Usually, the end of August is a lovely time of year with crisp mornings and amazing sunsets. It's not quite so lovely this year - as I write this my feet are freezing and we are considering a little fire tonight! It is palpable that the days are beginning to shorten and that autumn is on its way.
We have been busy on the farm cultivating our rapeseed volunteers. We have just invested in a new Kockerling cultivator and Merv has been hard at work.
The first job was to go through the rape with a stubble rake to encourage the volunteers to 'chit'. Once the rape has chitted and re-growth is showing its first and second true leaves, then it is the correct time to cultivate the soil, which we do to a depth of 40mm. This process, we hope, will help us to control the dreaded flea beetle!
In previous years, we have left the stubbles, but as flea beetles continue to wreak havoc on oil seed rape crops, research has shown that cultivating to a depth of 40mm should kill off a lot of the beetles before they get the chance to migrate to other fields of freshly-planted rape.
That is the theory, anyway - we are hopeful it will be successful!
Rape volunteers before and after cultivating
So there's a bit of insight into the process of growing rapeseed. Oil seed rape is high in natural oils and healthy fats, making it a great addition to bird tables and feeders - finches are particularly fond of rapeseed, which is why it's one of the key ingredients in our Premium Finch Mix.
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