Chips and Crisps

If like farmers trading futures on the price of wheat, farmers also sell ahead at a fixed price their Potatoes then it makes sense if they take note of trends in weather patterns. I don't have the right lingo here or probably  not even the right grasp of the situation. My knowledge is gleaned exclusively from my daily newspaper and BBC Countryfile. 

I do know that what I see on my weekly trips across the Wolds tells a story. For those of you who live in USA and other far flung places I will just explain about the East Riding of Yorkshire. 

• between Filey and Beverley the topsoil is on Chalk
• At Kilham the topsoil  drains very well indeed
• the Cotswolds always reminded me of the Yorkshire Wolds-same type of soil and flora
• the Romans built villas like the one at Rudston in the E Riding
• east of the Chalk Wold land the soil is CLAY,CLAY CLAY to the coast

2 clicks makes this much bigger

This Google map was made when the Oil Seed Rape was in flower, this year that was about 3weeks ago. Last week I took pics of the poppies now in the Rape seed fields at Rudston.  Barley for the brewing industry is grown too, wheat  and some flax and field beans, but mostly POTATOES.

Kilham Potato field

My parents grew all the potatoes we could eat , only occasionally in the winter was I sent to the village to buy half a stone . Our soil was clay in Sutton in Holderness, but a ton of manure was delivered every spring from the nearby farm to spread .

Bartindale near  Rudston

So here we are -June 2011. I have not seen farmers irrigating so early around here for all the time we have lived in Filey.  I can hear my mothers words ringing in my ear-

'get a sack now the potatoes are going to be dear! '