Blogs

As 2020 draws to a close it is fairly natural to reflect on what the last year has dealt us; but that could get a bit complex.

There is great joy in our household as the twins are in the depths of mock exam revision and the pressure is on as the gaps in our home-schooling caused by lambing, calving and silage become apparent.

Each morning’s tense debate of whether my little one can consume the advent calendar chocolate before or after breakfast signifies both that Christmas is on its way and, in our case, that it’s turkey time.

I have very exciting news - we have labels and Tre-rhew Cider House is now open.

By the time you read this, we should all be emerging out of lockdown 2.0. Like all sequels, it was delayed in its release, had budget concerns and was not well received by the populace. Still, let’s be honest, it wasn’t as bad as Rocky V, was it?

In the week we learned a scotch egg constituted a ‘substantial’ meal and The Path to Sustainable Farming was published by Defra, we were catching up on a list of autumnal jobs on-farm.

With another month ticked off, we now find ourselves on the countdown to Christmas and following the latest amendments to the Covid-19 rules, the orders for the Christmas roasts for family meals on Christmas day and boxing day have started to come in.

As I come to the end of a month in Iceland, I feel satisfied knowing that my time here has been valuable for me personally and for the farming community.

If Defra’s latest document is anything to go by, the path of agricultural transition will be beset by instances in which bureaucratic ideology butts up against the realities of farming and food production.

Time rolls on and it is even wetter than a month ago. We had a decent week in the middle of tupping, but it has rained pretty much all the remaining days, making ground work tricky.