Organic Farming/Orchards Weather Watchers with Barra Best

"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it" -

a witticism attributed to writer Mark Twain.

And we do talk about the weather a lot, but there's a good reason -

the weather affects our lives every day,

from the clothes we wear to the games we play,

and while we can't do anything about the weather,

we can certainly do things with it.

My granny used to say it was a "good drying day".

Before we had tumble dryers, she put the washing out on the line

to allow the wind to do its thing.

Today, we harness the energy of wind

to power our businesses and our homes -

a good drying day 21st-century style.

The first wind farms appeared in Northern Ireland in the 1990s,

and since then, they've become a familiar sight

dotted around the countryside.

This is Gruig Wind Farm in County Antrim,

and this ten-turbine farm provides enough energy

to power over 14,000 homes.

In one year, a single wind turbine can generate enough electricity

to make 230 million cups of tea.

A good excuse, if one was needed, to put the kettle on.

There's not another human being around, but with the turbines,

a gentle wind and a warm sun for company, I'm content.

County Down has its own fields of gold.

I'll never underestimate the importance of why people

get in touch to find out what our weather's going to do

should they be trying to organise a barbecue or paint the garden fence.

But for some, their livelihoods depend on it,

so I've come here to find out how important an accurate forecast is.

This is Allan Chambers and his farm is on the Lecale peninsula.

We're surrounded on three sides by water, so we're quite mild,

we don't get heavy frosts.

But probably the most important thing is that we have

probably the lowest annual rainfall in Northern Ireland,

and that's between 28 and 30 inches.

Why is that?

Well, we're on the sheltered side of the Mourne Mountains,

so the Atlantic troughs,

the Atlantic fronts that bring the weather,

the showers and the rain in, tend to deposit most of the rain

on the far side of the mountains from here.

It's an arable area, and Allan can grow crops

that most of Northern Ireland's farmers find difficult to do.

We're growing three crops - wheat, barley and forage maize.

All those crops need to be drilled and sown in dry conditions

when the ground is suitable.

And when it comes to looking after them,

we have to have low wind for doing spraying,

good ground conditions to get machines on the field...

Today, we're harvesting the wheat.

We've been watching the weather carefully because we want to get

the machines in when the grain is at its driest.

And quite a spell of good weather is needed

to get the wheat ready for harvest.

Sunshine ripens the grain.

So, four or five weeks ago, this was quite wet, quite mushy.

Today, because of the sun and the wind,

this has dried out

and I've got a little sample of grain here which will...

..crunch between my teeth.

That means, basically, it's about ready to harvest.

What has got me there?

Sunshine and wind.

Well, I've been an arable farmer now for 50 years, and basically,

my life has been ruled by the weather.

I need to plan ahead,

I need to know when I'm going to get these windows that will open for me

to get big machines into the fields, or get my crops sprayed,

or get my fertiliser on.

So, I watch the weather forecast every day,

sometimes four or five times a day,

not only to see what it's going to do the next day,

but, say, in four or five days' time.

Allan's going to be under a bit of pressure to get the harvest in

before the weather breaks.

Two days ago, it looked like we were going to get four dry days.

Yesterday, there seemed to be a change coming about,

and this morning, we were told that there could be very heavy rain

by Friday afternoon.

We'll try and get this grain harvested and the straw baled up

and looked after before the weather breaks.

That might mean working until 11, 12 o'clock tonight,

one o'clock in the morning.

If the breeze keeps up and there's no dew, we can work away.

So, everything going well, a couple of days,

three days and we will have the grain safely in store

and my year's work will have reached its fulfilment.

I'm glad the weather was kind to Allan, and all farmers.

Another worry over for another year.

Let's get the latest on the weather forecast now...

While Al's looking at the bigger picture and what the weather

is doing out in the Atlantic...

..most of us want to find out what the weather is doing closer to home.

People no longer want just a forecast, they want a now-cast -

an immediate, real-time report on the weather.

And YOU already help us do that by posting photographs on Twitter,

Facebook and on the BBC Weather Watchers website.

It looks like a great day in the Orchard County of Armagh.

'Well named. Today, more than 4,000 acres of Armagh is dedicated

'to apple growing, and I'm at one of the orchards today

'to meet up with Philip Troughton.'

Philip, looking around, it seems summer's been kind to you.

Is this a normal crop?

This is a late-flowering variety

and it has actually cropped reasonably well, in fact, very well.

There's really two reasons why we can grow apples in County Armagh,

or why we do grow apples in County Armagh.

One is tradition,

there's a tradition of apple growing in the area.

The other is climate, and because of the influence of Lough Neagh,

there's a smaller area between the rivers Blackwater and Bann,

where we get slightly less early spring frosts,

and early spring frost is what totally determines how many apples

or what crop we grow.

So, it really is that weather-dependent for you?

It is totally weather-dependent.

Could you do this anywhere else in Northern Ireland?

There's no apples grown any further north

than the southern shore of the lough.

In the UK, there are no apples grown north of Birmingham

and we're at a level with Stranraer or southern Scotland.

So we're probably 200 miles further north

than apples are grown in the UK.

So, literally, its own little microclimate?

It's a very little microclimate,

which just happens to suit this area.

How does the weather influence the taste of your apples?

The sunshine will increase the sugar levels in apples

and the increased sugar levels allow us to make cider.

It's the sugars in the apples that make the alcohol.

So these eating apples will be pressed into juice

and that juice can either be pure apple juice

or then it can be blended off and will be made into cider.

That process takes us about six months.

There's other by-products.

Whenever we make the cider,

we can change that into apple cider vinegar.

Whenever these apples are pressed, the by-product of that

is basically dry apple, and that we can send for cattle feed.

That actually increases milk production?

In a dairy herd, apples will increase milk production.

It would be a bit like the spring flush of grass.

'If an apple a day does actually keep the doctor away,

'then I've come to the right place.'

Weather affects everything we do... in work and play.

Clouds, clear skies, wind, rain and sunshine

all have their part to play.

What we really need now is a perfect day.

Put your elbows on it and watch your toes.

HOT AIR GUSHES

-This is why you have no hair, it's burned off!

-Occupational hazard.

Ah!

Hands off, one second, hands off. Hands off, hands off.

And we're off. Fantastic.

We're just going to gently float down here, we'll see what's happening with the winds.

-It's remarkably smooth, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is.

-Wow.

It's just so peaceful up here, you can barely hear a sound.

BURNER BLASTS

In fact, the only sound is from the flame-thrower

that's keeping us up in the air.

This is a lovely, smooth ride,

but you can't help but feel a little bit helpless.

Yeah, well, to a certain extent, we are.

The wind's taking us a direction, but I'm controlling the height

and that's the important thing, so we're still off the ground.

# Somewhere over the rainbow

# Way up high

# And the dreams that you dream of

# Once in a lullaby... #

It's not often we get perfect weather like this.

What do you look for?

Weather conditions in Northern Ireland maybe aren't the most suitable,

but we need steady, still conditions like tonight.

Winds - eight knots maximum,

five's ideal, like we're having here tonight, and no rain.

So, our typical unpredictable Irish weather is not great for you,

why would you want to balloon here?

Well, they always say if you learn to balloon in Northern Ireland,

you'll be able to fly anywhere.

You know, if you look down around you, the fields are small,

there's a lot of electric wires, there's a lot of animals about,

so it's fun and it's a good activity

because there's a wee bit of thinking needed,

rather than having big 40-acre fields

that anybody could put the balloon into.

# So let's spend the afternoon in a cold, hot-air balloon

# Leave your jacket behind

# Lean out and touch the tree tops over town... #

So, now we're drifting down, but you're controlling this.

Yes, I'm controlling the descent down and we're actually going to go

over the forest here and what you'll find,

we've picked up on speed slightly

because it's a bit cooler over the forest.

Because one thing about the weather and the temperature is,

the sun warms up the ground at different rates, so a ploughed

field would be different to a grass field, to an actual forest.

# I see skies of blue

# And clouds of white

# The bright blessed day

# The dark sacred night... #

Well, tonight is great.

If you look at any of the trees, even the wind turbines,

very little movement on them,

but there's enough movement here to actually move us across the air.

Your ideal fight time, then, is around dawn and dusk.

Yeah, if you're in there ready to take off in the field

just as day breaks in the mornings, it's perfect timing,

and then, in the evenings, now, you have to be down by sunset.

So, you're talking the hour, hour and a half before sunset.

It's because the thermals during the day can cause you problems.

Yeah, the thermals are literally unpredictability to a balloon

because it'll move from one thermal to the next thermal

and that's not good because you're losing full control of the balloon.

At the minute,

we've control because we're going with the wind in the one direction.

# Yes, I think to myself... #

From this height, I can appreciate Mother Nature in all her splendour.

# ..what a wonderful world

# Oh, yeah. #

Anywhere in our part of the world can make your senses dance or sing

if the weather's right.

Take a walk in the hazy sunshine, but enjoy it,

because the clouds floating above might not have a silver lining.

Till next time, bye-bye.