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January Update - Happy New Year!

Hello and a very Happy New Year to you!

January is usually a quiet time on farms, mainly because the light prevents us from being out at all hours, but that hasn’t stopped us from doing plenty of things this month, as you’ll find out!

Hedges

January seems to have become the month for hedges, whether it is cutting them back along the roads and verges, planting them, or laying them. Hedgerows have so many great benefits: they provide nature corridors and essential habitats, shelter and forage for wildlife, particularly through the winter period; are effective in reducing soil erosion and flooding; capture carbon; and they also look great!

Our hedge planting video is now available: How to plant a hedge, and you can watch the best way to plant a hedge. The hedge in the video will be a berry hedge, in that it will have lots of different types of berries in it, making it suitable for the slowly growing birdlife. It has a mixture of species including hawthorn, spindle, briar rose, holly, maple, dog rose and wild cherry. 

Once the hedge is established, and has been growing for at least 8 years, we lay them which is an ancient rural skill relying on creativity, strength and tenacity. We are incredibly lucky to be able to work with Michael White of Rural Courses, who has been responsible for laying the hedges around the farm over the past 5 years. His hedge laying course is, unsurprisingly, already sold out, but he’s happy to have a waiting list, so head here Hedge Laying | Rural Courses to join the list. You can also join him on plenty of other courses, including foraging, game preparation, sausage making to name but a few. 
You can also see Michael demonstrate hedge laying here at Nonington Farms Hedgelaying explained on Nonington Farms by Michael White of Rural Courses.

Cover crops

As our boundary falls within the Southern Water cover crop scheme, we have been eligible for their cover crop scheme. This means that Southern Water pay us to grow cover crops, after the summer harvest and before the spring cereal gets planted in the ground, covering the ground with a mixture of at least 5 different species. This has the benefit of covering the ground, providing cover above the ground for wildlife, but, more importantly, providing plenty of roots and infrastructure to the microorganisms living in the soil below the ground. The impact this means soil health is improved dramatically, and any excess nitrogen is taken up by the plants, further reducing nitrates getting in to the water courses.

From 15th January onwards, we are allowed to graze these cover crops. The addition of livestock (this year all sheep) to the cover crops means the crop is then grazed off and more fertility is added by the sheep. They are moved every 2-3 days from one section to the next, each section being marked out by electric fencing. It’s wonderful to see the integration of livestock in to the arable rotation working like this.

Sheep grazing the Southern Water cover crops

Sheep grazing the Southern Water cover crops

Soil health

Winter is a good time to make sure that everything is in order before the busy time of Spring comes, so alongside seed orders, soil preparation and Red Tractor inspections, we have also been looking in depth at our soil health.

Envirofield core machine testing N across the farm

Envirofield core machine testing N across the farm

Every field has been tested by this corer machine to measure what excess nitrogen is available to the plants we are growing in the field, further reducing our need for use of artificial fertiliser. The guidebook, RB209, suggests up to 300 Kg per Ha, which adds up to a lot of fertiliser across a farm; but with techniques like coring and precision applications both in terms of machinery and timing, we have managed to reduce the amount of N we apply by over 50%.

Education

As you can see, there is always plenty of things to see and learn about on the farm, and we are delighted that January has seen the 100th farm visit under our FiPL (Farming in the Protected Landscape) programme. Our education officer, Laure, has managed to achieve this feat in less than a year, taking children and adults alike around the farm to learn about food and farming, and plenty of other things besides. We have also hosted workshops for adults to learn about regenerative farming, and this programme continues in to the spring, with a cluster group workshop run by Kent Wildlife Trust on 22nd February that you can book tickets to Farmer Groups/Clusters in Kent - Planning for the future Tickets, Fri, Feb 21, 2025 at 9:30 AM | Eventbrite.

Farm Produce

Our first year of veg boxes with freshly picked vegetables grown by Jack Scott on the farm without the use of any sprays is now drawing to a close, with the last of the weekly veg boxes going out on 31st January. They will start up again towards the end of June – if you’re interested in a weekly or fortnightly veg box do contact him to either deliver or collect from the farm, and support a young, new entrant farmer, as well as benefiting from some delicious vegetables!

Latest veg boxes off to be delivered: each box contains at least 6 different vegetables

Latest veg boxes off to be delivered: each box contains at least 6 different vegetables

Flour

Our flour mill has not stopped whirring away, milling a variety of our regeneratively grown wheats including heritage wheat, strong white bread flour, plain/cake flour, semolina and bran. We have also been playing around with other growers, and have been milling some wheat for them, and testing out with different sieves to see which type of flour works best for them. 
For example the Goods Shed grow their own wheat, and the flour is used in the shop and restaurant, so the chef came out to the farm to work out which flour was best for them.

Flour in the mill ready to be delivered to local bakeries

Flour in the mill ready to be delivered to local bakeries

Gaining a deeper understanding of our own product, wheat, and what it can become, flour, has led to some fascinating insights into the workings of the food industry, and now more than ever it seems it is important that we know where all of our food comes from. Working with local producers, restaurants, bakeries and retailers is so much more rewarding than shipping wheat off in a lorry to be turned into a mass produced item.

And finally…

We have announced to our clients and friends, and are now happy to publicly announce that Nonington Farms is going to stop contract farming from the end of this harvest onwards. The system of contract farming means that in order to stay still you have to get bigger, whilst the ethos of regenerative farming works best at a smaller scale, with attention to detail, working in harmony with nature and deepening ones understanding of the land and what it is telling you. In order to do this most effectively, we are going to be focusing on our own land, deepening our relationship with it and hopefully sharing it further with wider audiences. This will take many forms, including consultancy and knowledge sharing as we travel along our regenerative journey. These concepts will develop further throughout the year, so keep following us on social media to keep up with how our exciting new plans become reality.