Happy New Year!

We had some very wintery weather here on the farm last week, with temperatures down to -7°C one night! We are staying cosy enough in the yurts with our logburner and electric blankets, but it gave me a very good excuse to avoid the weeding for a while and catch up on indoor jobs.

It also gave me a chance to reflect on 2025. We were lucky to have a great growing season, with the long, hot summer suiting many of our herbs, particularly chamomile, but the mint and fennel didn’t appreciate the lack of rain and the calendula only really got going when autumn kicked in. Our drying polytunnel was at full capacity for months on end and one of our jobs for next year is to make some more drying racks to increase the volume of herbs that we can dehydrate in one go. We were delighted to see our herbal tea stocked in some brilliant shops and fabulous on-line farm shops. We welcomed visitors to our farm on our first open day and took part in some fantastic food festivals. The run up to Christmas was a whirlwind of markets and our herbal tea proved so popular that some of our stock is now running low.

Luckily, it won’t be long until the next growing season arrives and there are welcome signs that spring is just around the corner – great spotted woodpeckers have been drumming, jackdaws have been pairing up and new mole hills are popping up all over the place. We will be getting ready by topping up our beds with compost, covering the grassy paths with biodegradable sheet mulch and woodchip, as well as trying to get on top of the abundant weeds. Then it will be time to start sowing seeds, taking cuttings and keeping our fingers crossed that the weather will be kind to us again this year.