Blue Tongue

14th August 2008

It has been a very busy time since I last posted the blog and lots of events have been going on - we have vaccinated against Blue Tongue which is an historical event in our flock and that went smoothly and efficiently.

We have been marketing lambs and have had our farm shop open on Fridays which has been fun and up until now the weather has been good!

I gave a talk at Berry Bros and Rudd in London where we do food partnerships with our lamb and mutton being showcased in five courses perfectly cooked and presented by the chef and the courses are accompanied by tastings of fabulous wines. A most interesting and delicious evening!

We had another Masterclass here which was really good with very interested people who really wanted to know as much as possible, the weather wasn’t that good but it didn’t dampen our enthusiasm.

We have had school visits where we have studied the Journey of Flour – we ground wheat in a grain mill, turned it into flour and then made dough and then I had loaves of bread which I had baked the day before which everyone then devoured! http://www.browfarmwheatproducts.co.uk/grain_mill.htm The children then did Pond Dipping and the weather was lovely and sunny.

At the end of July we had a location photoshoot here for Country House Magazine http://www.countryhousemagazine.co.uk/ who also sent a journalist to cover the Masterclasses and her article was also included in the September edition along with the photographs from the photoshoot. It is out now! The pictures look amazing with the sheep, Atilla our lurcher and our horse all with starring roles! The article was very good and informative. We had an article about the Masterclasses in The Times earlier in the year too.

The weather has now turned into the monsoon season and it has rained continuously, rather like last year but without the Foot and Mouth complications of movement restrictions. The wet land is enough of a restriction this time! We have weaned the lambs and put them all in different fields and so it all takes time checking everyday the flock of ewes, the lambs, the rams, the muttons – all stomping along in the rain! The dogs love it and tear round through the mud and puddles.

The next big thing is the Organic Food Fair in Bristol at the beginning of September so preparations are well under way for that – we will be launching our new product of smoked lamb!