Apologies for the month long absence from the blogging Farmer Jake. I have spent most of the first half of May completing the dreaded SP5 form required by
DEFRA. Single Payment 5 forms are required by
DEFRA in order for us to receive our
European compensation. These have a very strict deadline of the 15
th May, ingrained into arable farmers minds since 1991 when the first schemes were created. We have to inform
DEFRA what crops we are growing, where they are, (each field has a national grid reference) and what the total areas claimed are likely to be. In addition to this where we are growing crops with protein
supliment (beans and peas) or where we are growing crops under energy rules all have to be divided up separately. It is a little confusing but worth filling them in! Since then May has turned wet which helped out our
droughty crops and held off us irrigating the potatoes. The new irrigation system worked well for a day then, the only part of the old system we didn't change failed, causing a few headaches for a couple of days. All sorted now! (Henry's sigh of relief could be heard from Ross!)
Farm Sunday is rapidly approaching, we're booking up fast but there are places of the 9.00 trip, worth getting up for and seeing the countryside waking up! Fresher By Miles will be launching in
Overbury and the surrounding villages on the day some come along and see what local goodies are available for sale, freshly grown within 30miles from
Badsey. Some prices are cheaper than
Tesco's at the moment! Check out
http://www.fresherbymiles.com
Last night saw a sunny end to a dismally wet and cold day, when 30 members of the Three Counties Young Farmers Club's arrived at Overbury for a farm walk. Penelope spoke about the Estate and the village, school and nursery school. I talked about the stud, which Simon runs, the arable cropping, conservation and the sheep. Gordon drove us around for the 2.5 hrs.
