Celene Wilkinson

I recently discovered a wonderful book called The Farming Ladder by George Henderson, a Cotswold farmer in the early 1900s. He was working the land nearly a hundred years ago, but his wisdom is timeless and sums up our vision for Honeydale.

George Henderson maintained that for the farmer there is only one rule of good husbandry - to leave the land in better heart than he found it. As has been said of George Henderson: this was his sacred trust: to maintain the soil's fertility and pass it on unimpaired to the unborn generations to come. For nothing justified the exhaustion of a farm. A civilisation lasted but a thousand years, while in the farmers' hands lay the destiny of all mankind.

I feel very strongly that soil is an overlooked, over utilised and often neglected part of the farming system which can be kept in a healthy state through the use of seed mixtures which increase soil organic matter, fix nitrogen naturally, help in the suppression of weeds and thus improve yields in addition to being cleaner and kinder to the environment and the pollinators so badly needed by farmers.

I am hoping that we can use Honeydale to trial methods of biological farming, through smaller fields, hedges, crop rotation and livestock use, which can offer a profitable way to farm but in a much more sustainable way than some more modern agricultural practices. It would be fantastic to be able to show people around a farm that could produce profitable results whilst being alive with the sounds of birds and bees and vibrant with a plethora of grasses, flowers and trees.