Fresh Fields

by 2e0mca on May 6, 2023May 6, 2023

October – Sunflowers and Corn replace cereals on the harvester menu. I want to fit in as much harvesting as possible in order to make progress towards buying one of the larger fields. But before I get started, there’s the matter of the weeds in my freshly sprouted Barley crop. I hooked up the weedwhacker and set about the task…

…Interestingly the field info said small weeds and suggested using a Hoe – which is effectively what this row weeder is! Note that the John Deere 4240 has got its ballet shoes on for this job😅

Then I was off to harvest two Corn fields for my neighbours – Field 21 first…

…Taking care not to drive into the pond! Then field 58 where I did drop the harvester in one of the tank-traps that pass for ditches in these parts and had some fun retrieving it😂 Halfway through that harvest we had to sit out a rain storm but I was able to complete it before night set in and we had to retire to the farm…

The second week of October started wet so I couldn’t harvest anything. Instead, I cultivated field 3 in readiness for an application of Lime. Then, with the forecast promising a break in the weather, I took the harvester and tractor + trailer over to field 72 where we had to wait out the last of the wet weather…

…Then I was able to get on with harvesting the Sunflower crop. This is a big field, so I compartmented it…

…I find that helps with large fields – otherwise the task can seem daunting. This one was broken down ultimately into 3 rectangles and one odd shaped remnant to finish off. I was able to harvest another Sunflower crop in a smaller field to finish off the week.

Week 3 and it was time to take on another very large field and back to crunching Corn…

…This field was more difficult to break up as I couldn’t decide on a suitable marker. I initially went with a pylon but in retrospect I probably should have picked the bush on the right of the image as that would have been a little more manageable. Never mind – we ground it out anyway🙄👍

And that was the key to having enough money in the bank to buy field 40. When I checked at the start of the month, the field had been harvested and ploughed but it needed liming. When I checked before buying, I was pleased to see that the owning farmer had applied line in the previous 2 weeks, saving me a job! After packing away the harvesting equipment I took an evening stroll to take a look at my new field…

…and found it strewn with rocks🙄

The last week of October and, to cover any unforeseen expenses, I took another small Corn Harvest in field 59…

Then it was time to tackle the rocks issue – running over the field with the stone picking bucket…

…That took most of the rest of the week as it’s a tricky operation and field 40 is large. in the end, I lifted close to 4000l of rocks! I finished off the month by fertilizing the Barley in fields 1 & 2. That crop is now set to grow right through to harvest time without any further intervention. I had to refill the spreader – one of those unforeseen expenses I was talking about😅

November promises to be a busy month to start with. I want to put field 40 to use immediately – I believe I can still sow Winter Wheat in November and that would be a good option – giving grain next summer with straw as a by-product. Later in the month I should be able to sell some of my stored grain which will help with the finances as winter approaches. There may be some cultivating and ploughing contracts too – fingers crossed😅 See you all soon in Osada😎👍

Ferme du Vieux Chêne

by 2e0mca on June 24, 2022June 24, 2022

Restarting my farm in France and as anticipated, field 17 doesn’t have Sunflowers in it this time. In fact, it’s bare earth, a blank canvas 😅 I have once again built the farmhouse, silo and yard using the construction tools of the game. However, the circumstances make changes to the original storyline essential. So, with apologies for a ‘semi-repeat’ post, let’s start the tale again…

My partner and I had planned on buying an old farmhouse in southwest France to operate it as a Gite. Two summers running we visited and looked at possible candidates for our project. We learnt one thing; estate agents are very free with half-truths. Every property was either too small or in such bad condition that we would need a lifetime just to make it habitable! Then, last year, we stumbled across a farmhouse in Haut-Beyleron. It looked like a possible candidate for a Gite when we looked at the agent’s brochure. But, when we visited, it was clearly too small. However, it came with a plot of land and a small field. We talked this through thoroughly – could we build a chalet on the field? Or perhaps, lease the field to a local farmer and extend the farmhouse – there was room to do that too. The more we looked, the better it seemed, and we decided to buy…

The owner was an elderly farmer, Monsieur Seymour. He had decided to retire and move closer to his grandchildren near Tours. Much of his farmland and all the equipment had been auctioned off the previous Autumn. We met him with the estate agent and heard more of his story than we did about the sale! In some ways though, that sort of sold us into making our offer for the house, remaining buildings and sole field.

We got a very nice farmhouse – Monsieur Seymour had looked after it well although we would need to redecorate to make it viable as a gite. We also got a large grain silo!..

…With the best will in the world, that isn’t going to be converted into rooms for guests! Then there was the field – freshly tilled and ready for us to build on if we could get planning permission…

We moved in and set about redecorating inside. We approached the local Cònsol to get an understanding of the local planning requirements for new build on farmland and got a very non-committal answer. Meanwhile, every morning we sat on the porch and looked out across the empty field towards the monastery on the hill above the village. Sometimes we saw tractors and farm machinery working adjacent fields. I think we spent more time watching the farmers at work over coffee than we did redecorating! And over a few weeks the germ of an idea formed in our minds – we might actually be able to make our gite project into a working farm project!

The area has a Farmers Co-operative and we contacted them. They were very helpful and their chairman, Monsieur Gerard, offered to come out and discuss the possibility of restarting the farm with us on the ground. “We would love it if you were to restart this farm” he said, taking off his cap and scratching his nearly bald pate. “Too many of our small producers have been lost”. His chubby waist-coated figure would become a familiar sight over the next few weeks as he guided us through a lot of the basics required to restart the farm. One day he brought out some forms to us – “These will get you a municipal grant to help you when times are tough” he said.

By the middle of July, the decisions had been made – we were going to be farmers. “You know it will be long hours?” asked Monsieur Gerard as he closed his briefcase. “Don’t forget”, he added, “There are lots of other farmers in our cooperative who will pay you for your time when you help out – that’s an important part of being a farmer here.”

And so we set out on our journey – the life of an arable farmer under the sun in the south of France…

The story will continue next week when we’ll buy our first tractor and start work👍