Questions from a member

_Tony Allen has written.. _

I hope this comment appears on the Farming Methods and the Ethos of OurField
Questions for John
1 How is OurField at the end of what has been mainly a wet and very cold April? Certainly it is cold this Saturday morning.
Would it be possible to have some photos of the cover crop and the weeds?
2 Can we expect that the field can be grazed?
3 I did ask earlier whether any of the 'weeds' would be grazed if you do manage to install the equipment needed to manage the grazing?
If you have time - thank you. Tony Allan

Apologies for going quiet. It all got a bit hectic and then we left the country for a week. Anyway, a quick update:

We were hoping to give you the option of attempting to stunt/kill the weeds by grazing this spring, before drilling our summer cover crop. Alas, spring sprung before we were ready and we took the view that the weeds were too close to seeding to allow this risky venture so we round-uped the field. The dose we used was enough to knock all the grass weeds, but left the clover growing. We then drilled the cover crop last Saturday (5th May).

The thinking was that we hadn't had a chance to set up the fencing or install water, so grazing wasn't going to be an option before drilling. We will get on with this now we are coming to the end of the frenetic spring planting season. The seeds have gone into moisture, so we'll have to see what happens next. I'll post up exactly what is in the mix when I find the list, but there might be a chance for foraging in it for food later in the year if you get there before the cattle. There's maize, millet, buckwheat, rye, turnips, vetch and all sorts gone in.

Again, apologies for lack of consultation
John

Thanks for the update John, and good to hear that the crop is in the ground. I've just caught up on everything here after a long stretch and sorry to have missed some great discussions!

One thing I wanted to ask @johncherry was what you do on the farm to encourage wildlife? Are you in any agri-environment schemes or do you have any other areas of dedicated habitat near to ourfield? Would this be something we could consider for the future for example giving over part of the field to seed mixes for wild birds or pollinators?

Sorry for being a bit slow answering your questions Harry.
We are in ELS/HLS on the farm but these schemes run out in July this year. We are looking to sign up for a new Stewardship agreement starting in the new year. We could put a patch of bird seed/pollinator mix in ourfield if the collective are keen.

Our basic philosophy is to make the whole farm wildlife friendly rather than just having narrow strips around the edges of fields as the only places where nature can survive...this is admittedly a work in progress, but it is very pleasing how many amber and red list bird species seem to be thriving here, despite our not specifically encouraging them with paid for features. For instance the place is awash with sky larks; we used to solemnly leave 'sky lark nesting patches' in our crops (ie bare patches) but now they just seem to like they way we farm and are nesting in every field.

Dear John and all
Very many thanks for the comments on weed treatment, cover crop drilling and wildlife policy and outcomes. Somehow I missed these posting until this morning.
I posted some ideas yesterday for summer and autumn activities and as they have not appeared I was looking for them. I found your messages but my posting seems to have disappeared which is a pity. I shall check again.
Briefly I was proposing a members farm visit on a Saturday or Sunday in July or August and an autumn evening meeting in London. Best Tony [Allan]

Quick update...not good news I'm afraid. We planted the cover crop in what I thought were good conditions, but slugs have ravaged the seedlings and it looks like we'll have to re-drill. I hate using slug pellets, but I don't think there's any point not applying them this time. We'll use ferric phosphate which I think are ok in organic systems. Please holler if unhappy....
John

well, 'not good news' is perhaps part of the experience of farming, which is why we are all here..

Gosh where to start! It has been a brilliant two days spent at Groundswell on the Cherry’s Farm. Highlights included meeting the Cherrys, Janaki (Bee), Oliver, Abby, Annie and John from the group but also so many interesting conversations with farmers and organisations. It was heartening to see so many farmers looking to reduce their inputs or even just contemplating it and hear their experiences, successes and challenges of those that were fully transitioning and taking on regenerative agriculture practices. First of all to the farmer it makes financial sense to go no-till which ultimately means its more likely to be adopted, there are multiple benefits such as it saving time, it allows the soil to regenerate, building humus and the micro flora but the list is endless. The message was that in the UK we have to change the way the vast majority are farming, we can no longer go on the way we are, the soils are depleted the agrochemical bill is high and the crops are getting further away from being food for human consumption.

There was a good focus on nutrition, value of good practice and bringing respect back to the farmers role. I now have even more respect for the myriad of skills required to make so many decisions short and long-term, made especially difficult with the many unknowns of where Brexit may lead to. I was there representing e5 as a Baker and really to try to answer all the questions I have about what the kind of system I want to be supporting, articulating this to the students that come to e5 to learn and the customers, and I am aware the impact such a forward thinking bakery can have in the wider bakery community. What makes great flavour, nutritious bread? I know it ultimately means supporting the best farming practices, the two are clearly linked. Still a lot to learn, more farmers to hear from and understanding the complexities of this broken food system.

In the Agricology tent there was a small gathering to introduce the UK Grain Lab, an umbrella organisation that will have an event in early November linking farmers millers and bakers together, here’s a patchy film of that intro meeting at Groundswell: https://www.facebook.com/Agricology1/videos/628433270852857/?hc_ref=ARTWiCREby2oTVMygQJT5a8AHWICD5B37WjZG25c_lVvfKVBKNxMuyKpI-Hs4Xjd6N4 Abby mentions some of the challenges of access to processing of small volumes etc.

John gave a presentation on no-till at Weston Park Farms, the OurField project was also mentioned, we were introduced as the “enthusiastic Londoners” (I’m actually from Cheshire John! but no worries) who were “having a go on some fields” the audience of farmers audibly chuckled at the prospect of allowing such a project to happen on their land, its pretty unique to be given this opportunity so thank you everyone, especially John that’s helped get us this far! hmm so yeah, probably a little bit of bridge building needed between our perceived loud/urban/dealistic views and those plough loving traditional farmers! The attitude we are up against just makes me want the project to succeed more!

Janaki and I took a break from all the learning and walked over to OurField to have a look. We should all go there! its a short walk from the farm buildings down a dip, up through a wood along a bridleway and out into the field. As what John said, the cover crop hasn’t taken, theres are patches of the mix, see pictures; phacelia, vetch etc looking lovely but the vast proportion is near bare ground, which in this heat a worry…Quick observations were patches of certain weeds such as thistle, but mainly only lightly covered soil quite exposed in some areas.

My thoughts are that I’m wary of taking heavy machinery over the land loads of times but maybe this isn’t too much of a problem (I by accident stumbled upon a part of a talk on tire pressure…these farmers do love their big machines!) but keeping soil bare is like having an open wound and preventing it from healing. Over time exposed earth degrades as moisture is lost and nutrients washed away. Exposed soil combined with heavy machinery is a recipe for disaster as compacted soil encourages even more run-off. The size of field is huge (perhaps small compared to many farms), this might be too radical suggestion but could we adopt some agroforestry methods here?! Thinking of the long term resilience of this land we could be building soils put simply by growing grains in strips between productive trees…Some more observations from John Cherry on aspect, weather conditions, soil type etc might be useful to know first. Theres an Agricology organised event on the 16th July if anyones interested? https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-agroforestry-network-meeting-livestock-and-arable-tickets-46357886687

I’m all for getting the herd on but at the moment there’s hardly anything there to eat! maybe feeding them hay on the field if thats an option John? would at least get them to deposit some of the good stuff! build some nutrition before possibly drilling in a winter wheat - its all for us to decide! Secondly the finding a Low input variety of wheat… the hunt could begin to find a grain worth planting in Autumn if people are keen? Abby Glencross mentioned she might have access to some interesting grain and we could under sowing or combine crops here’s a report talking through some ideas https://www.agricology.co.uk/resources/potential-companion-cropping-and-intercropping-uk-arable-farms. The move away from monoculture to diverse crop mixtures is what I’m keen to try as the diversity creates so many beneficial connections. I’m off to the National Organic Combinable Crops Conference on Tuesday.http://ofgorganic.org/nocc-18-3-july-2018-shropshire/ Kim from Small Food Bakery is making flatbreads from a selection of varieties from what I understand is grown in an organic but tilled system, it will be interesting to taste and learn more about that. The challenge of doing no-till it still the use of glyphosphate which means it cannot be licensed Organic I think (personally I wouldn’t want my bread with even a trace of pesticide I know this is a real challenge to work out how best to go forward. (the license for Glyphosphate ends in 4 years, though this may change ) its an area I need to read up on.

Very keen to visit OurField again with the group or even meet earlier in London if thats easier? I’d love to see everyone face to face so we can move forward together, having met just a few of you this last week I feel so much more enthusiastic about it! I’m happy to vote for someone to be in a paid role to organise a couple of events. I can ask Ben my boss if we could use the e5 bakehouse in London Fields one evening when its closed, would weekends be best? We’d need to open the bar up to help pay for the space but it could be nice to eat some good bread cheese whilst we chat. Sure if you pass me over some of last years dehulled Spelt grain I can use the mini mill and whip us up some tinned spelt for the evening so we can all taste it together? Happy to do that.

So sorry for such a long rambling message (making up for my lack of activity so far!).

Wow I somehow missed all the updates from the field, thanks for all your updates @johncherry . Thanks for your post and thoughts @rosybenson - very interesting and yes agreed it was a real pleasure seeing some of the OurField members at Groundswell and so glad you and Bee went and saw the field and took photos. Very curious to hear what you think @johncherry about any possibility of putting hay out in the field so we can graze it anyways just for a day or two to get some cow action happening!? or do they not appreciate that when they have plenty of green food elsewhere...?

Also I guess we do need to start thinking now about what we are going to plant next year if we want to try and source any type of heritage grain - what do you think @johncherry ?