April 3rd – The curious textures and contour-following lines of a ploughed and planted potato field seen today near Shenstone. The almost Moire-like visual disturbance this causes is fascinating, and really shows the undulations in any landscape.
Particularly impressive was the single cock pheasant clearly feeling a bit superior in the centre. Not the brightest birds but certainly very beautiful.
March 21st – Passing the fields at the Shelfield end of Green Lane, I smelt the delicious, dark smell of freshly turned earth, and noticed the field near the Mob Lane junction had been ploughed, harrowed and planted.
I noted a lot of fields locally have been ploughed in the last week or so. Perhaps farmers now feel they’re clear enough of winter to risk spring planting.
So beautiful to see the brown fields, full of promise for a new growing season.
September 11th – Bumper update today as I had a lovely Indian summer ride out to Abbots Bromley, Newborough and Dunstall.
Here at Hanney Hay near Hammerwich, just down from Meerash Farm, a field full of strikingly green proso-millet.
I have no idea if the use is as animal or human feed, or even biofuels, but it’s a handsome, beautifully coloured crop.
Cheers to Tony Jakeman for the identification. I’ve never seen it before.
September 7th – I passed them in Coulter Lane, realised what they were, and did an about turn. There were two Gloucester sows in the paddock, with lots of cute little piglets. They were a fair way away, and this is the best shot I could get.
Such clean looking animals in apparently excellent condition.
July 19th – Oats are in fashion this year. After years of barely seeing any at all, this year all the best-dressed arable farms are wearing them.
I’m seeing them all over the place – the price, or subsidy for them must be high this year. They are a beautiful golden colour at the moment, and are painting the fields in shades of high summer.
These at Home Farm seem to be ready for harvest.
July 17th – I had to pop down to Shenstone on my way home; on my return through the backlands I noticed something that had largely been passing me by of late; the crops in the fields are now ripening, and the harvest cannot be far away.
At Footherly, a field of nice, plump wheat is turning golden in the July warmth. The clean, milky-tasting grain will, if the weather continues to be reasonable, make great flour.
Nice to see.
August 31st – ‘Why the long face, mate?’ ‘Because the summer’s over and passers by keep asking me stupid questions.’
Gorgeously nosey donkey, who brayed a hello at me as I cycled past at the bottom of Lazy Hill. I did the only reasonable thing – slammed the anchors on and went back to give him some fuss and take a few pictures.
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…
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.
October 9th – There must be a good return on parsnips. I watched this mystery crop grow at Home Farm, Sandhills, from polythene covered strip mounds to lush, verdant foliage, from which readers identified the then mysterious crop. Harvesting has been ongoing for a week or two now – not everyday, but I imagine as often as demand occurs. Workers appear to sit in the shed-like trailer picking the root veg by hand, and tossing them onto a conveyor. Debris in one spot shows the crop was large and in good condition.
Don’t think I’ve ever seen parsnips grown in large quantities before. It’s certainly labour intensive to pick them.
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