Lifting the Plastic
Ready to lift the crop
The Big Freeze
Where did the summer go?
With all the snow that has fallen and the freezing temparatures, it is vital to prevent the crops still in the ground getting frost damaged.
One of the main activities at Midcoul through the winter is to get the carrots and parsnips covered with a cosy layer of plastic (to keep the wet off) topped off with a thick layer of straw to keep the frost from turning everything into mush!
When we need to harvest the crops, we get up very early in the morning and take it all off again, ready to lift the crop.
The plastic is wound up into bundles and gets sent for recycling and the straw is chopped and mixed back into the ground to help increase the organic matter in the soil. This can all get a bit challenging when its very cold and the plastic snaps or the tractor won't start but somehow every body keeps smiling and the carrots and parsnips keep coming!
Growing vegetables and cereals need lots of nutrients so we also keep cattle and sheep over the winter to help build up supplies of wonderfull muck. The cattle get kept inside so that their feet dont damage the soil and they eat any carrots that don't fit the bill for Tesco
Archive Reports
| Autumn 2010 | Summer 2010 |
| Spring 2010 | Winter 2009 |
| June 2007 |