Field Notes: 4th - 10th November 2024

Nov 18, 2024

“In the warmth of a bonfire, we find solace for our souls”

Field Record: What’s been happening on the 107 acres of Honeydale Farm?

To mark Bonfire Night on November 5th, we lit a fire on the farm using old wood scraps and branches from the fields and kitchen garden. We spent a chilly evening wrapped up watching the flames light up the sky, listening to the soothing crackle of the fire and chatting. We stayed until the flames had turned to embers, and it felt like a real homage to autumn and the start of winter. 

We’ve now been writing Field Notes for a whole year, and we hope that you’ve enjoyed coming along on our journey with us, navigating the highs and lows of farming life. A whole lot has happened since we started writing the blog - our FarmED family has grown as we’ve welcomed plenty of new faces to the team, we’ve won two prestigious climate awards, we’ve welcomed groups from as far as Hong Kong, had four healthy calves born on the farm and taken in six goats. We’ve had two summer weddings on the farm, set up our popular Lunchtime Talk series, started a FarmED Book Club, featured on ITV’s ‘Prue Leith’s Cotswold Kitchen’, and starred in the documentary ‘Six inches of Soil’ which has now been shown all around the world. Not bad for a year’s work!

We want to thank you all for coming along on this incredible journey with us. Despite everything we’ve achieved at FarmED in the past year, it’s the little details that we’ll look back on the most fondly, from fledgling birds to glistening spider webs and gleaning apples on the trees, encouraging us to take time to slow down. 

A bumblebee feeding on borage nectar 

Events Recap: What’s on at FarmED?

Composting Clinic

Happy faces after a day of composting! 

On Wednesday, we welcomed three composting experts to the farm for our highly-anticipated Composting Clinic Course. We welcomed a group of 15 people, all keen to learn more about the world of composting and the different methods you can use. 

We were joined by Tim Mitchell (Organic grower at Asthall Manor Kitchen Garden) who talked to us all about Compost tumbling, Martyn Richards of Agriton UK who opened our eyes to the world of Bokashi, and earthworm expert Anna de la Vega (The Urban Worm) who shared her wisdom on Vermicomposting.  

Compost tumbling is a way of speeding up the traditional hot composting system, where, by increasing aeration and disturbance, compost is formed more quickly and with a better bacteria and fungi ratio to normal hot composting. 

Vermicomposting utilises earthworms and their unique ability to turn organic matter into a more nutrient rich soil amendment. The end product has all 14 nutrients that a plant needs, and any impurities in the initial waste are completely removed.  

Finally, Bokashi is a Japanese fermentation process of composting that uses Bokashi bran, food and garden waste to make compost in just five weeks. It’s an anaerobic system, meaning no oxygen is needed, therefore reducing carbon dioxide emissions. 

It was a brilliant day, and we heard from guests of all different backgrounds. Some people were wanting to set up a composting system for their business or farm, whereas others were working on a much smaller, garden-scale. Some were simply interested in the environmental benefits of composting and were eager to find out more! 

Our compost tumblers have been on the farm for just over a year, and we have come a long way since we started. We look forward to seeing where everyone else’s composting journey will take them! 

Farm Walks  

We welcomed 30 Environmental Change Management MSC students from Oxford University for a walk around the farm on Friday, as well as a group of Year 7 students from Sibford School earlier in the week. The students were full of life and enthusiasm, learning about where their food comes from and stopping to help the Kitchen Garden volunteers mid carrot-harvest. One Year 7 commented ‘this is the best smelling carrot I’ve ever had!’ and another said ‘I’d give up McDonald’s for carrots that good!’

Garden Treasures: What’s been happening down in the kitchen garden?

Dan and Ethan midst cavolo nero harvest

This week in the garden has been as busy as ever, with a focus on garlic planting. Growing garlic is a true labour of love, with many different stages. It starts with the arrival of seed garlic - whole heads that need to be split into individual cloves. This painstaking (yet mindful) task was done during rainy spells in the packing shed, sheltered from the wet. Once split, each clove was planted into the soil, spaced 20 cm apart, ready to settle in for the winter months ahead. Garlic thrives in the cold, and frosts are actually a vital part of its life cycle. Only after temperatures drop does the head split into cloves.

Over the week, we planted around 1000 cloves. Some are destined for an early harvest as green garlic in May, while others will grow into full heads by summer. Another mighty task came later in the week, with volunteers helping to harvest over 100kg of sweet, earthy carrots - their smell even stopping a school group in their tracks! 

On Friday morning, we packed boxes with our fresh produce, all while entertained by our new clock, a gift from Ethan, which chimes with a different bird call on the hour. You can find out more about the Kitchen Garden People veg box scheme by clicking here.