2020 it wasn't all doom & gloom
It’s been said again and again “What a Year 2020 has been”, well, 2020 is now consigned to the History Books, thankfully, and here’s hoping that 2021 will be the year for recovery both for the economy and our freedom thanks to the vaccine that is being rolled out throughout the UK.
Its been an unusual year here on the farm and a year of some firsts too. The weather has not been kind to us or the crops sadly, the drought that arrived with the first lockdown lasted for over three months, during the vital growing season so that our crops didn’t receive the best start which was sadly reflected in our harvest. Then when the rain arrived it was so untimely, right during the harvest and planting time for our Winter crops. It feels like it has rained every day since September, the fields are sodden and will take a while to recover.
The best time we had this year and I’m sure many of you will agree was with our first foray into growing pumpkins. We welcomed so many people onto our farm to ‘pick your own’ and the response was phenomenal from you all. It was a massive learning curve for us but undaunted we are going to be doing it all again in 2021 with a bigger field and more pumpkins so watch this space for updates.
Our shop was open right throughout the pandemic and remains open all this next year too, as we sell essential animal feeds. From chickens, dogs, horses and other animals, as well as our home-made bird foods. Fantastically, these have been selling so well as so many of you were working from home or shielding. and so, the birds provided a welcome distraction and they thrived in our gardens with all the attention and food. We delivered lots to people’s homes and our courier service for our website orders was most efficient too!
We visited our conservation project over the holidays to find that the pond was almost overflowing, when it was dug three winters ago the steep sides made it seem so deep, but it was filled and is now teeming with life. The trees are almost outgrowing their protective coverings, but we sourced eco covers that a biodegradable so will not harm the environment. It’s a long slow process growing trees but undaunted we are planting more next year, and a few new hedges are going in too so the birdlife will be thriving on our farms with so much cover in the years to come. The beauty of these trees and wildlife is that they do not know of 2020 being a sad year, just as a new year for growth, as always! I think that’s why the project always feels so calm, even with birds noisy above.
I’ve posted a picture of one of my favourite British native trees that we have planted, I’ve monitored this one and it seems to be thriving, my lovely little oak tree.
Thank you everyone for all the support throughout 2020 and we hope that 2021 is kind to us all.
www.laverockhallfarm.co.uk
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