Reawakening as new cycle begins
Nature is at it again – teasing us with a week of real spring weather following a week of below zero temperature, and then returning to colder nights and overcast days!
Will she revert to the wet and windy weather we have endured so many times this winter? Will March go out like a lamb or a lion?
The bulbs are poking their heads through, shrubs are starting to coming into bud, and the grass is growing – a welcome sign for those lambing ewes and out-wintering stock, or watching their ever-dwindling stock of winter feed.
And the days are definitely longer now. If arable fields are not too wet, farmers can begin their spring work, and catch up on the jobs they could not do in the wet autumn. Before long, we will see lambs out in the fields with their mothers, and the big spring turnout will begin, as drills turn fields into green carpets and a number of vegetable crops can be planted once the soil warms up.
And so the farming year goes round – a continual cycle of preparation and production to keep our agricultural industry moving forward and keep the nation fed while looking after the environment.
Sarah Norton is a retired rural dweller living near Shrewsbury
