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Home Farm People - Catherine Pyne, Home Farm Box Scheme Manager

Fred Hobday, 30th Dec 2008 said:

i live in north Dorset and would like to know where I can buy Nicola potatoes.thank you

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A Cake Fit For The Prince - and the winner is......

Angela Bell, 16th Dec 2008 said:

I choose a Duchy Christmas Pudding to send as a special treat to my very dear friends in...

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Give a Green Fingered Gift This Christmas

Mr Michael Ramchaitar, 30th Nov 2008 said:

I like the range of the Ducy of Cornwall products, I just wish I could afford them!

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Give a Green Fingered Gift This Christmas

tom ayres, 29th Nov 2008 said:

looks nice

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Contented cows

Eva Fleischman, 26th Nov 2008 said:

Hi I am 9 years old and my mum has just told me about how animals can be ill treated. In fact I...

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More stories on Crops

Sep 15

Getting Ready For Harvest

Posted in CropsHarvestingOrganic FarmingFarming TechniquesFarm Machinery by caroline

Looking ahead to sunnier days, we'll start harvesting as soon as the dew is off the crops and the combine has had its daily service, which involves cleaning air filters, checking oil and greasing all the bearings. Then we'll continue harvesting until at least 10 pm, sometimes working into the early hours.

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Aug 29

Late Harvest at Home Farm

Posted in Crops by David Wilson

This year we've had the latest harvest since I started working at Home Farm in 1985. Normally by the August Bank Holiday Monday we've either finished or are close to finishing harvest and looking forward to a day off but due to all the rain this year this has not been the case. So far we've only completed about a third of the harvest. There are 750 acres of crops to harvest on Home Farm. These include 160 acres of oats which go into Duchy Originals Biscuits, 100 acres of malting barley which go into Duchy Originals Ale, 200 acres of wheat, most of which goes into the Duchy Originals Biscuits, 25 acres of mustard, which goes into the Duchy Originals Wholegrain Mustard and 63 acres of rye.

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Jul 23

Home Farm People - Catherine Pyne, Home Farm Box Scheme Manager

Posted in CropsOrganic Food by David Wilson

(Left to right: Catherine, Hannah, Ames, Emily) My name is Catherine and I run the Organic Vegetable Box Scheme at Home Farm. We distribute about 250 boxes a week within a ten to twelve mile radius of Home Farm. People don't know what they're getting in the box so it's a surprise for them which they tell us they love!

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Jul 22

Going On A Farm Walk

Posted in CropsOrganic FarmingFarming Techniques by David Wilson

I do a few guided farm walks throughout the summer. Recently the Soil Association and a group which included people from different walks of life ranging from policy makers to food writers, authors and farmers joined me. I took them around the farm and we had some interesting discussions about the amount of energy used in the present food system.

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Jul 11

No More Rain!

Posted in CropsThe WeatherOrganic Food by David Wilson

We've had a lot of rain in the last week which was needed, but now we've had enough! So far in July we've had three inches which is quite a lot for this time of year (but not last year which we prefer to forget!). Because of the rain we can't make hay which is annoying as we've still got another 60 acres to make.

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Jul 9

Picnic By The Mustard Field

Posted in CropsProducersDuchy Originals ProductsOrganic Food by David Wilson

The other day Guy Tullberg and some members of his family and staff came and had a picnic on the edge of our mustard crop. Guy is the MD of Tracklements, the company which produces the Duchy Originals Wholegrain Mustard. Not surprisingly, they brought along a selection of their delicious mustards to accompany the cold snacks. It was rather nice to have a picnic all together and it's always interesting to taste some of Guy's new mustards. Tracklements are always coming up with some great tastes and it's nice as a farmer to see the end product.

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Jul 4

Smells Like Manure

Posted in CropsOrganic FarmingFarming TechniquesFarm Machinery by David Wilson

We try to muck spread just before or during the growing season so it can be utilised by the clover and grass. Why do we muck spread? Well, it feeds the soil, particularly the composted manure. In a nutshell, it's the law of return and forms part of the nutrient cycle.

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Jun 20

What a lot of weeding

Posted in CropsOrganic FarmingFarming TechniquesFarm Machinery by David Wilson

We are doing a lot of weeding at the moment. We've got our motorised hoes going up and down the vegetable beds to try to reduce the weed population.

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Jun 10

The Sweet Smell of Silage

Posted in CropsOrganic FarmingFarming TechniquesThe Weather by David Wilson

I'm often asked, ''What is silage?'

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Jun 4

Carrots and Potatoes

Posted in CropsHarvestingFarming TechniquesThe WeatherDuchy Originals ProductsOrganic Food by David Wilson

We're grading last year's carrots which came out of the earth in October/November. They've been stored at 3 degrees in a refrigerated vegetable store. They go into our vegetable boxes and we also sell them to other box schemes. The carrots are also used in the Duchy Originals vegetable crisps. We planted most of our potatoes three weeks ago. We have five varieties: Cara, Cosmos, Robinta, Sarpo Mira and Remarka. The reason we grow so many varieties is that it never pays to have all your eggs in one basket. Some varieties will do better than others in a given year.

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