Harnessing Natural Systems for Sustainable Productivity
I have a confession... over the last few years I have been going through a mid life crisis! (at least from a farming perspective). For some time, I have felt that things are out of balance and have been seeking to establish a new operational equilibrium at...
The Drive to Net Zero A dangerous Oversimplification of the climate crisis?
The global media and policy focus on parts of the carbon cycle is masking a much more complex set of challenges in the global ecosystem that we need to address. Managing the carbon cycle is important, but if we are going to protect the planet, we need to take a...
The Results are in!
Hurrah! The Johnes Blood Tests are back and the cattle have all tested negative. This is great news, Johnes can lie dormant and doesn't appear till the cattle are quite mature. We do keep a "closed herd" meaning that we breed all our own replacement cows and bring...
into 2022, Shorthorn Calves and TB Testing
Like most farms, whilst “the Christmas break” involves something of a change of rhythm, the main heartbeat continues as livestock need looking after and the place imposes its will on us. It is notice able that many “third parties” seem to go dormant, with the exception of some of the more engaged agricultural suppliers.
Storm Arwen – Finding the Silver Lining!
When Storm Arwen hit the East Coast of the UK at the end of November it left a trail of devastation through a number of communities. Though the headlines focused on the lack of power and water, a much longer term impact is still to be seen in the woodlands. Coming...
Intercropping Project
Making Silage over Spring Wheat One of the challenges that we face at Mindrum is ensuring that we retain enough grazing for our stock to rest our permanent grassland during the winter. Now that we have entered organic conversion, we also have the...
Farming through the eye of a microscope
A microscope provides an additional lens on soil health….
Breaking Grass without a plough or chemicals…
As a mixed farm, Mindrum has long relied on long ley rotational grass as part of our farming system. Historically, we have relied on a combination of glyphosate and the plough to manage the transition from grass to arable phases. Switching to a regenerative model...
The Rock Garden
Though protected by current regulation, Limestone Pavement is a fascinating stone which reflects the influences of water, weather and the environment. We are lucky at Mindrum, to have a wonderful Limestone Pavement rock Garden which was installed in the Mid...
The Puerility of politics
A rare foray into politics - Driving to work yesterday I was musing on how how our collective political class have managed, so effectively, to trivialise such an important debate (the UK election). The debate seems to focus largely now on tactical...