Wealden Times | WT178 | December 2016 | Interiors supplement inside

Jane Howard’s
Fables from the Farm
Christmas at Coopers Farm means fat pigs and porkers (we don’t mean the humans)
Iso love Christmas or more correctly
the run-up to Christmas. By the time
we get back from Midnight Mass
I’ve more often than not peaked and
would happily skip the next few days.
But the build-up is an altogether different
prospect and one I embrace with huge
enthusiasm, much to the amusement of
the rest of my family.
In the world of livestock farming,
early December is traditionally the time
for Fatstock Shows. While the Summer
Agricultural Shows are an opportunity to
showcase breeding animals, the Fatstock
Shows are where farmers
take their fattened beasts to
sell to butchers who used
to come from far and wide.
Buying the prize winners –
and especially the champion
– was a big deal as the
butcher could then display
the rosette during the allimportant
Christmas period.
While there are of course far fewer
independent butchers and even less
Livestock Markets it is wonderful that
those that remain still hold these seasonal
celebrations and this year it is the 175th
Hailsham Fatstock Show.
Despite many attempts to pull down
the market and turn it into another
supermarket (just what Hailsham needs)
thanks to a band of very committed
people the Livestock Market remains; it is
the only one in Sussex, and the Fatstock
Show is the highlight of the year.
“An abundance
of vegetation is
a great way of
hiding cobwebs
and dust”
With classes for steers and heifers, old
cows, pairs of cows, lambs in groups of
three, four and five, fat pigs and porkers
(not sure of the difference between the
two) there is plenty to see and buy. It
promises to be a great way to spend a
crisp and frosty morning helped along by
a bacon butty and a glass of sherry!
By the middle of the month I’ll get
going with the decorations and the halls
at Coopers will be decked out big time.
It was the pagans who started the idea of
bringing greenery into the home and I
think they would approve of my efforts.
In comes the ivy, in comes
the holly (hot tip No 1:
for perfect berry laden
branches pick your holly
in November before the
blackbirds strip them and
store in a bucket of water
in an outdoor shed) and
perhaps, surprisingly, in
comes the oak.
You can usually find some oak
branches that still hold a few leaves and
so keep up another ancient tradition –
the seasonal battle between the oak and
the holly kings. For the pagans these two
trees represent the height of summer and
the height of winter and were always
brought together in the middle of winter
to slug it out.
With the house overtaken by
greenery (hot tip No 2: an abundance
of vegetation is a great way of hiding
cobwebs and dust) thoughts turn to the
Christmas table where we make a point
of serving as much home-grown produce
as possible. We usually have pork, not
the traditional boar’s head with an apple
stuffed in its mouth, but a slow roast
shoulder put into the Aga on return from
Midnight Mass the night before.
We can’t manage a home produced
pudding (which no one really likes)
so opt instead for cheese (which no
one really wants) but it provides the
opportunity for husband Adrian to bring
to the table his home-grown walnuts.
For years the walnut tree we planted
when we first came here didn’t deliver the
goods but having read that you should
beat your walnut tree if you want it to
bear fruit, every spring he gives it a good
thrashing and every Christmas we get
about 12 nuts! A result.
Follow Jane Howard – and the farm
– on Instagram @coopersfarm
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