Autumn Visitors
Did you catch us on BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme last week? We feel so honoured to be included in such an amazing line-up of finalists for the BBC Food and Farming Awards, alongside some other truly incredible and hardworking producers. The results are coming soon and we’ll keep you updated. It was such a joy and a delight to welcome Sheila Dillion and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to the farm back when the sun was shining. Listen again here if you missed it.
The annual field clean-up is in full swing – a huge undertaking as we rush to get our winter green manures planted before the cold sets in. Empty fields are being mowed, irrigation systems removed, and soil cultivated into a lovely, light seedbed. We’re now drilling cool-weather green manure crops – plants that germinate in the chill, grow slowly over winter, and protect our soils. They help prevent erosion, retain nutrients, and keep living roots in the ground – all key to healthy soil.
By spring, these fields will be lush and green. Then, our neighbour kindly lends us a flock of sheep to graze and fertilise the cover crops before they bounce back and continue to thrive. Some fields will stay under green manures for a year or two to rebuild structure and fertility, while others will rest just for winter before being cropped again next season. We’ve had great help from our neighbours Sam and Bruce at Little Linton Farms, who’ve been lending hands (and tractors!) to keep things moving.
Meanwhile, the tunnel team is busy flipping beds – removing the last of the tomato vines and prepping the soil for winter. It’s amazing to have our extra seasonal workers Farida, Zapaghul, Esen, and Makhabat this year; the difference is night and day. With their help, the tunnels are being cleared, compost added, and soil lightly cultivated and rotovated for new plantings.
This week we’ve been planting:
- Heading mustards
- Chervil and bronze fennel for winter salads
- Lots of different varieties of pak choi, tatsoi (our new obsession!), mizuna, and rocket
- Baby leaf greens, pepper cress, and claytonia
In team news, it’s Cameron’s last week with us after nearly three years – he’s moving on to a new role at a nursery. We’ll miss him, but wish him all the best on his next adventure.
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