As a working farm, the farmers at Newbarn are always busy. We specialise in field vegetables, growing a wide variety of them on the farm.
In Spring time, we are harvesting the last of our over winter crops such as sprouts, carrots, kale, cabbage and leeks. We also start work in prepping the ground for the new season, ploughing and rotavating and getting the ground ready for planting. The first crop to be sown are potatoes in mid march and this is closely followed by cabbage, broccoli, scallions, carrots, cauliflower, kale, beetroot and swedes. As the young plants grow we are kept busy weeding, which we mostly do by hand, and irrigating during dry spells.
In early Summer we finish up the last of the planting and sowing. The last crops to be planted are pumpkins and courgettes as they cannot abide frost. We also start harvesting the first of the new season crops such as cabbage, swedes and scallions. By July, everything has grown and ready to be harvested and our farmers are making daily trips down the field with tractor and trailer to stock the Farm Shop.
As the days start to get shorter in Autumn the hardier crops such as kale, cabbage, carrots and leeks come into their own. In mid September, we harvest any onions and potatoes still in the field and store them in the shed safe from any early frosts. In early October, we pick our pumpkins and bring them into storage, again, safe from frost.
By November and December, the hard work on the farm has died down and we use this tie to carry out repairs and maintenance on the machinery and farm buildings. We are still making daily trips down the field , now wearing wellies and rain gear, to harvest beetroot, cabbage, kale, leeks, carrots and, of course sprouts.
Then in January, the cycle starts again.