Good afternoon,
We hope you're all holding up okay this week.
To put the health emergency to one side for a moment, let's be British and talk about the weather. The soggy autumn proved a real challenge for farmers in Sussex. We just about managed to muddle in 40 acres of arable by working long hours in a short dry spell, and thankfully our crop seems to have taken relatively reasonably. Other local farmers with bigger patches to drill weren't so lucky and will see a shortfall in harvests. This has meant we will have a shortage of straw. We've already used up our homegrown buffer of 200 bales during the long wet winter and will now have to bring in straw from other farms, which is becoming more expensive as the demand increases.
The weather took a pleasant turn at the end of March and the ground dried up quickly. The decent spell of rain in April and this current sunshine has provided the perfect conditions for healthy grass growth. The cattle are all outdoors and look glorious basking in the rays after shedding their winter coats.
We're making silage this week. We've mowed and need the heat to dry out the grass before rolling and baling. Forecasts are predicting thunderstorms on Thursday which means we need to act quickly in order to get it all baled before the rain hits. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
The weather has been extraordinarily kind to those of us allowed to work outdoors and as far as farming is concerned, this has been a good spring. In terms of running a small business it has been very challenging.
We're learning quickly what we're capable of and realise we may have wanted to run before we learned how to walk in terms of our online orders. We apologise for the delays. We pushed our butchers too hard to keep up with orders and have stretched ourselves too thin by offering deliveries across London, Surrey, Kent and Sussex.
Moo-ving forward, in order to fulfil your orders in a more timely manner I'm afraid we are only able to deliver within Sussex. All existing orders will be delivered as promised. You are all invited to collect from the farm when you feel able to do so. We can also deliver to local clusters outside of Sussex up to 70 miles from the farm who spend £500 so please get your friends and neighbours involved.
We will restock our online shop each week for the following week.
Alternatively, Direct Meats are able to deliver our beef nationwide and Eebria Trade are happy to fulfil your cider needs.
Other small businesses we'd like to moo about this week include:
Pale Green Dot who are delivering their weekly veg boxes from Sussex farms across London, Sussex & Surrey.
High Weald Dairy & Sussex Charmer who are dropping award-winning local cheeses to your door.
South Down Cellars who offer home deliveries and support local breweries, wine makers and cider makers, like ourselves.
Whilst the lockdown in the UK is being very gently loosened, we are feeling more certain that things are not going to return to how they used to be. We have all changed and although it has been painful, we are hoping in some ways it might be for the better.
Thinking harder about how and where we spend our money is having more impact than ever. The way you are shopping will decide who survives and will dictate the types of businesses that will come out of this alive. Ethical food production isn't easy to run and your support this week can and will make all the difference.
On that note, the website is stocked and we look forward to filling your fridges with the good stuff soon.
Moo love,
Rachel and Andrew
P.S. We have jarred our Wagyu Dripping and it is now available to add to your order.
