Posts by Malcolm Barker

January was named after the Roman god Janus whose head had two faces, one looking forward into the coming year and the other facing backwards to the old year.

This year potato picking is slow, challenging work as the ground is heavy and wet after a year of drought and flood and an unusually dark summer making all varieties smaller.  As I write, half the potatoes are picked and half still in the ground. All the potatoes I grow, Valour, Eurostar and Rudolph, are…

The crop yields this summer have been poor to average at best. In a normal year imports would fill the ensuing shortages but after the New Year it is possible that Brexit may cause a bottleneck at the ports leading to shortages on the shelves.

As I sit here on a rainy late August evening the summer seems to be slipping away. August, in this area, is often the wettest month of the year, with conversely, February being the driest. This February was an exception to that rule.

The landscape has suddenly turned green since last month. The parched grass (which can reveal archaeological features) has become vibrant and is now growing fast.