23rd August

Chris, Dinie, Julia, Nan and me.

The plan was to cut the Mayweed field (in former years) known as the cornfield) with tractor and mower and rake up the cuttings. However, owing to the absence of the Ferguson starting handle this was impossible. We scoured the paddock, probing with rakes where the thistles cut yesterday had fallen but all to no avail. Two of the caravaners said they'd have a go with their metal detectors but I don't know if they did.

So, we did some tidying in the nursery, planted out a couple of things (grey field speedwell, blue pimpernel and bog purslane - this last at the pond!) and Chris cut a small area of field with his scythe. Very little of our ancient corn has produced seed, sadly.

And so, home - as she left the museum Julia noticed a starting handle in the tractor on the grass at the front. We wonder....

Gill

16th August

Working on updating labelling - new labels made out for Gallant Soldier, Dwarf Spurge and Dwarf Cudweed.

Collected seeds from Corn Buttercup and Corncockle. (It seemed to me that Corncockle seeds were not as 'plump' this year as previously, and those in the nursery more dried up.)

Weather : dry, some sun, getting warmer.

Plants had benefited from days of rain. Some - Venus' Loking Glass - re-flowering. Nursery beds looking interesting and refreshed.

Brief visit from Nan and then Chris, both on ther way to a meeting at Danby.

It was suggested by Chris and Kevin that I enter their vain attempt to catch a rabbit in the garden. Chris and Kevin: rabbits can climb walls and wire fences! I tried to keep my bunnies in as you want to keep them out. I this an occassion for 'reverse psychological tactics'?

Missing the company of other volunteers but I'm going to have an ice cream anyway.

Julia

2 August

To the museum staff's amusement Chris is outdoors at St Mary's in York in the heavy rain.

Gill and myself have made a courageous attempt to replace faded labels but have decided that the rain has driven us office. (This error occred when Gill asked young pup, Harry, to 'say office').

Too wet to collect seed - possibly from Corn Buttercup. Cornfield crop dominated by scentless Mayweed, which appears to be going over.

Julia

26th July

Anther blistering day with an early, unfulfilled, hint of rain . Back to the watering - what a good job I left my plastic can here - at least carrying it is a bit easier. Michael joined me but we couldn't do much and ended up talking with the charcoal burner. I went wild and wrote a poem in the workshop - as far from the doorway as I could put it, now I come to think of it!

Gill

19th July

A brief visit again in great heat. Not much to do plant-wise - put a few early ripe corn buttercup seeds in an envelope - did some watering of the few plants left in pots. Labels to be re-sited in the nursery field where flowers have gone over - or got up and gone altogether, I reckon.
I was delighted to see a blue pimpernel - first I've seen here.

Gill

13th July

A brief visit on my lonesome with aim of watering the Thorn Apple (done!) and checking labels (done!) and general oversight (done!). Everything has grown so much since I was last here three weeks ago. And it's all very dry and dusty. The Mayweed is looking white over - ho hum!

We had some very knowledgeable visitors today and I need to go away and do some homework! A request was made made for Deptford Pink which the visitor said he used to see close to Mount Grace Priory when he was a child - an undisclosed number of years ago.

Kevin told me that he watched young nut-hatches leaving the nest yesterday close to the new building. I wish I'd been here for that.

Gill

14th June

To Potter Brompton to explore the magnificent headand et al. It was justa delight - the sun shone and the wind blew and the myriad poppies bloomed and danced amidst the statling sky-blue of the buyloss. Three varieties of poppy, including the rare prickly one. Also lots of Venus'Looking Glass, Fiddleneck by the acre, Field Pansy and no doubt others I've forgotten. It was all bone-dry and the Red Hemp-Nettle and Cron Marigolds that were planted out last year seem to be struggling. Never-the-less, its all a wonderful sight.

Gill


In the afternon all of us, that is Gill, Diney, Michael Brill and myself, went up to the field at Silpho. Where we planted out 40 Venus' Looking-Glass, 10 Lesser Toadflax and three Pointed Leaved Fluellen plants.

We then went for a look at our meadows and pulled some Spear Thistle before we realised that it was nearly 5.30pm

Chris


Wed 5th July

Very hot and dry. Chris was busy organising and RDS DEFRA group all morning. Corn Mint just coming into flower, Corn Marigold also flowering (and being eaten). Moved some labels. One or two cornflowers showing. Corn Buttercups settign seed.

Some of the nusery beds are being trampled when used as a short cut between paths. Some remedial work to be done to support plants.

Little opportunity for banter between Chris and Kevin, but Chris managed to blame Kevin for not watering his thomapples!

Julia

Wednesday 7th June

Just Chris and I here today as it's kind of the quiet season for us- most weeding done, too late for transplanting home grown plants other than keeping our eyes open for emerging treasures and labelling accordingly.

The nursery beds were looking great today with lots coming into flower- including night flowering catchfly (not at its best in terms of flower for obvious reasons) that I thought we had lost.

'Management' met and the eagerly awaited signboards were completed and installed. It will be so much better for visitors who have hitherto been a bit baffled by our untidy beds amidst the order of Kevin's veg. If the current warm spell continues as it's forecast to, I reckon the field will begin to show flowers by next week.

So, all done (bar the all important ice creams!) we're off to view what's growing in the fields of one of the project's participating farmers- blue pimpernel was there last year and was just beautiful (first time I'd seen it). Just hope our journey is smoother than on the way here when we had a flat tyre!

Gill

Wednesday 31st May

Not vast amounts of work to do today!

A little bit of weeding, a few plants to move and the labelling to bring up to date.

Something has been nibbling off odd plants, some of the Darnel has disappeared.

Plants are still coming in from the volunteers, yesterday I had a lot of Venus's Looking Glass from Pauline, Corn Marigold from Mike and today Shepherd's Needle and Corn Buttercup from Margy. Most will be planted in the next few days as the season is now late.

We were priviledged today to witness the raising of the new scarecrow, Ted junior. He does not much resemble his Dad!

Chris

VIP visit HRH Prince Andrew

Wednesday 16th May 2006

VIP visit - George Winn-Darley (proprietor of the Mushroom Field "and a lot more round here")

Chris discussed the CFP with Prince Andrew, whilst Julia knelt at his feet weeding. Chris explained the aim of the project and the weeding of weeds; that CFP was able to take over Kevin's raspberry beds because he didn't think they were doing very well. (The CFP volunteers were eating them.)

Gill continued with her labelling in the nursery beds, Diney worked hard cleaning the nusery beds of unwanted plants, Chris "knapsacked" the cornfield.

During the educational session there was a discussion on burrowing ginger-bummed bees which had been spotted and the etymology of "humble bees".

Plants in Flower - Wintercress most prominent, scarlet pimpernel, field and wild pansies, pignut (earth nut), fumitory, mouse tails, field gromwells - recently introduced.

Julia was introduced to the volunteers' tea coffee making facilities, the art gallery in the museum entrance building and the discovery of the coffee machine for customers use.

Weather dry, mainly overcast, mild-to-warm.

Kevin and Chris were each critical of each others abilitiy to catch rabbits, their common enemies.

Julia

back dated entries

10th May

Phew - whataskorcha! But Dinie, Chris and I laboured on beneath the beating sun... Nature is doing its spring thing in a big way - growth happening everywhere you look. Dinie transplanted campion (white or red?) from marrow bed to cornfield edge and I planted out small plants from Chris.

So, amongst so much positive stuff it's sad to have to record that 2 out of our precious red hemp nettle in the nusery has been eaten - oops - almost forgot we pu tin labels - hoorah again!

Gill


And more news of the Bog Man
The man without a face,
Since Kevin raised the water level
He's sunk without a trace.

Chris



3rd May

Summers come! We're blasted by the suddenness of its arrival. Swifts have arrived to make it official - and Coockoo. Lots has come up in the past week. Most of job today was planting out things brought from Chris' farm (in nusery beds and field) and transplanting form path and marrow bed where seeds from our nusery bed clearly prefer to sprout.

At least two red hemp nettle - we think! So much corn salad, Chris undertook a cull. Best of all (and I know I'll regret writing this) it looks like we may have licked the corn mint from the nursery - Hoorah!

Gill



26th April

A lonesome day and cold. Horrified by the number of things that have been eaten. There's clearly a rabbit in. Did a little weeding in the nusery beds but not much for fear of wrecking the tiny seedlings of the things we want. A tour of the cornfield showed mostly Mayweed and Red-Shank - not a lot of corn. Ho humm had enough by 1.30 went home.

Gill



19th April

Met Diney at the museum about 11am. She was already weeding the beds. Brought the plans to put in the nusery but forgot to fetch the field pansies. Morning was damp but not enoug to stop us working outside. Rained while we ate at mid-day, then got out warm and sunny.

Stephen came from Terrington to see how things are going and pick up some plants. We potted up all the Venus' Looking Glass, most of the Corn Marigold and some of the Shepherd's Needle.
Marsh Marigold was planted in the pool, where a JCB was working raising the water level.

Chris

Introduction

During recent decades, intensified use of arable land for crop production has led to a steady and continuing decline of a range of wildflowers which have evolved to grow in this specialised habitat. In North-east Yorkshire as elsewhere in the country several species are on the brink of extinction in the wild.

At Ryedale Folk Museum, which endeavours to portray rural life of times gone by, it was decided to re-create an old-fashioned cornfield in which these special plants could flourish. To enable visitors to see these unusual wildflowers at close quarters, and to provide a seed reserve and plants for sowing in the cornfield, a wildflower nursery was established in 2000.

The cornfield and adjacent nursery of arable land flowers have attracted wide interest from visitors, many of whom would like to assist their recovery in the wild. One of the original aims of the project was to produce a seed surplus which could be made available to interested farmers, gardeners and land managers. We have plans to expand the scheme to achieve this aim, but at present seed availability depends upon a small team of volunteers with limited time, as well as the ever-present unpredictability of growing and harvesting weather.

If you would like to participate either by sowing seed, growing plants on your own land, or by offering physical help at the Museum weeding and seed collecting, follow the link to Ryedale Folk Museum and leave a message. Please be aware that seed should never be sprinkled on land without the owner’s permission - these are plants which can cause problems in a modern productive cornfield. It should also be realised that they are species which have evolved to thrive in disturbed land i.e where ploughing, digging or rotovating takes place regularly. They are not suitable for sowing in grassland meadows which have a different range of species.

Over the coming months the team of volunteers will be keeping a diary of their experiences relating to the management of the cornfield. These entries can range from botanical notes and horticultural comments to personal responses and even poetry! The log will run concurrently with an exhibiton of photographs, entitled A Harvest of Colour, at Ryedale Folk Museum from 1 July until 30 September 2006. The exhibition features images from the publication A Harvest of Colour published by Halsgrove Press. To order a copy of the book follow the link to the publication.

Cornfield Flowers Project

The Cornfield Flowers Project is a unique initiative to secure the future of the threatened plants of arable fields. It is managed by a partnership between the Carstairs Countryside Trust, the Ryedale Folk Museum and North York Moors National Park Authority. To date, through the efforts of a range of volunteers, the project has safeguarded and multiplied a range of arable plants and it has a target of extending the scheme to up to 50 other locations in North Yorkshire.