mag 1210.pdf - Holybourne

Mill Cottage News - November 2010
It seems incredible when we look back over our last
article, not only how much has happened in between,
but also the regularity of the seasonal changes. Another
few months and some more lambs have been born and
are growing fast. The Ram has been put back with the
ewes that lamb in the spring. The Boar has visited again
for a few weeks and has now gone home. The goats
have visited the Billy so hopefully there will be more
goat kids in the spring.
All these things need planning and calculating to ensure
we have new arrivals when we need them and that we can
jump through Animal Movement regulation hoops at the
same time. My brother always amuses me when he
refuses to think about Christmas before November – I
have to gently remind him that it’s a good job his Christmas
Dinner was thought about in April, hatched in May and is
growing well!
wish to grow food and also those who are happy to give
advice. Although ours is not part of this scheme, the
concept is great – maybe there are others in the village
that have a potential vegetable patch that needs some
work, or those who are looking for a patch in order to grow
their own veg.
Although we have fewer visits this time of year, we have
enjoyed doing a Food & Farming Workshop recently.
Amongst other things, we had out a coffee grinder and
some genuine Holybourne wheat. The surprise on the
children’s faces when they discovered that inside each
wheat grain there is flour! They then cooked apple crumble
with us – Mill Cottage Apples, but I am afraid they hadn’t
ground enough flour for the topping so we had to go to the
supermarket for that!
This month we have had a serious review of the way we
manage the land and have had a big tidy up. The poultry
is now housed in a much more organised fashion, allowing
us to pure-breed some chickens if we wish. We have also
separated the ducks and the cockerels as it seemed the
ducks were not enjoying the experience. We are thankful
that grazing is still being offered locally, so we try to get
our sheep around to tidy up various paddocks, fields and
gardens. Hopefully it will last long enough so we can avoid
buying too much hay.
We have felt for several months that we have not used our
vegetable patch to its full potential as the animals take
priority. When a couple, who sometimes ‘pet-sit’ for us,
asked to use it as their own garden wasn’t big enough and
the allotment waiting list was too long, we jumped at the
chance! Between us, the vegetable patch has been
enlarged, rabbit proofed, and had a thorough digging in of
manure – even the greenhouse had a bath! We look
forward to helping with planting, with no pressure to keep
everything under control when our busy season hits, and
then sharing the harvest in due course.
We have been aware of a national scheme
www.landshare.net which links landowners to those who
Finally, planning is now under way for Open Day 2011. It
will be held at Andrews Endowed again, with kind
permission, and we will be fundraising for a national
charity which is based locally – the British Kidney Patient
Association. More details, including confirmed stallholders
and attractions, will appear on our website.
Sarah & Tom Main
Mill Cottage Farm Experience
www.mcfe.org.uk – 01420 86206
Previous Issues of the Holybourne Magazine
Thanks to the hard work of the Web Master,
Dave Budd, you can see all the previous
issues of the Holybourne Magazine by visiting
www.holybourne.com and selecting ‘Village
Magazine & e-mail news’. The volume number
refers to the editor of the series. (Vol 1 Editor
Chris Everett; Vol 2 Editor Dave Budd; Vol 3
Editor Barrie Lawrence)
The Holybourne Village Magazine - Winter Issue 2010
Page 11