
Happy Christmas!
Well, it’s that time of year again when we wish all of our customers and followers, near and far, a heartfelt “Happy Christmas”.
2024 has been another exciting year on the farm and with St Piran’s Pork.
Once again the weather dictated the farming year. We are learning to adopt an ever more flexible approach towards cropping and cultivations and to try and run with the weather patterns, rather than make our plans fit unsuitable weather conditions.
Unlike the last three years when we had unusually warm, dry springs, this year’s wet, cold conditions continued until the end of April. This was a particular concern for us because the majority of our cereal and protein crops are established in the Spring, rather than the Autumn. Although the Autumn planted crops have a higher yield potential, they are much harder to grow without resorting to chemicals to control weeds and pests, and later on disease.
Eventually the weather finally held long enough for a frenzy of ploughing, cultivating and planting in early May to plant the combinations of Spring Barley/Yellow Trefoil, Beans/Clover and Peas with Barley. The crops, although very late, were planted into good seed beds in damp, but relatively warm, soils. The nervous wait then began to see what the weather would deliver between planting and harvest. We were so relieved that we had the kindest mix possible of largely fine weather through June and July, interspersed with regular showers.
Unbelievably, these perfect growing conditions culminated in the harvest being only a couple of weeks late, in spite of planting being delayed by a couple of months.
The harvest was generally good, albeit with the inevitable highs and lows. The Autumn drilled wheat and rye was disappointing, never really getting well established in minimum tillage conditions before going into a winter of what felt like continuous rain.
The Spring drilled crops fared somewhat better generally. We never expect the bumper yields that the high input farms that use fertilisers and chemicals see, but we were very happy generally with the low levels of disease and weed populations in the peas and the barley. The beans looked great until a month before the combine showed up, but then unfortunately suffered from disease and ultimately delivered a more disappointing yield. However, we were really pleased with the clover understory that we established with the beans. This will provide fantastic over winter grazing for the sheep and we hope to experiment with some direct drilling into this “green, living mulch” this coming Spring.
Meanwhile, back in the farm yard… The unusually long, wet winter provided us with plenty of time to get our farm butchery up and running. This has been a really enjoyable project, helped enormously by the guidance of our butcher Neil. Having the ability to cut to order and being able to work in the butchery ourselves, helping with bacon curing and sausage making, and in Rosie’s and Jacqui’s case doing a little bit of butchery themselves, has been a lot of fun.
Cal and I are so proud to take our home produced products to Truro Farmers Market twice a week on Saturdays and Wednesdays, The Food Barn at Flushing fortnightly and the many deliveries to the local business’s that serve our products. We never tire of the great feedback, interesting recipe ideas and great conversations about our way of farming.
Lastly, but by no means least, we need to talk about the pigs !
We continue to enjoy working with the pigs and still learn about them on a daily basis. We are committed to developing our “less is more” approach and want to continue kicking back against the general industry approach of trying to push the output of farm animals more and more. The pigs definitely respond well to a softer approach and seem happier for it.
There are of course constant challenges to what we do, not least trying to remain viable. We are completely committed to trying to produce fantastic pork which compliments our tagline; “Happy Pigs, Happy Planet, Happy Eating”. The support and encouragement that you all give us at the markets and on social media drives us on to producing the best nutrient dense, tasty pork and lamb, which shows compassion to the animals, and is beneficial to the environment in its production.
Thank you all for your loyal custom, support and encouragement, and for recognising a value in what we’re trying to achieve.
Jacqui, Rosie, Cal, Charlie and myself wish you all a relaxing, joyful Christmas and health and happiness in the New Year.
Thank you.
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