Occasional Newsletter No 36August2013

Occasional Newsletter No’36August2013

*Fresh beef back on Wed 4thSeptember. Orders in by Sunday please*

Apologies for the lack of a newsletter in July, the 5 Parishes Show took up more time than anticipated. It was a good day enjoyed by nearly 2,000 visitors and bucking the pattern of recent years the sun shone all day. Indeed the sun has been shining on several days, 2013 actually has a summer and we were making hay while the sun was shining. There are 7,000 hay bales in the barn and though we had no cereals to harvest this year, we have gathered in wheat and barley straw in bales of various sizes to bed down the stock over winter.

Our little New Holland baler battles through another season producing the easily man handled conventional small bales of barley straw.

Karl Roots, a neighbouring farmer’s son, established as KJR Contracts, speeds through putting the wheat straw into half Heston bales. These hold the equivalent of around 20 conventional bales and are definitely machine only in handling since they weigh 300kg each.

Phil has wrapped about 500 silage bales. It is now a one man operation as the wrapper on the John Deere tractor in the background is controlled remotely – when to start wrapping and when to tip the wrapped bale off.

The lambing shed is basically redundant from May till October so we can house the sheep flock overnight if necessary. With rain threatened in the forecast weare advised the shearers will arrive the next day and have to get the sheep under cover before any precipitation; they have a dry night and the shearers are guaranteed work the next day. Housing them also has the advantage of the sheep having an empty stomach so they flex more easily for the shearers to hold.Even so, it takes quite an effort to make these tubby Suffolk rams ‘flex’ but the fee is the equivalent of doing two ewes.

In clearing out a shed for demolition as part of the roadway widening scheme, one of Phil’s earlier inventions was uncovered and put in place. The older hen flock nowhave a weldmesh verandah– the idea being to clean some mud off their feet to cut down on tedious egg washing. Of course the weather has been too dry to test this out properly, but I am looking forward to a mound of earth accumulating beneath the mesh to show the invention is working once the rain returns.

In an effort to make the newsletter more farming orientated rather than turning into ‘ concreting monthly’ I have included a photo of our Dorset farming friend who we visited in July for his daughter’s wedding.

George grows poppies in the arable rotation. Here they are post flowering and drying out ready for harvesting. The lining of the pods is used in the pharmaceutical industry to make codeine based pain killers , the seeds are merely by-products sold to the bread making industry. Well, I thought that was more interesting than a repaired roadway.

Shop news:

While the sun shines, we will continue to make up BBQ boxes:

£25 worth of mixed grill meats for £20. Should feed 10 people with a mixture of 8 burgers, 16 sausages, ribs, kebab chunks and chops. Fresh boxes will be available at weekends if ordered.

There is fresh beef coming back on September 4th. As last time, it is a Limousin cross from Halsted which will have hung for 21 days. If you would like to order anything special or a mini box ( £50 worth of meat for £45 to include joints, mince , casserole beef, steaks plus burgers and sausages if desired) please let me know by Sunday evening. The next fresh beef will be our home bred, Angus cross available on Nov 6th.

We supply a few pigs each week to local events having a hog roast. I was very pleased to sample this one at Myland on Monday where John Coleman was doing the catering, with the man himself carving. If you would like a hog roast for your event, I am happy to recommend caterers who use our pigs.

As usual we have fresh pork, lamb, chicken ( from Essex Birds ), bacon, ham and eggs every week ( shop open Fridays and Saturdays 10 am – 5pm ) with free local delivery every Thursday. This week and next, there will also be fresh MUTTON – please email if you would like some reserved.

Bob’s Garden :

Produce from her is available freshly dug / picked to order at the weekends or for delivery on a Thursday. Currently available are ;

Tomatoes – cherry or large Frozen blackcurrants

Courgettes French beans

Carrots Runner beans

Red potatoes Raspberries

Banana shallots Fennel

Garlicand as part of the first prize winning vegetable selection at the 5 Parishes Show ......

Large onions !

~~~~

Kate Gladwin 01206 735 694 07790 095 052

If you would rather not receive these emails, just let me know.