"En Mai, fais ce qu'il te plait" (French expression literally meaning "In May, do

May is the season where delicious fruits and vegetable are coming back, where the weather is (supposed to be) warm and sunny, and where farm animals can go back to the fields: a nice month that everybody likes then (even more if you add all the bank holidays, especially in France, and my birthday...)

I had a lovely time again in Stroud Slad Farm in the last few weeks. I went there twice or three times since my last post. After a really dry April (I even had to water some young edges which were suffering from the lack of water), May brought rainy days again. Soils and plants really appreciated that and the landscape looks even more greener.

In the Farm, Duchess, the black cow, did what she wanted last week. We separate her from the herd with another cow, Ruby, and their calves, as they started to be a bit old and should not be serviced by the bull this year (meaning this is their last season at the farm). Anyway, Duchess decided differently. She escaped from the field we assigned to her with Ruby, and tried by every ways to go back with the rest of the herd. At the end of the day, we had to concede and let her join the herd. Maybe she will stay one more year actually. Indeed, she is 12, not as old as Ruby who is 16. The average age to withdraw a non-dairy cow is usually between 7 and 10 years old, after having 5 to 7 calves. This year, Ruby'calf died, and the previous year, it was hard for her to give birth, that's why it is probably time to stop having calves.

I also had the opportunity to visit a horticulture farm, or more excactly a farm were a piece of land is managed by a fruit and vegetable producer. Jim Aplin rents few acres of land in a organic dairy and crops farm in Evesham. The vegetable production is integrated in the land rotation : 2 years as pastures for the cows, and two years for crops or vegetable production. It means that every two years, the piece of land allocated to Jim for his production changes. However, this kind of rotation is full of benefits: while the livestock graze, it fertilizes the land naturally, so no need of artificial fertilizers; the divertity of crops and the combination with vegetable production ensure a longer period before the same plant comes back in the same piece of land, reducing the risk of diseases and pest attacks, and avoiding the use of chemicals. Diversify the production on the farm also ensure higher biodiversity and wildlife. Rotation and combination of different productions (livestock, vegetable and crops) are key component of agro-ecology principles, where the aim is to integrate farming activities into a wider ecosystem, considering wildlife, soils, water management and landscape.

Finally, I am also quite busy at work. I am doing a small research project about importance of collective work and social interaction in knowledge provision and transmission in organic farming. I chose this subject according to several projects I worked on in the CCRI, and also I use WWOOFing as an example of knowledge transmission. For this example, I am doing a survey to understand better the role of WWOOFing in the knowledge provision and transmission, both for farmers and WWOOFers. You can help me by completing the survey : https://glos.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/wwoofingknowledge and sharing it with WWOOFers and hosts.