It was a relief to have some dry cold weather for a change! That was short lived as we return to wet conditions yet again.

We still have 40 acres of winter Wheat to drill, I’m not sure if this will happen at the eleventh hour or not? If not, we will put some spring Barley in possibly, last time we had a wet autumn and tried spring wheat it was a disaster. On the other hand, the new government scheme allows us one or two year grass ley. So planting options still remain for the spring but are less than ideal. We have had a contractor in with a 360 digger to clear our boundary and brook (beginning of river Great Ouse). The prime reason is to prepare two grass field for planting of 3500 popular rods that will develop over 15 years to be harvested into wood chip for our biomass boiler. These rods come as 6ft rods (like a walking stick) and you put 6 inches into the ground and they grow in to trees. The 360 digger was clearing debris, thorn and pollarding willow trees which typically lean over, or large branches snap off. We have therefore pollarded a section of our grass fields leaving more space for trees to grow without being obstructed by old ones. The timber removed will be processed through our biomass. This is all done under licence from the Forestry Commission

We will continue to do more planting next year to hopefully make us more self-sufficient to run the biomass boiler.

I am sure some of you will be thinking of Christmas now we are in December, wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas. A special thank you to those of you coming in during the holiday period to keep the wheels turning.