VINTAGE HARVEST AT GILFACH

Visitors to Gilfach felt that they had stepped back in time when they round the bend on the mountain road from Marteg Bridge towards St Harmon. The field of stooks seemed to belong to a hundred years ago.

The stooks were then left to ripen in the field—there is an old saying that they should be left standing for three church bells.
Threshing was done in the field using a vintage threshing drum also owned by Mr Morris. Most of the oats will be used as winter feed for the organically-raised stock that grazes at Gilfach, but some will be saved as seed for next year’s crop. In addition, a sample will be milled by the historic Bacheldre Mill at Churchstoke to test if it is suitable for marketing for human consumption.

This is the first arable crop for many years at Gilfach. Up until the 1940s, many Radnorshire farms practised mixed livestock and arable farming. Before the widespread use of pesticides, arable fields supported an abundance of wild flowers that are now rare, including cornflowers, shepherds needle and small-flowered catchfly.
Arable fields can also provide nest sites and food for birds such as skylarks, grey partridges and yellowhammers. Brown hares can also benefit.

The oats at Gilfach will be part of a crop rotation. The other two fields which make up the rotation have been sown this year with mix of organic grass and clover seed designed to improve their fertility. The Radnorshire Wildlife Trust hopes to make traditional small-scale organic arable farming a standard part of the Gilfach landscape.