June 22nd – Grange Farm at High Heath seems to operate a crop rotation system. Last year in this field near High Heath, there was a fine crop of oilseed rape. This year, it’s barley – and it seems to be ripening well.
It’s interesting to note just how uniform this crop is, and how dense the seed heads. Looks like it’s been a good season for it…
June 21st – At Stonywell, between Farewell and Longdon Green, my attention was snagged by a bright red flash as I sped past. Doubling back, I found a rare treat: a field of oilseed rape overcome by bright red poppies.
It’s beautiful, and stunning. I love the countryside of Staffordshire – it’s always surprising.
September 27th – Having visited the farm shop, returned via Weeford and Little Hay. Autumn is really kicking in now, and even on this very dull, overcast day, the colours were lovely. By the drainage lagoon at Thickbroom, you’d never realise you were less than 15 metres from the A38.
The rooftops of Weeford – John Wyatt’s exemplar village, built as an advertisement of his architectural prowess – still fascinate me. From the high cemetery near the community hall, the view is commanding and beautiful.
I noted that the land north of Park Lane, between Shenstone and Little Hay is now almost totally given over to free range pigs, snorting and rooting through the brown earth. They must outnumber local residents by a healthy number, and their produce – a quantity of which I’d just bought – is fine and tasty.
I couldn’t help thinking though that if they ever got together and rose up, we’d be under porcine rule within a matter of days… perhaps Animal Farm wasn’t a satire after all.
September 23rd – The overcast days seem to be well upon us now, and when I left work this evening, the light was grey, indistinct and the air quality once more very poor. I had to nip over to Stonnall to pick something up, so I ploughed on with grim determination.
Just off Lynn Lane, on my return, I noted that the last arable crop of the season was being harvested. Maize (a close relative of sweetcorn) which had grown tall and green in the end days of summer was now being shorn off at ground level by a special piece of machinery, which chops the whole plant – leaves, stalk, seed and cob – into chips for use as bulk in animal feed and the like.
I watched from afar with a heavy heart. The smell was remarkable, and with it, the summer passed the final baton to autumn. The closing-in is well underway today, coincidentally also that of the Autumnal Equinox.
August 7th – Closer to home, across the spread of Springhill and Sandhills, it’s harvest time. At Cartersfield Lane, wheat was ripe, and ready to be harvested, a process already underway at Home Farm, where the combine was sending up a terrifically dramatic cloud of cereal dust as it worked. Also growing on the lower fields of Sandhills, a healthy and verdant maize crop, now quite tall.
This does seem to have been a most favourable summer for the farmers, but I’m sure they’ll find something to complain about before long…
August 3rd – Still laying off the long rides for the sake of my sore foot, I had to run some errands and get some shopping in – so I headed on a sunny, but windy afternoon to Morrisons at Burntwood.
A lovely day, for sure – and the harvest at Home Farm, Sandhills, had started, but the wheat still wasn’t ripe enough. Hopefully, it will be before the next lot of rains midweek…
July 29th – The harvest actually started a few days ago, but I was in too much of a hurry that night to get home, there was no time to stop and take photos. This was a field of oilseed rape, on the corner of Green Lane and Mob Lane, just by Grange Farm, in Walsall Wood. The dry plant has been harvested for it’s tiny, black seeds, threshed out of their pots by complex harvesting machinery. The pods, chaff and stalks are shredded, and sprayed back out on the ground to be ploughed back in.
Once the harvest starts, you know the season is marching onwards…
21st July – It’s been a lovely day, but the ride home was hard. I’d been on my feet all day, and to be quite frank, the left one still hurts, and was punishing me on the way back, as were the hills and the wind. All I could do was try to relax, click down the gears and enjoy the sun.
It’s been a good season so far, warm, sunny and not too wet, and this shows in the fields around Grange Farm in Green Lane, Walsall Wood. The barley on the edge of jockey meadows is hypnotic to watch in the breeze, and the oilseed rape on the corner of Green and Mob Lanes is golden.
Soon, the harvest will be upon us, and a new range of sights and sounds.
June 27th – A hard day and an awful journey home for the last commute of the week. The trains were a mess and I came back from Four Oaks against a grinding headwind with little left in my reserve tanks. I was knackered.
Re-armed with the camera, I spied this field of high-quality, nicely ripening barley at the foot of Castle Hill. It’s a lovely crop, with plump, large grain and will make fine malt.
I love the satin sheen of an undulating crop of barley, as it bobs in the wind. It’s one of the great seasonal sights of the English countryside.
June 14th – I took a spin over to Hopwas Hays Wood via Wall. It was a little too muddy, to be honest, and the skies threatened the whole time I was out. But it was a nice ride for all that.
Crossing Harehurst Hill from Claypit Lane on the bridleway to the old Watling Street, when I looked south, all I could see before me was a healthy, lush crop of beans. Northwards, a similarly decent crop of wheat.
Looks like a decent season for the farmers if the weather holds.
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