farming and conservation

I can understand that. But if you are doing what you love it counts as riches.

 

That's how they see it here. It's a particularly pretty little farm with small fields and lots of hedgerows.
The farmer's sweater has patches on its patches as do his tractor inner tubes but he'd never sell up. He could keep the farmhouse, sell the land and be a millionaire but it would break his heart.

 

Paul either enjoys what he does or is very good at making it look like he does based on the videos etc. you have shared here. It sounds like you he’s probably genetically predisposed to farming.

Do you have any background or family history in agriculture or just your experiences with Paul?

Production agriculture is definitely a lifestyle whether you are a small sharecropper or a large landowner. It’s not a job where you go home after a 9 to 5 and chill. Eventually you end up with a hypothermic calf in your bathtub at 2:00 am or some such thing.

Things aren’t a lot different here. The average age of farmers keeps increasing. Young people see a lot easier ways to make a living and choose them. Inevitably average farm sizes increase and the small ones disappear. Farms with multiple heirs often sell to non family entities so heirs can “cash out”.

 

No, my father was a civil servant and his father a professional soldier. On mum's side my grandfather was a shopkeeper turned small hotelier.
You have to go a fair way back to find a farmer.
I'm sure Paul could have done just about anything he wanted. He didn't have any further education but he's one of the smartest people I know.
I just find it interesting and food is my career so there is a link I suppose.

 

Could someone open up a farm in another part of the world with the sole purpose to sell its crops to the UK, without it being a plantation? More business than colonial.
Like, warmer climate, nice weather, different country, but food grown for export to the UK.

I guess there's no way to get subsidies from Blighty and that other country might not give it to you if you're feeding another nation if there's any to be had.

 

I thought one of the sheep had died today.

It was flat on its back with its feet in the air.

I went and got Paul and as we approached we were convinced it had croaked but when we got close it started trying to move.

What had happened was it had rolled on to its back and it was so fat it couldn't get up again.

Once it was helped back on its feet it was fine.

It must have been stuck for a while, poor thing, there was a large pile of droppings next to it.

Needs to go on a diet or become mutton I think.

 

I just got a baby Billie. When we found it it had the scours. I did the best thing I could think of, and left it alone. It has been bouncing around for 2 days now. This pic is right after birth. The tail is up.

 

They are dear little things.

 

I like them.

 

Harvesting the wheat with a 1950s binder.

 

Couple weeks later.... he is fine...a stocky little fellow.

 

Tough little beasts.

 

Yep.

 

Looks like an accident waiting to happen. Is this the roofing straw?

 

Yes, if the wheat doesn't grow long enough for thatch he just combines it.

 

What does the bloke in the crows nest do?

 

I'm not sure. There are a few levers up there.
I'll ask Paul next time I get a chance.

 

Ah, turns out that particular field isn't thatching straw after all.
It's a spring wheat from the 1940s called Atlee. That crop has been commissioned by a local mill to use for 'heritage' bread flour and they are prepared to pay 3 times as much for it because it is harvested in the traditional manner.
The reason it wasn't combined is that the protein content is higher when it is harvested slightly green and dried in the field.
Combine harvesters cut the wheat when it is fully ripe and dry a couple of weeks or so later in the growth cycle which isn't so good for bread flour as the protein levels drop .
You could combine it green but then you would have to put it through a grain dryer.
Thatching straw comes only from winter wheats. The two varieties grown here are Square Head Master and New Harvester. Some farmers grow Aquilla or Huntsman for thatch but they are relatively modern strains (1970s) and only grow long enough under ideal conditions with extra fertilizers.
SHM and NH are 19th century varieties and grow to the required lengths without the extra input.

 

I asked Paul what he did when he was sitting on the binder.
He said ''pull the levers''.
After more questioning I found out that one controls the sail height and the other controls the height the string is tied.
The wheat varies in height in different parts of the field dependant on things like drainage, shade, soil fertility, uneven ground etc so Paul has to pull the levers accordingly.
They were manually pulling wild oats out of the sheaves and stacking the stooks when I went over for a chat.
Not a machine or tool of any kind being used, just their hands.
Hard on your back but no noise, dust or fumes from any machinery.
Just the birdsong and a gentle breeze providing the sound track.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaper-binder

 

https://www.thatchadvicecentre.co.u...ing-materials/thatching-straw-wheat-varieties

 

That’s an interesting sideline, wheat for old fashioned bread.
I think that the new flours are for quicker rising than the older ones. Is that right?

 

There’s a big height difference in the two breeds of wheat.

 

I suspect it is the yeasts which are faster acting rather than the flours.
Modern varieties are higher in gluten which is what the yeast feeds on and they often add gluten to improve the flour these days but the yeasts are improving all the time too.
Sourdough breads made with wild yeast and modern high protein wheats still prove slowly.