Spring 2022, The 2nd Anniversary of Lockdown, the ongoing situation in Ukraine and surrounding nations, petrol prices, inflation and much more to worry or stress about for all of us, that is if you watch the news or read the papers. However, after digesting all that, the reverse is that ‘Life goes on’ no matter what is happening, and it certainly rings true here in our little Laverock Hall Farm bubble. I posted some pictures last week on Facebook of young Colin the calf (named by Chris) – the baby was an unexpected arrival, he was born to one of the cows who are lodging here for the Winter and will soon be off with his mum to pastures new, quite literally!  He’s such a cutie and a favourite with all the family but as you all know its dangerous to get too attached as they must go off on...

I've mentioned Cover Crops a couple of times on Facebook and in a couple of Blog Posts too  but I thought I'd write a post explaining what they actually are and why we choose to farm using this method. Basically the old fashioned or usual method of Farming was that after the crops were harvested, the straw would be left in lines and baled into bales, either round or square, then led away to be used as animal bedding for the Winter.  The fields would then be ploughed and left over the Winter months for the frosts and cold weather to break down the soil before it would be cultivated in the Spring, then planted with the next crop which would be harvested in the Autumn. The minimum tillage method that we have adopted  means that instead of baling the straw we have it chopped very finely by the combine harvester...

In agriculture, cover crops are plants that are planted to cover the soil rather than for the purpose of being harvested. Cover crops manage soil erosion, soil fertility, soil quality, water, weeds, pests, diseases, biodiversity and wildlife in an agroecosystem—an ecological system managed and shaped by humans. This is the dictionary definition and I hope to explain a bit further what they are and how we use them on our farm. We have planted a cover crop in place of our failed oilseed rape crops in some of our fields. Many of you will remember during the lockdown I posted photos of what should have been flourishing crops, but they were sadly droughted off, as were many of our crops during the longest ever drought known in this area. It was too late to plant the same crop again so Chris decided on this specific mixture of cover crop and planted...