Our busy first half of 2024

First half of 2024

Wow, does anyone else think that those first 6 months have gone so fast? Normally on our farm its easy to see the year passing us by as we watch the seasons change, but it’s only just started to feel like Spring in the last few weeks!

The terrible weather meant that our donkeys were indoors for weeks longer than usual, but they’ve been terrifically well behaved and we did have to give them some toys to keep them occupied. I’m sure anyone who follows our social media will have noticed how happy they are now that they’re back in the field (up to mischief!) along with their 3 horse friends.

This year is also exciting for both of our tree thicket and our orchard too. Over the last month, on fine days, myself and Chris have headed down to the trees to remove the ‘jackets’ as I call them which were on the trees to help them grow upwards and not be affected by wind – it's so rewarding to see the trees thriving, especially since a lot of the crop fields have failed with the weather so far this year. They’ve been helping them to grow for around 3 years, and now they can finally flourish freely – I’m so excited to taste some of the literal fruits of our labour in the next few years!

Another big change for the farm this year has been the successful addition of the plant centre in our shop, which I have absolutely loved working in! I’ve been able to matchmake people with their perfect plants, plus they’ve given me tips in return to make my garden even more lovely. It really made our shop feel so social, and I like the idea of having our little plants to look after, its been great to see then go to good homes.

Speaking of the shop, earlier in the year we decided to extend the opening hours from a 1pm close to a 3pm close, plus opening on Wednesdays and Fridays too. We think its made it a lot easier for lots of our customers, and writing this blog is really making me think of what a busy few months we’ve had!

One disappointing thing is the crops. Everyone has been talking about the weather this year; it seems to have been a ‘hot’ topic, quite ironically. Recently, we found that our first attempt at the pumpkins had suffered from the wet and very cold Spring, we sourced more seeds and reseeded where the crop was looking poor and they’re all looking well on track with the slightly warmer weather.

We’ve also attempted to grow Sunflowers too this year and they seem to be flourishing now that they are established and safe from being eaten by the birds. Its great to go into the field to see that the whole of the plants turn to follow the sun, so they look different every day, depending on the weather and what time of day we visit the field. These will be harvested but we are hoping that they might be available for photo shoots or that the flower stems will be available in our shop too and not forgetting that they’re great for hens – they love sunflowers and imagine the hens picking their own sunflower seeds straight from the flower head, all locally grown too.

We’ve also had a first attempt to grow broccoli by special request from our friend who has a greengrocers in Northumberland and who wanted a reliable source of locally grown broccoli. I bet he’s nowhere around to help when they're being hand-picked in the lovely Winter months!

We hope that you’ve had a great start to the year, and that the second half is even better for you, and for our fields!