Finally, after months of research, planning and organising, our crops were drilled into the ground over the course of last weekend. Satisfying as it is to see them go in, the feeling is elevated all the more by the near-perfect conditions we were able to sow in. A sprinkle of rain now and we couldn’t really have asked for better, the ball is now firmly in the court of the crops themselves!
Despite the ideal conditions prevailing for drilling, they weren’t so ideal for small, lightweight lepidoptera. Indeed, all week long I have kept an eye on the winds, waiting for them to drop to give me a window of opportunity to asses our pollinators. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that’ll happen this week and so, with the full guilt of a missed survey, my hand is forced.
In other news, trial products have been created from the vegetation found around the site (Nettle, Lavender etc.) and these can be found in Plover, most of which require another few weeks infusing before we can see (and test) the results. This small, seemingly insignificant gesture towards product development is in-fact a milestone for our farm, and certainly an indication of the outside-the-box thinking required to get us here. Turning primary produce into saleable products is the cornerstone of our operation, the main component from which all else is required to complement.
Cornwall, a region particularly suited to growing niche crops due to its propensity for long warm summer months (don’t all shout at once, we’re talking relatively), is ideally situated to exploit the trend of the agri-economy towards the production of small-scale, high-value niche crops.
