New Shop Times for a Fresh New Year

We are excited to be beginning the new year with some changes. We have decided to have a tweak with our opening hours for the farm shop, and will now extend Thursday and Friday to open from 10am-6pm and on Saturday we will open from 10-1pm.

We have thought long and hard about the café too, and although we have enjoyed providing our own home made soups, salads, vegetable tarts and some delicious cakes, puddings, teas and coffees, it's now time to let someone else take over the space of the café and see what they can do with it, as we recognise our time is better spent concentrating on growing the best vegetables in Dorset.

See you all in the New Year.

Apple Day - Sunday October 5th

 

 

APPLE DAY

 

 

 

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 Rachel Sargent the talented artist who will also have childrens art activities running.  There will be refreshments available too all with an apple theme, 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 5th 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.

Cookery Classes for Children on the Farm

Cookery Skills

We are delighted that Diana Green will be here again over the summer, teaching kids some really useful and interesting cookery skills.  They will be able to get their hands dirty and stuck in to some fascinating and exciting methods.
Diana takes the children out on to the plot here and lets the children pick what they need to make some deliciously tasty meals.  They wash and prepare them here in our open barn and then use a variety of different methods including hot smoking.
We naturally feel it only right that we join in a little and help with the taste testing!  Last year the children cooked wonderful dishes and enthused about the fun they had with Diana, and that they enjoyed learning ways of cooking that their parents didn't even know how to do.
In the past the children have learned how to skin a rabbit (not for the squeamish), they cooked heart and they were able to pick and chose the vegetables they wanted to eat, so each child's dish was individual to them.
If you are interested in either day, July 25th or August 22nd do give Diana a call on 01725 518412 or if you want to get a group of children together on another day, Diana will be able to add dates to suit.
Happy Cooking!!

Little Weed

 

 

 

It's that time of year again, and we are delighted to be hosting our very popular weeding parties. The party begins at 4pm every Tuesday, gathering outside the farm shop and then off we all trundle under the watchful eye of Sara, and given our weeding tasks. 

 

These take about an hour, they are fun, good exercise and hugely informative as lots of conversation around vegetables, soil, crop rotation, raised beds and many other growing topics takes place too. Then at the end of all of this you get to take home a veggie goodie bag of some of our beautiful and delicious freshly picked veg.

 

The more the merrier, so come along and tell your friends too.

 



A Welcome Visit

Entering the Jungle of Broad Beans and Sugar Snap Peas

It was all action here on the farm as we opened our gates to Open Farm Sunday visitors.  Families came from all round Dorset, including Poole, Wareham, Sherborne, Bournemouth and nearer by too.

Sara guided the everyone around the plot and explained much about the soil, the plants and vegetables grown on the farm, about crop rotation, and what nutrients each plant puts back in to the soil.

Sara Explaining the Finer points of Beetroot

 

 

Many of the visitors were extremely knowledgeable especially the children, who enjoyed entering one of poly tunnel jungles filled with broad beans and sugar snap peas.

 

They were invited to pick some and have a nibble, to savour the flavour of something that has been freshly picked, and not surprisingly many commented on the sweetness and delicious taste.

 

 

 

We loved having so many visitors here and we feel they left here with more knowledge than when they arrived, and a new taste of exciting and delicious organic vegetables

 

Laura Guarding the entrance to the Runner Bean Tunnel



DORSET ARTS WEEK

All of this week you will be able to come and see the brilliant work of Emsie Sharp who creates unique one of pieces of hand-blown glass wear, and Rachel Sargent's beautiful landscape paintings. Both Emsie and Rachel work from the Cowshed here on the farm and you will not only be able to see many of their pieces of work, but also see them actually creating some of the many individual bespoke works.  Be prepared for the heat in Emsie's workshop which blasts out from the furnace, it is a great haven in the colder months.

While here you can visit the farm shop and have a bite to eat in the café, serving simple home-made meals using our own vegetables or tuck in to a piece of delicious cake.  You are also very welcome to wander around the plot where you can see many of the vegetables growing both outside and in the magic of the poly tunnels.

We look forward to welcoming you.

The Birds and the Bees

Spring on The Plot

 

Lighter, earlier mornings and the birds begin their chorus as if by magic.  Which bird begins the singing we will never know, but it does seem they all begin at once and we love to listen to the chatter.  At this time of year, at the height of spring, it seems as if the birds are busier than usual and we know they watch and wait for the moment we step away from a plant or seed that has just gone in to the ground to swoop down and have a nibble, but we are wise to their ways and carefully and quickly cover them up to protect them.

 

Broad Beans

 

 

We have been delighted to see so many bees around, and they have been enjoying whizzing around the poly tunnels collecting from the many flowers on the broad bean plants, and the newly appeared pea flowers.  So lots of lovely honey and plenty of our delicious vegetables to go round.