It’s been a month defined by teamwork and adaptability at Home Farm. Our focus has remained firmly on watering as the dry weather sticks with us through the peak of summer, bringing with it both challenges and opportunities across the Estate.
A Team Effort
After building strong foundations in spring, we’re now seeing the results as we move through a particularly warm and dry summer. With another month of virtually no rain, our Market Garden team has been working tirelessly to keep up with the ongoing demands of irrigation. While the dry conditions have slowed the growth of some crops, there’s a silver lining: the sustained warmth is enhancing the rich, full flavours of our summer-fruiting vegetables.
By the third week of June, fruit began ripening rapidly, keeping the team busy with daily harvests. Any surplus not needed in the kitchens has been frozen for use during the winter months, ensuring none of this beautiful produce goes to waste. Alongside the fruit, we’ve also been gathering an array of herbs and flowers, including roses, lavender, chamomile, and lemon balm. The herbal tea ingredients are headed to The Bothy, where they’ll be put to thoughtful and delicious use.
Pastures and Livestock
For the farm, the dry spell has been challenging for our crops and meant there’s been little to no grazing available for our farm animals. With limited silage from the land, the team has been stepping in more often than usual to top up the livestock feed and ensure the animals stay healthy and well-fed. To help our sheep cope with the heat, they were sheared in mid-June.
We also had some joyful new arrivals on the farm - six healthy calves, all born successfully and now thriving in our nursery.
Freshly drilled crops have been topped to give them the best chance to establish and withstand the lack of rain. We’ll be keeping a close eye on their progress in the weeks ahead to support a strong harvest.
Sourcing from the Estate
In the River Whitewater, that runs through the Estate, we’ve been keeping an eye on the invasive crayfish population. We’re putting these freshwater crustaceans to good use by supplying the kitchens - around 30 were caught each week in June and sent straight to the chefs to be featured on the Marle and Hearth menus.
That same approach is being applied elsewhere too - wood from the estate is being crafted into spoons for the bath salts at Heckfield Place, and materials from the old pedestrian bridge will soon be repurposed as well. Every little bit helps as we continue to tread more lightly on the land.