January on the Farm

 January… it’s dark, it’s cold, it’s damp and it goes on for a long time - well it seems to! The crops that looked so good going into the winter now look completely different; away with the dark green colours and in with lighter shades; the leaves have gone flat and are somewhat bedraggled and forlorn, and February ‘s still to come. Christmas has gone and we’ve all got fat! What can we do?

Well, for starters we can stop moping about and get out there and enjoy the cold frosty mornings with their picture postcard white trees and clear blue skies - put on your winter woollies and get a good walk into you. Cut some wood up and stack it outside the back door, get a roaring fire going and put some tea on when you get in, and cosy up with a loved one - or alternatively, read a good book. There we are, sorted! I love a good cold winter and dealing with the seasons is what living in Britain is all about.

Anyway, enough of that, let me tell you about the state of play on Fussels Farm. We have taken one thousand tons of chicken feed into two of our stores and out loaded it over Christmas to a local feed mill to assist them through the Christmas period – it will all have vanished by the third week of January. This is something we have done for a number of years and it has proved a very useful source of income in an otherwise relatively quiet period as far as earning is concerned. All the crops are in hibernation mode, there’s no growing going on, they are just waiting for the first signs of warmth in the spring…

I will also be keeping a very close eye on the Charlock that grows amongst my oil seed rape crop. Charlock is a weed, which is in the same family as oil seed rape, but I don’t want it in my crop as it reduces yield and will get into my great oil! The Charlock can only be taken out when there has been a very cold spell of weather i.e. lots of frosts. The frosts stimulate the forming of a waxy cuticle on the rape which then protects the rape when we spray the field to eliminate the Charlock. The Charlock does not form the same waxy cuticle and so therefore the spray will penetrate the leaves of the Charlock and it will take it out without harming the oil seed rape. In fact, if the weather is particularly hard for a sustained period the frost will take out the Charlock on its own.

The good thing about January is that February is next and then it’s nearly spring Ha Ha Ha , boy do I love the spring!!

Must go, my toast is burning in front of the fire!

Andy