Good afternoon,

The vet is on his way to check on our lad Saturn, who has returned to the yard for a fertility test. Our Angus bull has enjoyed the last few months in the fields with a herd of Sussex cows, but has unfortunately not managed to get any of them in calf. He’s 5 years old and should be at peak calf-making ability & enthusiasm, so we’ve asked the vet & his long glove to pop in and figure out what the issue might be.

After a few late nights of carting in the dark, we have managed to get all of our 1,500 bales of hay & straw safely stacked in the new barn, and we’re pleased to see it is water tight. Our spring barley crop was poor this year - about 10 tonnes from 20 acres. This year’s spring gave us ground that was too dry, too cold and then too wet so we weren’t able to sow until May and the seeds didn’t germinate well - it wasn’t even worth combining, we’ve baled it with the hay for the cattle to enjoy later in the year.

The apples in the orchard are swelling up nicely and we are planning to start picking and swapping on the last weekends of September. If you’ve not been to our apple swap before, all you need to do it turn up with your garden apples and we’ll pay for them with cider - this year’s exchange rate is 8kg for a 330ml bottle or 2/3 pint in the yard.

The apples need to be clean, ripe and unsprayed - good enough for you to eat is good enough for our cider. We’ll be swapping 23rd, 30th September, 7th and 14th October from 11-4pm, serving hot food each Saturday and throwing a harvest party come food & drink market on the 14th October. Hope to see you & your apples there