Íæż½ã½ã

This month’s column takes the the form of an open letter to MP Lucy Frazer, who represents south east Cambridgeshire.

Autumn is always busy for a sheep farm and with the onset of some very heavy rain and strong winds the season has definitely arrived in a hurry.

The first weekend in October saw us at the farmers’ market in Huntly town square, despite continuous heavy rain the customers turned up in their usual good numbers and good spirits to provide us with a good day’s trading.

Sales season is in full swing and it is great to be experiencing some of the best trading conditions that I can remember.

Over the past few months that I have been writing in this section, I have mentioned several times what lovely regular customers we have and I am sure most farms which sell direct to consumers will say the same.

Unfortunately, due to the current situation, we had to cancel all our on-farm courses this year but, as the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade or even better, make cider.

The recent dry weather has been a godsend. Combines have been flat out here in the North West over the last two weeks. Grass silage harvesting has been equally as busy and we noticed the drills are coming out.

The rollercoaster that is 2020 has changed again very quickly.

Kids are back at school, the nights are really drawing in and, thankfully, we’ve finished harvest.

Despite the Met Office’s ninja showers, we have now completed our harvest.