Winter light and long nights

Winter can bring a clarity of light never experienced in summer with some stunning colours. Here are some photos from the last couple of months taken from St Martin's.


Sunset over Tresco













A sunny Sunday looking out over Persoil to White Island











A silhouette of the Western Rocks in dazzling winter sunlight

What a Christmas card!

This came from one of our youngest customers, Daisy Davies on St Martin's, and is undoubtedly the best Christmas card of the year!

Moths

I'd forgotten to post this before, but back in May I asked a visiting moth expert to set up a moth trap in one of my fields one night. It's a simple contraption really - a wooden box with a powerful light bulb that attracts moths by night. They come to the box and slide down in to the bottom. In the morning you check under empty egg boxes, where the insects are hiding from the daylight.

My knowledge of moths is quite limited, but I was astounded about just how many moths - individuals and species, were about in my fields! We didn't get a final species count, but it must have been over 25. I can't even remember their names now but the photos give an idea of the wonderful looking insects that appeared.

Photos from September

Here is a patch of grass and clover. It may not look very exciting, but this green manure is critical to the success of following vegetable crops. When this is cultivated it leaves behind a mass of roots and leaves that provide fertility for the next crop.

During its 18 months that it's growing here it's also improving the structure of the soil and will raise the levels of organic matter.



This time of year the fields are full of seed eating birds like linnets and goldfinches. All the weeds that have gone to seed (there are plenty we miss!) provide invaluable food to these birds.













Sweetcorn has been very late, but is now ripening nicely and tasting fantastic

















Crimson clover is a beautiful green manure that bees adore. This patch was actually meant to be white clover! Never mind, it looks great.
















The blackberries have been fantastic this year












One of the wonderful sounds of autumn has to be Starlings chattering from high perches. I wonder what they're talking about?! They really are very sociable, intelligent and pretty birds - if they were rare people would be fascinated by them.









Florence fennel is an under-rated vegetable that is delicious in stir fries or roasted. They also look fantastic when they're growing.

Tolly and Naida

Iain Tolhurst is a legendary organic grower with over 30 years' experience. He was one of the pioneering organic growers in this country and runs Tolhurst Organics in the Thames valley near Reading. Here, him and his ex-wife and business partner Lin run a box scheme, supplying over 200 families a week. He's also a consultant, author and inspiration to scores of younger organic growers. And a boat builder.

Whilst working 70 hours a week on the farm, Tolly also managed to find time to build a 36 foot Pinky Ketch (yacht) made entirely out of local and sustainably sourced timber. Much of this is oak, which came down on the Hardwick Estate, where he grows veg, in the 1987 hurricane. Over the course of 12 years he's constructed one of the most awesome boats, Naida, you're likely to set eyes on. Everything about it is pure quality and the level of craftsmanship is simply outstanding.

Last week Tolly sailed down to Scilly having come, in stages, from Reading. Moored up in Tresco channel, I was lucky enough to have a guided tour and a cup of tea on board. As a young man Tolly worked on Tresco for a few years so knows many locals well. It was here he met Lin (nee Lawry), a Tresco girl, who was actually born on a boat called Naida somewhere between Tresco and St Mary's!



In fact until very recently Naida was used very regularly by Bruce Christopher and some people will remember the small blue boat moored at Old Grimsby. It's still being used by Bruce's son, Joe, now in Roseland peninsula.

You can see loads of photos of the launch of Naida this April in these Flickr photos. He's hoping to come back down to Scilly in September, so look out for it!

Photos from the farm in late July

Large tomatoes in the tunnel - delicious



















Onions ripe and set skins - quite a good crop













The first squash nearly ready. Winter ones coming on.











A field of white clover - after mowing three weeks ago they are flowering really well now. Bees are all over them and the scent is fantastic.
















Late sweetcorn - after a good hoeing they're looking really good and should crop in late August.

Recent photos

Here are some recent photos from the farm:




Red onions swelling up through the biodegradable plastic
















Experimental plot of oats ripening up

















Carrots are still doing really well and tasting great - plenty more to come! It's one thing that really does like our sandy soil.











A real surprise has been the success of the grapes in the tunnel this year - lots of fruit and they were only planted 15 months ago.