The last few weeks have been very busy indeed and also a lot of fun. We have attended a few shows and also hosted a show at the farm in conjunction with the Titterstone Clee Heritage Trust. The TCHT event required a lot of preparation as there was not only an afternoon event but there was a party in the barn afterwards. The weather during the day was glorious, we could not have wished for better weather. The event itself was great fun but we were very disappointed in how many stall holders let us down at the last moment and did not come. Despite this we felt the day went well. The evening event in the barn was also enjoyable however as with the day event it would have been better if more people attended. The talk about the trust was well received and the band (called Hagglebag) was excellent. It was a shame that it was only really in the last hour that I could drop my responsibilities and let my hair down and do a bit of dancing.... The week after the event was light duties only. There...
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I have at last managed to make my hay for 2010! A week of fine weather arrived at the end of August/start of September. Makinh hay at this time is a bit late really and the heavy dew and cooler nights meant it took longer to make. The old baler started off very badly and I had to even resort to the instruction book... Eventually she sorted herself out and the last field the bales were brilliant. Bridgnorth food festival went very well and the atmosphere was terrific. Ludlow Food Festival was another ggod event. Very big and very tiring but we were very pleased with how everything went. The tractor engine is still being fixed up and we have missed being able to use it particularly during hay making. The days are now drawing in and the nights are getting cooler. Just over a week ago we asked someone to come and process all the wood that I had collected over the winter. This machine was brilliant. The wood was loaded onto a conveyer where it was cut to a given size and then the wood was s...
Cider sales are doing well! We are only just keeping up with the bottling... The van always struggles coming back loaded from a bottling pick up but we have now 'tweaked' the engine and it it seems to be doing a whole lot better. It used to be embarrassingly slow even when empty but that has all changed which is excellent news! We have also repaired the rot on the back door which is a brilliant job done!! I hit the rear door with our forklift some time ago now and coupled with the classic transit van rot on the bottom of the rear doors it looked awful. We have now cut off the whole bottom of the door and replaced it with a new section and painted it! A very good job done indeed!!! I am still waiting to do my hay and there has been no real decent slot of weather for me to have a go. I am not planning to do that much this year but it is still fairly important to get some done for the winter for the horses. Had a go on the Porsche the other day which was both exciting and disappo...
I received some truly horrific news two weeks ago today when I was informed of a death of a very close friend of mine indeed. Maybe not the subject to post here on the Blog but it has to be honest really knocked me, and it has affected a great many people I know. He and his lovely fiance were planning to hold their wedding party on the farm in a couple of months and it was something we were all looking forward to a great deal. Bri I am going to miss you terribly - may you rest in peace.... The food fairs are now in full swing! Bridgnorth food festival was brilliant on the 31st of May. Fantastic atmosphere and plenty of people attending. I think a festival has the upper hand when it is free for visitors to attend. The summer Much Wenlock festival on the 5th of June was even better. We always enjoy ourselves when doing a show at Much Wenlock and the biannual summer show on the Church Green was brilliant. Held at the same time of a longer Festival of arts at Much Wenlock it had a sprinkli...
How time has started to fly.... With the start of spring everything kicks off and we have been very busy to say the least. The shows are starting and it appears that there is an evergrowing list of jobs. That said we feel that we are more or less keeping on top of everything but just as well the days are longer! We have had several shows and an open day with varying success but generally it is positive. We hosted a farm walk in conjunction with Worcestershire County Council on the 8th of May which went well. The weather was good and the Bluebells albeit later this year were putting on a good display. We started off hosting the 12 people who came and took them on a guided walk on our nature trail. The member of staff from Worcestershire County Council then continued on with an extended circular walk through two parishes and then ending up back at the farm. We then gave them a talk concerning how we make the cider and then the enevitable tasting! As the 'theme' of the walk was Na...
I attempted a job that I have been wanting to do for years... On the nature walk there is a wooden footbridge that I built over 12 years ago that crosses a stream. Underneath the bridge is a lovely old stone tunnel that was the original bridge and was wide enough to take vehicles. The start of the tunnel I assumed was blocked and the stream had made its own way around but was starting to erode the structure. So I had a dig around to try and find the start of the tunnel. It was a lot longer than I had thought but eventually found the start and tried to open it up. I was hoping that it was just sediment or a log that had blocked it but unfortunately I think the structure has collapsed. I think that it is a very old structure as it is made with stone rather than brick. The local brick kilns were in operation in the early 1800's so I would assume it was made before then. Anyway I have now got the water going through it again which was a very nice sight to see! At the end of last week w...
Spring is here and I am managing to do many of my plans on the farm. I know I keep going on about collecting wood but at present I have probably got about 7 tons back at the farm ready to be chopped and logged etc. This is a very pleasing sight as we are so dependant on wood to keep warm during the winter. The other fact is that the farm is being improved with the tidying up of hedgerows. I have also being 'improving' one of our old orchards. It was quite a sad job as it is a very old orchard which interestingly enough was the spark of how we started making cider over 11 years ago. About three years ago we had some very strong winds and we lost three lovely big apple trees - probably the best we had in the orchard. They were blown over and split the roots which killed them. It was like tidying up a battlefield and I have now removed the remnants including the stumps. It looks so empty now as the trees we have replanted look so very small. We are more or less up to date with the...