Harvest 2012 will go down for most as one that they would rather forget. After a very promising start to the year with the crops showing heaps of potential the weather over the spring put pay to the bumper yields that we had hoped for. We had rain when we needed sun and drought when we needed rain and the wheat grains never really filled out. That said harvest in Cambridgeshire was better than many parts of the country with some farmers barely having any crop to collect in.
It was not without its problems ...
... such as when the combine sunk and got stuck in a wet spot and had to be pulled out backwards by a tractor. At least it wasn't as bad as one incident that we heard of where the farmer had to ask the army for some help to winch his combine out.
The nights are well and truly drawing in, there is a chill in the air and the big toys have come out for autumn cultivations at Fullards Farm. Once he had mastered the technology Neil was very happy in the John Deere with its computerised steering - hence no hands on the steering wheel in these pictures taken in Corner Field.
The orchard and hedgerow harvest has been disappointing so far with low yields of apples, pears and quince but the first batch of Woodhurst chutney has been made and is maturing in readiness for the Woodhurst Advent Fayre on the 24th November; it doesn't look as if we will have enough fruit to match last year's output of 48 jars! The crab apple jelly is boiling away and the Christmas chutney and spiced plum chutney production has also started. Next on the list is the bottling of some of the liqueurs that have been steeping, including some new recipes for 2012 such as apple and blackberry gin and spiced apple vodka; there are some upsides to autumn!
