Spring has arrived with a flurry of orders for pea sticks, bean poles and obelisks of all sorts destined for the gardens of those who are rather more prepared for the coming season than us. Some years we never quite reach a state of preparedness. I’ve made a huge obelisk today, which is an order for […]
Young stock out on hardly any spring grass What joy! There were some pretty excited and rather dangerous jumping and kicking going on on Friday as we released our young stock and beef steers onto grass after five months inside on a diet of hay and straw. Before they could enjoy a taste of liberty there were two eartags to […]
Despite some pretty nasty weather, Gravenhurst’s P3 group turned out (with a couple of special guests) last weekend, to attack a fourth section of one of our old thorn, boundary hedges. It’s a pretty spiteful hedge – some old, gnarly stems of hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna and belicose blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, fighting with a storm of spikes […]
We’ve had a spell of constant strong winds which have been hard work – tiring to be out in all day. Before that it rained enough to saturate the ground. The River Hitt came close to over flowing; it’s been higher, but not much. The lowest lying areas of our meadows were underwater for a day […]
Whilst our arable neighbours are enjoying watching their cereal crops growing slowly, from the comfort of their Land Rovers, we are gearing up for the willow harvest. This year we are mechanising to a record extent. A power scythe joins the clearing saw to reduce the ridiculous time we have spent cutting willow in the past. That’s a […]
Late in November last year an Atlantic front ripped across the country bringing with it lots of rain and wild winds to Gravenhurst. It caused me to postpone a job in a Luton lower school which involved making hazel arches – I don’t like to appear to be a softy, but it would have been very miserable […]
After a spiritual uplift, something of a downer. Copper’s been off-colour for a while. In fact she’s been looking a bit below par through the autumn. This six – year old cow is one of our favourites. I know, the well-hard farmer’s front breaks up very quickly, but she’s placid and friendly; always one to […]
We’ve won a prize – a CPRE Mark to be precise. A slightly cryptic name perhaps; exciting nonetheless and something that has lifted our spirits. The Bedfordshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has run the Living Countryside Awards for three years. They aim to recognise landowners, individuals and commercial users of […]
Suddenly winter’s here and although we are currently sitting between huge areas of snow to both north and south, it’s been really cold (for the UK). We’ve been at or below zero degrees for nearly a week, our wood burner is running 24 hours a day and the central heating has been acting up (now fixed […]
It’s dark and cold; damp and miserable. the wind has been howling – rattling the roof. I took a little piece of video of cows munching grass on a perfect June evening and as a result was subject to a fair degree of ridicule and scorn from certain quarters. But now I can savour its recollection of luxurious […]