Farm Life - spring forward

by Roger Hill

Easter is quite late this year because the date all depends on the moon, the full moon to be exact. Easter Sunday is always the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon, which is after the spring equinox on March 21st.

Over the years I have noted extreme weather around the above weekend impacting on farming activities. In the past it was invariably a blast of cold weather bringing snow showers.

One particular year I remember drilling spring barley into near perfect soil conditions, having had a sunny week before, only to be stopped by a sudden snowstorm. We had to abandon the field halfway through our work. The following two weeks were very wet and when we resumed the original seeds had germinated to about four inches.

The opposite occurred in 2019 with our first foray into planting vines. Maundy Thursday was bitterly cold with hail showers stinging our faces. By Easter Monday though, we were all applying sunscreen as it was so hot. The vines were wilting and we were hauling buckets of water to keep them cool.

Even I was down to my t-shirt and shorts, but that’s enough about my knobbly knees! ‘Til next time, Roger #TuppertheTractor (website: quoit-at-cross.co.uk)

Spring blooms