The only issue was, with no-one to look after the farm we had to travel there and back in a day with a 3.30am start and landing back home at midnight.
Bristol Airport was challenging as we haven't flown for seven years. It was soon obvious that we were not the only country bumpkins heading north, with knowing nods from individuals wearing checked shirts as we passed like cattle up and down the conveyor belt waiting for the security check. The plane was full of friendly farmers with an added bonus of farming from the sky which beats farming from the car window any day.
We ate haggis, watched shearing, saw lots of kilts and made new farming friends. A proper country show and only a walk away from the airport. Congratulations to Welshman Gwion Evans, Golden Shears machine-shearing champion 2023. Our next show is the Royal Welsh which is much closer, but it will be my first time judging there and to say I'm nervous is an understatement.
I spent two days last week on a lowland grassland identification course. Now I'm pretty good at identifying indicator species in grassland, but this was a whole new level of Latin, something that isn't taught at the type of school I went to. I'm not sure my Latin will ever be up to scratch, but I have found a new passion for looking at awns, hairs and ligules down a hand lens. Everyday is a learning day. The other attendees were from larger organisations (I was the only farmer) and during discussions (there was a really good bar there), it became clear that they were envious of the freedom we have to try out our tree planting ideas.
Don't get me wrong, we have to navigate plenty of bureaucracy, but we're working on finding the shortest route to get there and trying out new ways of planting. After last year's drought, we noticed that bracken and long grass protected trees from drying out so we leave natural shelter and are currently trialling planting under tripods in bracken.
We rarely use tree guards and concentrate on hedgerows, shelterbelts and less productive areas of the farm, not productive land. The Minister for Rural Affairs delivered a statement to the Senedd last week on the development of the Sustainable Farming Scheme in Wales. I have yet to sift through the details but fingers crossed that hedgerows will finally be acknowledged as trees.
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