Crooked End Farm Organic Blog

Spring is well and truly here at Crooked End Farm. The tree blossoms are coming out, the fruit bushes that we optimistically replanted over the winter are budding, the lambs are bouncing in the fields, and our shop is adorned with pots of seedlings for sale. About time too I say!

We are still racing to get the veggies planted out that would normally have been planted out in April. The sheep will be moved to some lovely fresh Spring grass over at Ragman’s Lane Farm next weekend. All in all it is looking really good. And at this point I need to give a really big thank you to our army of volunteers and the hardworking Alice who is leaving us to move onto bigger and better things this week.

As always, if you would like to have a look around at what we are up to the farm is open to visitors whenever we are around. This weekend we had 2 groups of visitors from London looking to fulfil long held dreams of feeding lambs and reconnecting with nature – we were happy to oblige!

Just a reminder that there is no market at Hereford this coming week owing to the May Fair; the market resumes the week after (roadworks permitting!). There are also a few spaces left for Supper Club on 18th May…

The day started off well. Coffee and cake (!) were presented to me while I was still in bed. Then reality set it…clean the kitchen, do the laundry, collect the eggs, feed the lambs, feed the pigs, fresh straw for the hens, clear the shop kitchen ready for the engineers tomorrow. Never mind. I hope that all mothers everywhere had a lovely day today, despite the…snow.

Meanwhile, attached is the produce list for the week. I have been advised that this will be the last week for curly kale from our current supplier, which is a little sad. We have got a small amount in the polytunnels, but could do with a prolonged heatwave if it is to come to anything!

Best wishes

From Brenda etc

Crooked End Farm Organics LLP
Crooked End Farm
Crooked End
Ruardean
GL17 9XF
01594 544482
sales
http://www.crookedend.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/crookedendfarm

Crooked End Farm Organics LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales
Reg OC 336158

What a lovely day it was yesterday! Surely Spring is just round the corner now? We are preparing accordingly anyway, and will be ploughing our veggie patch early next week, and putting the finishing touches to our new raised beds.

We don’t normally manage the farm in turn with the lunar cycles, but just out of interest I bought Bruce a copy of “gardening & planting by the moon” for Christmas. Other than taking willow cuttings during a waning moon and planting them in a waxing moon, our planting days have not really coincided with those prescribed with the lunar calendar. However, today we took delivery of Diana Smart’s itinerant boar “Bonzo.” He will be with us for 6 weeks or so, which will coincide with the Spring Equinox on Wednesday 20th March. The Spring Equinox is traditionally associated with maximal fertility for animals…so you never know!

This week Crooked End will be extending our reach down to Abergavenny. Following up on recommendations from our customers, we will have a stall at the Friday market. If you are in the area that day please do drop by and say hi to Roz. She will have a great spread of our home made pies, soups, curries, veggie slices…and more! There is also a space at the market on Tuesday; do you think that it would be worth our while going twice a week? If you aren’t ever in the Abergavenny area you need not miss out; we are still at Hereford every Wednesday, Hay-on-Wye every Thursday, St Briavel’s every Thursday afternoon, at the Cinderford E-Act Academy Friday afternoon (this week only), and Monmouth every Saturday!

See you all soon

Brenda etc

PS If you have noticed that the horses have moved from Crooked End Farm, do not be alarmed. They have NOT entered the food chain!!! (My, we have had a lot of jokes about horsemeat recently!). The equine crew have moved to new stabling down near Warminster where Barrie is stationed, and the Crooked End pastures are getting a good rest before the ewes come back for lambing in a month’s time.

Hard to believe that it is March next week. March is usually warm and sunny isn’t it? (Then it tends to go wrong for the rest of the summer!) Well, we are planning for a warm spell anyway. Every flat surface is covered in seed trays, every corner of every field has had willows planted, the fruit trees have had a quick prune and tidy up, and this week we’ll be building some more raised beds. If you think that this sounds like fun, then we are resuming our monthly “Green Gyms”, or a morning helping out on the farm in exchange for a hearty and healthy lunch in our farm shop café. Our first session will be the second Saturday on March, 9th March at 1000. No booking required.

For something more sedate, our March Supper Club evening will be here before we know it. As we are still feeling very organised and on top of everything (!) I can reveal the March menu…

March menu:

Hors d’oeuvres
Kale with chorizo and almonds (no chorizo for veggies/kosher etc)
Mandarin sherbert to cleanse the palate
Roast mutton in a caper sauce with seasonal vegetables
(Roasted aubergine with spiced barley for the veggies)
Lemon tart with blood orange sorbet
Handmade chocolates, coffee and conversation

March 16th, 7:30pm. As usual, bring your own wine etc to accompany dinner. £24.50pp. Reservations only, with a small deposit.

Now, I just need to warm up a bit !

See you all soon

Brenda etc

Crooked End Farm Organics LLP
Crooked End Farm
Crooked End
Ruardean
GL17 9XF
01594 544482
sales
http://www.crookedend.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/crookedendfarm

Crooked End Farm Organics LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales
Reg OC 336158