Fun & Frights - Halloween fun this Saturday!

......have you bought your tickets yet?! Our halloween event is THIS Saturday and tickets are still available. The event is at Fordhall Farm from 5pm -9pm. Call us in the office on 01630 638696 for tickets (these are cheaper in advance!) Please see a previous blog below for more information!

See you Saturday!

Hannah Smith

Big Draw and Fordhall Working Weekend

Wow! What a weekend that was! This weekend, Fordhall Farm hosted The Big Draw event (a national art event) and held one of our regular volunteer weekends. We called our event 'Dingly, Dangly Drawings' where we made hanging mobiles from natural materials with the help of an artist. This gave people an opportunity to come along to the farm and get involved with some art. This year we made mobiles from natural items found on walks around the farm and encouraged everyone to unleash their creativity!

We also hosted another great working weekend which was a success. The event was fully booked weeks in advance and people came from far and wide to enjoy some physical outdoor work. Jobs that included some fantastic new benches and storage for our human pig ark, which could not have been completed without the skilled help of Matthew Simon from Stockport. Fencing was also erected, bales moved, and tables were made. Everyone had a great time and we had lots of new volunteers (that have also promised to come back and help us again!).

Here is a selection of photographs from the weekend and the Big Draw - enjoy.

Fordhall Farm on Ebay!

.....well not quite! But a kind shareholder is listing an auction for us at the moment....have a look. Here's what Kelvin has to say....!

''I have recently had a clear out and have posted 2 Beatrix Potter,Beswick characters on the site and the proceeds will go to The Old Dairy Project.Perhaps others might consider doing a similar thing and selling an item on Ebay and donating the proceeds to the project. Below is the link...please make a bid if you would like in order to get things going! Keep an eye on the auction and see what happens.....!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280572149552

Kind Regards


Kelvin Baines, Shareholder.''

Fun and Frights on the Farm!

Here at Fordhall we are very excited to be hosting our first ever Halloween event on Saturday 30th October. Specifically aimed at children and families this will be a great evening of spooky Halloween fun on the farm!

Suitable for families and children aged 4-14 years this event is spooky, (not scary!) so come along and hunt for the scarecrows on our treasure hunt,  carve a pumpkin to take home with you and listen to the spooky Fordhall stories with a storyteller.

Not only that but we will have a fancy dress competition at 5.30pm and face painting taking place all night. So don't be late! Hot food and drink will be served all night and there are lots of delicious local beers for the adults to try!

Tickets can be purchased in advance for £3 per child (Adults free) and for every 4 children booked on and paid for in advance you can claim a token for one free bottle of local beer (!) All children will receive a free spooky goody bag with Halloween treats on the night.

Make a real evening of it and don't forget your torch!

To purchase tickets please contact the Fordhall office on 01630 638696 or email project@fordhallfarm.com

Hannah

Good News - Funding Awarded!

After a very long wait from the grant body for the Renovation of the Old Dairy, Advantage West Midlands, we were put forward to their approval panel today and approved! Whoop whoop :-)

The last few weeks and months have involved a lot of emails back and forth, supplying more evidence and answering their questions. Obviously, with the budget cuts everyone is watching their money very carefully and we were beginning to get concerned that the funding level would be dropped considerably.

However, the team at our Regional Development Agency, Advantage West Midlands, are very supportive of our project and are really keen for it to succeed. They see the vital benefit that Fordhall has for the local community and for tourism in the area. They want to help us involve more people in the farm and spread the wonderful message of local food, conserving our natural environment and living sustainably. A big thank you to Jo Jury at the Regional Development Agency who has held our hand through the whole process and been a fantastic support.

The funding came through the Rural Development Programme for England and will contribute 40% towards the project costs. The exciting result is that contractors will be on site early November. So, we still hope to complete the bulk of the work by Easter 2011, so you can all pop over for your tea and cake!

A lot of work has gone into this application by the team at Fordhall Farm, but special thanks must go to Sharon Jones for her many hours spent working on the application, to our board for their guidance and positive support and not least to all of YOU. Without your support during our desperate appeal in July, this funding would not have been released.

This building will be built in memory of our later father, Arthur Hollins. Without his dedication to organic farming Ben and I, and all of our shareholders, would not have the wonderful foundation that we have at Fordhall today. It is his legacy and his philosophies of life and nature that will be exemplified through the new building and through its use for the local and wider community.

This marks an important step for the Fordhall Community Land Initiative. It creates the ability to take more formal educational groups and the ability to generate our own revenue to support this educational work. The management team will now go over the budgets to check that everything is still on track and that we are achieving the highest environmental standards we can within the budget that we have for the building. All funds raised from now on will allow us to improve those credentials, exchanging more energy intensive materials for more natural and sensitive alternatives (click on the link below if you would still like to contribute AND have your name on the plaque inside the building).

http://www.fordhallfarm.com/donate_fordhall.php

Many, many thanks once again and warmest wishes to you all - now to the beginning of another important journey for Fordhall Organic Farm.

Charlotte Hollins

(FCLI Manager)

The Big Draw!

A week on Sunday Fordhall not only opens it’s doors to another set of helpful volunteers but hosts 'The Big Draw', a national art event that is free to take part in.  We hold this event every year and it is always great fun. This year our event is centred around drawing and making bugs, creepy crawlies etc.... from natural materials and turning them into a fantastic dangly mobile to take home and keep! What creatures will you create?! This event runs from 11am-4pm at the farm.

You don’t need to have any previous experience to join in, all you need is the enthusiasm to get involved! So spread the word and come and get involved! Hot food and drink is available, so why not make a day of it?!

Hannah (Pictures from last years event.)

Hannah gets married

Yes, that's right, Just over three weeks ago I got married, so from now Hannah Saunders is no more and from now on Hannah Smith is writing blogs and newsletters, organising working weekends etc........ and I couldn't be happier! So don't be confused by the name - it's still me!

I'm excited to be back after my time away especially since there is so much still happening during the last part of the year. Our Halloween event is going to be fantastic - perfect for families at half term and hopefully really successful for the FCLI - have you bought your spooky ticket yet?! Also if anyone is interested in volunteering at this event then please let me know. Thank you.

Hannah Smith (!)

Moo-over Maz is coming through...

Today, Marie-anne (Ben's girlfriend Maz), ran the Newcastle half marathon in aid of Fordhall. She sucessfully completed her half marathan in a cow suit, which could not have been easy. All of the hundreds of pounds that Maz raised through her sponsorship has been generously donated towards the new classroom that the Fordhall Community Land Initiative hopes to put up this winter. So a big thank you goes to her from everyone at Fordhall. Thank you for the money that you raised, and for putting yourself through all those miles of pain!

Woohoo for Maz

For anyone who still wants to sponsor Maz for her brave half marathon then it is still possible. Follow the link below to donate and choose the 'renovation of the old dairy' as your appeal title and we will add it to Maz's moo-athon pot!

http://www.fordhallfarm.com/donate_fordhall.php

The Fordhall Office has moved...

.. and we now have a much better view! The renovation of our Old Dairy building will begin this winter and so in preperation we have been busy making space for contractors. This has resulted in us needing to move our office... from the farm entrance into the field.

It was a big challenge as the cabins had to be completely empty before they could be lifted and moved - by two JCB's and a tractor and trailer from A.R Richards near Market Drayton (as Ben's quad bike was not quite strong enough!). Everyone mucked in and it gave us a much needed opportunity to sort through and reorganise our cupboards and stores. You can see Charlotte, Becca, Hannah and Beth with the almost empty office on the right, but we also had help from Detlav, Josh, Tom and Bex - a big thank you to them all, we could not have done it without you.

Now safely in the field, a little more organised, and with our broadband and telephone sucessfully reconnected, it is back to work as usual. Our view used to be Ben's butchery and the hay barn, now we can see sheep, cows, pigs and families enjoying the picnic area. We are still without running water, but at least the compost toilet is a little closer.

It's wellies to work for all the staff and volunteers now, but the wonderful views of the Tern Valley at Fordhall make the muddy walk to the office worth it.

On a completely different point, you may be interested in an article published in the Telegraph today explaining how research has proven that organic soils are healthier than non-organic soils due to higher levels of micro organisms. Shocking news since organic farms rely on soil organisms. They help their soils to produce food for the plants which grow on them, where as non-organic farms remove all the food that these organisms live off. However, obvious, all new research helps the cause.

If you want to read the full article follow the link below
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/8000399/Organic-farms-have-better-soil.html#disqus_thread

Bread making course at Fordhall

Our new clay oven the weekend it was built.

Come and spend the day at Fordhall Farm learning how to make bread in our new clay oven.

Having successfully built a clay oven we shall now be showing participants how to bake bread in it. Find out about sourdoughs and have fun making pizza to take home with you - if it doesn't get eaten first!

The course will be on Saturday the 18th September from 10 am - 4 pm and costs £30.00 for the day including a light lunch and refreshments. All ingredients will be provided.

If you are on a low income, please ring and talk to Bex on 07875742522 as we are able to offer a reduced rate thanks to funding from Shropshire Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund.

If you would like to bring children, please ring to have a chat.