Rosie’s Diary 2021: Part 4
As the harvest season has come to an end, we have taken the time to reflect as a team. The weather could not have been more unkind this year; high winds continued into flowering, 21 days of frost and prolonged cold weather, which extended the flowering period. These weather elements combined meant that we were left with uneven ripening and lower yields this year.
Despite this, we still have many reasons to smile and look forward to next year. Due to the wet weather, the extension growth for next season is brilliant. We know that our journey to become more resilient to climate change is more critical than ever and we currently have a direct drill on trial to sow cover crops along our alleyways. Ribena are also working with the James Hutton Institute to cultivate more weather-resistant varieties.
I’m very proud that we got through the year with a smaller yet very motivated team, and for the first time, I was in charge of the second harvester – Gavin, our Farm Manager’s lessons paid off! We only had two breakdowns this year; one of those was in the first 5 meters of the first row!! During the harvest, we were fortunate enough that the weather didn’t cause us any operational problems. Sadly, we know this isn’t the case for everyone; we really feel for the arable farmers who struggled with challenging weather conditions.
Here at Gorgate, we have now finished Victoria plum harvest and are getting ready to create 45ha of wildflower meadows. Excitingly, we have just restorated 4 ponds with the help of The Upper Wensum Cluster Farm Group continuing our mission to create a landscape where nature can thrive.
Thanks for following my journey – I’ll be sharing more updates from the blackcurrant fields soon!
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