Down on the Farm

FOR all readers who are missing a voice from our farming community following the last Robert Parker column in December 2020, we are proud to introduce our new columnist from local fields: Ben Stanley from Tori & Ben’s.

I AM thrilled to have been asked to bring back this farming and countryside column. The Village Voice helps to bond our tapestry of rural parishes together – and it is an honour to be able to communicate to you all on behalf of the farming community across the region.

Alongside Tori, Bertie (7) and Iona (6), we farm at Park Farm between Melbourne and Wilson I’m looking forward to sharing stories of farming life as the seasons change, so I thought it would be worth setting the scene by introducing you to the many and varied types of farmer who weave our fields into the green and pleasant land we all love

NEW boards have been placed on the River Trent near Swarkestone Bridge reminding people about the tragedy of Thando Ndlovu, who died after getting into difficulties in the water in 2021 Melbourne On-Call Fire Station has worked with Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service to put the boards up, warning of the dangers of open water

People are being asked to take a moment to watch and share a safety video here https://www youtube com/watch?v=2Jz5t3BA6rQ

Some of them are beer and bread-making types, who spend their winters attending conferences about huge and complicated machinery, before unleashing their enormous new tractors in the spring with the boundless energy that can only come from the carbs and ale they produce

Or what about the glorious market gardeners with their attention to detail, their wonder- ful, colourful fields, and their disdain for those farmers who are obsessed with their huge tractors

Others are long-suffering sheep farmers who don’t care about tractors at all – in fact they hardly even know that the small wheels go at the front –because all their thoughts are reserved for the woolly lemmings in their care and producing nutritious grass-fed lamb

Some of them are dairy people who get up before they go to bed, working 25 hours a day to bring us wholesome milk

Then there are the beef farmers who decide to put a boy cow (bull) with a girl cow (heifer) in the dim and distant hope that four years later you might have created 1,000 meals for people who could by then have converted to veganism Or the much more intelligent pig farmers who can start the year with four pigs and end the year with over 100!

And of course Iona would never let me forget horses which – despite the fact that nobody eats horses in this country, and we now get about in cars and not carts – seem to be the most numerous and high maintenance of all the farm animals

At Park Farm we are probably best described as the beef types – our main passion is our Old English Longhorn cattle, although we do grow a bit of corn and do some sheeps as well

Whatever our focus, all of us local farmers have a common bond as we beaver away: we are all beholden to mother nature No sensible person would ever go into business with no control over the most important factor that will determine whether they make a profit or not And yet here we are Often it feels a bit like trying to reverse your car, in the dark, at 70mph, without any lights on Usually you’ll end up with bangs and scrapes, and sometimes pretty serious ones, but if luck is on your side, it’s the most amazing, invigorating experience From all the farming community THANK YOU for your support on our bumpy journey Until next month