Image

It’s been hard to imagine the dry, cracked, dusty soil of last year’s drought as we've look out upon waterlogged fields this winter. Thankfully, the rain has subsided in recent days and while we don’t want to dwell upon the weather too much, a farmer’s tendency(!), it’s hard not to mention. As we bounce from extreme to extreme, crops here at Barcombe and across the UK have been greatly impacted.

A prolonged, mild autumn gave us bountiful growth, with salad leaves and greens galore, and the leeks and celeriac putting on extra growth when usually they would have being stopped in their tracks. This was then followed by a sudden cold snap with sub-zero temperatures that went on for days and was not only a shock for us but also for the plants. Usually they have some time to prepare, with their cell walls toughening up for the winter months, but this year it came out of nowhere. 

Combined with subsequent flooding, this meant that the lush, leafy growth of the mild autumn did not fare well. Even some of our outdoor brassicas which can usually withstand adverse conditions have succumbed to frost and flood damage. On a brighter note, we protected our celeriac and so only lost a few and the our resilient leeks are absolutely fine, standing tall and unfazed. Thankfully, despite taking a serious knock, most overwintered crops will bounce back with regrowth. On another positive note, the propagation glasshouse is already filling up with early sowings of kales, lettuce and spring onions and we are drilling salad leaves, radishes and turnips in the tunnels which we’ll be harvesting by April.

Image
Image

You’ll notice that in the meantime, as a consequence of the weather we’ve been experiencing, your box will not contain as much as usual from our farm. However, there will still always be something harvested from our farm and luckily, we are very well set up to source produce from other organic farmers, keeping your boxes varied through leaner times. Rest assured we’ll soon start providing much more from our fields and polytunnels! 

We thank you for supporting your local landworkers as we navigate the unpredictability of the changing climate. One example of this being that the ‘hungry gap’, which is normally between April and June, has come early this year. Usually, we’d have tunnels full of chard, spinach and salad leaves and plenty of kales out in the fields to pick but due to the aforementioned weather and also crops being ravaged by rabbits, we are not in such a good situation. 

This is the reality of growing, and many growers in the UK are in a similar situation right now, with some stating that they’ve never experienced such losses. Rather than trying to depress you, we just want to keep you informed, so that hopefully you’ll stick with us through these difficult times, into the bountiful ones ahead.  As we've said before, we can’t dwell upon failures or get too disheartened by the weather or crops that are suffering. We just have to crack on and prepare for the coming year keeping in mind the lessons we’ve learnt. In the future we will fleece crops if a big freeze is coming, we will put in extra drainage to deal with extreme rain and we plan to erect rabbit proof fencing. 

In other news, Rosie has been busy designing our new van 'wrap' which has just been unveiled and we are very excited. Hopefully, you’ll catch a glimpse of it as it does our delivery rounds. It’s worth taking a good look if you have a chance as there is a lot to take in: a vibrant montage of not only vegetables but also flowers, birds, insects and even some of the weeds that grow amongst our crops here, a rich picture of true biodiversity.

Image
Image

Why have we chosen to include insects and weeds? Well, these are all part of our farm and even the weeds are beneficial in their own way. The longer you grow organically, the more your mindset changes and the more tolerant you become.

Harry, our head grower, came from a garden maintenance background where he was paid to remove all weeds from borders, maintain perfect lawns and rake all leaf litter from flower beds to keep things neat and tidy. In the first few years of growing here at Barcombe, he struggled with weeds, crop debris and wild areas and would freak out at the first sign of aphids on a plant. He still wanted everything to be neat and tidy and under control and so would weed obsessively, mow and strim all the wild areas and clear every last bit of crop residue; a quick route to burnout. 

Now he realises that not only was this unachievable but was actually detrimental to the whole system. With weeding, we lightly cultivate when crops have just gone in and do so until they are established but then, especially outdoors, on a large scale, we let them come back. We target problem weeds and ideally don’t let them seed, but there are many here that are beneficial. For example, speedwell and red dead nettle provide ground cover over winter and flowers for the insects. Also, some weed seed is a good thing as it provides a vital food source for many species of birds including chaffinches, goldfinches, dunnocks and buntings, all of which we have here at the farm. The lack of seed now occurring on conventionally farmed land has added to the decline in bird populations. If anything we should be trying to encourage more diversity of plants into our system to provide food and habitat for all species that share our land. Crop debris, just like leaf litter in a forest, should be left or added to compost, feeding the soil life which will break it down, recycling vital nutrients. 

Wild areas provide food and habitat for a vast array of life, all of which is beneficial in some way. Regarding insects, it’s actually good to see some aphids or caterpillars on the crop because they attract and provide food for the predators. If you completely eliminate them from your system you are doing yourself, and the land, a disservice. We need all these individual elements to keep things balanced. 

This contrasts significantly with the mindset of conventional farming, where in the field, there is only room for the crop. There is growing awareness of the importance of biodiversity across all farming communities, but because current conventional systems are often geared towards highly mechanized, automated processes there is little to no room for nature’s wonderful non-conformity and variation. However, in eliminating all this beneficial life from the field, over time the system becomes more and more reliant upon the chemicals which fuel it.

Obviously, at Barcombe we have to think about efficiency too. We use tractors and machinery to help with planting, weeding and cultivation and we’re always implementing new techniques to improve things and minimize labour but, in choosing to grow organically, with nature, we always have the health of the land and biodiversity in mind. I’m not pointing the finger of blame: farming is hard for everyone involved and we believe in sharing knowledge and developing understanding across all farming communities. It is also important to note that things are far from perfect here at Barcombe. Farming in any form is a human intervention which disturbs the natural way of things.

One thing we’re doing this year in recognition of this is planting strips of wild flowers amongst the crops to encourage pollinators and predatory insects. Long term, we plan to establish permanent beetle bank strips with perennial grasses, flowers and trees to provide food and habitat for a whole host of creatures and this is just the life above ground. We haven’t even touched upon the abundant life within our soil that helps to feed and keep our crops healthy, but that’s for another time! 

Farming organically is humbling. It teaches you to be more tolerant and understand that in fact everything has a place and is integral to the whole. It teaches you that diversity is something to be celebrated and nurtured. We often feel it’s a good lesson in how we should act in our communities and society as a whole. 

So, although both we and the crops are rather bedraggled at the moment, we look forward to the growing season ahead. Let’s hope it’s a good one! Snowdrops signal the beginning of spring along the lanes near our farm and with the warmer weather approaching, we’ll be opening up to you, our customers, for more regular farm tours and food events. We hope to see you soon. 

Image
Image

Alongside this latest instalment of our quarterly newsletter, Harry brings us another soundscape made from recordings taken around the farm. Last time you heard a summer thunderstorm from inside a poly tunnel and this time there's kale thawing, the hidden songs of our pond (captured with a hydrophone), a flock of migrating geese and more...

Listen here