New Farm Organics - Latest News

Spring 2012

How lovely to see the sunshine!

Farm life has now stepped up a gear as we have started planting this years crops of cabbages and cauliflowers. This will soon be followed with calabrese, sweetcorn and potatoes. The barley and beans have also been drilled.

We have now been accepted into the Higher Level Entry Scheme so over the next 3 years we shall be constructing scrapes and ponds in the grassfields to encourage wading birds and wildlife, also boundary restoration and management which will include hedge laying and fencing.

Over the last week we have seen a stag in our woodland, so hopefully the girls will be happy!!!

Winter 2011

With dark mornings and cold days I think winter has finally arrived.

The cattle are all in the crews for the winter now and calving has begun. Five sets of twins have been born so far which we have never had before. There must be something in the air!

We are busy cutting red and white cabbage so we are ready for Christmas orders along with the green cabbage and swede. The ploughing is well underway as we like to have it finished in time for Christmas.

We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.

Autumn 2011

Welcome to our autumn newsletter. During the last two weeks in August and September we had variable weather and it seemed that autumn was really with us but here we are with hot summer weather. Our swallows left us for their annual migration about 3 weeks ago – we suddenly became aware that the yard was silent – had they really gone already? Yes they had, and perhaps they knew something we did not – or did they get it wrong and had they stayed, would have enjoyed this hot spell too!

We are very busy on the farm with harvesting potatoes, cutting sweetcorn , cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli. The fields are very dry so we are having to irrigate the potatoes before the machine can harvest them .This prevents potatoes bruising as they go over the rollers on the machine. Broccoli cannot cope with hot sun. As soon as it is ready it has to be cut. Once harvested it must be put in the cold store to take the temperature down. The broccoli is really lovely this year so hope you all enjoy it. Please look out for us on the Great British Food Revival BBC programme featuring the highly regarded chef James Atherton visiting our farm and cooking with our pointed cabbage. The programme is scheduled for the beginning of November so when we get to know dates we will keep you informed via the website.

Stop Press! BBC 2, Thursday, 10th November at 7pm, "Great British Food Revival - Cooking Our Cabbage"

Summer 2011

After an extremely dry spring we are now getting frequent showers which have been great help to the vegetable plants and potatoes. They were really suffering from the drought but when you see the pictures of the terrible conditions in Africa, where they have had no rain for two years, it puts things into perspective. We are busy cutting pointed cabbage - its really good cabbage - only takes five minutes to cook whatever dish you add it to. Definitely one of our favourite vegetables. Hope you are all enjoying it. Time also for cutting clover and lucerne for winter feed for the cattle and the winter barley is ready for harvest.

The cattle are all in the fields and really enjoying the warm summer sun. There is a sea bank marathon taking place next Sunday so we will have to gather up all our cattle that graze by the marsh and keep them in a grass field until all the runners and walkers have gone by. Lets hope it's a dry day for everyone. Our own village show took place on the 3rd July. It was a great success with around 2000 people coming through the gate. Our tea tent had a wonderful display of home made cakes made by the ladies, and lots of volunteers helped on the day.

A man from the Lincolnshire Barn Owl trust has been to the farm to inspect one of the nesting boxes. An owl had returned to the same box for several years but unfortunately had not survived the bad winter. Everyone was so pleased to hear that a new young female had a nest in the box and there were 2 chicks. The new female and one of the young were caught for ringing but the smallest of the chicks will have to grow a bit more before a ring is applied. Hope he doesn't feel left out!