Lowlands farm, in southwest Birmingham, is home to Beth Withers and her husband, Tom. Here, she talks about bringing up her growing family at Lowlands, and the balance between motherhood and farming.
Like many farms across the country our focus for the last month has been harvest.
And the main topic of conversation? The weather. If you added up all the time spent looking at the weather predictions, driving around fields checking the moisture and then debating the actual decision to go or not to go, we probably could have done the harvest… twice.
With the weather right it meant harvest began on our farm. We grow wheat, barley and oats, and it is just a case of slowly working through the fields one by one.
Most of the crop is kept for animal feed, the wheat is sold on.
But the farmyard is very busy with tractors and trailers constantly coming and going, so it is not particularly safe for anybody to be wandering around, especially toddlers.
Out in the field is the best place to watch all machinery in action and where the most fun is had.
We contract out the combining as we do not have our own combine, and for the children, watching this machinery in action is a welcomed change to the tractors. It is big, noisy and shoots grain out of a giant spout - all the things toddler dreams are made of.
A personal enjoyment for me is that the wildlife seems to be more prevalent at this time of the year. You will often see a pheasant's head bobbing as it, and its young, scatter towards the hedgerow. Followed by the obligatory seagulls and buzzards flocking behind the combine to see what is exposed. It is not exactly a seaside view but there is something rather therapeutic watching them all swoop and dive behind the machinery.
At our farm the grain is stored in the winter cattle sheds. Prepped earlier in the year, they have sat empty until now, just waiting for the goods to arrive. Within a couple of hours, they are brimming to the top full of the various grains, ready for collection or auguring into our feed bins. It is a really good use of what would otherwise be idle space on our farm over the summer. I like to sneak a few buckets away for the geese and chickens when no one is looking, and for the kids, well, it is diggers and tipper trucks at the ready.
What do I notice this month though - dust and grains. Everywhere.
My husband comes home covered in a thick black dust every night, and even sitting in the field you tend to get a head-to-toe dip somehow.
Oh, the grains - a grain in the welly, a grain in the pocket, a grain in the sock, a grain in the corner of the lounge. I could go on and on.
Once the harvest is complete it is back to the bailing, but this time straw. As with last month, it is a time of separation and the same family goals apply. We try to have meals together where we can and we go and visit the fields so we can all be together in some way.
The straw is much more fun for the kids, and although my husband would like it left in its neat rows ready for baling up, the toddlers have so much fun throwing it in the air, kicking it about and making large piles to dive into.
If another farming mum was to ask for my top tips for family visits to the field at this time of the year it would be as follows:
- Never wear flip flops
- Sit on your car boot or take seats, not a picnic blanket
Ok, it sounds a bit dramatic, but it is inevitable. One day, in hurry, you throw in the blanket and go out in your flipflops forgetting the type of field you are heading too. The hay is soft and lovely to sit on, but the straw fields are full of stubble, and I assure you, every year I wonder how I manged to have some kind of minor foot injury.
As with hay making, the days as a separated family are long and plentiful but with that, it is a wrap (literally.)
I am glad to say all of our harvest was cut, bought back to the farm, sold onto its final destination, and straw baled with still no arrival of baby. 90 per cent of the baled have been bought back and safely stored ready for the winter months ahead. It is a massive achievement and even though I physically do not drive the tractors, it feels as though a weight has been lifted from the whole family.
The children have enjoyed exploring the fields in the sunshine, but it is nice to get back to a normal routine and have a bit more support around the house.
In the last week the thunderstorms have appeared, the darkness seems to come earlier, and blackberries are beginning to ripen across the hedgerows.
They are signs that autumn is on its way, and we head into the next stage of the farming calendar.
For work turns to working the ground ready for re-planting and beginning to prepare the farm for the livestock to move back inside.
Oh, and of course, not forgetting the arrival of baby number three at some point…
