Wild Dorset
A NECESSARY OBSESSION Ellen Simon, Tamarisk Farm
T
he weather is a British obsession. ‘Oh isn’t this rain terrible?’ ‘It’s so cold!’ ‘Could you believe the wind this morning? Blew my washing all over the garden.’ Even more than that, though, it is a farmer’s obsession. For winter crops we want late summer rain to allow early cultivation after harvest, and dry to kill the weeds before we sow seeds; we don’t want saturated or cold soil over the winter but we do want some sharp cold to kill some of the bugs. We want a warm moist early season to get a good leafy growth on the wheat, then dry and breezy air to allow our grain to finish maturing and harvest well, followed by rain to soften the stubble fields again. When hay-making, we want a stretch of sun to ensure that it is a high-quality product, then we want rain to help the grass grow. For out-wintered cattle and sheep we want dry conditions in winter and spring; in the summer we want it cool and breezy with enough rain to keep the grass growing. For leafy vegetables we want plenty of rain in measured doses throughout the spring and summer and for winter leaves, no frost. For tomatoes we want early warmth and a fair bit of sun in early summer. For hot peppers we want lots of hot sun. We’re quite demanding, always watching the weather forecast, yet the weather we want often sneaks up the valley next door – we see it and think it is coming and then it slips away. Much of what we want is at direct odds with other aspects of our mixed farm. Because of this, however, it is fairly rare that there is no silver lining to the cloud. On a rainy day my mind may be full of the hay or harvest in desperate need of sun and a drying breeze. Then I meet Rosie or Rebecca with their minds on vegetables and a smile on their wet faces, and they say, ‘lovely rain, isn’t it?’ And I can agree with them, and am reminded that the grass will grow better for the sheep and cattle. As I write it’s been dry and hot for weeks. So far we are feeling it most in the vegetable gardens as seedlings struggle, lettuces get a blue tinge and then bolt, even 38 | Bridport Times | August 2018
established cucumbers and courgettes are losing a few fruit. We can see the future impact too; the wheat and rye started to flower early so they will make less grain. We see it in the weeds going to seed quickly in the fields and gardens. We’ll have more weed seeds in the garden soil next year and for years to come. On the arable ground, I’ve been out with the tractor whenever I can, cutting the docks back to keep them from seeding but they’ve ripened quicker than I could stop them. I recall the drought of 1976, watching the stock moving from one field of dry brown grass to the next, eating the dry stems, picking the flowers off creeping thistle, eating good green blackthorn and hawthorn and bramble from the hedges and deep-rooted grasses from the old established parts of the pastures. If the rain really does not come this summer we may need to feed hay. The farm is better set up for drought now than we were then. We have a much higher proportion of long-established native pastures, more hedges, trees and scrub. Our leys are full of deep-rooted herbs. Our garden soil is better. Looking for the silver lining which comes with the