Farmer George's Diary: June in Bloom: From Pumpkins to Piglets
Coppet Hill's Monthly Blog
Spring turned to summer rather more quickly than usual. We did have some rain in June – more than many and more than the last two years in June – see the graph but nothing since 12th June. It is jolly dry; after such a wet time, it is hard to get your mind around quite how quickly it has turned around.
Talking to other farmers, those who ignored the date and worked with the soil conditions in March and April made the right call. Our Winter Bird Food fields were all drilled in April whilst there was still plenty of moisture with the result that they are doing really well. Also, the Pollen and Nectar mix fields are starting to look wonderful even if they all have a wonderful cover of ‘weeds’ - which are just as valuable for pollinator insects.
As I reported last month, we had to redrill the sunflowers. It helps that they are a Mediterranean plant! With very little moisture they are shooting up - my waist height and really thick; every seed must have germinated! It looks to be the best sunflower crop we have grown. This rather caught out Matt and Ellen whose job it was to design and lay out this year’s design – a hawk moth. Nothing lost, we marked it out last week and mowed with the Tafe tractor. A friend has flown his drone over and took an amazing picture – success. Well done Matt.
We just have to wait for the flowers to develop – will they be early? To improve the experience for those who wish to take the Sunflower Saunter, we have placed benches in each of the dead-ends.
At the start of the month we were deeply involved in Open Farm Sunday on Tom and Sophie Gregory’s farm. It was a huge success with 85 volunteers from across the local farming community guiding, explaining and supporting 1400 visitors. It was a real team effort with everyone doing their very best to make it a great day. The feedback from our visitors was overwhelmingly positive and grateful for a wonderful day. We were very lucky that Tom used all his contacts to great effect. There was a brilliantly succulent beef roast. George, who did it, also supplied a bank of massive compost loos which were real ‘thrones’ which had to be play-tested!
Besides the cows, interest was spread across the composting, different methods of sowing crops and other machinery. In the farm yard were calves, sheep and chicks hatching – always a great attraction. The Discover Farming activities were also put to full use from milking cows to grinding corn or learning the role of butterflies and moths in pollination.
We plan to have a pumpkin event in October. Philippa has grown quite number in her greeenhouse and the time came to plant them out. On the only wet day of the month they were planted in a patch of the camping field. What we did not expect was the huge slug attack. On the first night the slugs were quite a sight and I picked up over a kilo of them! We tried all sorts of ideas including spreading a ring of salt around the patch – that didn’t work. Despite that, they are now looking really good thanks to regular watering .
Our animals are all enjoying the weather. The ponies spend most of the days on top of the hill away from the flies. Our attention turned to the pigs. The two sows not in-pig we turned out into the wood which is their natural habitat: they are very happy in the shade. Meanwhile, Penelope has just farrowed nine beautiful saddleback piglets.
The weather has had an unexpected effect in other areas: our lagoon, which was being used for wild swimming, has developed an algal bloom which was causing a rash – so no swimming I am afraid. Also the level is falling as the stream coming off Coppet Hill has totally dried up. It is fine for wildlife and we enjoy seeing the swallows skimming the surface as they drink on the move.
However further downstream the ‘scrape’ we created as a water source for birds and insects has almost dried up. The butterflies congregate in good numbers around the damp areas to drink - these are Green Veined Whites.
I have not seen so many butterflies all around the farm for years. We have been trying to develop a traditional hay meadow for the last four years. At last we have something approaching it with lots of knapweed, clover, yarrow and oxeye daises. What is most fascinating is that last year we had a massive issue with ragwort which we pulled. This year there were just two plants in the whole field.
Finally, we were persuaded to grow another patch of borage again this year for the bees. Wow – how glad I am and how brilliant it is. We have placed a bench by it just so that anyone can walk down, sit and enjoy the noise of the bees, bumble bees and hover flies.
This Saturday, 5th July, we are holding a Nature Day. As you can see there will be lots going on all day. Do come and join in. Tickets are £10 for adults and £5 for children. You can of course stay the whole weekend as there are a few camp pitches available.
I hope to see you there.
