July and August

I’m sure we all enjoyed the Coronation of King Charles III, wherever you were and however you celebrated. It would have been a memorable occasion especially for the youngsters. Our village organised a picnic with May Pole dancing, an entertainer and brass band, a very grand affair enjoyed by all. Unfortunately it did rain on His Majesty’s parade on the actual ceremony, but we had a lovely sunny Sunday for our village get together.

Like the start of all typical English conversations, we must mention our spell of lovely sunny weather. I don’t remember seeing temperatures of 29 degrees in early June before and the sun keeps on shining too! At writing, we have just had a massive thunderstorm which has given us some much needed rain, as it’s been dry for nearly a month, so keeping up with its nickname of ‘Flaming June’. It’s certainly a good year for the roses with the wet spring and now warm sunny days and with all the blossom around should yield some good crops later on. We are very short of rain with no sign of any and hosepipe bans already in place. I’ve noticed the lawn has stopped growing, like last year, when it got far too hot, but one less job to do I suppose. I never pick up my grass cuttings, just mulch it in and it seems to disappear eventually.

Crops are looking good in the fields so far and will soon be harvested but prices are dropping from last year where wheat was fetching over £300 a tonne but now almost half the price. Barley is the first crop ready generally in mid-July followed by oil seed rape and then wheat in mid August. When crops are ready all leave is cancelled as the crop needs to be gathered before rain. Moisture content needs to be below 15% so harvesting grain doesn’t start early as the dew is still there. Normally starting about midday and continuing after dark in some cases. Modern harvesters can be worth over £500,000 and only used about 6 weeks a year.

Food inflation is gripping the weekly shop but the farmers are not getting any more money. They are still paid a miserly weekly wage similar to a school leaver so don’t blame them for the rising prices. Beef is expensive with good roasting joints over £14 kg and even mince beef around £8 kg but the producers are barely getting paid £4 kg for the whole beast. Inflation is still eating away at almost everything and yet another rate rise will force mortgage rates sky high putting extra pressure on house sales. New estates keep cropping up all around the Vale and it really is a wonder how people can afford to buy these houses. Rents are rising too, all squeezing the purse strings of the purchasing power of everything and everybody.

The good news is that if you have managed to save any money then the rising interest rates are making you more money. Most people have got a few Premium Bonds and even they are now paying out more prize money too. Keep buying these bonds as one day you may even be a millionaire…

On the wildlife scene, apparently cuckoos are becoming a rarity. I haven’t heard one for ages unlike our resident sky larks that sing away around us daily. The rabbits have caught that horrible myxomatosis again, which never seems to go away. It was an introduced infection in the 50s to control rabbits but got out of hand and has spread worldwide with no known cure. The hares don’t seem to catch it, thankfully.

I’ll be digging some of my new potatoes at the end of June that were planted at Easter. I planted Charlotte this year a very yellow waxy potato that taste great even in their skins. You can roast the big ones and when they get even bigger make a delicious jacket potato too. Salad crops are in abundance with tomatoes shown in all shapes and sizes. The darker ones are really tasty and I fry the big ones for breakfast making them almost burnt to make them caramelised.

Strawberries are everywhere but not all taste great, I smell them which usually works for me, as not much smell means not much taste. Blackcurrants are almost ripe and I always make a few pots of blackcurrant jam, the easiest jam to make and tastes great on a nice bit of buttered toast in the winter. The Victoria plums are always ready during mid August so I always raid our tree whilst harvesting wheat.

As I’ve mentioned before please try to buy the local seasonal food as it not only tastes better but helps our local economy. I’m not xenophobic but why buy asparagus from South America and tomatoes and strawberries from Spain when we grow them here. Food prices are steadily rising but there’s no point buying cheaper if the quality and taste is not as good. One local supermarket was selling off half price green potatoes, until I told them that they were actually poisonous!

So tough times ahead, but we’ve seen it all before. Boom follows bust and so the cycle continues. House prices slump then people start buying causing them to rise in price. It’s like supply and demand to a fruit and veg market trader. If the strawberries are going off then sell them cheaper but if everyone wants new crop produce then raise the price. As simple as that. My father always told me that it’s only buyers that come on a wet day and in this current heatwave a wet day would be very welcome! Never thougt I’d ever say that! Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain… after the harvest is in of course

The Countryman