Aconites on the Moreton Road. Photograph: Colin Wootton
Richard Fonge writes:
The rain continues therefore making the ground sodden. However the winter corn and oilseed rape still looks healthy, in particular the wheat plant up the concrete road. These crops will soon be needing nitrogen to boost growth when ground conditions allow. Nitrogen needs to be applied in at least two applications.
Agriculture education and sharing knowledge with a wider population has always been very close to my heart Those wishing to make a career in the industry have a wide choice, whether it’s a course at your local college such as Moulton in Northamptonshire or a degree course at one of our universities. A prerequisite in both cases is to gain some practical experience if possible beforehand. New entrants bring fresh ideas to the industry, where there are plenty of opportunities for those wanting an outdoor life, and the great satisfaction of seeing the fruits of your labour in the harvesting and growing of the crop or the raising of livestock.
The aconites up the Moreton road have been exceptional this year and with the snowdrops now out and daffodils soon to bloom, spring seems not far away, with lambs soon to be seen also.
Some forty years ago, I had the pleasure to get to know a retired farmer in his nineties. Roly was a great character who had started with three cows grazing the grass verges, milking them by hand and then selling the milk in the village, this was in 1912. He was able by renting a field or two build his business slowly to the point he could rent in 1927 a 250 acre farm with an extensive milk round in Coventry. At the age of a hundred he entered the Guinness book of records as Britain’s oldest driver. On one occasion he was having breakfast when the district nurse arrived to dress a leg sore and ticked him off for eating egg, bacon, fried bread and tomato. His reply: This has been my breakfast all my life and I am now 96, along with a good tot of whiskey at bedtime! No more was said.
Richard Fonge.