Mud, mud, glorious mud

Island farmers enjoyed the feel of mud, glorious mud, between their fingers on a workshop at Kings Manor Farm on 21 November.
The workshop was funded by the Environment Agency via Isle of Wight Land Care (www.landcare.island2000.org.uk) to discuss the serious topic of soil management. One of the most popular parts of the day was the soil testing, when everybody took a ball of soil in their hands and had a good feel to find out what type of soil it was. But that was no surprise to Rowan Adams, the Land Care project manager, who reckons she's not the only person who enjoys getting a bit muddy.
Farm conservation advisers John Blamire and Colin Hedley led everybody through the process of assessing their farm field by field for soil erosion risk, and discussed ways of making sure that rain can get through the soil rather than washing it away, so that soil stays on the farm - which means better yields and profits for farmers, and less pollution for water downstream.
The workshop was hosted by Kings Manor Farm (http://www.ferguson-museum.co.uk/contact.htm), who also provided an excellent lunch made almost entirely from local Isle of Wight food, including milk from their own cows.
Any Island farmer or grower who missed the workshop has a second chance - there's another one on Tuesday 22 January. There are also two other workshops - nutrient and manure management on Monday 14 January, and water conservation on Monday 11 February - see http://www.landcare.island2000.org.uk/free_workshops.htm for details.