A Week on the Estate: Sticky Weather, Good Yields & Experts Needed

Our harvested barley is heading out next week so we made one final check on its moisture levels. The sensor spear takes eight samples at different stages through the barley heap to give us a reliable guide. The barley should have a 15% moisture level when moved, so our figure of 15.08% is pretty good. The 69.65 kg/hl reading also means the grains are weighing nicely heavy.

The work of maintaining boundaries never stops. Steve and the team from Ketsby Sawmill made an early start on installing another set of gates last Friday, wisely avoiding the worst of the day’s heat.

For those who’d love to make the best of our wonderful landscape while summer is still here, we published the South Ormsby Estate Walking Guide on our website. There are walks to suit everyone, from the easy 5.8km Wesley Walk to the moderate/hard 30km walk to the Blacksmith’s Arms in Skendleby. Each route features a free full-colour PDF guide, GPX data for the serious hiker and handy information on great places to eat and drink.

Last weekend, the Saturday Club cleared two paddocks’ worth of ragwort, picked runner beans from the kitchen garden and made massive progress stacking logs. A fortnight ago, the log trailer was full – now we can see the window and half the floor. They’re certainly a hard-working bunch.

Are you a Lincolnshire Wolds resident with a craft, business or passion you’d love to talk about? If so, our Saturday Club needs you!  The Saturday Club offers local young people the chance to find out what goes into running a rural estate. They learn the land, earn a wage and work hard. We also offer them a weekly enrichment hour, and that – we hope – is where you come in.

We’re looking for any expertise that relates to our work. Hedging, restoration, carpentry, masonry, ecology and tree surgery are all on our wish-list, but we’re open to ideas! If you can spare an hour on a Saturday to share your expertise with young people, we’d love to hear from you (E. Clarice.Weston@southormsbyestate.co.uk / T. 01507311199).