Saturday 21st Nov 10-1: we're selling beef at Long Melford Farmer's Market

Tomorrow we'll be at Long Melford Farmer's Market - in the lovely village hall there.

It runs from 10am til 1pm so do pop in if you're nearby and come and say hello. We'll be selling fresh beef from a Red Poll - Aberdeen Angus cross reared on our farm. It's been hung for 5 weeks and is very well marbled and of course delicious!

Morning

This I think is a reason to get up in the morning.

Busy bees...

Apologies for being lax about keeping you all informed with the farm in the recent weeks. I have been incredibly busy with one thing and another, including getting roped in to helping prepare my sister's wedding, a rather extravagant affair, taking a week to put up all the decorations.




With my wife being an event designer and coordinator and a florist to boot (rosehip flowers.co.uk) things have certainly been pretty busy for us... but it's been worth it!













Photography www.intomyarms.co.uk

In some farm news, we have been nursing our new Tamworth boar through meningitis, a rather harrowing experience to say the least. Fortunately when all seemed lost Geffory pulled through with a terrific fighting spirit. Once we got through the 36 hours of fitting we were feeding him with a syringe for a week and spoon feeding him solids after. It took 2 weeks before he showed any signs of being able to get to his feet - because of how he had been lying his legs needed physio to strech out the ligaments and tendons. To begin with he was able to get up onto his front legs with a little help, then for short periods he was able to stand properly with only a little support from me. Then one morning we found him twenty yards from his bed. Since then he has improved in leaps and bounds, tucking into copious amounts of food to put on some of the weight he lost while ill. He is now the most handlable pig we have and as long as there are no unseen side effects it looks like he has managed to make a pretty miraculous recovery.

After all that we now have the run up to Christmas, in which we are extremly busy. We're going to at least 14 farmer's markets in the next few weeks, while at the same time preparing for the cows coming back in from their summer pasture. We have cows who are about ready for calfing, chickens hatching eggs and ewes that need to be tupped, which means locating a Kerry Hill ram. So we're keeping busy! At some point I guess we'll need to think about writing some Christmas cards...

Basking in fame and glory

Well, since being photographed for the paper and having produced piglets which win competitions, Tallulah, our Ginger Tamworth sow, has become a bit of a Prima Donna!

When the photographer came to take shots for this weekend's East Anglian Daily Times article, he seemed somewhat shocked that it was not going to be a picture of me standing behind a deli counter with my produce on display! He was taken aback slightly more when Tallulah came up to introduce herself and find out if he had any food. Seeing his face I asked if this was what he was expecting "Well it's certainly original" was the reply.



There are so many people out there who don't associate the meat they buy with the animals that produce it. I, first and foremost, am a farmer and my main responsibilities are to the welfare of the animals in my care. The selling of their meat is a by-product but one that needs to be done to help pay for their food and care. It is for this reason I wanted Tallulah in the shot as she has been integral to our success!

Jim

WHOOP WHOOP!!!

What a fantastic weekend!




My sister has already said we are Jimmy's Farm UK Sausage Producer of 2009, beating off competition from around the country. It has definitely been a combination of our slow reared pigs and our butcher's quality sausage-making that has brought us to this point.

It was no plain sailing, with it being the first event we have ever cooked at there were but a few minor hiccups (not least learning how to work well under pressure with my wife, Annabel). Having arrived and met the extremely friendly staff at Jimmy's Farm we set up our stall and fired up the grill. Then boy-o-boy did I have my BBQ skills put to the test. I have never cooked so many sausages in a six hour period before, or so I thought on Saturday night. Saturday evening was spent cleaning, cooking yet more onions and what we thought would be preparing for Sunday but nothing could have got us ready for our award-winning rush!

They held the competition around lunch time which was slightly unfortunate as I was so flustered with cooking so many sausages I literally went up, shook everyones hand, accepted the cup and tottered off to man the grill, completely forgetting the Oscar style speech I had optimistically thought of doing if I won.

With the publicity from the event and having looked at our stall set up in relation to others, I definitely need to tap my sister for some better branding, so hopefully you will see a business card and website soon!

All in all except for being completely exhausted we had the best weekend in the time I have been working on the farm, and I hope it is the first of many awards and good weekends! We'd like to say a BIG thank you to Jimmy's Farm for all their support.

If there is anyone out there that wants to buy our sausages but would like to try them first I can suggest paying a visit to The Pheasant Pub in Gestingthorpe, Essex who have been championing our sausages from the beginning. They have a very relaxed atmosphere, friendly staff, good beer and great sausages on the menu - there are not many places better for a night out with friends.

With a big smile on my face,
Jim