A Week on the Estate: Harvest Home, Buzzing Plots & 1940s Childhood
The nights are starting to draw in again but we’re making the most of a typically unpredictable late British summer.
We’re well into the harvest season and there’s plenty to do on the land. We finished harvesting the winter barley and winter oats over at Driby and made a good start on the winter wheat with Roger, Richard and Jonny Clarke until rain stopped play. Richard also began working over the harvested fields at Driby. The straw has been baled and stored and will make fine winter bedding for the Lincoln Red herd.
Summer may be waning but it puts a spring in our step to see our winter bird plots flowering and buzzing with pollinators. As stewards of the countryside, we’ve planted areas of land for the specific benefit of farmland birds and all sorts of pollinators. The seed mix for the winter bird plot included spring triticale, spring barley, linseed, millet, quinoa, mustard, kale, chicory and sunflower. The variety of seeds, from oil-rich to brassica and cereal, should suit every avian palate and provide a food supply into late winter.
