A spell of cold weather has been about and around us, but until the north wind blew this week, we were avoiding the ground frosts – the winds not allowing the frost to land perhaps. Very unusual for here, as we have long decided we must be at the lowest point of this valley we sit in; always colder, always foggier, and always too cold for the local snow – to the disgruntlement of some of us! 

Walks across the farm have allowed us to enjoy grazing Canadian geese in field 5K, and a Heron in field 6 North seems to have made its home here. We have enjoyed flybys from Greylag Geese and Swans; a Goldcrest was spotted, Boxing Hares have been spotted, and in fact, were close enough to watch the tufts of fur fly! A second sighting allowed for the enjoyment of seeing the Hare run, ears streaming out behind, making us all think of Piglet. The Field Fares have also been with us a lot in the last weeks – always a splendid sight to see the fields filled with them rather than the Rooks and Magpies.  

The north wind has now taken control, and we are all feeling the change. The water troughs need the ice broken on them each morning, and some of the fields and our main tracks are even hard under foot once more. Tim is away for two weeks, taking up full time care for his mother, so we hope this means he is at least in the warm and out of the weather. 

Enough scene setting – lets’ share the good news – the TB testing was passed, all cattle clear. The relief for us all was great. The next test will be in 60 days.  One more clear result and we will be back to usual testing pattern and out of special measures. 

The pumping out of the impromptu scrape in Field 8 has been a success – with one of the sessions removing roughly over 150,000 litres of water. We hurried to discover a useful equivalent but got rather too eager when we checked the litres in an Olympic swimming pool – 2.5million! Nevertheless, we moved a large volume of water into the nearby ditch system, and the pasture is starting its recovery. In a reminder that water will always find its path, the rest of the field is now draining into this low area, but with the cold winds and lack of rain, the water is still less than it was.  

Our mission to establish the growth rates in our young stock continues. We have drenched all cattle over 6 months and under 24, plus a poorly looking older cow now as rallied somewhat. After picking up the ‘equine weigh scales’ from the vet, we discovered that sadly they were just too wide to fit in our cattle handling system – not to be defeated we rigged up a bit of a bodge using some hurdles and a side gate which seemed to be the only way to weigh(!!) without them jumping off the side. While this is not a long-term solution, and we will have to look at purchasing a narrower set of scales, we do now have a baseline for the majority of the young stock. The results confirmed what we already knew that our cows are taking a long time to grow, with some at a year old only around 250kgs. We have a lovely cohort of younger (6 months and below) calves coming through, so it will be very interesting to track their progress and see if our changes make any difference! 

We have decided to keep one of the new calves as a bull. After a year of reading Bernard Cornwell’s, The Last Kingdom series, it seemed only right to name him Alfred, and so far, his temperament is taking after his namesake perfectly.  

On the business park, Unit 22’s new tenant has settled in, meaning full occupancy, and in our post covid world, very different businesses are now around us. It is very interesting to look back across the nearly 20 years we have been here. Today the business park is a very interesting mix of small, mostly family businesses with lots of commonalities – and lots of pet dogs who come to work with them! 

In the Field 11 garden, composting and mulching is happening, and a leaflet and questionnaire to discern interest in a box scheme for Rush Farm Vegetables has been distributed. The link is here
https://forms.gle/hePc3gZi9H1NnyJk6  if you would like to be a part of these plans. 

We have agreed that the Stag Oak in Field 11 that fell in the last storm, will be left in place, as much as we can, for all the life bodies using the wood for food or a home. Rather serendipitously, in the compost, a sprouted acorn was found, and is now planted under a bramble along from the fallen hero.  

Wild Food UK have scheduled for their forthcoming Foraging Course to take place here on the farm, which is very exciting. Walking the farm with them and being shown all that they could find was very inspiring, so we have no qualms that the course members will eat well. 

We are also in talks with Cirencester Agricultural College to entice them to hold their Alumni Annual Event at the farm this year. Any excuse to get farmers onto the farm to show how regenerative farming works in practice is too good an opportunity to miss out on! For those of us trying to keep up, Regenerative Farming is the current generations’ name for what we think of as farming, which in turn became, organic farming – but truth be told, if a new word means it becomes understandable to new ears, then we have to embrace it.  

For the poem this week, we turn to F W Moorman, a man who if Adrian hadn’t already thoroughly investigated, would after finding this poem. Written in the Yorkshire dialect, to be heard spoken, as much as to be read. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have. 

Fieldfares F W Moorman 

Fieldfares, bonny fieldfares, feedin’ ‘mang the bent,
Wheer the sun is shinin’ through yon cloud’s wide rent,
Welcoom back to t’ moorlands,
Frae Norway’s fells an’ shorelands,
Welcoom back to Whardill, now October’s ommost spent.

Noisy, chackin’ fieldfares, weel I ken your cry,
When i’ flocks you’re sweepin’ ower the hills sae high:
Oft on trees you gethers,
Preenin’ out your feathers,
An’ I’m fain to see your coats as blue as t’ summer sky.

Curlews, larks an’ tewits, all have gone frae t’ moors,
Frost has nipped i’ t’ garden all my bonny floors;
Roses, lilies, pansies,
Stocks an’ yallow tansies
Fade away, an’ soon the leaves ‘ll clutter doon i’ shoors.

Here i’ bed I’m liggin’, liggin’ day by day
Hay-cart whemmled ower, and underneath I lay;
I was nobbut seven,
Soon I’ll be eleven;
Fower times have I seen you fieldfares coom an’ flee away.

You’ll be gone when t’ swallow bigs his nest o’ loam,
April winds ‘ll blaw you far ower t’ saut sea foam;
You’ll not wait while May-time,
Summer dews an’ hay-time;
Lang afore our gerse is mawn your mates ‘ll call you home.

Fieldfares, liltin’ fieldfares, you’ll noan sing to me.
Why sud you bide silent while you’ve crossed the sea?
Are you brokken-hearted,
Sin frae home you’ve parted,
Leavin’ far frae Yorkshire moors your nests i’ t’ tall fir tree?

Storm-cock sings at new-yeer, swingin’ on yon esh,
Sings his loudest song when t’ winds do beat an’ lesh;
Robins, throstles follow,
An’ when cooms the swalloww,
All the birds ‘ll chirm to see our woodlands green an’ nesh.

Fieldfares, bonny fieldfares, I’ll be gone ‘fore you;
I’m sae weak an’ dowly, hands are thin an’ blue.
Pain is growin’ stranger,
As the neets get langer.

Will you miss my face at whiles, when t’ owd yeer’s changed to t’ new? 

~ thank you ~ the Stockwood & Rush Farm Teams