bragging not blagging

Yes, it's official. Dove Farm has just scooped the Gold Award for best 'tourism website' in the East Midlands Tourism Awards 2007. Check us out on www.dovefarm.co.uk

I would be the first to admit that our website is not edgy, flash or big budget, but it does show business integrity, it's light and bright and easy to find your way around. The judges commented on accessibility, ease of use, our clear and unambiguous pricing structure, the fabulous local information section...and of course they loved the dove farm blog!

The most amazing thing about the evening itself, was for Henry and I to be out together, after dark, and all dressed up. Excitement enough! Like all the other category finalists, we came along to the event, not knowing what we would walk away with. With this added element of risk and uncertainty, it was little short of a miracle then, that I had managed to hijack husband between tractor cab and armchair, and coax him into the glitz and glamour of an evening at 'the Oscars'.

I really had practised my 'congratulations to the other person who is the winner' look - as so beautifully demonstrated by Helen Mirren on the 'Jonathan Ross show' recently - so I was genuinely taken aback, when it was announced that we had the 'gold'!

Not that I feel we are undeserving - far from it, but it is just the best feeling to be rewarded for something that has so much personal belief and value invested into it. I invite you to take a sprint through our website and hope you will agree that we're not blagging, and will allow us our brief moment to brag!

we plough the fields and scatter...

... we sang, as the children all came into Church, carrying their assortment of harvest baskets. Quite relieved they were too, to hand over their fruitful burdens (it's a long walk from school, when you're aged six carrying a pumpkin, or even aged 7, with several cans of tinned fruit, because your mum forgot all about harvest festival, and didn't call in at Tesco on the way home from work.)

Traditionally, harvest is celebrated as the end of the food and farming cycle, rewarding us for our hard work and diligence throughout the year.

How wrong can this be?

Back at the farm, Henry has just drawn a close to a very 'messy' harvest, and lurched straight into ploughing and drilling (planting) seedcorn for next year. The last wheat was harvested on 07 September, but the first new crop in another field, was already being drilled on 30 August. We are now at 09 October, and there are 90 out of 350 acres still to plough and drill.

Farmers are always striving for those economies of scale to justify the hugely expensive kit required for the job, which means they are always pushing the boundaries of what is humanly possible. There is little distinction or time frame between harvesting the old and cultivating the new.

Does this signify a 'seamless' and efficient transition - I don't think so - more like a gruelling, rural reality show: 'I'm a farmer, get me out of here...'

Gone are the days when the whole village turned out, to gather in the harvest! For many farms, the whole cultivation operation is reliant on one person and a big machine, and it's very much 'feast or famine' in terms of tasks to be done: combining, clearing straw, baling and carting - closely followed by ploughing, cultivating and drilling new crops. It can be pretty overwhelming, with much to play for and literally, everything to lose. The added complication for us, is that Henry has to fit our work around the contract combining and cultivation work that he does on neighbouring farms.

Needless to say, I tend to keep my head down at this time of year, and just get on with what I have to do, hoping that Henry manages to do the same. It is a very stressful time of year for arable farmers, and a testing time for business cashflow, until the first lot of grain is sold, and the cheque arriveson the kitchen table. Not even a comfortable harvest, with buoyant market prices for once, can take away the pressure of getting next year's crop in, before the weather breaks.

Henry reminds me of the old saying, "the difference between a good (arable) farmer and a bad one, is two weeks" - and I choose not to remind him that he is still about ten days behind.

www.dovefarm.co.uk