Church FarmYour Monthly Newsletter

Friday, 11 July 2014

Church Farm, Ardeley, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG2 7AH, T: 01438 861 447E:info@churchfarmardeley.co.uk www.churchfarmardeley.co.uk

Even the journey each day puts a smile on my face. From Hitchin it’s approximately 11 miles through the pictur-esque village of Willian, catching the edge of Letchworth then on through medieval Baldock. From there the road

winds, rises, twists and turns through farmland and wooded areas, through the small hamlet of Cromer (with its windmill) culminating in the even smaller hamlet of Ardeley. The sign that intro-

duces Ardeley to the visitor is always accompanied by flowers- starting with snowdrops in the early part of the year, then crocuses and daffodils, and currently tall purple irises almost salute as you enter the village. Not to men-tion the muntjacks that often leap out of the hedgerow and the clouds of goldcrests that erupt from bushes as I drive past. My first winter saw the snow drifts towering over the narrow lanes creating an alien landscape, whilst our recent one turned fields and roads to lakes with gushing torrents of what were once trickling streams and brooks.

That’s just the journey!

The next part of my journey is working with the Co-farmers. I do see at as a journey, as whilst I have many years of experience working with disad-vantaged young people and working with the community in general,

working with the Co-farmers is a new experience and I

am learning every day. Daily tasks involve feeding chicks and ducklings, feeding and mucking out pigs, collecting and chopping firewood, coppicing, litter picking, helping in the shop and café, feeding and cleaning rabbits and guinea pigs, collecting eggs and cleaning nest boxes, planting and watering vegetables and plants, maintaining sheds, picnic benches animal pens, sorting and grading eggs, and many other things that can come up out of the blue! We try to match jobs to the capabilities of each co-farmer; they each have personal goals of tasks or activities they would like to achieve. An ideal job for a person will be a blend of learning a new skill, gaining self confidence and seeing a result at the end. It’s a wonderful thing to watch.

Our days are hard working, sometimes frustrating, but also filled with laughter. We are based in sheds which become home for the day and we work come rain or shine. I feel privileged to work with the co-farmers and such a brilliant bunch of colleagues on the farm. Then of course there are the bluebells in the woods….the magnificent Red Kites that soar overhead…the jackdaw that visits us at 3pm every day without fail looking for scraps, the orphan lambs we have bottle fed from birth, the calf named Titan who would nuzzle up at feeding time…the hawthorn trees so full of blossom they resembled bridesmaids in huge hooped dresses, and lately the creamy white elderflowers we are picking for Sue in the café to make cordial.

It’s not a job. It’s somewhere I come everyday to marvel at what a great place we have here.

Leona Ellis

I love working for Rural Care here at Church Farm

At Church Farm and at Aldenham Country Park our sheep have been shorn in the last month. Robert, the livestock manager at Aldenham Country Park will not only have shorn his 35 sheep at the park as demonstrations but was also kind enough to shear our 150 sheep at the farm. Our regular sheep shearer was injured and it has been quite a task to find a replacement shearer, until Robert let slip he used to shear large flocks of sheep! Maybe Robert will have learned a valuable lesson, to keep certain skills and attributes to himself next time! We not only have our Welsh Black Mountain and Lleyn sheep but we also have Welsh Mules, Beulah Speckled Face, Badger Face, Suffolk Mules, Leices-ter Long Wool, Norfolk Black and Hebrideans. The price of a fleece doesn’t even cover the cost of shearing the sheep and many farm-ers just let the wool rot in their fields.

Wool is reviving as a brilliant mate-rial. It’s strong, durable, fire resistant, keeps you warm or cool, you can wash it on low temperatures and needs no ironing! What more could you want! Most of our wool will be going to the British Wool marketing board to be made into insulation, rugs, spinning wool and tweed. The price you get depends on how well the sheep was shorn and the breed of sheep, but as a guide for the Black Welsh Mountain sheep we are expecting about 82p and for Lleyn £1.26 a kg.

If you are a keen spinner or weaver, or you like to make a peg loom rug this is your chance to buy the fleeces. The Lleyn and Black Welsh mountain fleeces are £5 a fleece. All the other breeds will be sold per weight.

At Church Farm we use sheeps fleeces around our polytunnels to deter slug so keen gardeners might be interested too! You can also use it as a mulch.

Please contact ann@churchfarmardeley.co.uk to order your fleeces and get them ready for collection in the shop.

Having a Fleece Of a Good Time

In Your Church Farm Box This Week

Get Your Company Green at the FarmWhatever size your work place, you can contribute to this local, ecological enterprise.Support your local farm and have a great day out with your colleagues.An event with us won’t cost the earth, it will enrich it.To find out more or arrange a visit, contact us on: 01438 861 447, info@churchfarmardeley.co.uk

Delicious Church Farm lamb features in the meat boxes this week (remember you don’t need to have a regular meat box to order meat). For a change we have jazzed the lamb steaks and the rack of lamb, if you prefer your meat plain just let us know. For those in need of a quick fix supper try our beef meatballs.

Beautiful new season beetroot is in the veg boxes this week – and it’s not just for pickling! Beetroot is wonderful in salads, risottos or soups with a dollop of cooling soured cream. The sweet, earthy flavour of beetroot works well in cakes, chocolate and beetroot are a particularly heavenly combination – http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/beetroot_chocolate_cake_82388

Try the beetroot leaves sautéed with garlic and olive oil - think of them as red spinach, they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that some say may be cancer fighters. They taste

much like spinach, but more like kale in texture. Cook as you would spinach etc. recipe - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/health/nutrition/08recipehealth.html?_r=0.

(continued Page 2)

Most folks, when they think of pigs, imagine a Disneyesque gaggle of cute pink piglets, or else a hulking greedy brute of a muck-covered porker, whose only job is to get fat and lie between two slices of bread. They usually don’t see them as cuddly, affectionate and smart pets, whose only real desire is to be fussed, groomed, talked to or dozed with.

Okay, yes, its true they do love their food, unless they are in the mood for a good fussing. Likewise they do love to lie in mud, but that’s because they use it as sun block to stop them from getting burned as their skin is very sensitive. So to keep cool and comfy they will sleep in a muddy wallow. And when woken, shake their ears with a “brup!” and share the mud with everyone within range!

Once upon a time, we rescued 5 furry Kune Kune pigs. The herd has grown and shrunk, with piglets and age. We now own 3 boy and 1 girl “pensioner” pigs: Black Ears and his brother Patch, who are 14 years of age, and Blitz and his sister Prudence, who are nearly 13, all residing at Church Farm. They are all black and white Gloucester Old Spot/Kune Kune crosses, a unique and delightful mix. Pet pigs are very different from the commercial variety, who tend to be wary of people they don’t know.

All of ours have been handled since they were born, and are curious and friendly as a result. As with any large animal, horses for example, you can “read” how they sit, stand, and move; and know if they’re saying, “I want a fuss”, “I’m bored”, “My broth-er just put me in a grumpy mood”, or “Never mind that there’s food delivered in the trough, I want my tummy rubbed!” They also “talk” with a variety of sounds -- although never yet an “oink!” -- and their noses move like little radar dishes, showing what’s got them interested or excited.

If you meet them in the spring or summer months, they will look utterly moth-eaten, as they lose their thick winter coats to keep cool. If when you visit, you are approached by one of our oinks, you can pat them gently (more than you would be with a dog or horse), or scritch them behind the ears; they love both.

Think of them as a 300 pound dog, who will fling themselves upon the ground right before your feet, saying “please rub my tummy!” This is fine when we are there to supervise, but you shouldn’t try this without us, you need to know how to speak pig to be safe. They won’t hurt you out of malice, but they can be clumsy. If 300 pounds of pig sits on your foot, it won’t hurt, but you won’t be going anywhere till he moves!

Mary and I don’t get over to Church Farm quite as often as we would like for a session of porcine therapy, as we are both disabled, but we try to be there at least one day a week, so we can give talks and make introductions. If you would like to know more about our furry horrors, or just fancy cooing over a plethora of really cute pictures, then please visit our MAD Pet Piggy website and enjoy: www.deanwayland.webspace.virginmedia.com, or if you wish you can contact us directly by email at: dean@thefightschool.demon.co.uk.

Pigs as Pets

From left to right: Patch, Prudy, Mary Gentle and Dean Wayland in Home Field, Church Farm

A Salute to Real Beer at the Jolly WaggonerKeep the weekend of July 19 and 20 free as the Jolly Waggoner celebrates its annual Real Ale Beer Festival.

There will be plenty to sample and enjoy as many guest real ales from independent brewers such as Growler, Black Country, Butcombe Brewery, Burton Bridge, H.B Clarke, Havant Brewery and Tring, and for cider connoisseurs two ciders, Severn Ci-der and Weston’s. In all there are more than a dozen varieties to sample, from stouts to blondes to bitters there is something on tap to tickle everyone’s tastebuds.

In amongst the relaxed confines of its lovely garden, there will be a barbeque during the afternoons, great live music and face painting for the kids. As usual, the farm has activities for children such as feeding the animals and the Little Farmers Playroom.

As many of you will know this is also a Camping Under The Stars campfire weekend at the farm so those who wish to book a pitch rather than a taxi home, please give the farm a ring on 01438861447.

Sawday’s Pub Guide Award Goes To The Jolly WaggonerThe Jolly Waggoner has also been recognised in the 2014/2015 Sawday’s Pub Guide for England and Wales as an award winner for its dedication to providing the very best in local, seasonal and organic produce.

“It will join over 1000 other British pubs and inns in the Sawday’s pub guide. Fifteen of those have been handpicked to receive an award in one of five [specialist] categories. David Hancock, editor of Sawday’s Pubs and Inns of England and Wales, said: ‘The owners run Church Farm (who run The Jolly Waggoner) in the village, where they have a farm shop, cafe, a butcher’s and a greengrocer’s, so the pub’s one mile menu brims with traditinally reared meat and over 100 varieties of herbs, vegetables and soft fruits.’”(www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk)

(from Page 1)New potatoes this week – one of life’s pleasures. With their thin, wispy skins and a crisp, waxy texture, these are young potatoes and unlike their fully grown counterparts, keeping their shape once cooked and cut. New potatoes are also sweeter because their sugar has not yet converted into starch, and are therefore particularly suited to salads.

New potatoes don’t need peeling; just rinse to remove any dirt and cook whole. Once cooked serve with butter, freshly ground pepper and sea salt (writing this email at the end of the day does wonders for the appetite)…

From this week our ‘Just salad’ box is available with 8 por-tions of salad veg for £12.65 (30p cheaper than Riverford :-)). Below is a sample of what will be in the box, please just email us if you would like to receive the box from next week. Contents will vary each week. Just Salad (8 por-tions) - £12.65 Green Butterhead Lettuce, Red Onions, Sprouted Seeds, Seasonal Salad Leaves, Avocado, Cucumber, Vine Tomatoes, Ramiro Pepper.

Rainbow chard is in all the boxes this week, which is great to sauté or stir-fry. For the most even cooking, remove the colored ribs/stems from the leaves, and then chop the stems

and start cooking them before you add the leaves. Sweet, tangy, and creamy things help temper the mineral edge of all chard. A bit of balsamic vinegar, a squirt of lemon juice, or a bit of crème fraiche or goat cheese are all fabulous with chard.

No matter how you cook rainbow chard, remember that it has some red chard in it and will “bleed” red when cooked, tingeing adjacent foods a lovely shade of pink. For those receiving a meat box this quiche recipe using chard sounds delicious (vegetarians amongst us just omit the bacon) - http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2011/08/rainbow-chard/ Remember our salad box kicks in this week – if you wish to change / add to your order please let us know no later than 10am Wednesday.

In Your Church Farm Box This Week

Meet our lovely new residents in the crop fields of Church Farm created with thanks to the visitors who came to the workshops at half term. Thanks also go toThe Jolly Waggoner and The Shakespeare Barbican for collecting bottle tops and corks for us to create the team. Hopefully their fancy dress is enough to scare the feathers off any would be villain crow, but not our kindly farmers and gardeners!

Weather proof scarecrows pop up overnight at Church Farm, Ardeley