News from the farm

This year's vegetable field is adjacent to the main road between the two Kestle crossroads you may see the field as you drive past. We try to plant a few rows every couple of weeks of various different brassicas such as cabbages, cauliflowers and sprouts. The aim is to be able to have a succession of crops ready to harvest through the year. Currently we are harvesting pointy cabbage, crinkly leave cabbage, beetroot, and broccoli. 
 

It is a battle to get these plants to harvest as many of you will appreciate, as nature has a huge array of pests ready to take advantage of a chink in our defences. There are slugs that delight in gobbling down our young leafy plants at every opportunity. Cabbage root fly like to lay their eggs adjacent to the young stems eventually these eggs hatch into larvae which nibble off the plant stems. The Flea beetle likes to eat the young soft leaves leaving a pitted leaf which eventually withers and the plants struggle to grow. 

To reduce the effects of these pests we use a plastic mesh fleece which protects the young plants and also provides a special microclimate encouraging growth. The fleece also reduces the number of pesticides that we have to use which has to be good for the environment and us, as we eat the vegetables. When the plants get larger we remove the fleece but then we have to watch out for the cabbage white butterfly and the voracious caterpillars that endeavour to eat and damage our crops.

The corn harvest is progressing well with all of the winter barley cut and in the store, the yields have been good but the price is poor which is probably due to the good yields and the strong pound. We hope to start the spring barley crop soon followed by the winter wheat.

News from the Shop

My wife Helen and I have just returned from a holiday in France where we enjoyed the sunshine and great food. But I have to say that the steaks that we eat here at home are SO much better than the ones prepared for us in the French restaurants. 

I know its meat from our own farm and I could be little bit biased but I do genuinely believe our meat is better. 

Whether it’s the fact that the animals are a real beef breed which are grass fed, live a happy life with little stress and allowed to grow slower to mature at two years of age. Or it could be that the meat is allowed to hang in the chiller properly and then prepared by our expert butchers into the finished product. Whatever the reason and I expect it is the combination of all these factors, I do honestly believe our meat is excellent and quite often the very best that you can buy. Or is it just me?