Every season on the farm is special in its own right. The colours of autumn, the frost (and sometimes snow) on the seemingly dormant ground over winter, the promise and new life that spring brings but then there’s summer… Summer and into autumn is when we really get to see the fruits of our labour, the result of months of hard work, sowing, planting and tending.

With shades of green everywhere, summer is a time when it feels like nature is taking over, country lanes narrow with the growth of the hedgerows and woodland paths darken in the shadow of the fully-leafed trees.

It’s a time when many people are heading off on their well-earned summer break, but that’s when we’re contemplating the start of our busiest season.

Over the last few weeks, heavy rain has played havoc with the ripening crops, with many barley fields over the Wolds flattened. Thankfully, so far, we’ve been lucky but the more heavy downpours occur as the corn ripens, the more likely it is that some crops will suffer. You can see just a small patch on the photo below.

Of course, when the stars align (or should we say the sun shines) and harvest does finally begin, there’s nothing like the sight of the combine harvester, tractor and trailer accompanying one another, back and forth, often into the evening.

Elsewhere on our family farm, our bean plants have just finished flowering and our potatoes are in flower, both are growing well.

Just coming into flower is our beautiful borage, creating an unmistakeable blue square on the patchwork quilt of colours over the Wolds. And with the borage comes the indispensable entourage of honey bees that take up residence over summer, pollenating the star-shaped flowers and making delicious honey to boot!

So, like the bees, we’re very busy here at Bannisters’ Farm, and even though the weather may be unpredicatable, one thing’s for sure, we wouldn’t change it for the world!