, rain will cause damage or disease. The tunnels should also push our earliest strawberries on a little so that we can start with a decent amount of strawberries for the bank holiday. We are now all set for a 6am start I only hope that with an early start, we can actually get something done, such is the frustration of the weather when making your living outside. Hope your all feeling comfortable in your offices this morning!

Ok I guess I should give people a bit of background for those who don't know me as well.

I should point out I am not a complete farming novice, so there won't be many tales of me not being able to work out one end of a cow from another. I have always taken an active interest in how the farm is doing and mucked in when ever I have been back. Not always through choice I might add, the 'it will just take 15 minutes' job that your still helping with three hours later is a trick I have fallen for more than once! Certainly many university and gap year summers have been spent back helping on the farm, but that has not really happened now for, hmmm longer than I thought, nine years. Yes it really is time to do some proper work again.

The farm is a pick your own farm, so www.manorfarmshop.com our website, probably gives you a flavour of what is going on. In a nut shell for those not bothered with the link people come and pick fruit and vegetables and pay by the weight they pick, we also supply some local wholesalers, shops and restaurants. Many years ago we dealt with supermarkets and were mostly busy fools, so for the past few years the farm has been refocusing on the pick your own business and I want to continue that.

I think my parents are pretty good growers so I want to try and concentrate on the things they perhaps struggle with more, like the way in which we market ourselves. Hence trying to call in some work favours and get some artwork for some labels done for free, well the artwork is hopefully on the way. Just managed to get everything I wanted done by Wednesday, before diving on a train back to the Somerset with a bike, massive rucksack, small rucksack and a laptop bag, just as the doors were closing, handily at the wrong end of the train. Oh and thanks to the person who stole my book, while I was trying to haul my stuff from one end of the train to the other before the train divided in two at Salisbury.

Today, well actually yesterday now was pretty productive. Followed up on a lead for biodegradable plastic bags with the Rainbow Bag Company, sadly I don’t think they can print us ones with a logo in time so we will probably have to opt for plain. On the up side I found someone local who I think can do the labels I want, just waiting on a quote.

Then in one of those ‘help with this for a bit’ moments, I suspect will become all to familiar again, I got involved with helping our four students planting our 60 day strawberry plants, these are cold stored to hold them back, they offer us a crop of strawberries in 60 days which should be somewhere near the end of our maincrop. A row of 60 day plants and a close up below.

Yes I know they look a bit weedy now, but in 60 days we should get a reasonable crop from these. That is not our only crop, the main crop below should be getting there shortly with some sun.

At the start of the afternoon, before I got roped into the strawberry planting, I was trying to get rid of some pigeons, they have been eating our runner beans plants, with redundant cds suspended on string the cds spin around glinting in the sunshine and seem to scare them off a bit. Pigeons seem to be as annoying in Somerset as London just for different reasons, but with the advantage that I will be able to eat any we manage to shoot down here. Maybe I should suggest some cds on a bit of string to Ken for Trafalgar Square; perhaps London is not so different after all.

Friday after my last day at work for a while walking across the Hungerford footbridge from Embankment to Waterloo I feel I am carrying a heavy load it might be my laptop, or the effect of a few after work pints, perhaps a weight of expectation. However, I do feel a kind of freedom knowing that I won’t be back here for a while, or certainly not in a work capacity, maybe it is that that allows me to take in the beauty of this area at night with the lights reflecting off the Thames. The train seems to glide serenely out of Waterloo, not the normal experience I have on South West Trains, but today does feel different.

I am meeting up with a few friends over the weekend for final goodbyes and drinks and trying to tie up all the loose ends before I journey back, the plan is Wednesday. I also still have a few things to sort out before I make it back to Somerset, the first being to get some free artwork done and labels printed up for some of the advertising I plan on doing.