Weekly Update

• We’re over half way through lambing season: over 90 Lleyn and Black Welsh Mountain lambs have been born so far.
• One of our Berkshire gilts has had a litter of 6 this week. A small litter is not unusual for the first time, but we do hope she produces 10 or more next time.
• At last the grass is beginning to grow. The severe winter has delayed spring growth which has meant that we have used nearly 50% more straw and silage this year than last. All the cows will be turned out to grass in the next two weeks.
• We have hatched our first goose – the youngster is doing well!
• We’re starting to see the blossoms on our strawberry plants – look out for Church Farm strawberries in the café very soon.
• Mutton is now available in the store. Useful information can be found here: http://www.muttonrenaissance.org.uk/

Chicken Keeping: Did you know?

According to recent studies, most of the eggs currently sold in supermarkets are nutritionally inferior to eggs produced by hens raised on pasture. Testing has found that, compared to official nutrient data for commercial eggs, eggs from hens raised on pasture may contain less cholesterol and saturated fat, more vitamin A, more omega-3 essential fatty acids, more vitamin E and beta carotene.

Chicken keeping course
We know that there is growing support for the Church Farm ethos of high animal welfare and an ecologically sensitive food production as there are increasing numbers of people who want to keep chickens at home to produce high quality eggs. On
10th April, 6 local enthusiasts took our beginners’ course in chicken keeping where Angie Cumming our resident poultry breeder offered practical and theoretical advice on topics ranging from handling and taming, to feeding, housing and health.

If you would like to find out more about keeping poultry in your garden, why don’t you join our next course on 20th April or enquire about other forthcoming dates.

Vegetable of the Week: Potato

Here's a quick round-up of which varieties to choose:

All-rounders: King Edward, Maris Piper, Romano and Desirée potatoes are suitable for every type of cooking except for salads and steaming
Baking: Cara, Golden Wonder, Marfona, Estima
Boiling: Cara, Estima, Pink Fir Apple, Saxon, Nadine, Vivaldi, Yukon Gold
Chips: Estima, Maris Piper, Pentland Dell, Sante, King Edward, Golden Wonder
Mashing: King Edward, Pentland Squire, Pentland Dell
Roasting: Cara, Wilja, Pentland Dell
Salad: Charlotte, Ratte, Jersey Royal, Pink Fir Apple, Vales Emerald

“Britain needs one million farmers" say campaigners

Britain's dwindling farm workforce is driving the UK towards monoculture farming and destroying our biodiversity, say campaigners. A report last year, ‘New Blood’, from the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) said the industry needed 60,000 new farmers over the next decade. However, organisers of the Oxford Real Farming Conference, set up earlier this year to challenge conventional thinking on farming, say this figure is inadequate. 'The current thinking is that farming needs to be cheap and monocultured and therefore as simple as possible,' said conference co-organiser Colin Tudge. 'We now have a situation where fewer than one per cent of the population works on the land: that's a precarious position.‘

Read the full article in The Ecologist

Free creative workshops and films for all the family…

Come along to the East Herts Eco Film Fest at Castle Hall in Hertford from 11.30am – 9.30pm on 24th April. Not only will you be able to enjoy award-winning films that bring our planet to life, learn to make your own animated films and artworks of genius from recycled materials, but you’ll also have the opportunity to feed the family with delicious Church Farm refreshments and snacks and listen to Tim’s talk on Agrarian Renaissance. FREE ENTRY.

Figure of the Week: 35

Equipped with binoculars, our team of bird watchers - led by local bird expert Richard Pople - managed to spot 35 different species of birds on 10th April. These included the grey heron, canada goose, mallard, red-legged partridge, pheasant, moorhen, wood pigeon, collared dove, green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker,pied wagtail, wren, dunnock, robin, blackbird, fieldfare, song thrush, long-tailed tit, blue tit, great tit, tree creeper, magpie, jackdaw, rook, carrion crow, starling, house sparrow, chaffinch, greenfinch, lesser redpoll and yellow hammer.
Migrant birds from Africa such as the garden warbler, black cap, chiffchaff and willow warbler, were also spotted on the Farm indicating that Spring has definitely arrived.

“Really interesting – just didn’t realise there were so
many different species out there, and a lovely walk
with good weather! Nice to meet such lovely people.”

Are you an early bird?
If you fancy enjoying the beautiful birdsong of
spring at dawn, join Richard Pople on 8th May for
a refreshingly early start as he talks about the
early birds. Adults £6.50, Children £3.50.

Did you know?

Meat from grass-fed animals has two to four times more long chain Omega-3 fatty acids than meat from grain-fed animals, which scientists agree is crucial to human health. All Church Farm animals have time to grow and mature naturally with access to grass and herb rich pasture.

The dairy industry: Quantity vs Quality

For thousands of years, Britain has had a dairy industry based on cows fed on grass where they are kept for most of the year in fields. This employed many people and provided cheap protein and fats to the entire population.

However, today the modern dairy industry is all about quantity rather than quality. The modern Holstein-Friesians are bred to live a brief life of only three milking years. They are milked three times a day, producing ten times what a calf would require. As a result, Britain now produces the cheapest milk in Europe and much of our butter is imported -as well as 40% of our yoghurt and 40% of our cheddar. A bottle of milk now costs less than a quarter of the price of some bottled water and supermarkets have quintupled their profit margin on milk in the last 15 years. These price pressures are driving Britain’s small dairy farmers out of business. Thousands of jobs have been lost and small-scale dairy farming which has traditionally kept rural Britain ticking over has now become impossible.

So what is the answer? Patrick Holden, Director of the Soil Association, says that dairy must learn to tell its story better. “You can’t just blame the supermarkets, that is pointless. The choice is with us, the customers: it’s we who have to change the way we buy. So we farmers must help the public to relearn where milk comes from, to value it and the animal and the land and the people that produced it.”

Find out more:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/real_food/article6977940.ece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/mar/02/milk-production-factory-farming

Figure of the Week: 30

Chicory contains an amazing 30% protein. Farmers have raved about this plant since the agricultural revolution. It was introduced from France and has formed the basis of growing the best roast beef.

Check this out...

Supermarket giant, Tesco, has revealed its plans for a new store in Stevenage Old Town. Having secured a long lease on the Elmes Arcade in the High Street, the new Tesco Express will apparently see the creation of 25 new jobs.

Bearing this in mind, a study by the New Economics Foundation has found that £10 spent in a supermarket generates only £14 for the local economy compared with £25 if spent on a local organic box scheme in Cornwall. In fact, “the research suggested that if every person, tourist and business switched only 1% of their current spending to local goods and services, an additional £52 million would be put into the local economy annually.” (Corporate Watch)

Farm Update

• Lambing has started: over 20 Lleyn and Black Welsh Mountain lambs have been born so far.
• 30 piglets have been born in the past few weeks.
• Our first goslings and ducklings will be hatching any day soon.
• We are planting a patch of sunflowers and millet in the orchard to self-feed the chickens: in the same vein, we are hoping to plant 3 acres of chicory ley for the pigs to eat.
• A license to kill: Tim is now licensed to slaughter and dry-pluck all poultry on site which means that each bird is handled humanely and individually, and finished by hand. Dry plucking also results in less bacteria.
• The last of our leeks are being harvested

Did you know?

We have 8 Berkshire breeding sows and 10 British lops. There are in total only 640 of these registered breeding animals left. So, not only are we providing great pork and bacon, but we are also helping to keep traditional breeds alive.

From field to fork: The trials and tribulations of lettuce growing

Hit hard by the freezing cold weather over Christmas, it was certainly touch and go for our lettuces – not only did the first leaves freeze but they also stopped growing. However, with a lot of time, care and consideration, the lettuces slowly began to grow again in February - an achievement thanks to our dedicated horticulture team. Last week, we started to harvest these lettuces and you’ll be pleased to know that they are now available in the Farm store and will be a part of our veg box scheme for the coming weeks. The hard work was definitely worth it – don’t you think so?

Figure of the Week: 350

350 pesticides (insecticides, fungicides, herbicides etc.) are permitted in conventional farming. According to the Soil Association, 4.5 billion litres of these are used annually. Here at Church Farm, we have avoided the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides for over 20 years. In order to provide you with safe,
sustainable food, we use natural processes to control all pests, diseases and weeds.