So with most of the land that we grow on in Norfolk being Sandy Loam soil, we have been irrigating in front of the harvester just to keep the soil moist enough to prevent damaging our carrots!
Our carrot field being irrigated in Duxford
Whilst we were down in Duxford we were able to use our Self-Propelled carrot harvester, not only this but we were able to do this without using Tractors and Trailers to cart our carrots back and fourth to our cleaner loader (which cleans soil off of the carrots and fills the lorries). We are able to do this as our harvester has a 6 ton capacity tank built into the machine.
This was a great success and we intend to continue this way of harvesting throughout the remainder of this season.
The Self-Propelled carrot harvester next to the cleaner loader.
The view from the carrot harvester tank tipping carrots into the cleaner loader then lorry.
Also in October I got the chance to go North to Yorkshire, I went to see some of the new and old carrot and parsnip varieties on offer from the various seed companies. There were some really interesting carrots on offer here's a few that i liked the look of in particular:
These purple carrots really took my eye, the original carrot was purple and it has been bred over the years to the orange carrot we know and love today! I think they have an almost Dinosaur look about them!
Then there were these parisian carrots that I really like the look of, round carrots, who knew you could do so much with a carrot!?!
There was a whole host on offer including these multi-coloured carrots, from red to white to yellow, fascinating stuff!
Also in October we have been up to Scotland (for which it is our last season of growing carrots up North), we are constantly monitoring crops in the ground to make sure they don't get any diseases, so that when we come to harvest them we don't have any surprises. It is doubly important with crops going under straw as if they have any problems it will increase them ten-fold.
Throughout November we will begin putting Straw on our carrots in Scotland to keep them frost free and fresh for after Christmas. So look out for next months blog were pictures will follow.
This has been my first attempt at writing a blog, if you have enjoyed reading it please let me know, if you haven't then let me know what you would like to see and know about with carrots or farming in general.
Speak to you again soon
CarrotFarmer Joe :)
A great blog Joe- very insightful. As a new blogger myself I know it's sometimes hard to know how to pitch it but you got it spot on. Keep blogging
ReplyDeleteGreat blog.
ReplyDeleteKeep a focus on who your main audience are. If it's the public, the colourful carrots are a great topic, but they might glaze over if you go on about the size of the tank on your harvester! :-)
It's always tough because a blog is public, but the power of directing it an a specific audience is yours.
For example I run two blogs, one for the public and one for Nuffield. (westynuff.blogspot.com and westyfarm.blogspot.com)
Cracking start though - do keep it up. We need positive farming stories on the 'net.
Don't forget to chuck some good clips on YouTube too, they're arguably more powerful than blogs and don't involve so much writing!!