Apologies for the delay in sending out the blog. The cafe is now in its fourth week, and has been keeping us very busy, but busy is good! The popularity of the coffees and bacon rolls is gratifying, and now we are working to create not only a place for people to access nutritious, organic produce, but also a community space – for the business park tenants and also for the local community. We are fortunate to have held onto a pub in the nearest villages, but a space through the daytime, which can be used in so many ways for people to ‘people’, rather than cope with modern-day isolation is something which is so important to us.

In the meantime, the farm has been ticking along. Lucky us, for the last 4 weeks we have had a young French student, Noa, join us to learn more about organic farming through the WWOOF organisation. Despite having no previous experience with sheep or cattle, she has proven to be very confident handling them and has been a real help while we try to balance our farm and cafe workloads. With Noa’s assistance, we have fenced a long row of trees which needed protecting from livestock, and we also planted over 100 new trees so that we could start a new hedge in one of our more open fields. As they say, many hands make light work! The sheep are all well, with the pregnant ewes looking increasingly ponderous. When scanned, both flocks, Lleyn and Shetland had really good results, with only 6 ewes with triplets, and the majority with twins. This data is so useful for our planning, and with only 6 weeks to go until we can expect the first lambs, over the next few days we will sort them according to how many they are expecting (one, two, or three lambs), so that we can then care for them accordingly. Ewes carrying triplets typically need extra feed or else they lose too much body condition and then subsequently haven’t enough colostrum or milk for the lambs. The lambs do a lot of growing in the final stages of gestation, so now is the time to start our feeding regimen. 

The cattle are all well, but sadly we are once again caught in a TB cycle. Despite all the cattle going clear in our whole herd test 2 weeks ago, an older cow that was sent off to the abattoir just a few days later showed signs of lesions. Samples have been sent away to be tested, but chances are they will come back positive for TB, and as such we cannot sell any animals unless direct to slaughter. With 2 groups of animals lined up to sell to other farms, this is a real blow, and also raises some real frustrations. It is purported that the TB skin test has an accuracy of 60%, meaning that you get many false positives and false negatives, both irritating in their own ways. False positives are irksome because a perfectly healthy animal has to be slaughtered. False negatives are arguably much worse. The cow which later showed lesions was 11 years old, but has never reacted to the skin test, so could easily have been transmitting TB to other cattle for many years, undetected. Surely, there has to be a better solution out there…

In brighter news, we have begun a collaboration with the environmental department at Worcester University, where the farm is provided as a resource for students to carry out research for their dissertations. According to the professors we’ve spoken to prior, there has been a real increase amongst students wishing to learn more about regenerative farming practices – the more people interested in this area, the better we say! Yesterday we met with two students, one who wishes to study soil health by looking at indicator species such as invertebrates, and another who wants to assess moth populations across different habitats. Both of these topics seem very interesting and will help tell us how the farm is performing. Neither of these topics have been looked at before on the farm, so the results will be fascinating! As a tenanted farm based in a community owned initiative, we feel it’s important that we can provide students with a space to learn about farming, as well as simply having access to the countryside, something that is becoming increasingly more difficult for young people, for a variety of reasons. Hopefully, we can act as a long-term resource for students and provide them with the space they need to carry out their studies.  The catkins are prolific this year, and the hedgerows are adorned beautifully. The snowdrops are plentiful, and thanks to the cold snap, are still looking fresh several weeks on. The aconites are battling against the moles, who are very insistent this year to be everywhere! Cyclamen are looking splendid, and we spotted an otter – a very exciting first for the farm. The treat that is the Apricot blossom is a gift that thankfully keeps on giving. So brave and true, these stunning flowers don’t let a little thing like winter stop them!

Evening Solace by Charlotte Bronte

THE human heart has hidden treasures,
In secret kept, in silence sealed;­
The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures,
Whose charms were broken if revealed.
And days may pass in gay confusion,
And nights in rosy riot fly,
While, lost in Fame’s or Wealth’s illusion,
The memory of the Past may die.

But, there are hours of lonely musing,
Such as in evening silence come,
When, soft as birds their pinions closing,
The heart’s best feelings gather home.
Then in our souls there seems to languish
A tender grief that is not woe;
And thoughts that once wrung groans of anguish,
Now cause but some mild tears to flow.

And feelings, once as strong as passions,
Float softly back­a faded dream;
Our own sharp griefs and wild sensations,
The tale of others’ sufferings seem.
Oh ! when the heart is freshly bleeding,
How longs it for that time to be,
When, through the mist of years receding,
Its woes but live in reverie !

And it can dwell on moonlight glimmer,
On evening shade and loneliness;
And, while the sky grows dim and dimmer,
Feel no untold and strange distress­
Only a deeper impulse given
By lonely hour and darkened room,
To solemn thoughts that soar to heaven,
Seeking a life and world to come.