Mrs Down's Diary

WE have been so lucky. Pressed on and harvested all the wheat. Heaps of it. In the end John was working until nearly midnight, with failed lights on the combine, just to make sure all the crops were under cover and out of the field before the rain, once more, fell and drowned everything.

By The Newsroom

Published 23rd Sep 2008, 13:55 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2018, 03:16 BST

Some of our neighbours who use our equipment to test the moisture of their wheat tut-tutted when John started to combine.

"I'd wait a bit," one said. "The weather is bound to take up." Well it didn't '“ well not much, but fortunately the windows of opportunity that we worked in were dry.

Geoff came back to the farm to help John moving the corn and to teach him how to operate the dryer (my job next year, apparently).

Normally, at this time in September, we would be starting to work the land and get ready for drilling next year's crop. This year, however, the land is just too wet to even think about it.

When I walked the dogs yesterday evening, as we went for our daily blackberry gathering expedition, great puddles still stretched across the fields. The miracle was that our corn did not come in too wet and has not required a lot of drying.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette September 24

West Sussex Gazette