College Calendar: Adam Bedford

TEN WEEKS to go – and then it”s HND finish time. It”s crept up so quickly. That”s two years at college and soon, out of nowhere, it”s time for my top-up degree year.

So there”s plenty to do. Our business presentations went well – I think the farmer whose business we based it on was left with more spinning round in his head than he had anticipated. He was open to any suggestions, and the diversification ideas ranged from fattening geese to storing furniture.

 I came up with worm farming – it fitted the bill for being something different, and if you believe the figures should be a money-making enterprise.

The feed is just about free (I think most old muck is fine for them) and when they”re fat you can sell them to fishermen, gardeners and, who knows, maybe even a dodgy takeaway or two! You also end up with a load of good compost and escapees are few and far between. It”s up to the farmer to consider, but storage could be the better option!

Lambing got off to a slow start back at the farm where I work. There wasn”t much action for the first few days. The lambing start date was earlier this year so it coincided with the early college Easter holidays.

Hopefully, by the time you read this, they should be marching ahead and we will have stopped moaning that they”re being so leisurely about the whole affair.

 The farmer and I have also booked in to a meeting about the Entry Level Scheme and what is involved. I”m pretty open-minded about it all and will be interested to see the details.

This may be a simple view, but if DEFRA is giving money away to farmers for doing something that the majority of them already do, then it must be worthwhile going to the meeting that tells you how to get it.

I did a couple of days walling in the holidays with Gareth (also known as the shearing contractor) and ended up working on an infamous wall. Last year, my girlfriend, Anna, decided to take an alternative route from the road and drove through a wall that just happened to belong to a farmer I know!

Looking at the work required, we both wondered if she plans to ditch her present career aspirations and head into the demolition industry – I think she could make a good go of it. I even found a bit of the car that she had left behind, but came to the conclusion that giving it back as a present might not go down too well.

 Summer Ball is all sorted out for June 17, and now we”re planning a “reunion ball” for the night after.

Lots of people have been through Askham Bryan, and we”re aiming to get plenty of them together for a ball on June 18.

 So if there are any ex-students, staff and others connected to Askham Bryan who fancy it please get in touch (07793 711757) and we”ll sort some tickets out for you. It”s sure to be a good do.