First snow of Winter 2008

Just a few minutes ago Fordhall saw its first snow fall of the winter and we all got very excited! Winter is the time the farm and nature takes to rest ready for the busy, productive summer months. Although as you can imagine, life as a farmer never really ends.

Ben is managing his winter grazing carefully to ensure there is enough to sustain the livestock through to the spring when the lush grass will again reappear. He is also getting very busy preparing for Christmas orders through his new and improved online farm shop, where he will be supplying free-range bronze turkeys, hams, gammons and the usual beef, lamb and pork. There is even talk of some Christmas geese.

In the office we are preparing the winter newsletter, planning developments for the new farm trail, developing plans for the renovation of the old farm buildings and putting together educational packages for 2009.

Roll on 2009...

Singles weekend and Big Draw event

Last weekend saw Fordhall Farm host it's first ever Singles weekend in association with muddymatches.co.uk It was a real success with people travelling from all over the country to get stuck into some outdoor work here at Fordhall. Lots of fun was had by all and we celebrated a hard days work with a tasty BBQ around the camp fire on the Saturday night. Everyone worked so hard and we even managed to get our new path completed which will allow disabled access to parts of the Farm trail. This is a massive step towards renovating our current trail.
On the Sunday the singles weekend weekend continued with more jobs but we were also joined by local artist Helen Thompstone for our art event 'The Big Draw'. We transformed one of our yurts into an indoor Fordhall forest with people of all ages getting arty, drawing, painting and creating trees for our imaginary forest! It looks great and is still up on display, so if you wish to come and have a look - pop on down!

Our next working weekend , which is open to everybody, takes place on 22nd-23rd November, to book on just email me on project@fordhallfarm.com. Thanks.

Hannah

Strapping Men Needed!

We need strapping men, please, to come and help out at our Fordhall Farm Singles Volunteer Weekend at the farm on Saturday 18th - Sunday 19th October (Although people can arrive on Friday night.)
We've already got lots of women travelling across the country to get stuck in, get their hands dirty and meet a few new people - now we just need a bit of extra male muscle - can you help?
Tickets cost just £10 with all your food all weekend and this event is open to all ages so please grab a mate and come and lend a hand!
For more information and to buy your ticket, log on to www.muddymatches.co.uk/events

Ludlow Food Festival

Its that time of the year again. The amazing Ludlow Food Festival rocks Shropshire. Ben has been spending all week preparing with the help of Helana and 'courier' Dave. Today Farmer Ben (Hollins) is off to prepare the stall and tomorrow the fun begins... For Ben, it is just as big as Christmas.

Ben and his team will be there selling delicious Fordhall free range Gloucester Old Spot sausage baps, burgers and more. Inside the local food marquee fresh meat will be for sale as well as the book, 'The Fight for Fordhall Farm' and even a raffle to win lots of Fordhall meat.

As you can see this week it has been sausages, sausages, sausages, and more sausages... And today, whilst the men took the fridges and griddles to Ludlow. Helena sat in a mountain of bread baps, slicing and bagging them up. Please help them out by buying a sausage bap at Ludlow!


If you are at the festival, please come and say hello. We always love the opportunity to meet supporters or shareholders.





Don't Forget - THIS WEEKEND fri-sun at Ludlow Castle.

See you there! :-)

Come dip a pond?

The Fordhall Community Land Initiative has partnered up with Market Drayton Taste of the Town Company to organise some childrens activity days over the summer. We want to get more children and families out into the countryside through the holidays, whatever the weather. Funded by a local grant and the Taste of the Town Company, these activities are free and great fun.

Shropshire Wildlife Trust will be running a Pond Dipping activity and Bug Hunt at Fordhall Farm on Tuesday 19th August from 2pm-4pm. Places need to be booked in advance by calling the office on 01630 638696.

Another two local activity days are at Park Hill Farm, Hales (TF9 2QA), 01630 652178. There will be two bug hunting days on 15th August 2-4pm, and 26th August 10-12am.

Come and enjoy the fun!

Fordhall awarded V Project grant.

Fordhall has been awarded a grant from the V project in order to enable us to encourage and recruit more younger volunteers onto the farm. So a massive thank you must go to the V project. I am very exited about this project and about gaining some new volunteers.
If you are interested in volunteering at Fordhall (regardless of age) please call me in the office on 01630 638696. Don't forget that we also have our next working weekend on the 6th-7th September, which is free. Sign up now!
Hannah

Hay Making in 2008 - beat the rain...

After wandering if the Summer weather was ever going to come, we have finally had chance to cut and make hay. Ben rents some land at Whitchurch from Shropshire Wildlife Trust (melverley Meadows). They are protected, traditional organic hay meadows and Ben uses them to cut hay for winter feed. However, you need at least a week of completely dry and warm weather for it to be successful.

Last week began well and on tuesday Ben took the decision to bale the hay. By the weekend it was already to bring back to the farm, but Saturday evening and Sunday predicted rain. This meant it was all hands on deck to get it completed on Satuday. Wet hay rots and is then worthless, he could not afford to delay and run into the rains.

Charlotte and Becca were at Shrewsbury Farmers' Market, Courier Dave and Helena were at Uttoxeter Farmers' Market and Ben had been able to rally up some more help in the field. Josh, Ralph, Dave, Chris, Craig, Ghislain (from Normandy) and later Helena (from Prague), Charlotte and Marie-Anne. The team worked hard through the mid day sun and put in some real effort. Eventually the hay made it into the barn, but everyone was working well into the night.

Alas, the rains did not come. But, nevertheless the hay is now safe and the barn is full ready for this years winter feed.

Well done all those who put in the hard work.

Summer Fun in the Fordhall Woodland

After a successful year of Forest School in Fordhall Farm's woodland, we have decided to organise some Forest Fun Activities for the Summer Holidays. These will run from Monday 28th July - Friday 1st August from 10am-12.30pm. They will be run by a qualified Forest School Leader and involve a whole range of activities from map trails, mini beast hunts, blindfold trails, den making, woodland crafts and even a campfire party!

For more information please contact the office on 01630 638696 or email project @fordhallfarm.com.

Charges:
£15 per day or £75 for the week. Discounts available for second child from the same family. Adults are free.
Suitable for ages 4 years and upwards. Under 9's must be accompanied by an adult.

Places must be prebooked as places are limited.

Successful Summer Fair

This weekend was the annual Summer Fair, and what a success it was! We had such a variety of stalls and activities for all the family. There were traditional Victorian games presented by the scouts, welly wanging for all the family, corn dolly demonstrations, bench making plus we even had a visit from the fire engine and police car (for the children to explore before you ask!) the sheep shearing which took place in our new barn was a resounding success, a really interesting and informative addition to the fair.

Lots and lots of people came through the gates, from nearby and as far away as London and everyone had a great time. Lots of home cooked organic cakes were munched as was Ben's tasty Hog Roast.
A huge thanks must go out to all our amazing volunteers that really helped for the day to go smoothly and without a hitch - we couldn't have done it without you!

Hannah

P.S Don't forget that this week is your last chance to see Arthur's Plough. It is on at Home Farm, Attingham from Wednesday - Saturday. Please ring the office for ticket availability.

Second Week of Arthurs Plough Play

Today we begin the second week of Arthurs Plough and it looks like the weather may be a little kinder to us. Last week, two performances were held in Ben's barn and two were held in the Farmhouse garden. All were very successful and everyone had fun.

This will be the last EVER week of performances at Fordhall Farm, with the following weeks performances moving to Home Farm, Attingham, Shrewsbury.

If you would like to book tickets for this week, please buy them in advance as we can not guarantee they will be available on the door.


Please go to Ben's Farm Shop or ring 01630 638696.

More photos available at Virtual Shropshire

OR see the BBC promotion of the show by following the link below
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7471582.stm

PLEASE DON'T FORGET OUR SUMMER FAIR
Fordhall Farm's biggest event of the year takes place this Sunday (6th July). Our Summer Fair will run from 11am-4pm and will have enough activities to keep you entertained all day. We have sheep shearing demonstrations - the naming of Ben's new Bull - hog Roast - live music - bee keeping demonstrations - games - farmer's market - afternoon teas - RAF Helicopter - fishing - composting and more...

How could you miss out!