I wrote this in March, but have only just posted it in May, as I saw it when I began writing my May post.
March 2014
It has been an interesting couple of months. As always dominated by the weather. After a very wet end to the winter came a dry spell which although very welcomed was not quite long enough to dry our wet field enough for early sowings. I managed to get a little ploughing done right at the very end of the dry period. I have just power harrowed a few beds for direct sowing radish, broad beans, turnips and spinach. It was a little too wet, which leads to a bit of a sticky tilth which can be quite difficult to sow into with our seeder. It is very often the case for us at the beginning of the season when we try to sow early crops, but we usually manage to get something worth while.
On the subject of ploughing, we went to a vintage tractor ploughing competition this weekend, which was a true sight for sore eyes. I have never seen such clean cut furrows in all of my life. It was quite remarkable how some of the old boys managed to change the pasture into immaculately straight lines of perfectly turned sods. Much time was spent fiddling with the many levers and controls on the tractor and plough, tape measures were constantly being brought out, and it all seemed incredibly serious stuff, so much so that when smiled at, one of the old boys stared back with not even an inkling of acknowledgment. So, I will keep looking out for a good plough to suit our Massey Ferguson 135. Ploughing is always a dilemma for me, resulting in real mixed feelings,
as the tractor drags the plough along, cutting through the soil in a bit of a destructive manner, but the effect is usually a lovely clean looking plot, which is somehow less daunting than an area full of weeds and last years crop residues.
We have bought a wonderful little muck spreader which will suit our scale, and having used it once, before I inevitably broke it, it is going to be great. Unfortunately, I think something managed to get caught up in the cogs, damaged them and rendered the old spreader useless, until I get someone with engineering knowledge to look at it.
Whilst loading the muck into the muck spreader I took the opportunity to turn our compost , and with the help of Dave, our helper, and Moss, an energetic spaniel, we managed to decrease the rat population by eight. Far more effective than traps and poison, and the Moss now longs to be in the garden to sniff out more rats.
Having been through four winters of washing jerusalem artichokes by soaking them in water for an hour or so and then bending over to spray them with water to get the sticky mud off we have finally got round to putting up a wonderful washing station, to be known as the Dave washingstation. It is highly technical and difficult to put into words how it is constructed, but essentially it is a table, covered in plastic which drains into an intermediate bulk container (IBC) which has been cut in half. The water from the tunnels continually tops up this container with fresh water, so that the jerusalem artichokes can be soaked easily. The artichokes are then taken onto the table, and sprayed with water which trickles into the container (which has an overflow pipe going into the drain). It is very exciting times for us all to be finnaly washing our roots in comfort, and not making a boggy mess in doing so.
We are currently digging the final trenches for our two new tunnels, which will very soon be ready for skinning. One of these is very wet at the moment, as we have discovered what seems to be a spring running through it, which may be a bit of an issue. We have drainage trenches surrounding the tunnel, to channel the water away into the stream, so this should hopefully help, and if not we will just have to grow a large area of watercress or something similar.
This month has led me to think about the association between the words sod and sodden. Sod meaning “the surface of the ground, with the grass growing on it; turf” and sodden being “saturated with liquid, especially water; soaked through” (Oxford English Dictionary). I found it difficult to find the link anywhere online, but out in the field illustrates perfectly why the two words could be thought to be linked.
Chicory standing in water.
Fortunately for us we grow very little winter vegetables outside, other than a few parsnips and a seemingly never ending number of jerusalem artichokes. We therefore have no urgency to be working on saturated ground at this time of year. This means that we are not compacting soil further which would exacerbate the problem. We are, however, putting up two more polytunnels in a very wet part of the garden. I intend to put drainage in around the tunnels so that we can make the area more productive and extend the season a little at both ends. This work will take us into March, when hopefully there will be a couple of still, sunny days for ideal polytunnel cladding conditions.
Due to the almost barmy January temperatures of 2014 our salad has been growing almost too fast in the tunnels. We picked over 50kg in the
One of the new tunnels in the process of being built.
last two weeks of the month compared to just 3kg in the same time last year. Although the mild damp weather has meant ideal conditions for slugs, much of the salad is growing fast enough for it not to be too much of a problem.
Beautifully ordered tools.
Not much else has been happening in the garden, apart from tools being exceptionally well ordered in the shed, some rat catching going on, and some wonderfully orange benches being installed in the propagating tunnel.
What a lovely new bench
The Landworkers’ Alliance will be organising an event outside the Defra offices in London on 17th April. This is to show our dismay at the fact that small scale farmers, growers and other food producers are not recognised in policy decisions as part of the solution to feeding the world by producing affordable, ecological and healthy food to local communities. The 17th April marks the day that 19 landless peasants were massacred by state military police in Brazil as they demanded access to land and justice.
If you wish to be kept up to date with news and events directly related to The Landworkers’ Alliance subscribe on the website or email lwanews-subscribe@lists.riseup.net.
On the 20th of January five Landworkers’ Alliance members joined over 300 other farmers, growers and people concerned about the rights of farmers. The protest in Brussels was to demonstrate that farmers across Europe are not willing to accept the proposed seed regulation (EU Plant Reproductive Material Law) that the seed industry is trying to push through parliament. This legislation would have a hugely negative effect on the rights of farmers to use, save and exchange their seeds.
Crowds gather in front of parliament
Three of us joined about 10 others for the seed campaign working group of the European Coordination of Via Campesina (ECVC). Farmers from across Europe were represented including those in the UK, Spain, Italy, France, Romania, Germany and Turkey.
We heard updates of La Via Campesina’s work on the seed campaign across the world. It was explained that the proposed legislations would go against the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (also known as the International Seed Treaty). The Treaty is supposed to ensure that plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, are conserved and sustainably used, and that benefits from their use are equitably and fairly distributed. It has been ratified by a long list of countries as well as the EU. In actual fact the Treaty has allowed industry the access to peasant saved seed. Multi national seed corporations are then able to use this primary genetic resource and then patent these seeds, prohibiting peasants and farmers from saving the seeds that they themselves and their ancestors have bred over centuries.
Seed Legislation
Currently the seed legislation is made up of Directives which were put in place by the European Commission. Such directives can be interpreted by each member state, resulting in different levels of leniency. The proposed legislation is an EU Regulation which must be adhered to in its entirety across all member states. The result in the UK would be much tighter controls of seed saving and lead to the loss of many open pollinated varieties.
If a farmer saves their own seed it is their responsibility to analyse it to ensure that it is not contaminated with a neighbours crop (and patented genetic material). Technology for analysing is inaccessible to small scale producers, which means that farmers have fell into the routine of buying seed from suppliers, who can afford the necessary analysis equipment.
The proposed legislation states that open pollinated seed varieties must be registered within the framework of hybrids, meaning that it must be Distinct, Uniform and Stable (D.U.S). Open pollinated varieties would not fit into the necessary criteria, since they contain inherent diversity and they change over time (this is of course a benefit as genetic diversity is improved) . It also suggests the privatisation of the public control of the seed market. This would mean that large companies could have their own internal controls, and others would be overseen by private entities regulated by the industry. This would of course lead to even more peasant and farmer seed to be modified and patented, further depleting our access to seed.
If the proposed regulation is rejected the new commission would have to rewrite the legislations under further pressure from industry, especially as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment (TTIP) is pushed through. It is therefore hoped that the law is re-negotiated rather than rejected fully.
Crowds gather for the sweed swapping
Systems for maintaining seed diversity
We shared stories of the current situation in each of our own countries with regards to seed legislations and seed saving. Many countries have setup strategies to continue maintaining and improving peasant seeds such as Reseau Semences Paysannes in France. This is a network of farmers across France who save their own seeds and exchange them with other farmers in their region. It seems to be a very well organised group that brings farmers together to share their experiences of seed saving and maintains, improves and disseminates traditional varieties. Another important role of such groups seems to be the engagement and mobilisation of consumers. It is essential that as the seed savers we must let our consumers know about the issues with seed laws and show that our traditional, open pollinated varieties build biodiversity and resilience into our farming system, and humanity’s continued sustainable presence upon this Earth.
Many of the succesful seed networks were farmer led, but also involved students or technicians to help record data on the seeds to ensure that they are well maintained. This seems essentail so as to allow the farmer to not be overwhelmed by the extra work involved in maintaining good traditional varieties. Seed fairs are then organised to bring farmers together and also raising awareness to the public.
After hearing these stories we felt that something similar should be set up in the UK amongst farmers and small holders. We will be looking at organising a similar network of seed savers and trying to revive the skill of seed saving through skill sharing events. More to follow soon with this.
GM across europe
The following morning we were updated on the current situation of GM crops in the EU. Different technologies are being used to create “hidden” GM crops, which are being rushed onto the market by seed corporatiions before the Commission decides whether or not they should be classified as GM.
The Spanish government officials have strong links with Monsanto, whose propaganda can be found in the governement offices. Trial sites are being kept secret in Spain, and organic growers have had to stop growing maize in fear that they will be contaminated by GM maize. Stories from Romania suggest that National Parks are at threat from being planted with GM crops, as government officials own swathes of land in the parks and may have links with Biotech firms.
Mobilisation
After these incredibly fruitful workshops we headed to the protest that was organised by ECVC outside the offices of the European Parliament. It was a friendly gathering of farmers, growers and those who cared about the rights of farmers and food sovereignty. People came from all over Europe, including a tractor driven from Germany, and Severine (from Greenhorns) joined us from USA. A large crowd gathered around to listen to members of Via Campesina (including our very own Adam Payne and Gerald Miles) talk about the struggles faced by farmers not only in Europe but across the world as the rights of small scale farmers are being undermined. These were hugely inspirational talks and it made me very proud of being part of a wider movement, which for much of the year is easy to forget, as so many of us are wrapped up in our own work of farming and growing.
A hugely popular seed swap took place, organic lunch was served and a football match followed. FC Paysan took on Real Bio-tech in a match which saw the referee tie the hands of FC Paysans, and the team of Real Bio-Tech handing out money to the crowd. Needless to say, we (the supporters of FC Paysan) stormed the pitch and tried to even out some of the referees malodorous decisions.
The lobby tour then followed, which was given by the Corporate Europe Observatory. We gathered outside the offices of Bayer and the European Seed Association (ESA) whose location just outside the offices of EU Parliament illustrated how much lobbying presence they have. It was a real insight into the massive lobbying power of the seed industry at EU level. We learnt that there are between 15,000 and 50,000 lobbyists in Brussels – an astounding figure – the exact number is unknown, shrouded as it is. We did of course cover the fronts of the offices with posters showing our disapproval of the situation.
To wrap up our few days in Brussels a public conference was held with speakers including Elizabeth Mpofu (General Coordinater of La Via Campesina) who summarized the key struggles wonderfully. We had just about enough energy to have a good old dance, always good to see different growers dancing techniques – the “Scythe dance” was a favourite.
October continued to be mild, and with our first frost only a couple of days ago (13th November) we are still picking salad from outdoors, and we are well and truly into the season of chicory. We grow about 10 different varieties of chicory and they are a welcome change to the relatively boring taste of the summer lettuce which bulks up the salad from May until October. They have a bitterness that benefits from a slightly sweeter dressing, but also goes very well with the other autumn leaves of the spicy mustards and the like.
We have finished planting the polytunnels with all of the overwintered salad and herbs, along with a bit of early garlic and some spring onions. We are also hoping to put up two further tunnels this winter to provide more autumn salad as well as some more vegetable varieties to plug the hungry gap.
Newly planted tunnel
Unfortunately it has been to wet to plant the garlic outside so far. I am hoping for either a drier spell to allow us to get out onto the field, or we will have to wait until next year. It is best to try and get the garlic in during the autumn to ensure it is exposed to a period of about 6-8 weeks of cold (below around 4.5 celsius). This is a process called vernalisation and means that the bulb will separate into cloves. Without this cloves may not form. This is not so much of a problem for growing garlic to sell as wet garlic, which is what most of ours is grown for, so I am not too concerned.
Having just returned from the Soil Association’s Soil Symposium I am keen to try and increase our compost production as much as I can. We have done well this year to get all of the peelings from River Cottage Canteen which has added a considerable amount to the heap, but I am keen to try and make this a norm for our other customers. I have always believed that using compost is fundamental to maintaining a good healthy soil, which in turn leads to healthy crops and a more resilient system which is less vulnerable to extremes in weather. For example a soil high in organic matter is able to retain the moisture much more effectively than a soil lacking organic matter. This not only means that it dries out much slower in droughts, but also means that in heavy rain, the water is absorbed by the soil rather than running off and causing erosion. A well managed compost will be home to huge amounts of microorganisms and can play an important role in disease suppression (as demonstrated by Prof. Michael Raviv at the Soil Symposium who has done a huge amount of research on the benefits of compost). I am therefore going to take a bit more care over my compost heaps and try to increase our production again next year.
Our current compost heaps
Moving slightly away from horticulture, October and November are very important apple pressing months around this area, and perhaps more importantly cider apple pressing. We did a press using the farm’s wonderful old press on halloween and another one a few days later. The press is in a small room backing onto the Manor barn, with the original mullions still in place and has a rather special feeling about it. Of all the people who visit the farm, very few ever go into the cider press and it only really comes alive once a year, and so being in there and using the press for a few hours was a joy. We used a lovely old (probably at least 150 years old) hand powered apple crusher to help break the apples down so that they release more juice when pressed. We then made the cheese in the traditional manor using straw to hold the apples in packets before pressing the juice out of them. The juice then went into a large barrel, with excess going into our demi johns that have had airlocks put on top to allow the juice to ferment. This leaves a good mix of apple pulp and straw to add to our compost – perhaps we should start producing more cider, seen as it leads to more compost production.
The cool, misty mornings of September are a sure sign that things are calming down in the garden. Although everything is still producing, yields slacken off and rather than getting crates full of courgettes and tomatoes at every pick, it is now more like a few handfuls. It is a welcome relief from the slightly relentless (though I am not complaining) harvest of July and August.
The corn and other sun-loving crops have far outyielded last years’ crops.
We have had an excellent year – especially compared to the washout of last year, and as almost half of our income comes from just July and August we have been incredibly busy the last couple of months which accounts for our lack of updates of late.
September marks the beginning of autumn and is a busy month for sowing all of the winter salads for growing in the polytunnels overwinter. Sowings for these have now been completed and we will be growing a range of salads and herbs overwinter including the usual rockets, mustards, other brassica salads such as mibuna, mizuna and namenia, along with leaf radish and kale, as well as non-brassica salads such as corn salad, lettuce and claytonia. These have all been sown in module trays and will be transplanted into the tunnels up until middle of October along with the parsley, coriander and chervil.
The last couple of things to plant before winter are the broad beans for overwintering and (if they survive the winter) these should crop a few weeks earlier than the spring sown seed, and the garlic which I usually plant in November to ensure it has a good period of cold for the cloves to develop.
Green manures are key to nutrition and soil health in organic growing. Here is newly sown grazing rye and vetch, alongside clover that was sown in April.
Now is also a good time to think about protecting the soil overwinter, and ensuring that as much of the soil is covered as possible to help minimise nutrient leaching during the wet winter months. Nutrient loss from soils is greatest through leaching, rather than from growing crops that use nutrients and then harvesting them, and so taking the nutrients away. Leaching is caused by rains washing through the soil and taking the nutrients away with them. This is generally worse on sandy soils which are unable to hold onto the nutrients like clay can, and is exacerbated on land with bare soil. We have therefore cultivated much of the ground that had old crops on, such as the old lettuce, new potatoes, onions and sown a rye and vetch mix. The cereal rye is said to be the best of the green manures for reducing leaching, as the long roots of the rye reach down and hold onto to residual soil nutrients, whilst the vetch is a legume and so will fix nitrogen in the spring. Rye can be sown through October too, but is best done as soon as possible. This will then be mown down and cultivated in late Spring qnd the following crops will use the nutrients that have been saved from leaching away.
We need some new bean poles next year. From August onwards, more and more poles snapped and the supports gradually collapsed with the weight of the plants. Lots of coppicing to do this winter.
Whilst we are still harvesting the summer vegetables, the autumnal crops such as the kale, squash and perhaps most beautiful of all borlotti beans are being picked. These beans have been growing solely for drying this year and we have had a huge crop. We will be selling these in their pods for use as a (semi) dry bean, but also drying most of them in the polytunnel for storing and using overwinter. Much protein eaten by vegetarians comes from beans and pulses which are imported, so for this reason we have grown a good number of borlottis, along with another drying bean from seed which were given to us by Evelyn (a wwoofer from Tenerife). These beans, which can easily be grown in Britain, especially in a good summer like this year, can be used as an alternative source of protein without having to buy the imported equivalent.
This years borlotti beans are all being dried to provide an excellent home grown source of protein.
Although I am not vegetarian, or perhaps beacause I am not vegetarian, it bothers me that so many non-meat eaters rely on imported food when often one of their main reasons for practising vegetarianism is due to the supposed environmental implications of eating meat. The argument is often made that animals are poor converters of energy (which in simple terms is true), and so we should eat less meat, though it is of course not as simple as this. Firstly, much land in Britain is not suited to arable or vegetable production, and so good grazing practices in such areas are a sensible option. Also, grazing animals can be used as a valuable source of fertiliser in a well managed rotation. The debate could go on for some time, but it is important to know that it is not a simple one. This is illustrated well (from what I have read so far) by Simon Fairlie in Meat: A Benign Extravagance, and now that Autumn has come I can perhaps get round to reading it all!
Finally, a new report from the UN has stated that agroecological techniques and peasant farming should be supported to help solve the global food and climate crisis. The report suggests that the current trend of monoculture and industrial farming methods are not providing food where it is needed the most, whilst also causing hugely unsustainable environmental damage. This is yet another report calling for more support for small scale food producers to ensure food sovereignty.
Here I am sitting at my desk, getting a little bit of shade from the midday sun and suffering from hayfever. What a wonderful contrast to last year. The weather forecast only shows sun at the moment and the vegetables are thriving, compared to merely surviving (the lucky ones) last year.
We have started harvesting courgettes, cucumbers and beans and have had the odd couple of tomatoes before the blackbirds have snatched them. The broad beans are in their pomp, perhaps we have grown a few too many in fact. The first of the new potatoes have been coming out of the ground just for ourselves.
The seasonality of a grower is what has always appealed to me, and each season brings forgotten joys, such as the seed sowing of spring, harvests of autumn and the rest period that winter brings. This time of the year brings the first tastes of so many vegetables – courgettes, french beans, broad beans, tomatoes, basil and the like and by summer’s end I have usually tired of the tastes of summer and long for some kale. Getting excited by the first tomato of the year is something you can only truly appreciate if you either grow your own vegetables or eat seasonally in the true sense of the word (not in the sense of pretty much every menu in every pub and restaurant which states that they use local, seasonal vegetables whilst serving tomatoes in the salad in December). It is a true shame that most people don’t experience this way of eating, and that it has almost become seen as a luxury to be able to eat seasonally.
We have just sowed all of our chicory, which should allow it enough time to form heads for the autumn and early winter salad. We are also now picking from our second batch of lettuce, and the first lot will shortly be cultivated to make space for all of the kale, cabbages and purple sprouting broccoli.
In the world outside our garden, negotiations are currently undergoing for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and US. This intends to remove trade barriers such as import tariffs which will make it easier for the EU and US to trade goods and services. Import tariffs are a way of protecting european farmers such as ourselves from having to compete with cheap, intensively produced food from the US. The removal of such tariffs would not only undermine small scale food producers in the EU, but also increase our reliance on other countries (US) for the production of our food. This would ultimately go completely against the principles of Food Sovereignty and we would be in danger of losing yet more small scale producers and relying on even more large scale industrial food production. Keep up to date with our campaigning and see our statement about the TTIP negotiations on www.landworkersalliance.org.uk.
After all the excitement of the weather station arriving in the post a couple of months ago it has not yet made it outside. I have no excuse for this other than more pressing tasks requiring my attention taking precedence. So, still no weather facts to share.
Fleece covering the squash and sweetcorn.
Although I have been hearing a lot of people muttering moany remarks about the spring weather (as only the english know how to), the garden is looking surprisingly good. It is a little late, but we have everything planted that should be planted so far, including all of the tender plants such as the squash, beans, courgettes and sweetcorn. The relative cold along with the dry conditions of the last month have kept the weeds relatively easy to manage with a bit of hoeing everyday and some handweeding inbetween the plants. A major part of being a grower is the timing tasks. For example hoeing when the weed seedlings are at the cotyledon (seed leaf) stage saves huge amounts of time as opposed to leaving the weeds to get bigger and having to hoe or hand weed. Often the hoe is used incorrectly; to cut the weeds when they are really at the stage that hand weeding is required. The hoe is much more effective when used as a a form of gentle cultivator, sometimes even just before weed seedlings have emerged the hoe will disturb them and the seeds will perish if hoed in dry weather. This is all very easy to to talk about but another thing altogether to put into action when there is a long list of tasks to be carried out in the garden. It is therefore important to make the most of the sunny dry weather by keeping the hoe moving as much as possible everyday.
Fleece has been a saviour this spring, not only keeping the frost off the more tender vegetables, but just as importantly, protecting the young leaves from cold winds. Windy conditions can cause untold damage to some of the less hardy plants including squash and courgettes. We were able to fleece over the squash and courgettes as soon as they were planted and mulched. Beans share this dislike of strong winds but are more difficult to fleece when they are planted beneath bean poles. Luckily we planted in relatively calm conditions and the following few days remained settled .
We have started collecting the vegetable peelings from River Cottage Canteen to bulk up our compost and adding old straw from the farm to ensure a good carbon content. We have also made the first cut of the comfrey that we planted last year which went straight onto the compost. Further cuts through the year will be used as a mulch around fruiting plants to provide potassium which encourages plants to flower and produce fruit.
June is the month that we sow the majority of our brassicas which will be ready to plant out in July (following on from the first batch of lettuce). We will also see the first proper harvests of chard, spring onions, broad beans, wet garlic, beetroot and hopefully some french beans and cucumbers at the end of the month.
June is also the time for making hay, which is demonstrated delightfully at the Green Scythe Fair; a celebration of traditional haymaking techniques and general traditional rural skills. We will be having a stall at the fair on the 9th June. We will also start our stall outside the Town Mill Bakery on the following Saturday (15th June) selling the first spring vegetables along with various vegetable and herb plants.
We have just heard that the EU have voted for the EU seed law to be enforced, though some last minute changes were made to the proposed law. Although it is still bad news, the constant lobbying by interested parties has meant that certain concessions were made to the overall ban of selling, saving or growing of unregistered vegetable varieties. Home gardeners, seedbanks and individuals or small organisations (with fewer than 10 employees) are all permitted to save, grow and sell unregistered varieties.
There is still chance for modification of this law when it goes to Parliament, so the campaign is still alive. Keep up to date with the excellent Real Seed Catalogue updates on the law.
First spring sown broad beans (Witkiem Manita) looking promising. Patchy peas to the left, sweet peas to the right with supports in place.
Cultivation and planting began in earnest during the dry conditions of April. We have so far kept up to date with plantings and sowings. Over 3000 lettuce plants have been planted outside for the first batch of outdoor salad – which we are just starting to harvest (whilst the second batch is currently being pricked out). A few more thousand beetroot and chard plants, thousands of peas and broad beans about 500 metres of radish, along with carrots, salsify, turnips, spinach and thousands of spring onions have all been sown and planted. We are waiting for the last pickings of purple sprouting (which have been a true delight – perhaps even more so this year as so many plants died or suffered beyond belief due to the wet) before planting all of the shallots and onions
Lettuce ready for first pickings.American Land cress flowering in the end tunnel, with Early Wight Garlic on the right and peashoots (Oregon Sugar Pod) on the left.
All of the salad in the tunnels is now starting to bolt I have noticed all sorts of insect life on the chervil flowers, and we intend to keep strips of the flowering herbs and salads along the centre of the beds in the tunnel and plant around them with the tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and peppers. This will ensure a good habitat and population of beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps and hoverflies which help to keep pests such as aphids at manageable levels. The planting of tomatoes and the like will start after our big bank holiday salad orders have been picked, when we will start pulling out the overwintered salad plants.
We have started sowing all of our squash, runner beans, french beans, drying beans, courgettes and sweetcorn. These will be ready to plant out at the end of the month, by which time almost all of the cultivated land in the garden will be planted.
Newly planted Tomatoes (Matina to the left, Costoluto Fiorentino on the right) with chervil left in the middle of the bed to flower.
The weather is set to change from the sunny dry conditions that we have been getting used to of late to wetter and windier conditions. We have made sure all of the plants that require planting out and all of the direct sowings that need to be made have been completed, so that the rain can settle them all in and we can then get to work in the tunnels whilst it is raining – hopefully not all year this year.
Some of the next batch of 3000 lettuce needing pricking out – good work for a rainy day, or of an evening, after putting small boy to bed
The day of Thatcher’s funeral coincided with the International Day of Peasant Struggle, along with the day that a group of smallholders and small scale growers and farmers were accepted as members of the European Coordination of the worldwide organisation of Via Campesina. The group will be called The Landworkers Alliance and will, much like the international organisation, campaign for the rights of small scale fisherfolk and producers of food and fibre.
Our first concern has been the vote for the new EU seed law which is suggesting a ban on all rare, heritage, unregistered varieties of seed by stopping any selling or exchanging of such traditional seed. This would suit the seed industry who produce most of the seed for large scale agriculture and horticulture. To register seed it must undergo various tests and fit criteria which mainly only modern hybrids conform to, so most heritage varieties would be unregisterable and therefore illegal to grow and consequently lost.
There would of course be huge implications if this law were to be implemented, including the obvious loss of seed diversity, along with the complete control of agricultural and horticultural seeds by large scale seed producers, taking food production out of the hands of the farmers and growers. This means that farmers and growers would be at the mercy of the seed industry rather than being able to take control of their own seed by saving seed of traditional varieties. Traditional seed saving by farmers and growers results in varieties of seed which are suited to certain soil types and local climates as they are grown and selected each year by the same farmer on the same farm. It allows the farmer to select certain crop characteristics which are suited to his/her farming system rather than being only suitable for large scale agriculture, which is the case for many of the modern hybrid seed varieties.
It would obviously be a massive tragedy if this law was enforced, but perhaps the backlash would be a thriving underground buzz of seed savers and swappers.
Central to organic farming is the soil. Not like in some other methods of agriculture where the soil is sometimes used simply as a substrate for growing crops. So called conventional farming has been reliant on importing fertility from outside the system. Often this is based on chemical synthetic fertilisers which, rather than feeding the soil simply feed the plant. The soil is only used to carry the plant and hold onto its roots. It is too often abused and not cared for as it should be. It is a hugely complex ecosystem and potentially massively biodiverse, and if it’s inhabitants were more visible to the human eye (and perhaps more cuddly) I am sure we would be concerned about it more than we are. Dirt, grime and filth, all synonyms for soil and all of which have rather negative connotations. Perhaps it has become somewhat ingrained in us to regard soil in a disdainful way, so we unashamedly ignore its abuse.
Organic matter in the soil is not usually lacking in our country, but it can be depleted through years of cropping without replenishing what is taken out and leaving the soil uncovered overwinter. It is the food for unimaginable numbers of microorganisms and invertebrates. Estimates suggest “there are one billion bacteria, one thousand metres of fungi and thousands of tiny animals and algae in a thimbleful of fertile soil” (William Butterworth) amounting to around 1 tonne of microbes in the hectare of soil that we rent. These microorganisms mineralise organic matter making nutrients available to plants. The humus produced is also extremely important for the soil structure which has an effect on water retention, drainage qualities and the nutrient holding ability of a soil, along with many other factors which have a direct impact on crop health and yield. If care is not taken to manage soil organic matter not only is a valuable ecosystem damaged, but the potential of the soil for growing crops is diminished.
Rotting manure on the left and recently delivered green waste compost on the right.
With all this in mind taking good care of the soil is obviously important to us. We apply organic matter in the form of composted manure, other compost made on the farm, green waste compost, straw and green manures. We muck out the cow barn at the farm every year providing us with large amounts of manure which we turn about 4 or 5 times through the year to produce well composted material that is spread on the land prior to cultivating, or as a mulch (spread ontop of the soil, but not incorporated). We have compost bays in which we compost all of the vegetable waste from the garden along with grass clippings, peelings, garden waste and straw. These are turned 3 or 4 times before producing good quality compost which is usually used as a mulch. We are also intending to increase our compost production by using vegetable peelings from some of the restaurants that we deliver to and mixing this with surplus straw from the farm. We currently buy in at least 12 tonnes of composted green waste each year to add as a mulch for certain crops. This is good for weed suppression and retaining moisture in the soil.
Plot in the middle shows ground that has been mulched with straw overwinter to protect it and add organic matter.
At the end of summer we either sow green manures such as grazing rye and vetch or mulch with straw to minimise nutrients leaching from the soil through the winter as well as fixing some nitrogen and adding further organic matter to the soil when incorporated in the spring (in the case of green manures). Finally, other green manures are used throughout the year to fix nitrgoen from the atmosphere into the soil by converting it to ammonia which is then available for plants to feed on. We mainly use clover for this but also grasses, phacelia and other plants all which add vital organic matter to the soil.
There are other soil management methods which benefit soil structure and biodiversity within the soil such as certain cultivation timing and techniques, minimising soil compaction and maintaining a certain level of ground cover (sometimes with weeds). These will be mentioned in more detail in future posts. Fundamentally soil should be respected far more than it is and managed far better than it is if we as humans are to realise a truly sustainable agricultural system.
the organic vegetable grower 