I cannot remember the last time it rained. That will be music to your years if you have got crops to harvest and an absolute nightmare if you have got livestock which are slowly weaning themselves and wanting to eat grass.
On a small farm like ours it is not hard to get grazing right; there are only a few fields and you can walk round them all quite quickly but it is unforgiving, as we do not have the reserves that some larger farms have.
Our search for a farm continues. Since last writing we were shortlisted for a farm and pipped at the post at interview by a local couple.
It was great to meet with Baroness Rock who chairs the Tenant Working Group at Westminster to talk about progression farms and what her recommendations might mean for the sector.
The good news is that I hear via several agents there are more farms coming to the rental market next year.As we have not found somewhere new it is prudent to plan for the worst and we have started downsizing our equipment. The tractor which I bought in 2019 has been valued at more than I paid for it, which is a win.
The cows will be the last thing we sell and a neighbour has kindly offered to graze them for us up until housing should we need it.
When we first started here I was visited by Giles Bristol, a local dairy farmer and former In Your Field writer. He told me not to buy a tractor and get a skid steer instead and buy more cows.
That extra 20,000 is something we could have spent on cows instead of a tractor but it had been a boyhood dream of owning a John Deere and I do not regret the decision.
It is sound advice though for new prospective new entrants, buy assets that grow in value or produce more of something that is valuable.
When we first started keeping sheep, I did the first year with a feed bag and lots of willing friends. In the second year my friends started to grow suspicious that I was abusing their free labour and I invested in a dog. I found Sid, at the time an eight year old tri-colour Collie. I duly drove up to Cumbria to collect him.
In a classic James moment I forgot my wallet in Sussex and ran out of fuel in Kendal. The lady I bought the dog from kindly rescued me. Having never worked a sheepdog, Sid has largely worked the sheep himself over the years, easily coping with everything thrown at him and teaching me plenty along the way.
Sid is now well into his teens and in the last week has taken a significant downturn. I will always treasure the memories of Sid and the farm, the days when everything that could go wrong did go wrong and weeks like this week when, although the grass is browning, the hay and cows are looking brilliant.
