Aren’t our two new Berkshire piglets lovely? They arrived this morning!
Our Berkshire Piglets!
Where’s my dinner?
A big “thank you” to Suffolk ACRE Local Foods who have generously given The Oak Tree Farm a grant of £181 for our training plans… CSA members will enjoy a WIld Food Harvest Skillshare on 11th May, and a Preserving the Harvest Skillshare 12th September where we’ll share our knowledge and experience in these key skills for living well with the seasons. Both these events are open to CSA members only, and are free of charge.
Wild food Salad we enjoyed on a wild food walk in 2011…
We will also be running a Nose to Tail Cookery Course, open to all, with a special rate for CSA members on how to make delicious meals from all the parts of our livestock, not just the bits you see shrink-wrapped in the supermarket! Check back here on The Oak Tree website for more details soon!
From this (pig pluck, lunghs heart and liver)….
… to this: Faggots. A traditional English dish – delicious, nutritious and cheap.
It is always a joy to welcome new animals to the farm, and these pigs, as well as being ridiculously cute, include the first pigs to be offered to CSA members, but do hurry to get your order in as we’ll also be making them available to people outside of the CSA soon…
Arrival at the farm!
In their little “training pen” – they were soon let out to root the entire ex potato patch!
and don’t miss Tom’s video on the Acorn Antics blog!
We are now inviting CSA members, old and new, to order a side of Oak Tree Pork!
It really is delicious, so do order your half pig now.
A couple of Oak Tree rare breed pigs. We try different breeds each time, the next ones will be Gloucester Old Spots.
Blossom and her family taking a first walk outside after the piglets’ arrival.
Eight of these charming piglets are due to arrive at The Oak Tree in the next few weeks.
Here is the lovely Blossom with her piglets enjoying their first breakfast!
These are the next pigs to come to the farm in a few weeks time… aren’t they adorable?!
Glorious sunshine graced us this working party, with plenty to do, inclduing ridging the leeks, hoeing and weeding, and spreading the mushroom compost. The pigs were moved in the morning, onto the old potato field next to the parking zone. They will help get out some of the potatoes that remain in the soil and enhance the soil fertility at the same time.
Eric pruning some trees in the Forest Garden
Pigs in their new location rooting for potatoes left over from last year
Lucy hoeing the leeks
Tom weeding
The blackthorn is starting to in bloom, flowering before the leaves come out.
Blackthorn in bloom
The skylarks are busy, too
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Tom’s video of the Pig Club pigs being butchered from The Oak Tree had me falling about laughing this morning (does that sound a bit sordid!?)
Very many thanks to Colin of Mickleson’s butchers on Woodbridge Road, East Ipswich. Mickleson’s is a wonderful, traditional butchers – I can vouch for it as I was brought up on meat from there (so the shop has been there for quite a while!) and my Mum still shops there. They are very friendly and helpful, so if you are looking for a source of excellent quality local meat but aren’t sure what to buy, don’t be afraid to go there and ask for something like, “beef that’s nice to casserole but not too pricey”, or a “really nice joint of pork for a special occasion” – they’ll know what you need.
Last night Richard and I enjoyed a dinner almost entirely from the farm (the salt on the joint & the butter on the veg came from France) – fantastic!
The pig club pigs are usually in the market for more food, and they like to let you know about it, just in case there’s a chance of some more…
You don't really want to say no, there is no more to this fella, do you?
They’re less articulate than Oliver Twist in many ways, but press their case with vigour:
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