Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Ben and barry's Farm Update (Barry the Hereford bull)


Hi everyone, believe it or not this is my first post on the blog, so please forgive me if it is not as exciting as Charlotte's and Sophie's.

Today has been a manic day to say the least. The new Berkshire pig and 11 piglets escaped from their paddock and were found roaming the fields terrorising the chickens. Thankfully our newest volunteer (Ashley from the Grove School) arrived early at 6:30am, so was on hand to help catch them. With the pigs caught and the chickens fed we stopped for a coffee. Then Dave the postman arrived with a big grin on his face, this was due to our biggest pile of post so far in the campaign. There was a whoppping 151 contributions, which took Rob (another new volunteer in the office) most of the day to open and process.

ITV arrived at 10 am to film for Central News, and stayed for just over two hours and were really enthused by what was being achieved here. I think they are hooked and would like to follow the story for the next few months. The news piece they filmed was aired this evening at 6:15, and saw a sudden rush of the phone lines as prospective share holders called for more information. Apparently it has just been on after the football as well...!

Following the filming by ITV we had a visit today from Fred who is a African farmer who has had support from Harvest Help (one of our nominated charities for money to be donated in the event we fail). Charlotte gave him a tour of the farm while being photographed by the Shropshire Star. Fred farms in Africa, and produces enough produce to feed his family and to sell to other local people. He operates an organic farming system and was interested in the similarities between his farming system and ours.

When Fred left it was time for Ashley and I to grab a quick lunch before the vet arrived for our annual TB test. We fetched all the cattle from around the farm and everything went smoothly (its not very often this happens). Charlotte, very cunningly came out of the office just as we finished. The vet must now come back on Friday to check all the cows have passed. I will let you know how we get on.

With all the cows returned to their pasture, Ashley and I gave some time to help unload equipment for the Play Festival we are hosting at the farm this weekend. This is a performing arts festival running from Thursday to Monday and should help to raise some funds for the land purchase.

I apologise if this post was slightly long winded, I'll maybe get more efficient at it in time.

Ben Hollins


Total raised to date: £620,250
Share holders to date: 3533

No comments: