Blow A Bauble & Late Night Shopping

OPEN STUDIOS AT GOLD HILL ORGANIC FARM

SUNDAY DEC 15TH 11-4PM

&

THURSDAY 19TH 4-7.30PM

 

 

Come along and join us at the Farm and make your own baubles in Emsie Sharp's studio, and visit Rachel Sargent's studio to see her beautiful range of cards and linoprints of local locations.  After you've exhausted yourself with all of the activities going on, pop in for a nibble of some delicious festive treats, or enjoy some coffee and cake in the café.  We all look forward to seeing you soon.

 



 

 

 



 

 

 



 





APPLE DAY - IT WAS STICKY, MESSY FUN

 

 

 

 

As predicted on our Apple Day last Sunday, the weather was beautiful and we had a huge turn-out of people bringing their bags, wheelbarrows, boxes, crates and even prams brimming with their apples ready for juicing.

 

The process is sticky, messy and time consuming, but everyone there agreed it was all worth it as the outcome is so delicious, and there is nothing like being able to drink the juice of your own apples.

 

 

 

People brought their own bottles and there was an exciting and interesting collection ranging from old milk cartons to elegant wine bottles, these below are our particular favourites, and look at the wonderful colour of the juice.

 



 

 

As we knew the process of juicing takes a long time, we were delighted that our neighbours here at Goldhill were all open to show visitors what they do in their workshops. Emsie Sharp, was teaching people how to blow their own glass baubles in her steaming hot unit in the Cowshed and Rachel Sargent who is an artist here and holds regular workshops, was working with children on apple printing.

 

 

 

 

We juiced over 250 bottles and people went away feeling deeply satisfied.  We will be doing the same next year, see you then!!

 



 











 

APPLE DAY

SUNDAY OCTOBER 6TH 11AM-4PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have fixed a date for our very popular Apple Day.  Once again we are anticipating a great sticky messy day along with some activities too, Sara will be taking her now famous Farm Walk  at 11am  giving a guided tour of the farm and all its workings.  It is also an opportunity for you to browse around the Art Stable Gallery, see the work of Emsie Sharp our resident glass blower and Rachel Sargent the talented artist.  We have also arranged for some delicious tastings with some of the lines we stock here.  There will be refreshments available too, so you can really make a day, morning or afternoon of it.

 

Bring your apples and bottles (we use our recycled plastic milk bottles) and together we will press them, so you will see the whole process from beginning to end.   There will be a small charge of  £1 per bottle pressed.  We hope to see you on October 6thth to join in the fun and make the most of your apples.

 

 

Bring your own HANDPICKED apples

Don’t leave them to rot under the tree

 

 

Juicing Demonstration                                                      

Farm Walks  11am                                              

         

                              

                                                   Parking and entry free.

Happy Smiley People

Here we are happy and smiling, and we hope it is infectious as we always have something to smile about.  We were lucky enough this week to host a wonderful Farm Walk with the Soil Association.  We were joined by a group of people hugely interested in the workings of the farm. For many of our customers the smiling faces above (not including Mrs Telford) are what they see here on a daily basis, and although they know we are growing our vegetables just outside the back door on the plot, they don't venture out there that often, and frankly who can blame them with all that mud and rain.

We are always happy for people to walk around the plot, look at what we are up to, and see what we are growing, sowing, harvesting and ask questions, so although hosting a formal farm walk is fun and interesting we do encourage anyone to have a walk around and enjoy fully what we are doing here, just simply providing the best organic vegetables available anywhere in this area.

For those who prefer the more organised tour, we will be hosting another Farm Walk here on June 8th at 11am, no need to book or anything formal like that, just turn up and we would be happy for a donation to one of the charities we support here.

More exciting news next week.

Soil Association Farm Walk

 

 

Farm Walk: Gold Hill Organic Farm

18 April 2013 16:30 - 18 April 2013 19:30

In association with the Soil Association we will be holding a Farm Walk here on our 60 acre farm. Established 25yrs ago from 1 acres of veg and 1 polytunnel to 10 acres veg and 9 polytunnels. Wide range of veg first sold through co-op, box scheme, very basic farm shop open weekends only.  With an emphasis on growing the business organically (not just the veg) and always being inovative but keeping it managable and profitable. Never relying on one market sector in a small business. Always having an acre of raised beds and tunnels so that whatever the weather something can be planted and harvested. It is a low input business.  We look forward to welcoming you here.

Attendance is free but advanced booking is absolutely essential. We will send out directions prior to the walk.

Please contact the the link below to book your place
http://www.soilassociation.org/farmersgrowers/newsandevents/articleid/4742/farm-walk-gold-hill-organic-farm-dorset

Green Nutrition



 

Getting to know what they are cooking at eating



We thought it would be a great idea to hold a cookery workshop for children here at Goldhill.  We were contacted by Diana at Green Nutrition who runs courses and workshops on a regular basis and we liked her approach.  The children get out and pick their own vegetables, prepare them and cook them making delicious meals.  On the day they came last week, it all began with some outstanding vegetable spring rolls, naturally we had to sample one or two and the kids loved the whole process and were free to choose their vegetables, and then chop away, using tools and equipment they may have seen in their kitchens at home, but never used.

 

Preparing the ingredients

 

This was followed by a Partridge stew which had a sweet flavour, working well with the partridge. As you can see the children were fully aware of what it was they were cooking, preparing the birds from start to finish themselves. The stew was served with egg fried rice, and again we felt the need to sample the meal, I admit I had to go back for more.



 

Tucking in.

 

They all had a fantastic day, and we hope to be holding more events here in the future, we thought perhaps some outdoor cooking would thrill the children, so fingers crossed for some decent weather.

 

 

If you'd like more details, you can contact Diana direct on greennutrition@btinternet.com

 





A Project

We have embarked on a new and exciting project here at the Farm.  So we can make better use of some of our fields since giving up on rearing cows we looked at several possibilities, including a solar farm, but for reasons including the damage to our organic land, and the controversy it might cause in the village we dismissed this plan.  We did instead, plump for a woodland, feeling this fitted in with the ethos of the farm, would enhance the village and fields here, encourage wildlife to thrive and leave a lasting legacy.

We have been hard at it, in all weathers, including a snow storm which covered our materials so quickly we couldn't find our spirals.  We have 9,000 trees of all kinds of varieties, Oak, Silver Birch, Cherry etc.. all randomly planted in perfect lines.  We've had an army of volunteers to help and to date we are about 3/4 of the way there.  We will from time to time release picture updates as these little twigs begin to grow, and 20 years from now we will have our healthy woodland.

Happy New Year - Resist Temptation!

 

We are back from our small winter break and ready for what ever 2013 throws at us, including the cold snap that is due, according to all the weather reports.  We are gearing up for the big chill but are celebrating the gorgeous sun shine cold weather can bring.  Our poly tunnels are being tended and being made ready for planting and some are still producing the leaves we use to make up or very popular salad bags.  The shop is brimming with delicous vegetables and we notice that we have some new customers who have decided to start the year on a healthy note and have heard about what we produce and sell here.

 

We can also now introduce you to our Cafe which is now fully up and running, offering warming soups, vegetables pies, pizzas and vegetables tarts all made using our very own fresh produce. The tarts are made by Christine's Puddings who makes gluten free products, and Christine will be opening here soon in a new unit, and you will be able to purchase her naughty treats, sticky toffee pudding, treacle tarts and more, so much for resisiting temptation!
 

 

Happy New Year..