28th September 2023

A Week on the Estate: Ploughing Silt, Rejuvenated Lake & Lincolnshire Bread

We’ve just passed the autumn equinox and it’s hard to believe we started the month with Mediterranean temperatures. While Saturday 23^rd September marked the beginning of astronomical autumn in the northern hemisphere, at our latitude we came closest to equal day and night on Tuesday 26^th.

Storm Agnes is the latest Atlantic weather system to visit our shores. While we endured some distinctly maritime wind and rain midweek, we got off lightly compared to more northerly and westerly regions and were still blessed by a few beautiful, blue-sky days either side of the hullabaloo. Whatever the forecast, the nights are noticeably drawing in as we roll gently towards the winter solstice on 22^nd December. The week to come is set fair and blustery with highs of 21C and lows of 11C.

One of our biggest projects this year was giving South Ormsby Hall’s Lake a generation’s worth of TLC. Restoring the depth from 10cm to 2m was the heftiest part of a hefty job, yielding 10,000 tons of home-made fertiliser. It was a feat of logistics to handle that volume of silt, but in return it’ll give our land an organic boost for many seasons to come.

Work on the Lake is nearing completion. The depth has been restored and all the silt has been moved to field bunds to be spread on the land as and when required. A new lake edge is being shaped complete with coir matting and wooden boarding as well as new trees, shrubs and water-loving plants. Bird and bat boxes will complete the picture along with kingfisher tunnels. It’s all coming together nicely.

Out on the land, this week’s benign weather was a boon. With the harvest safely taken in, the drilling season got underway with organic winter barley. Paul Barnes photographed a lovely bit of recycling: Jonny ploughing fertile lake silt into one of our arable fields.

Speaking of all things arable, we were thrilled to work with Lincolnshire Food Partnerships on their Lincolnshire Breadbasket event last week. This brought bakers, millers and arable farmers together to pool knowledge and build local grain networks.

We had plenty to say about growing healthy, organic grains in Lincolnshire soil while promoting biodiversity and a resilient, sustainable farming model. We learned a lot about traditional milling, the local marketplace, boosting our rural economy and minimising food miles. More importantly, we got to enjoy some lovely, fresh, locally made bread, including some made with our own flour.

Looking ahead, we’re proud to be working with Innovation for Agriculture as one of the venues for the Farm of the Future 2023 Lincolnshire Study Tour in November. I4Agri works with researchers and farmers to develop and share the technology and know-how that will make 21st-century farming more resilient and productive. We’ve grafted and invested to make our farming model as sustainable and biodiverse as possible and we’re looking forward to sharing what we’ve learned.

The Lincolnshire Study Tour on 15th and 16th November will include South Ormsby Estate, Dyson Farming and the University of Lincoln’s Riseholme Campus. The trip is free-of-charge to farmers and includes dinner and hotel accommodation. To find out more, email Deborah: deborahc@i4agri.org .

If you’d like to join the conversation, we’d love to hear from you. Just head to our Facebook page HERE and comment beneath the latest blog post. As ever, thanks for your support.

A Week on the Estate: Ploughing Silt, Rejuvenated Lake & Lincolnshire Bread

Recent Entries

A Week on the Estate: Record Rain, Spring Tours & Pete’s Walks

A Week on the Estate: Leguminous Fixing, Marginal Work & Calving Season

Shaking a Tail Feather: a Catch-up with Charlie

A Week on the Estate: Windy Milling, Victoria’s Visit & Nationwide Beef

TAKE A LOOK AROUND

Explore South Ormsby