Fresherbymiles all Smiles

Today saw the second delivery to Overbury from Fresherbymiles! http://www.fresherbymiles.com/ Several customers had ordered over the Internet by Monday midday and were able to collect their locally grown/ produced goods straight from the delivery van! I was one of the lucky ones buying ham, steak, tomatoes, onions, Stilton bread and an array of other exciting nibbles. You know the best bit? I didn't have to travel to Morrison's, Tesco's or Sainsbury's, stand in a queue and be bombarded with offers all trying to extract the last penny from my moth ridden wallet!



I did buy some succulent strawberries from the van. I know the farmer who grew them so all the boxes are ticked; local, fresh, good value and grown on a LEAF farm using the LEAF Marque! http://www.leafuk.org Brilliant! Oh and they tasted terrific as well. Find out more about the tasty strawberries and single varity apple juices at http://www.hayles-fruit-farm.co.uk/

Absent Blogger

Apologies for the month long absence from the blogging Farmer Jake. I have spent most of the first half of May completing the dreaded SP5 form required by DEFRA. Single Payment 5 forms are required by DEFRA in order for us to receive our European compensation. These have a very strict deadline of the 15th May, ingrained into arable farmers minds since 1991 when the first schemes were created. We have to inform DEFRA what crops we are growing, where they are, (each field has a national grid reference) and what the total areas claimed are likely to be. In addition to this where we are growing crops with protein supliment (beans and peas) or where we are growing crops under energy rules all have to be divided up separately. It is a little confusing but worth filling them in! Since then May has turned wet which helped out our droughty crops and held off us irrigating the potatoes. The new irrigation system worked well for a day then, the only part of the old system we didn't change failed, causing a few headaches for a couple of days. All sorted now! (Henry's sigh of relief could be heard from Ross!)

Farm Sunday is rapidly approaching, we're booking up fast but there are places of the 9.00 trip, worth getting up for and seeing the countryside waking up! Fresher By Miles will be launching in Overbury and the surrounding villages on the day some come along and see what local goodies are available for sale, freshly grown within 30miles from Badsey. Some prices are cheaper than Tesco's at the moment! Check out http://www.fresherbymiles.com

Sunnier Times

Looking out of the window seeing sleet coming down, machinery being put away for the winter always makes me think back to the summer and what we were upto! This picture was taken on Bredon Hill, where the farm is, and is of me. Just about the time the Oilseed rape was being planted. Shorts only then, today leggings, wellies, hat and thick coat. It seems as if the seasons blur into one another as we hurtle past in our busy lives. It's just nice to take a moment and reflect on what has been achieved since the summer.

Crops planted, hedges cut, ditches maintained and cleaned out to allow road water to escape. Shooting season underway, small songbirds migrating into and out of the wild bird covers we plant. Its not a real winter yet, will we see a real winter again? Who knows but we hope to be there to rise to the challege as every season is so different to us.

We are embarking on a new project http://www.fresherbymiles.com It is a web site that is effectivley a farmers market, providing local fresh food, grown by known farmers and delivered to places of work to collect on your way home. We'will see how that goes, co-operation has never been a farmers forte' times are a changing!