From LEAF Farmer Duncan Farrington
September Newsletter
Here I am, grumpy and frustrated,
in the middle of a harvest dogged by constant rain. We finally got the rapeseed harvested, with the last eight hours of crop taking five days to get. We keep eagerly looking at weather forecasts, and the sky, thinking the sun must shine at some stage, but so far with only one day of wheat collected, now in the third week of August, it is raining again. What’s more frustrating, is that what little wheat we have done, does appear to be yielding very well.
All this wet weather has allowed us to keep up to date with other work on the farm. All the combined fields have been cultivated in preparation for making the seedbed for planting next year’s crops. This time of year it is not unusual to see fields turning from the shades of gold ripe crops, to the browns of bare earth in the space of a few hours.
The slow harvest has also allowed me to carry out a bit of hedge topiary as I give some of our hedges a much needed haircut. Ideal growing conditions this year has allowed our hedgerows to expand several feet, and they need to be kept in check. Just think of leafy lanes, sided by hedgerows, which if not kept in good order soon become a gauntlet of attacking overgrowth knocking off car wing mirrors, as nervous walker and motorist try to squeeze pass each other.
We cut our hedges on a two to four year rotation around the farm, between August and February, when birds are not nesting. By only trimming a percentage each year also allows healthy growth of foliage, flowers, and berries - Food and shelter for the wildlife using these habitats. I find this job very satisfying as I sculpt unruly growth back into shape, especially on hedges we planted ourselves over the last few years, now adding to the landscape around them.
Hedges come in all shapes and sizes, creating the picturesque patchwork landscape. Some are tall and wide, while others are kept lower and have a more architectural ‘A’ shape. In most cases they are a relatively recent addition to the ever changing British countryside, dating back to the Enclosures Act of the early 1800s. They were planted to keep livestock in, with a well maintained hedge doing so for many years. The classic ‘A’ shape creates a dense base, stopping animals escaping. Over many years, or if the hedge is not maintained, it will become tall, with a high canopy and gaps lower down, allowing animals to happily explore the greener pastures on the other side. When this happens, more drastic action is required by either coppicing, where the hedge cut down just above the ground, allowing for fresh growth. Or laying, where the tall growth is trimmed, then laid horizontal and woven between hazel stakes. This second method carried out by skilled people, creates a new instant barrier.
Both of these options are winter jobs, rather than the summer trim I have been doing. And, thankfully I do not use a pair of secateurs, but a more unromantic machine attached to the back of a tractor, allowing me to do many hundreds of metres in a day, whilst listening to some excellent British medal results in Beijing on the radio. But it is still hard work, getting neck ache from looking sideways all day – honestly.
