After Farm Manager Ian's fifteen minutes of fame on Countryfile, normal life on the farm has resumed and Ian has got back to his day job. If you didn't manage to catch the programme on September 4th, it's still available on BBC i-player.
Incredibly we managed to finish #harvest16 ahead of schedule. After a slow start to the Summer and lots of worries about the weather, the Indian Summer we've been having resulted in a much better harvest than anticipated. So our Black Mitcham peppermint has now been cut and distilled into the finest peppermint oil. It is now ageing (just like wine) in a big holding barrel until it's canned off into storage containers. The mint crop now enters a period of hibernation over the winter months.
The camomile's had a second cut and is now ready to be distilled. And there has been some late distillation of the lavender on the farm too.
This week has seen Ian planting green cover crops for conservation purposes - the crops absorb the surplus nitrogen which improves the soil structure. He's also been ploughing, ready for seed drilling and sewing.
Not quite as glamorous as being in front of the camera, but all in a day's work of being Farm Manager on the Summerdown Farm, and shows the care and passion of producing these top quality crops.
This week has seen Ian planting green cover crops for conservation purposes - the crops absorb the surplus nitrogen which improves the soil structure. He's also been ploughing, ready for seed drilling and sewing.
Not quite as glamorous as being in front of the camera, but all in a day's work of being Farm Manager on the Summerdown Farm, and shows the care and passion of producing these top quality crops.