September Newsletter
In this month's newsletter read about our farm school student success, find out why love is in the air, read about our latest Farm Shop award and Cafe updates, see what fun was had during our summer mini farmers club and more....
Horse show success for Farm School student
One of our farm school students was lucky enough to take the very handsome horse Gus to the Sunshine Tour Championship at the Hickstead Showground. She put in lots of hard work with preparing Gus for the competition and even managed a 5 a.m. start at the farm. It all paid off with a 2nd place in the Best Condition and Turnout class.
We offer our Farm School students opportunities to learn both on and off the farm. For our students to represent themselves with such confidence is a huge achievement and we are very proud of them all.
Our Farm School children also enjoyed an outing to the Laughton & District Ploughing match. There was a lot to observe with the students able to see the very start of the food production process. Not only did we learn lots but also came home with a bundle of rosettes for our farm school student entries to the fruit and vegetable competitions!
Another fantastic Mini Farmers holiday club
We love hosting our Mini Farmers holiday clubs in the school holidays and had great fun this summer. It is wonderful to see children learning outside of the classroom, enjoying nature, learning to care for our animals, learning about where food comes from, trying new foods and understanding how farming impacts all of our lives.
The cherry on the cake is receiving such lovely feedback from parents of the children who attend.
Our final Mini Farmers holiday club of 2023 will be in the Christmas holidays on the following dates:
18th December
19th December
20th December
21st December
Tickets will be available to book in October - click here to book.
Photoshoots and pick-your-own sunflowers
It's been a fantastic summer for our sunflowers and this year we invited the public to not only come and pick their own sunflowers but to also have photographs taken amongst these beautiful rays of sunshine. We had photoshoots of new mums, families, horse riders and wedding parties. As you can see the backdrop made for some stunning photographs.
Now that the sunflowers have gone to seed, it's not the end of their story. Our chickens love the sunflower heads and have been happily enjoying them for the last few weeks,
We have also been growing maize as a crop for our livestock, as you can see as well as our goats, the chickens love it.
Love is in the air - so is Dexter's unique aftershave!
Our handsome buck Dexter is now out wooing his wives much to the relief of our farm staff and students - to say he smells is an understatement but it's all part of the mating ritual and his wives love it! His babies will be due around Valentine's Day - how romantic.
We have also successfully weaned all our lambs and goat kids however, much like human teens keeping them in is proving difficult - they are very good escape artists!
More babies are on the way
Our gorgeous sow Snout and her field mate Freeda are also pregnant and are due to have their piglets in November. We hired Bob the Boar for a few months and he successfully mated with both sows. Did you know that pigs are pregnant for 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days? This means our new piglets will be due in early November.
Farm shop and Cafe updates
We were proud and delighted to win the 3VA award – “Celebrating Communities 2023” this week. This award was presented to us in recognition of the benefits and impact we made in supporting the cost of living crisis. As a family business, it is very important to us to be able to support the local community and give something back.
Autumn favourites in our Farm Shop
As we head into Autumn our vegetable patch continues to provide a fantastic range of seasonal vegetables. The carrots, courgettes, beetroot and kale are going strong and are now used to create our cold-pressed juices, made fresh daily for the farm shop.
As our tomatoes and beans come to an end we look forward to digging the celeriac and parsnips for delicious autumnal dishes.
Autumn also means we are heading into the game season. We stock local wild venison, together with wild pigeon and partridge, shot on the farm and local estates.
We also have our own slow grown lamb and outdoor reared goat joints which are perfect for a family Sunday roast. Pair them with crispy roast spuds and our delicious freshly cropped carrots and kale for a delicious wholesome meal.
Have you tried our oven ready range? We now offer tasty oven ready dishes created using our home produced meat and freshly cropped vegetables. Perfect for a mid-week meal or easy weekend supper.
A new delicious addition to our farm shop
We now offer Scottish salmon smoked by Arron at the farm. Completely delicious and very competitively priced, why not pop in and try some?
Saturday 30th September - Using up the Leftovers
Join us on Saturday 30th September from 10 am - 2 pm to share ideas and recipes old and new to make the very best use of the food in our fridges and minimise food waste.
Other dates for your diaries:
Saturday 7th and 21st October - Lewes Farmers Market
We will be attending the market regularly from now on with our home reared meats, ready to cook casseroles and curries and home smoked salmon. We look forward to celebrating 25 years of this great local market with the other stall holders.
Saturday 28th October - Game Cookery Masterclass with Angela Carter
Angie is a talented chef with a keen interest in wild game. She will demonstrate how to cook some simple game dishes for you to recreate at home using local wild game.
Farm Shop Cafe
Our Cafe continues to go from strength to strength with Angie's delicious brunch dishes going down a storm. Thankfully our ducks are laying well and Angie's free range duck eggs with smoked salmon is a firm favourite, closely followed by her fabulous BLT and VLTs (Venison, lettuce and tomato sandwich).
Our Cafe opening times are as follows:
Wednesday - Friday from 10 am for tea, cake, coffee, sausage rolls and quiche
Saturday & Sunday from 10 am - 1 pm for brunch and sausage rolls
We will be adding field mushrooms to our South Brockwells Breakfast in a week or two. We are creating more indoor seating so our cafe will move inside as winter approaches.
We look forward to welcoming you to our Farm, Farm Shop and Cafe soon.
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