Greetings From the G and S Farm!

First of all, a belated Happy New Year to you all from the team here at G and S. We Hope you enjoyed the festive season.
As this is the first post of the new year, it's time to let you know our plans for the year, and for the next few years. Yes, we are that organised!
Currently the pigs are enjoying clearing out the old carrot beds ready for sowing in the spring. When the beds are clear, we can start our new crop rotation pattern.

Crop rotation is essential for preserving the quality of the soil. Here are some details of what we are planning, and why we are doing it. We hope this interests you, because it will directly affect the food you get in your boxes of the coming months, and even years.

Our seven year crop rotation plans are now ready to be posted on the website.
Seven years is the recommended rotation for many reasons, the main ones being:

· To allow the ground to recover from hungry crops like Brassicas.
· To ensure a break between crops, hindering some of the crop pests and diseases.
· To restore and feed the soil.
· To incorporate farm yard manures as fertilisers.
· To inhibit weeds.
· To create clean grazing.
· To give us a wide variety of crops for your boxes.

Our fields will be divided up into several plots, and here we will plant our "field scale" (industry term...!) crops. In the walled garden we will also be planting more attention-seeking crops such as salad leaves.
In any one of our field scale plots, the following crop rotation will be running, starting from a different point on the cycle in each plot to maximize variety. an example of a rotation scheme for a single plot is as follows:

2009- Potatoes - Orla and Milva varieties - planted in May for harvest in October.

09-10 Pigs/Poultry - to remove the leftover potato plants and prepare the ground for the next crop. October to March

2010- Broad beans, sowed in April for harvest on August

10-11 Sprouting Broccoli. Both Purple and White, Sowed in August for harvest in May

2011 Salads. Celery, Chard, Lettuce and others, planted on May for October Harvest.

11-12 The Pigs and Poultry are back to finish off what's left. October to April

2012 Squash/Courgettes. Butternut and large hallowe'en types (such as crown prince). Planted in April for harvest in September/October.

12-13 Guess who're back? that's right, those all purpose waste disposal units, the pigs and poultry, from November to March

13-14 Root crops, such as Chanteray Carrots, Parsnips, Beetroot, turnip and Swede. Planted starting in March and continuing through the year, these will be harvested from October through to March, with the pigs following as the early crops are finished until there is nothing left.

14-15 Brassicas, such as Red, white, green, savoy and even winter cabbage! Planted starting in march and continuing to plant over the following weeks, and harvested from August onward until tehy are gone.

14-16 Following the cabbages, grass will be planted as an Organic soil improver. This will be in for up to a season and a half, taking us up to March of the 7th year in the cycle. Manure will be dug in in June to add fertility and organic matter, and the whole cycle will start again.

Well, I hope that wasn't too long and in depth, and that you found it interesting to know what we are up to now and in the future.

See you all Next time!

Well, it's been a while since we posted anything, so here's the last update of 2008 from the G and S farm!

All the stress of Christmas will hopefully soon be behind us, as Christmas deliveries go out next week, on Monday and Tuesday. Only the non-farm related stress of the day itself left to survive!

Our turkeys put up a fight this week, in a last ditch attempt to avoid the christmas dinner tables of the north east, but thankfully everything is now under control. Until the next thing goes wrong that is...!
On that subject, it looks, from my window at least, as if the Longfram village christmas tree is on the verge of falling over, probably taking our electricity/wall with it!

Thanks to all our customers for your business over the last year, and we look forward to seeing you all in the new year. We will be back delivering on the 7th of January.

See you all then,
Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year,

Lee, Beth, Sue, Steven, Katie, John
The G and S Organics Team

Well another week over as we march closer to the Christmas holidays. We hope you are all looking forward to the holiday and New Year as much as we are.
Lots of planning going on at G and S. Lee is spending hours agonizing over seed catalogues and muttering about heads of cabbage per acre!
The whole team - well, nearly the whole team - was out in force on Monday planting fruit trees. Thank you to all who volunteered to help. Just be grateful you didn’t have to play out. We had every kind of weather on Monday: Weak sun, heavy hail and driving rain. A fantastic day, however; all the trees planted. We have staked, composted and mulched them in, so look out in spring for beautiful fruit blossom and hopefully no late frost to kill off the fruit.

no trees...

Trees!

The turkeys are all looking happy and healthy, enjoying running around the farm. The weather doesn’t seem to bother them. In fact, we have to call and call them for teatime and bed.

Some great cook-ahead ideas this week to get you in the Christmas spirit and reduce the stress on the day.
By the Way, Check the website for special offers, we are doing our best to help all our customers tailor deliveries to better suit their needs.

Let us know what you are planning for Christmas and when you will want your delivery. Please note Christmas orders close this weekend. To book a delivery slot tel.07894622256.

Deliveries will be as normal on the 18th and 19th of December. Christmas orders will be delivered on the 22nd and 23rd. No deliveries at all on the 1st and 2nd of January, then we are back to normal on the 8th and 9th of January 2009.
So stock up now!

Well what a change in the weather we have seen this week! We actually had a little snow in the village, quite rare for this time of year. We don’t normally see any until the new year. All the puddles and the drinking butts for the animals have been frozen over in the mornings for last few days. going around and breaking the ice so the animals can drink is just another job to add to an already long list!

Here is a view of Lee's brand new(!) digger.

We are currently digging trenches to border our fields. this is part of our long term plan to improve the quality of our heavy clay soil. The trenches should help drainage and make the soil lighter. We will eventually dig a grid of channels accross the fields, to improve water and air circulation. these will drain into our stream, which in turn feeds our pond.

At this time of year, much of our time on the farm is spent preparing for next year. Anything that doesn’t move needs to be painted, and anything that does needs to be greased.
We have been putting beds into the walled garden, mixing in compost to improve the soil, and mulching to suppress weeds, ready for planting in the spring.

I’m sure you’ll all be pleased to know that Rufus, the Labrador who injured himself on the new fences, has now made a full recovery, and is ready to injure himself again as soon as he gets the chance! Hopefully he will resist the temptation, even though we know he loved all the attention it got him, as the vet’s costs are astronomical!

We are looking to put the Tup in with our ewes next week. This should give us lambs in April of next year. We will keep you up to date on their progress each week in the newsletter.

Oh, and don’t forget to get your Christmas order in on the website, as the deadline is December 1st. It may seem a long way off, but it will be upon you before you know it!

Latest News from the G and S farm:

Nothing ever runs smoothly, it seems this week. On the positive side, the fencing is finally finished, with the exception of a couple of gates still to hang. It looks fantastic. Unfortunately the dogs took a little while to realise that the fences are now secure, sturdy structures. Rufus, one of our Labradors, tried to jump the fence expecting it to still be slack, and ripped his leg. He has had to go to the vet 3 times so far, but seems to be loving the extra attention, and can't wait to get in the car to go for another trip! (Which is OK for him, but very expensive for us!)

Lee has a new toy, a digger, although new is probably the wrong word for describing it:

It has been working virtually non stop since it arrived, with the exception of the times it gets stuck in the mud! Mainly digging ditches and general drainage work.

Our turkeys have arrived and are settled in, happily pecking about in their new home. Their arrival has really made us aware that christmas is fast approaching. They are selling out fast, so if you want a G and S farm turkey at the best price, delivered to your door for christmas, head over to the website now and get your order in.

There is still plenty to do on the farm, still some vegetables left to pull up and store, as well as making seed lists for next year, and composting and general tidying up and maintanance.

We've certainly had more than enough rain recently, but at least we can enjoy the beautiful sight of a rainbow when it rains, even if its to wet to do anything...

see you all next week.

Latest From the G and S Farm:

The Weather is really starting to change now, it's noticeably colder this week. Autumn is definitely in full swing, and the animals are starting to feel it as much as we are.

We spent some time last week putting in extra bedding for the pigs, although they seemed more interested in watching us work than snuggling down in all that warm, cozy straw.

Even Fearnley the cat came along to help:

The Pigs have also been pigging out(!) on the remains of our courgette harvest. They are not as fussy as us, and have happily eaten the whole plants:



Whinnie the mare is eating us out of house and home, but doesn't seem to putting on any weight at all, which is more than can be said for her foal, who is looking fat and extremely hairy! some pictures will follow in the coming posts.

This week we have finally managed to source some turkeys. We will rear them at home on the farm, however, we will not be able to call them organic because their lives will not have started organically. We will rear them to organic standards from now on, but will be selling them as free range. They will be reared to our usual high standards. No GM or nasty chemicals.
On that note, Christmas is fast approaching, and the time has come to get your Christmas food order in with G and S organics. You can order your turkey, veg, Christmas pudding, and any dairy and meat products you need from the website, http://www.gandsorganics.com/. get your Christmas orders in by December 1st, and it will all be delivered to your door between December 21st and 23rd. Happy shopping!

Shopping for Sheep...

This week we have been checking out a group of mature ewes with the aim to adding them to our flock. We went to Overgrass Organics, just up the road from our own farm, where we met six ewes and gave them a quick once over. We are hoping to get them purchased and onto the farm next month, after they have been visited by the tup. They will lamb in April.

When they get here they will join our flock of a dozen young ewes. Our ewes will be lambing in April too, their first, and they will be able to learn from the new, older ewes how to look after and feed their lambs.

The older ewes are also used to human contact, and will help to keep their younger companions calm at feeding time, sheering, and when the vet comes to check on them.

Here are some photos from our visit to Overgrass Organics:

the new sheep