Happy New Year

Hello Everyone,  

A very Happy, Prosperous and Peaceful New Year to each of you. Bob and I hope you all enjoyed the festive season and looking forward to this year of 2023. 

The crew and ourselves have all taken the time away from all or many of our duties here on the farm. This has meant that the crew have had a well earned holiday and we have caught up with family, friends and sleep. 

If you know Bob and have followed our journal time line, Bob has been doing his favourite pastime…planning. The business plan, the operational plan, the sowing plan and the yearly plan are all complete. This means that we can begin the year in full throttle. The seeds have been ordered and have begun to arrive already. The disposables (veg and egg boxes) are all on order. Labels have been printed. Staff and accountants admin are sorted. Big well done Bob.

Bob has also been taking care of the pigs and chickens twice each day. The organic pellets we feed the animals have also been ordered and the feed bins are full. The chickens have started to lay less eggs this week. The lack of eggs will last for a few of the winter weeks - what we have will be on the website but numbers may fluctuate. The pigs are now ready for market and the first two pigs will be providing us with pork sometime in February. 

Our ‘Pantry’ on the website is also full of more chutney. They all did go really well last year, thank you for the compliments. I would say the red cabbage chutney is our favourite at the moment (we served it warmed through with fish and potatoes on Friday night…yummy). The Tomato and Chilli Chutney is ideal for a quick meal…once again, warm through with a spoonful of cream or cream fraiche and pour over your meal…another yummy.

Our growing areas came in for a battering from the weather before Christmas and also the wind and rain over the festive period. It is obviously winter time but we have never had freezing conditions like the one we had. Lots of the leafy crops have been damaged but now show signs of improvement, the fennel froze and has not recovered, the brassicas have looked beautiful in the freeze or rain and have survived and most other crops have just been hanging around doing nothing but waiting for finer weather. We place our trust in Mother Nature and cross our fingers hoping that the crops continue to grow and provide food. We have the patience and we know they will.

Our plans for 2023 are basically the same as last year…get better. The infrastructure is nearly complete (really it will never be totally complete but I am sure you get the picture). We will continue growing on the grounds we have created and we intend to create more growing areas in the pig field, once the pigs have all gone to market. The amount of fruit and vegetables we are now growing requires more storage. The barn and packing area has been bulging at the seams due to the lack of space for our stored goodies. We need more space. This will be our main infrastructure project of the year…we want to find a stand alone, temperature controlled, walk-in store room. This will be placed beside the barn within the Orchard Field.

I am sure more exciting tasks will be required as the year goes on, but as it is only January I will save telling you any more exciting news for future months.

Till next week, take care,

 Ann👩‍🌾