Harvest time

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I suppose that agriculture could be thought of as gardening on a very much larger scale. Here in Henley we live on the edge of town, about a hundred yards from the countryside, and most days I do a rural bike ride. One of my circuits takes me into the edge of the Chilterns, from Bix, down a steep hill to quaintly named Bix Bottom, and then to Assendon and then along the Fair Mile and back home.

Real farming goes on at Bix Bottom where people have been farming for centuries. At nearby Valley Farm there is a C12th chapel, St James, now a ruin as the church was abandoned in the C19th when a new St James was built at Bix. The narrow road descending from Bix to Bix Bottom, where these photos were taken, is Rectory Lane, although there doesn’t seem to be a rectory there.

During the current summer, I’ve enjoyed watching the grain crops grow, reach maturity, and now be harvested. Two grains have been grown in neighbouring fields: wheat and barley. The barley is now harvested, and the pix show the now familiar aftermath, with great wheels of barley straw scattered across the now empty field.

Meanwhile, the wheat continues to ripen, and now the slopes of the rolling countryside in the valley are turning gold. It can’t be long before the combine harvester does its job. Unfortunately for the farmer, this years’s grain crops aren’t going to provide a high yield since it’s been a dry season, with insufficient rain at the right time to fill out the grain.

So, we gardeners aren’t the only people to be affected by the lack of rain. Only, in our case, the water butt and the watering can can be used to rescue our precious plants, or, if, like me, you prefer efficiency over effort, the hosepipe. That, unfortunately for the farmer, isn’t an option. But at least the grain crops, regardless of their yield, provide a picturesque reminder of the passing of the season, as well as a reminder that despite the differences in scale, we gardeners and farmers have one thing in common; a concern with the well being and success of our crops.

• 21 Jul, 2010
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