Fen Peas

Whilst the viners rest until the next peas are ready there is no rest for our sampler Abi. Still toiling away testing the peas every morning. In fact peas have taken over her life. Firstly she was dreaming about them and now she is sleeping in them!

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. As we slow down the harvesting operation it gave me a chance to visit the remaining 100 fields (which involved 250 miles on the glorious roads of Lincolnshire!). There is a wide range in crop quality and in a number of cases 14 weeks of rain has done significant damage. Some fields may not be worth harvesting but we will see nearer the time. Below is a very good crop of Oasis, a field showing a trial variety which is not as susceptible to "footrot", a bad case of "footrot" and a cracking crop of Markardo. So a mixed bag.

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Our sweep round South of Boston will soon be complete and we will move into Holbeach Marsh for the rest of the week. At that point 50% of the area will have been harvested. This time last year we had harvested 85%. Quite a difference. The "rain break" we had at drilling will mean we could go a week without harvesting any peas at all, and with cooler weather forecast it may slow things down.

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With the high temperatures it was vital that we keep on top of the crop. Wigtoft, Sutterton and the Frampton area are now complete and we are camped at Fosdyke for 36 hours. Being closer to the factory the lorries get back quicker and it is unusual to have them lined up in Le Mans style. Nature is vital to all we do and at times can be very frustrating, as it has been this year. Then there are times such as the dawning of the day which are wonderful to observe.

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It is sometimes not possible to change shifts in the field as we need to be on the move. This morning it was Leverton layby which seems to be used a lot as a pitstop. May have something to dowith the cafe! Retailer visits are becoming a regular part of the pea harvest. Today we had Tescos in the field. I think they come not sure what to expect and are amazed at how gentle the viners are in getting the peas out of the pod. After a wet night it was a pleasure to see sunshine and a large concrete farm yard.

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The rumbling noise of vining started again tonight in the Friskney area in some Amalfi, which has been a good variety to harvest this year. Conditions were good and we then moved up to Fishtoft where there had been 15mm of rain. In the morning it only needed Steven Spielberg with a horse and we could have made a film.

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With the harvesting operation taking a breather for 36hrs there was a chance to look around all the crops still to harvest. A mixed bag. Below you will see a good crop which looks very considering. Early ploughed and roughly leveled in the winter. Due to the wet spring we did not dare move the land and went straight in with a Vardestaad drill and then rolled behind. The crop looks very well and the rain has been able to drain away. It was a mostly sunny day but I was followed by a big storm!

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As the date suggests we exercised extreme care today. The only incident was poor Abi who had been sampling in the pouring rain and managed to find the ditch. Never mind no harm done. I came across this other picture which nearly reflects our experience on Lincoln Heath this year. We have now caught up after the rain delays of earlier in the week and with the rain falling outside it will be Sunday or Monday before we go again.

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The move off Lincoln Heath down to the Fens brought great change to our daily life harvesting peas. One inch of rain proved to be the straw that broke the camels back and we were soon becoming bogged down on a regular basis. We stopped at lunchtime having given it a good go and got stuck 15 times. Thank you to Blowsy for providing the recovery service. We will leave it 36 hours and see what improvement we get in the weather. One bright note I have managed to find a decent late crop of peas! It is in the minority.

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We started again yesterday with a short hop down the A15. Conditions had improved, but are not what we are used to at this time of year. An article in one of the weekend papers prompted a flurry of media activity to report on the challenges we face harvesting peas and other summer crops this year. Those that did come were surprised just how tricky things were and I think their reports showed that.

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A trying day on one of the wettest days we have ever experienced. We did manage to keep going all day but the pictures can tell the story We have now cleared 12% of our total area. 36 hours off now before we finish Lincoln Heath, sweep up Tattershall and then land in the Fens.

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Significant rain over night meant that the harvesting slowed down. Alongside with this our fuel usage went up by about 20%! It was a difficult night but the sun shone this morning and the next fields of Anubis went well. There was also time for some driver training.

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