End of Year Roundup

2013, that was the year that…

Arthur’s Farm Kitchen won three stars (the highest award) from the Sustainable Restaurant Association.  Not only can you enjoy a delicious meal here, but you can do so, safe in the knowledge that your conscience is clear as your surroundings and everything you are consuming has been sustainably sourced!
 

After some very long, cold winter months, we held our Spring Celebration and Lambing Day.  What a great success!  The event brought in over 1000 people who enjoyed one of the first weekends of sunshine of the year.

We had the award winning folk musician John Kirkpatrick fill our function room with clever lyrics and beautiful melodies.

During the summer, Brigit Strawbridge (of BBC’s “It’s not easy being green” fame) came to run a Bee Aware Workshop, participants took a walk around the farm learning about bees and all they do for our eco-system.

The old Nuffield tractor “Betty” that Arthur used to use at Fordhall was given a new lease of life by volunteers Rob and Jason.  She received a new, shiny red coat of paint, a big cheesy grin and working horn.  Kids love to while away the hours playing on her.

Our Summer Fair, just so happened to fall on one of THE hottest days of the year.  Luckily, we had two ice-cream stalls on hand to cool everyone off!

Charlotte was invited to the Isle of Man by the Isle of Man permaculture group where she spent her time visiting farms and meeting politicians – spreading the Fordhall name!
 

In July we held our annual Supporters BBQ.  We had about 130 guests, 21 of whom were visiting Fordhall for the first time ever.

Ben signed the Fordhall Farm Shop up with the Pasture Fed Livestock Association (PFLA).  This means that we will have QR codes on all our meat which can be scanned, taking you to the PFLA website and you can track the animals journey from pasture to plate.  The PFLA also held their AGM at Fordhall in the summer, where they had a farm tour from Ben and a delicious buffet from Arthur’s Farm Kitchen.

Whilst the Fordhall Catering team were at Carfest this year, not only did they serve Chris Evans (BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show) a Fordhall sausage bap, but also our baker Stacey won the “Professional Category” of the Cakes vs. Pies competition with our Ploughman’s Pie!

Charlotte was then invited to Turkey as part of the Green Learning Agreement Development Programme.  Farmers from all over Europe joined to together to understand how each country is dealing with the ageing population in agriculture.

Whilst Charlotte was away, Ben and Maz Hollins gave birth to a gorgeous baby boy.  Jamie Arthur Hollins was born on 3^rd September, weighing in at a healthy 8lbs 4oz.  He is very cute!

The weekend after, we held our 4^th Annual Beer and Music Festival.  This was a fantastic event to end the summer with.  Lots of families came for the day to enjoy the local music and local tipples and the children had a whale of a time playing in straw and watching Jester Jack.

We had lots of international visitors to Fordhall last year, from Brazilian volunteer Felipe to Chinese student Chao, visits from New Zealand shareholders and a PhD Student from Japan.
 

L-R Will Panter, Felip Bruceno (It's not just little kids who like to play on the old tractor!)

At the end of September, Charlotte Hollins married the love of her life Oli Allan in a beautiful outdoor ceremony on the ancient Motte and Bailey site! It was a gorgeous autumn day and Charlotte looked beautiful in her second-hand Justin Alexander, lace dress, carrying a bunch of flowers scoured from gardens in Market Drayton!

 

After her honeymoon, Charlotte held an Afternoon Cream Tea for those who had worked at Fordhall Farm pre-1980s.  We traded memories for a complimentary cream tea as part of the Heritage Lottery funded project.  Those memories, along with press articles, letters, recipes, photographs, journals and diaries are being conserved and catalogued at Shropshire Archives for posterity.

John Hughes (Shropshire Wildlife Trust) ran a Mushroom Mosey in October.  This fungi forage was inundated with participants and they all enjoyed a mushroom based lunch from Arthur's after their exploration around the farm.
 

As winter began, we held another music night with the trans-Atlantic folk duo Hickman and Cassidy.  James Hickman is a local Shropshire lad and American born, Icelandic dwelling, Dan Cassidy is the brother of the late Eva Cassidy.  James and Dan play a mixture of original and traditional folk tunes on the fiddle and guitar.

 

Arthur’s Farm Kitchen won their second award of the year from the Shropshire Star Tourism and Leisure Awards.  Odilia, Charlotte and I went to the awards ceremony in Ironbridge, where we found out we were the winners of the “Best Tearoom/Café Category”.  Thank you to everyone who voted for us!

 

Finally, to round the year off, we held our Christmas Carols on the Farm event.  We were thrilled to see so many people turn up and brave the weather for a sing-song around the fire, whilst children got to visit Father Christmas in the Fordhall Grotto.

 

We know that of our achievements and successes would not be possible without the support and encouragement of our subscribers, shareholders, visitors, customers and of course, our volunteers - essentially, each and every one of YOU!

Here is to another jam-packed, fun filled 12 months in 2014 – what will the year have in store….?

Come and join us for some fun, see you soon, 

Becca.

Eat Healthier for 2014 and support grass fed

“You are what you eat” applies just as well to cows as it does to us. Did you know there are significant differences in the quality of meat based on how the animal was fed?

Have you made a New Year’s Resolution to eat healthier in 2014? Our first one day conference ‘Traditional Nutrition Today’ will be held at Fordhall Farm on the outskirts of Market Drayton on Saturday January 18^th.

 

For years nutritionists have warned of the dangers of saturated fats and, by implication, beef and dairy foods. But this is inaccurate says agricultural journalist and Archers editor Graham Harvey, and we agree. It takes no account of the nutritional difference between milk and beef produced the traditional way – by cattle grazing fresh pasture. New science shows clear health advantages to the traditional methods. So much so that grass-fed beef and dairy foods are becoming recognised as healthy – or “protective foods” as they were once known. Far from causing illness, they play a key role in defending the body against modern diseases says Graham. Even more so their production is now being seen as part of a land-management system that’s beneficial rather than harmful to the planet. Though methane from ruminant animals undoubtedly adds to atmospheric greenhouse gases, they play a far more important role in reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide through the carbon sequestered in the grass pasture that they graze.

Improving the soil was the very reason my father, Arthur Hollins, turned Fordhall organic and over to pasture following the Second World War. Our cattle and sheep remain completely grass fed today. They graze our pastures throughout the year enjoying a vast diversity of grasses, herbs and clovers. Not only does it keep our cattle healthy but grass-fed beef also contains a healthier balance of omega-6 fats and omega-3 fats than grain-fed beef. The ratio in pasture-fed animals is within the range known to reduce the inflammation of rheumatoid arthritis and to reduce the risk of some cancers.



Our lovely tenant farmer Ben Hollins with his cows

If you are interested in the health benefits of grass fed meats, raw unpasteurised milk and other health myths and want to know more, then you will like our one day conference on January 18^th at Fordhall Farm. Speakers include; Ben Pratt, anlternative Sports nutritionist; Graham Harvey, Agricultural editor of the Archers and writer; Dave Deaville, a local raw cheese maker; The Real Food Company from Alsager; and Carol Ainley, a nutritionist. Plus there will be a full guided tour of Fordhall by farmer, Ben Hollins.

Tickets are £40 and include a fantastic Fordhall lunch. To book your place please call 01630 638696 or email an enquiry to project@fordhallfarm.com. Or come and walk one of our free farm trails and see our livestock for yourself.

Happy and Healthy New Year

Charlotte x

 

For more information see the Facebook page for the event here Traditonal Nutrition Today

Christmas Carols on the farm

A traditional family Christmas celebration, with Carol Singing, Mulled Wine, Mince Pies and if you are very good, Father Christmas will make an appearance too...

This event is FREE, just wrap up warm and get your singing voices at the ready....!
(Entrance to grotto, including eco-friendly gift £4)

There will be eco gifts and a certificate of goodness for each child, a snowman hunt, make your own Christmas decorations and decorate your own biscuits.

Plus family carols around the tree - tomorrow 3pm - 5pm - see you there!

Garden Update

Our Tuesday gardening group is often blessed with sunshine and yesterday was no different. This was particularly welcome after the wind and rain of the weekend.

Time then to getting planting! After a spot of weeding we lightly dug in some worm compost to feed the soil then we sowed  broad beans, a good overwintering variety known as Super Aquadulce which we buy from Garden Organic. This was followed by garlic which we had saved from this year’s crop and finally, making the most of the day, we planted our onion sets.  The soil was then covered with a good layer of leaf mulch which we also put round our brassicas.

Terry and Will sowing our broad beans

A few years ago a supporter kindly gave me a root of horseradish which I planted in a stack of tyres, figuring it would be easier to get at the roots to harvest them if I just lifted the tyres off.  Yesterday we were able to do just that and our chef Barney now has some horseradish to make a sauce to compliment the roast beef he serves on a Sunday here in Arthur’s Restaurant, which if you haven’t already been, I would recommend you treat yourself to a visit.  Happy gardening, Bex

Its Halloween this weekend and I know there will be some fun and frights at Fordhall on Sunday from 5.30 till 8.30 pm for children and families to enjoy.
We had harvested a pumpkin in the garden a few weeks a go and yesterday we thought it would be a good idea to make some delicious pumpkin soup to serve up for lunch to the volunteers in the garden and staff in the office. Here you can see Will and Terry, regulars to the community garden preparing the soup. The good folk in the office thought it was delicious.
Dont get too spooked by the ghosts and spirits that you might bump into over the weekend!!! Bex

What I enjoy about gardening is thinking about the future! We gardeners look forward to buying seeds ready for the spring and we plan what to plant in order to dream about the produce and what can be done with it, what delicious meal can be conjured up to eat after a day out in the garden! Here at Fordhall we recently harvested some big hazel nuts from the Hazel Butler trees growing outside the tea room. I wanted to plant these nuts to ensure an even greater harvest in the years to come. Now the way to know if the nuts will produce strong healthy trees, is to float them in a bucket of water and if they sink, they will be good. We did this but they all floated! Hey ho I think we will plant them anyway!

A visit up north!

On Tuesday 13th August myself and Emma went up to visit the Growing Well project in Cumbria. This is an amazing project that employs 6 staff members. They run a commercially viable business that supplies vegetable as part of a box scheme, with all the growing work being done by 1 staff member and volunteers with mental health issues. Our mission was to find out if, and if so how, they managed to be sustainable! Our reason for this was so that we could bring this learning back to our own Community Garden here at Fordhall and look at ways of expanding our own growing space. Beren and James the project’s Organisational and Growing Co-ordinators were incredibly open and could not have been more helpful. We started the day in one of their lovely yurts (there are three in total, which are all interlinked); these are usually being used as the base for educational and training purposes. Beren started the day by telling us about how at heart their focus is mental health and growing, with training and education expanding from this. Sadly the project is now less sustainable than it used to be; now 70% grant funded, with contracts from Social Services a 10th of what they used to be. All the people that come through the project start as volunteers, but then have a choice as to whether they want to progress and do horticulture training courses at Growing Well and so become students. Growing Well has set up an interesting pilot project linking with local GP practices, which has been funded by Northern Rock. This has been set up to establish that there is a demand for the service: 50 – 60% of their referrals come through GP practices. James then took us for a walk around the site and showed their potting shed, polytunnels (of which there are several), their outdoor growing spaces and their 2ha of land that is under green manure. He explained about the daily challenges of logistics and getting the work done within a time frame and how he balances this with working with a specialist client group. The project is very clear that volunteers need to make their own way to the project and be there at a set time each day; if they are not able to commit to this it is recognised that the project is not right for them. Since returning from the project we have re-evaluated what we think is possible for us. The learning from our visit was invaluable in making these decisions. We have decided not to physically expand our growing space, but to develop the space that we have in a different way. We have also realised that trying to be financially sustainable is not a task to be taken lightly, and so have decided that we will look towards further grant funding as well as developing outdoor food/cooking courses and educational visits. All that said, we are still committed to developing our growing space as an area to be used for learning; especially for those people who, for whatever reason, are marginalised within society.

What a Scorching Success!

 

I knew it wasn’t going to rain and I knew it was going to be hot, but I couldn’t have imagined how much of a scorcher it actually was at our Summer Fair on July 7th.

Ben's catering trailers were a roaring success all day. Although no one was envious of those working behind the griddles in that heat!

Volunteers Chris, Rosemary, Max and Charlotte M, helped out on the Saturday to set up for the Sunday. 

Chris and Max moved and stacked 30 hay bales for the Hay Bale Tunnel, banged 49 posts in for the Post Maze, scrambled around in the Dutch barn, under the portacabins and in the tool shed to find all the different items needed to run the event. 

Meanwhile, Charlotte M was in the office printing and laminating signs for all the activities, Rosemary and Charlotte H were putting up marquees and I was pulling together the last minute preparations for the day. 

Dan (from Dan’s Cannons) was so dedicated to the event, that he brought his cannons along on the Saturday ready for firing on the Sunday morning.

Saturday was a long and hot day and we thought we thoroughly deserved an evening in the pub to celebrate!

 

Sunday morning, we were up bright and early with the sun.  Stall holders began to arrive from 7am and the day just continued to gather momentum. 

At 09.30hrs the RAF Helicopter came into land piloted by Chris Phipps.
 

Barbara turned up with her working horses Tyler and Billy and Mark and Karen set up their shave horse for the greenwood working stall.

The ladies from the Ellesmere spinners guild were spinning yarns, Andy arrived up with some massive logs to demonstrate the ancient technique of hewing and Helen and Kelvin began weaving their magic on some beautiful willow baskets….the slightly more noisy Paul also joined in with his chainsaw carving demos!

 

Jonno and The Good Tree Company had rigged up a pulley system on a tree in our ancient woodland where kids had the chance to scale the heights of a big old Sweet Chestnut.

Maggie and Geoff kept ususpecting groups entertained with their Maypole dancing and folk music.

Jester Jack and his Hobby Horse Project had people falling all over themselves to try out the stilts and hula hoops and learn some circus skills.

Kids could have a ride on the donkeys Primrose, Rainbow and Teddy.

Volunteer Nim had a great day as farm tour guide on the tractor and trailer rides, provided by A.R. Richards who at the very last minute were able to hire the trailer from the West Mid Show ground - phew! By the way, Nim was the one dressed as a bumble bee (sadly no photos!).

 

And fortunately, we had TWO ice cream stalls to cool people off throughout the day…!

Thank you to all of the volunteers who helped set up and run the day and special thank you to Lesley for baking lots of delicious cakes for our tea and cake stall.
 

It was a pleasure to host all of the wonderful stall holders, thank you for coming along and enduring the heat.

And last but not least, thank you to all the families who came along and supported us on the day – hope to see you here again soon!

Despite the Wimbledon final, the Grand Prix and the 27C of sunshine, everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Check out these fantastic photos taken by Bernard Beekes 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/azimbern/sets/72157634527648243/

Thank you all,
Becca x

It's going to be a hot one...

Don't forget that this Sunday, here at Fordhall Farm, we are holding our 8^th annual Summer Fair, from 10am – 4pm. It will be a fundraising, family day out celebrating bees and butterflies.

Town Crier - Geoff will be here to open the event

We are having a local producers’ market at the event with items for sale ranging from soaps to dog kennels to goats’ ice cream and the market will run alongside lots of free family activities around the farm. 

There will also be rural and traditional craft demonstrators on hand to show off their skills and the ladies from Ellesmere Spinners Guild will be here with their spinning wheels and yarn.  Two working horses from Carnog will be showing the traditional skill of logging and Andy Hyde will be demonstrating the skill of log hewing. We also have expert basket weavers, Helen and Kelvin Stanley, who will be creating willow baskets.

Dan's Cannons are going to be back - this time with an even BIGGER cannon to try.

Jester Jack and the Hobby Horse Project will be here running a circus skills workshop - come and have a go at a unicycle....or stilt walking!

We are also delighted to have an RAF helicopter flying in, which children will be allowed to scramble around and ask the pilot questions.  The helicopter will be stationed amongst other large machinery, including old Land Rovers, heavy farm machinery and a working steam engine.

Pilot Chris will be touching down on Sunday morning

Everyone at the farm is really looking forward to the Summer Fair. There will be so much going on; from tree climbing to beehive building and welly wanging to country dancing and the added bonus that the weather looks like it’s going to be a scorcher! 

The Hay Bale Tunnel will be out

There are going to be lots of free family activities to enjoy and to complement our bee and butterfly theme, we are encouraging everyone who attends to unleash their inner butterfly…or bee... Becca and the team are going to be fluttering about in fancy dress too - see if you can spot them on the day!

Lots of traditional games will be available with a bee/buttefly twist....

And all of this is only £3 per person and under 4’s are free. If you need more information look at our website, www.fordhallfarm.com or give us a call on 01630 638696.

Bees and Butterflies Summer Fair Fun

The Summer Fair is soon upon us and we are getting a real buzz around the event.  This year, we have decided to have a fluttering theme of bees and butterflies. We want to celebrate these amazing critters and all that they do to help pollinate the crops around us. 

We have a bee hive demonstration, as well as a Butterfly Chase and many more wildlife themed activities that are being kindly developed by the girls from Newport High School. 

To complement the bee and butterfly theme, we are encouraging everyone who attends to unleash their inner butterfly…or bee –so, straighten your antennae and flutter your wings and join in with some fancy dress fun!

We will also have our usual market with lots of local producers selling their wares. This year, we have got jewellery from Button It!  and Jeanie Jewellery, food from the Ultimate Fudge Company, Crumbs Cakery, The Goat Ice-Cream Company and Polly’s Parlour, soap from Soapbox, handmade pet homes from Built 4 Paws and wooden crafts from The Wood Life and From Mrs G with Love….and the booking forms are still coming in!

There will be donkey rides, tractor rides and tree climbing!

The Owl Experience will be here with their beautiful owls and  birds of prey.

 The RAF helicopter is coming in for a flying visit and you can scramble all over the helicopter!

A-Star Sports will also be here organising sports sessions with the kids.

Dan’s Cannons will be here – see how far you can shoot a “cannon” using your body and a little help from gravity…or have a go at Welly Wanging and see how far you can wang a welly – with a prize for the furthest throw!

We’ve also got some fantastic rural/traditional craft demonstrators coming, including Pics and Sticks and their green wood workshop, the Ellesmere Wool  Spinners, Helen and Kelvin Stanley demonstrating willow basket weaving, Andy Hyde with the ancient art of hewing and Barbara and her working horses Tyler and Billy…

Phew…! There will of course be a tea and cake stall run by the wonderful Fordhall volunteers, Ben’s Fordhall BBQ will be out serving delicious sausages and burgers and ice-cream from Polly's Parlour... you can then sit back and watch (or join in) the country dancing lead by Maggie Love and Geoff Turner.

£3 per person (under 4’s free!), 10am-4pm, Sunday 7^th July…be there or be square… :-)