There is a fundamental difference between a 1960’s tractor and a 2010’s… a computer.
This means that one is easy to fix, change, move etc while the other one argues at every step…
It took me about 3 hours just to start the “new” Claas today. Most of that time was fighting a battery that was completely dead and an engine that hadn’t started in a long time.
With the “old” massey I did unwittingly confirm that the hydraulic flow to the bucket does in fact work. I found out by disconnecting it, leaving the pipe loose and then cleverly distributing oil over my workspace. Doh!
It was however quite a fun afternoon and I do enjoy tinkering and tractoring.
The morning was the opposite of tinkering. We had our quarterly CFA review with Geoff, Ed and Greg. Was Greg’s first time chairing and I think he did an excellent job. We worked out the basis of harvest ’25’s profit share (yes, almost 2 years after we sow the crops we get to acknowledge whether we made a profit. This year we did).
Then we had a meeting with Alistair and Fraser from Brown and Co our property agents. Really productive and started to lay out a master plan for the farm. Our conclusion was to get the road resurfaced (supplier now confirmed, awaiting dates) and see if we can start with a pop-up coffee shop. Then try to integrate that with the glamping and then look to a more permanent building.
We discussed the rental of 2 buildings with an eye to both now and the future. Disappointingly that includes the brewery who recently went bust. If anyone knows someone who might like a site like that please let me know. At the moment it’s in the middle of the countryside but there will soon be very many customers on the doorstep. Our discussions included the two secret projects, dog park, glamping, coffee shops etc. This is in addition to creating a plan for the next phases of the building journey and discussing responses to local questions when the planning application is validated.
Finally some tractoring to close the day. I mowed the party field for John/Justin’s event and cleared the pond too.
Another good day.
Stanbridge Farms 
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