Fresherbymiles all Smiles

Today saw the second delivery to Overbury from Fresherbymiles! http://www.fresherbymiles.com/ Several customers had ordered over the Internet by Monday midday and were able to collect their locally grown/ produced goods straight from the delivery van! I was one of the lucky ones buying ham, steak, tomatoes, onions, Stilton bread and an array of other exciting nibbles. You know the best bit? I didn't have to travel to Morrison's, Tesco's or Sainsbury's, stand in a queue and be bombarded with offers all trying to extract the last penny from my moth ridden wallet!



I did buy some succulent strawberries from the van. I know the farmer who grew them so all the boxes are ticked; local, fresh, good value and grown on a LEAF farm using the LEAF Marque! http://www.leafuk.org Brilliant! Oh and they tasted terrific as well. Find out more about the tasty strawberries and single varity apple juices at http://www.hayles-fruit-farm.co.uk/

Open Farm Sunday Sucess!

Sunday 10th June saw over 200 people descend on Overbury for an Open Farm Event as part of a national campaign organised by LEAF. We were only one farm out of 400 all doing just that, opening the farm gates and welcoming the general public onto our farms. It is estimated that 50,000 were out on farm on one day. That is still not enough! The new Wembley stadium holds over 80,000 and they just turn out to watch a bunch of overpaid pre-Madonnas' kick a football about and pay handsomely for the privilege!

It was great fun taking people around in tractors and trailers answering questions about crops, sheep, irrigation satellite navigation, bio fuels etc. We were even filmed! Check out http://www.countrychannel.tv/ in the future to see the event! Also look out for 'Getting Your Oats' a programme shot last harvest. Caroline Drummond (Chief Executive Officer) of LEAF also came to the event which was a real pleasure, listening to her talk about LEAF, the charity and the Open Farm Sunday Initiative. Next year it's on the 8th June, put it in your diary NOW!

YFC On Tour

Last night saw a sunny end to a dismally wet and cold day, when 30 members of the Three Counties Young Farmers Club's arrived at Overbury for a farm walk. Penelope spoke about the Estate and the village, school and nursery school. I talked about the stud, which Simon runs, the arable cropping, conservation and the sheep. Gordon drove us around for the 2.5 hrs.
Everyone enjoyed themselves although it was quite cold, with a stiff southerly blowing as we toured around the Eastern boundary on Bredon Hill. Then it was off to The Crown in Kemerton for beer and sandwiches!

Absent Blogger

Apologies for the month long absence from the blogging Farmer Jake. I have spent most of the first half of May completing the dreaded SP5 form required by DEFRA. Single Payment 5 forms are required by DEFRA in order for us to receive our European compensation. These have a very strict deadline of the 15th May, ingrained into arable farmers minds since 1991 when the first schemes were created. We have to inform DEFRA what crops we are growing, where they are, (each field has a national grid reference) and what the total areas claimed are likely to be. In addition to this where we are growing crops with protein supliment (beans and peas) or where we are growing crops under energy rules all have to be divided up separately. It is a little confusing but worth filling them in! Since then May has turned wet which helped out our droughty crops and held off us irrigating the potatoes. The new irrigation system worked well for a day then, the only part of the old system we didn't change failed, causing a few headaches for a couple of days. All sorted now! (Henry's sigh of relief could be heard from Ross!)

Farm Sunday is rapidly approaching, we're booking up fast but there are places of the 9.00 trip, worth getting up for and seeing the countryside waking up! Fresher By Miles will be launching in Overbury and the surrounding villages on the day some come along and see what local goodies are available for sale, freshly grown within 30miles from Badsey. Some prices are cheaper than Tesco's at the moment! Check out http://www.fresherbymiles.com

Water?

We are just about to start irrigating our newly planted onions for a second time and we're still only in April! With only 7mm rain so far this month, things are really dry and a continued dry spell will put the irrigators under-pressure. Watch out for the first hose pipe ban of the year coming soon! With the right weather these onions will be on the super-market shelves in 10-12 weeks.

The potatoes were having their first irrigation scheduled for the 25th May although talking to Henry today that will almost certainly shift forwards if no significant rainfall appears.

Lapwings Thriving

Derek spotted this lapwing nest whilst he was cultivating 'Sandpits' ready to plant stubble turnips for our summer sheep keep. Following our annual 'Arable Bird Survey' we counted 12 pairs of lapwing on the ground that we manage specifically for nesting Lapwing. This has been our highest count in 5 years. Lets hope with the correct 'predator' management, i.e. reducing carrion crows, magpies and other nest destroyers, these nests will yield healthy lapwing chicks!

A Grand Day Out!

Bathed in glorious sunshine we held our 3rd Farm Open Day, based between our sheep sheds and the Overbury Village Hall. 350 people attended the open day and were treated to a tractor and trailer ride from the village hall, up to Park Farm on Bredon Hill where they were given a guided tour of the ewe flock mid lambing. Several groups actually saw lambs being born which they will treasure for a long long time.

The tour started by talking about the rams, which ones we use and when they are used, then we looked at the ewes waiting to lamb, before feeding a few orphan lambs and looking at some of the farm equipment on display.
After the tour was finished the tractor took our visitors back down to the village hall where refreshments, lamb casserole and home made lamb burgers could be eaten. There were displays there from SOYL http://www.soyl.co.uk and also local produce for sale from our neighbouring farm shop, (Meadows Farm Shop at Bredons Norton). Rod and Paul, the game keepers provided an insight into their profession and a look at some of the animals and bird they have contact with on a day to day basis. A big thank you to all of those people who helped organise the day and made it the success it was.
It was a really hot day but worth all of the effort, we'll be doing it again on the 10th June 2007 when we will be taking part in the 2nd LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) organised 'Farm Sunday' http://www.leaf.org.uk