farmingGeorge’s Fobbing Farm UpdateFamous visitors (well, kinda!)Harvest 2021 is approaching! Slowly… The cold April and now wet early Summer is pushing harvest back from the early starts we have had the past couple of years, but I am still trying to ensure the important jobs are done well in advance of time. One grain store has been cleaned out, ready for fumigation, whilst frustratingly the other still has a load of last year’s wheat in, awaiting pick-up to go to a local mill (which is currently broken down). We will then have our grain trailers to disinfect. And are currently playing farming chess to rejig where our machinery is to ensure we have room for the impending bales from haymaking (due to be cut in the middle of July).I have been particularly pleased recently to get a mobile concrete crusher in to finally break up a big pile of old building waste we had been accumulating. It was unsightly and was a potential vermin issue. But now it has been crushed, we have been able to utilise that resulting hardcore to make a useful piece of hard-standing by the store for some of our equipment.I have had a couple of really exciting visitors in June. First up was Sheila Dillon (of BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Food Programme’ fame) and Carolyn Steel, author of ‘Hungry City’ and ‘Sitopia’. I met Sheila last year at a consulting day I partook in at Chettle Village in Dorset. And Carolyn and I interacted on Twitter after her excellent episode of The Food Programme last August, which talked about the utopic idea of cities with bakeries on every corner, and fruit & veg growing all around London. It can be listened to here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000m49jCarolyn (left) & Shiela (right) in front of our main pondInspecting the agroforestry field (Spratts) on a truly sweltering day!Mum put on a super lunch for Carolyn & Sheila, and we were blessed with a spectacular day of sunshine. Satiated on salmon and delicious salads, we then drove around the farm whilst I discussed my plans within the greater context of the inequalities and issues that decimate our food system. It was an enlightening and fun day, topped off by receiving a wonderful signed copy of Sitopia, replete with personalised note from Carolyn.Such a lovely, personalised giftKeeping up with the famous faces, later in the month I was visited by Andy Cato; musician, producer and DJ best known for his band ‘Groove Armada’. Despite my dalliances in the past with music, Andy was actually visiting in his capacity as a farmer. Several years ago he purchased a farm in France and has pioneered some really fascinating techniques for organic agriculture. He has even been awarded ‘Chevalier L’Order Merit de Agricole’ – essentially a French knighthood for services to agriculture. We had a huge amount to talk about, and whilst the techniques he employs in France will likely need tweaking to function in our UK maritime climate, there was still a lot to take away.These visits really had me chomping at the bit for ‘Groundswell’ this year. Groundswell is an agricultural show organised by the Cherry family in Hertfordshire. But not just any ag show – this one is all about regenerative agriculture. Covid has stripped away so much of the camaraderie I would have normally felt going to various events and meeting like-minded farmers; so this came at just the right time. Being surrounded by my farming kin was incredible and gave me a massive boost. I have enacted so many drastic changes on the farm this past year so feeling positivity from friends and colleagues was excellent.I was having far too much fun to take pictures… This was pinched from Twitter!On the first day I got to speak on a panel about my experiences as a zero-till farmer. My session was at 2pm though, when there were a number of other spectacular talks (which I was somewhat gutted to miss). Consequently I was delighted when our tent was pretty close to full. And even more pleased that all the sessions were recorded, and will be available on YouTube in the future such that I can check out everything I couldn’t see in person.The evening of the first day saw the premiere of the trailer for ‘Six Inches of Soil’, a film about regenerative agriculture within the UK which I have stepped on board as a producer (having been one of the farms the team visited to shoot the trailer). There will be more on this in a future article, but the trailer went down really well at Groundswell, with Colin Ramsay (director) and Claire Mackenzie (producer) fielding questions. We are just about to ramp up for a big funding campaign.’Six Inches of Soil’ promo title cardThe evening then descended into much frivolity in the outdoor bar (aptly named ‘The Earthworm Arms’) – a fantastic opportunity for me to meet so many colleagues who have become close friends over the past 18 months whilst we had never actually met in person. This was then followed up by my first experience of camping in about 25 years. Thankfully I wasn’t doing so much on the second day, and was in good company with my self-inflicted sore head!The end of June saw Open Farm Sunday. Covid cancelled the event last year, leading to my virtual OFS video which I posted on YouTube. It was excellent to host again in person. And the turnout was incredible: Dad counted 114 visitors. Since I ran the event simply as a farm walk, it really demonstrated different people’s walking speeds!What a fantastic turnout. Thanks to everyone who came along and supported meI was absolutely tickled by the turnout though, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. I felt very lucky to be able to talk to the local community about my agroecological system of farming and why I am doing it, taking in the wild seam and ponds I am establishing for ecological purposes, along with my heritage wheats and flour mill, the agroforestry field with fruit, nuts and timber trees, plus my beautiful cows, and how important they are environmentally and ecologically to a regenerative farm.Cows. Obviously the star attractionMe in full flow. I like to use my hands to articulate!In my processing shed, by my mill room, talking flour and millingI especially loved getting to talk about the fibre industry, and specifically clothes, with regards my flax trial I am growing: the importance of moving the fabric industry to one based on natural fibres and natural dyes to ensure the resulting products are compostable and don’t end up in landfill. Speaking of flax, harvest is approaching fast. Rosie Bristow (for whom I am growing the trial) is organising a harvest day on Saturday, 24th July, including demonstrating some of the processing. It promises to be really excellent, so if you fancy coming along to volunteer then hop on over to this Eventbrite link to sign up.Flax. Such a beaut of a crop, with so much potential with the right investmentTwo acres is going to be a lot to hand harvest though. So all the help we can get would be ace!The final bit of excitement for an exceptionally packed June was getting to record a podcast with Ben Eagle. Ben’s podcast, ‘Meet the Farmers’, was one of the first bits of press that I did, back in 2018. Almost 100 podcast episodes later I am his first ‘revisit’! Over the past few years Ben has become a close friend, approaching farming with a very similar ethos to me. It was super to record an update to what I am up to on the farm, especially since last time my ideas were only just forming themselves, and now there is lots actually happening on the farm. If you fancy a listen, head over to meet-the-farmers.simplecast.com. And if you are really keen, it might be an interesting comparator to check out my first pod with Ben (I hope I have become more eloquent about my subject in the intervening years; definitely more obsessed with nature and ecology integration on the farm).It would be nice to say that July is shaping up to be a quieter month, being pre-harvest. But that isn’t the case: there is lots more exciting stuff coming up for next month’s article.Contact details:George Young07792 508 611George@FobbingFarms.co.uk@farmingGeorge