Writing to your MP about the upcoming debate on small abattoirs

MPs are due to debate the merits of small abattoirs on 8th May at 3pm. Please contact your MP and tell them why small abattoirs matter to you.

There is more information to be found here, and some key points to include:

• Small-scale abattoirs support local food systems which often include animals better suited to our landscape (smaller, native breeds), but which do not meet the requirements of a standardised wholesale market

• Native breed animals often make excellent conservation graziers. The UK has lost 97% of its grasslands since the Second World War, and 80% of its chalk grasslands. Grasslands are a carbon sink and haven for biodiversity which are best maintained and restored by grazing

• Without small abattoirs, farmers can struggle to sell their meat directly to the public as most large abattoirs do not offer a kill and return service. This removes a key way in which they can build relationships with their local community and diversify their offering in the form of farm shops etc

• Many farmers would have to reduce their herd size or perhaps even stop farming entirely if they were unable to access a local abattoir. This leads to the death of family farming as land is brought up by “super farms” who often don’t have the same sense of guardianship over the land

• The loss of small abattoirs also affects associated professions such as butchers, delivery drivers, and vets

• Restaurants who value quality, sustainable meat with a story will find it harder to source it, impacting their sales and local food tourism

• Opportunities for local level public procurement of meat are also removed if there is no readily available supply

• As fewer abattoirs are available, animals have to undergo ever increasing journeys to slaughter – causing unnecessary suffering and upping the carbon costs of British meat

• National and local food security is also impacted by the loss of local food infrastructure, leading to offshoring of food production and a more vulnerable food system

• Within Sussex, there is support for a new or improved local abattoir from Local Authorities and nature organisations as it meets or supports several biodiversity and local economy aims

Newsletter 8th April

Good afternoon,

We enjoyed a very special supper at the farm on Friday. We had Michael Notman-Watt (of Masterchef fame) and Ben Prok (of Spiced Sussex fame) joining forces to bring big flavours over 5 dishes, with our Sussex Wagyu fore rib as the star of the show.

Thanks to a balmy April evening, we spent the first hour with drinks and nibbles in the yard watching Michael tend to the barbecue. In terms of vibes & flavours, it was definitely one of my favourites so far. If you’d like to join us for the next one, chef Kanthi (who has just won a Brighton’s Best award) is cooking a Sri Lankan & Indian inspired menu on 2nd May. You can book a seat and check out the menu here.

If supper clubs aren’t your bag, we have three other events coming up that might whet your appetite. First off is our Spring Market on 26th April. Tynefield Farm is serving a hog roast, 3Bros are cooking burgers & the Little Vintage Tin are bringing their ice cream van for you to tuck into - plus we have a delicious array of Sussex food & drink producers to try, talk to and take something tasty home from. Live music, DJ & a farm walk are on the menu as well, of course.

Next is our Taste & Trail charity walk from Trenchmore to the Spirit of the Downs Distillery, or vice versa. It’s a £10 donation per adult (kids go free), which is raising funds for our local primary school & the Bolney Bell Ringers. For your donation, you can enjoy a brandy tasting at SOTD and a Silly Moo Cider tasting at Trenchmore. The walk is 4 miles through woodland, along lanes & across our fields and should take an hour or so each way. More info is here.

And lastly, our fun run is just 10 weeks away on 14th June. Tickets for runners are £35 which includes the 7km run, lunch, a pint & Silly Moo Cider glass to take home. There will be live music and a DJ to enjoy in the yard after sweating it out in the fields. Booking and more info is here. Non-runners are welcome and don’t need to book, but might want to pre-order a burger the week before. 

More cows have gone outside this week, and are enjoying the dry ground and lush herbal lays that this sublime spring has bestowed. Here’s to plenty more sunshine, with a little rain at some point to jolly along the grass growth and keep things in check.

Newsletter 19th March

Good morning,

Things are feeling good on the farm at the moment. The daffodils are looking decisively jubilant, there is early blossom on some of the trees and wild garlic is carpeting patches of ground leading up to the yard.

The soil is dry enough to drive on so we’ve been rolling the ground ahead of mowing this week, and we’ve been spreading farmyard muck on some of the fields. There is even talk of getting the first of the cows out in a few days, which is well ahead of last year. Farmers can be a grumbly bunch, but, other than the dispiriting news about the SFI scheme, there is much to be cheerful about at the moment. Early morning frosts are giving way to warm, blue skied days, the grass is growing and there is an enthusiasm in the air that tends to be saved especially for this time of year - when things waking up, calves are being born and spring has well and truly sprung.

In keeping with this theme, we have 3 Sussex Morris groups - Mythago Mythago, Box Hill Bedlam & Black Swan - joining us in the yard on Saturday to celebrate tomorrow’s equinox and encourage a good apple harvest this autumn with a jolly good apple howling. You can expect vibrant garms and bell-ringing - as well as the usual burgers, cider & wholesome merriment aplenty. It’s free to join and you can pre-order a burger here.

We hope to see you in the sunshine soon,

Rachel

Newsletter 28th February

Good afternoon,

I hope the sun is shining where you are. We’ve had a good full week, with new calves landing in the yard every day. We’re a third of the way through them now and look forward to greeting the rest over the next few weeks, and turning them all out as soon as it is dry enough.

We pregnancy tested the cows due to calve in the autumn on Tuesday, and 90% are in calf. You’d hope it to be higher but the wet weather last summer meant the grass wasn’t calorie & nutrient rich enough to keep the girls in tip top conceiving condition. We’ve also noticed our beef cattle are taking longer to fatten and finish than usual, and put this largely down to last year’s grass quality. We’ve upped their finishing ration but excellent beef can’t be rushed, which means our supply has been struggling to keep up with demand since the start of the year. We’re starting to catch up now, and the shop fridge has plenty of tomahawks, fillets, flat irons and mince for tomorrow.

Our water harvesting kicked into action this week, with a slightly superfluous filtration and UV sterilising system. It collects all the rainwater that lands on the barns, and feeds into the water troughs and our pressure washer, which we use to clean the trailers and yard. There is an issue with water shortage with all of the building developments in the area, so it’s good to get our cattle off grid and reduce water run-off from the yard.

It’s also time to start pruning the orchard, now that the ground is drying up. If anyone fancies some time with the secateurs in the sunshine, let me know. We sent 6,000L of 2023 cider base to Somerset to be blended with Ringden Farm apple juice and packed into kegs & bottles on Wednesday - so we’re looking forward to pouring, delivering and drinking the fresh batch soon.

That’s pretty much all from me today - Rosie is running the yard shop & pouring the pints tomorrow, whilst Patrick fires up the grill & serves burgers from 11am to 4pm. Rosie’s sheep have been looking lush and she has plenty of lamb joints, cutlets & chops to sell alongside our beef. Make space in your fridge and come fill your boots with something delicious for the weekend.

Hope to see you in the sunshine soon,

Rachel

Spring Morris Dance - 22nd March, 11am-4pm, more info here

The Trenchmore Table ft. Spiced Sussex & Michael Notman-Watt - 4th April, 6pm-10pm, menu & booking here

Spring Market - 26th April, 11am-4pm, more info here

Silly Moo 7 fun run - 14th June, 12pm start, booking & info here

Newsletter 7th Feb

Good afternoon,

We’ve had our first four calves of the season born this week, which means they’re likely about to start dropping thick & fast and Nev, Gareth & Andrew will be busy keeping an eye on everyone. Whilst that’s going on, I’ve been organising our 2025 event line up, which is starting to look rather fine and full - there are plenty of things to look forward to, and the dates for your diaries are below.

We are open tomorrow serving 3Bros burgers & pouring Silly Moo from 11-4pm. I hope to see you there.

Rachel

Valentine’s steak supper - 14th Feb

beetroot carpaccio, whipped feta, candied walnuts, focaccia

wagyu steak, hand cut chips, winter leaves, red wine sauce

dark chocolate pavê, shortbread, raspberries

Cooked by farm favourite chefs Sam Lambert & Kat Kocsis. We have a couple of spots left - book here.

Spring Morris Dance - 22nd March

Join us for a day of celebrating the arrival of spring and waking up the orchard with music, dancing & delicious food.

Mythago Mythago, Boxhill Bedlam & Black Swan will be back in the yard, performing stories about the changing season.

No need to book, but you can pre-order a burger here the week before.

The Trenchmore Table - 4th April

We’re launching our spring supper clubs with a very special one as we’re collaborating with Spiced Sussex, who you may know from our markets, and 2024 Masterchef semi-finalist Michael Notman-Watt.

Michael will be cooking 4 courses over flames to showcase Trenchmore Beef & Ben’s Spiced Sussex sauces & salts.

Book here.

Spring Market - 26th April

The first of 5 Trenchmore markets this year, which will have some of our favourite Sussex food & drink producers, live music & the magnificent DJ Dan keeping things vibeful.

There will be a farm walk and plenty of grub & tipples to tuck into.

Newsletter 13th January

Good morning,

Just before January draws to an end and our regular yard shop & event activities resume tomorrow, we have our 2024 notes from the field by Andrew.

———

All's well that ends well. 2024 started pretty much as '23 finished - wet, wet, wet. The jet stream sat overhead and we received twice our normal ration. The cows were happily bedded up with dry straw every day and we successfully calved them all by late April, but it was a testing time for Nev, keeping them hale and hearty.

Winter wheat direct-drilled in October '23 emerged well, but by February it had drowned. We cut our losses by grazing the remnants and planned to sow spring barley as soon as the conditions permitted. The weather gods were against us so we held the herd there waiting for it to dry up, taking bales of hay out every day in the back of our little Kubota. We were battling nature, and losing.

Thankfully, things finally righted. With long days and high intensity sunlight we moved the cows onto the pastures and sowed a recovery mix of barley and peas into the morass in late May. That's a month later than I have ever planted a successful crop, but due to the ongoing rain into summer we actually made some very useful whole-crop silage in August.

Barley and peas are a superb combination - the peas help feed the crop by fixing nitrogen and then contribute protein to balance the carbs in the barley grain. The young cattle love eating it. We cut it green, bale and wrap it with a natural fermentation aid and store it under a heavy cover to protect it from crows and pigeons. Sadly, squirrels and other rodents are not so easily put off. They've eaten holes right through the cover and clearly enjoy our whole crop even more than the calves. Note to self, buy night sights this year.

Meanwhile the grass was racing ahead, it was over knee high and we were mowing again. The ground was still soft and we left the odd rut, but we couldn't hold off as the digestibility and energy levels drop like a stone once grass is in ear.

Soon as we cleared the bales we started to spread muck from the store and all was looking brighter, until we learned we would be losing the barns we rented near Warninglid. That meant we would need to provide winter housing for another 200 head. This is quite a challenge and occupied a lot of my time this year.

To cut a long story short, we pursued a lot of blind alleys while putting up an infill roof between two of our existing barns, just in case. In the nick of time we gratefully took a tenancy on a neighbour's farm, upon their retirement. We absorbed their Angus cows at Trenchmore and housed all our youngsters on their farm, just as the October rains broke. New team member Gareth and his family moved in to look after them and I must say being back in control has given us all a new lease of life.

 Away from the cattle, this apple harvest was a wash out. Apples are naturally biennial and 2023 was a bumper crop, so we expected a drop, but the cloudy and wet weather resulted in very little fruit set, poor fruit fill and low sugars in what we did harvest. Suffice to say it was not a year to remember. Fortunately we have good stock of 2023 base in our stainless steel tanks and being a fruit wine, cider actually mellows for several years - as long as you keep the air out.

Despite the miserable summer, 2024 saw our best ever sales of Silly Moo with especially good growth on tap in a variety of Sussex independent free houses. Thank you publicans for keeping it honest and local.

On another positive note we made great progress with the yard events with superb music, delicious independent produce and a packed cyder shack. What a success that has been - we've enjoyed some memorable meals in there from visiting chefs and the reputation of our resident burger-meisters Patrick and George is justifiably growing. They've spread their wings recently and are busy breaking big in Chichester, with an upcoming slot at Brighton’s Shelter Hall.

They will still be at the farm every Saturday, starting tomorrow. There'll be wagyu burgers on the grill and Clare will be pouring pints and selling our beef. We look forward to welcoming you back and catching up on your news.

You can pre-order beef, cider & burgers here, and book onto our Valentine’s evening steak night with Sam Lambert here.

Newsletter 14th December

Good afternoon,

Or is it evening already? It has been a dark, damp few weeks and hunkering down with a lit fire, full glass and something delicious in the oven continues to be an appealing prospect. Whilst there’s usually few things more lovely and ritualistic than spending December evenings in the pub with old pals, if you are planning to host at home or simply stay in - and in this weather, who could blame you - we’ve got fridges full of slow grown grass-fed Sussex Wagyu steaks, roasting joints and braising cuts.

We’re selling Trenchmore Farm gift vouchers, which can be spent online or at the yard shop and a physical voucher can be posted to you or your recipient, and Garlic Wood are offering butchery course vouchers for the new year, which will be held at Trenchmore.

And if you’re already over the Christmas hype and are looking towards the new year with impatience, we have insisted on Sam Lambert coming back to host a second valentine’s steak night in 2025, which you can book here.

We’re open for the next three Saturdays with burgers, drinks and farm produce, and then we will be closing the farm gates for January.

Hope to see you in the yard in the meantime,

Rachel

Newsletter 6th December

Good afternoon,

A quick update on all things festive from me. We’ve sold out of our Christmas beef boxes for this week and the 21st December, but have a few left to collect on 14th December. We will be closing orders on Sunday 8th December so please get them in by then. If you’re after a joint without the box, please send an email and we will see what we can do.

We won’t be joined by other traders tomorrow as per our original plan for this year’s Winter Market due to some operational issues, but it shall be a deliciously merry afternoon nonetheless. The roaming brass band will be sprinkling festive tunes through their jazzy bluesy set, whilst Rosie & Clare pour your favourite local tipples and serve up some toasty mulled cider - and the 3Bros keep everyone supremely well fed. If you’d like to secure a burger, please order it here. There will be burgers for walk-ins on a first come first serve basis.

Jolly tidings,

Rachel

Newsletter 22nd November

Good afternoon,

Things have calmed down a little this week, which has given us a chance to work through our Christmas pre-orders. We still have some beef boxes available next month, which will be filled to the brim with slow-grown goodness. If you’ve not yet got your festive meals organised, you could have a look at our offering here.

We’re looking forward to a couple of cosy events over the coming weeks, starting with My Posy Neighbour’s wreath workshop on 30th November. The week after brings the flavours of Indian & Sri Lankan cuisine to the farm with chef Kanthi Thamma’s supper on 6th December, which is swiftly followed by live music, mulled cider & burgers on 7th December. You can book the wreath workshop and supper club online, and just turn up to join in the merriment on the 7th.

Yesterday took me a stone’s throw from the farm to visit the Leonardslee Gardens ahead of their festive light show to chat to their bar staff. They’ve put our Cyder Cider & Firebird’s beers on their taps, and will be serving warm cups of mulled Silly Moo, too. They’re expecting some 100K visitors over the next few weeks and I’m chuffed they’ve chosen us as part of their drinks offering. If you’re looking for something jolly to do, it is quite a spectacle that we’re lucky to have so nearby.

I think that’s all from me today, folks. The Cyder Tap is open and serving burgers tomorrow from 11am - 4pm, and whilst the forecast isn’t looking as glorious as it is today, the fire will be roaring and the smells of mulled cider will be wafting so I do hope to see you.

Wishing you some time in the sunshine this afternoon,

Rachel

Newsletter 8th November

Good afternoon,

Whilst reeling at the choices made across the pond this week, the farm has provided unabated distraction and our days have been filled with worming the young cattle, taking soil & silage samples, doing pre-movement testing on animals due to local TB restrictions, repairing the gutters, cutting the hedges and re-organising our cider house & storage containers to fit in all of the kegs & bottles we have just packaged.

Amongst this, we’ve been trying to get our heads around the budget review and the implications for farms, with the announcement of a 20% tax on inherited farms after £1m. I agree with universal inheritance tax, and farms have been uniquely exempt for 40 years - so at first glance it seems reasonable. The tax certainly makes sense in the case of wealthy landowners, who have bought up farmland as a means of passing down tax-free wealth. However, the implications of last week’s announcement are going to be felt throughout the food system.

We want our farms in this country to produce affordable food, have high standards of welfare, repair damage to the environment and consider long-term implications to wildlife and the climate crisis. Small to medium farms are often actually pretty good as doing this, if we’re able to buy their produce with a short supply chain.

These farms tend to be asset rich but cash poor businesses. This means family-run farms, like Trenchmore, will have to sell off assets and land if the children wish to continue farming and food production. The implications of selling off assets and land is that scale is essential in order for most farms to be viable.

A lot of farms are hanging on by their fingernails and even when a farm, like Trenchmore, has had a significant amount of investment and 12 years of graft drilled into it, our profits would be healthier if we had let the money accumulate interest in the bank. For us, growing food is a lot more gratifying than having a happy bank manager, and thankfully our farm’s turnover is high enough to employ 4 full-timers and work with a range of other contractors and local businesses.

What we’re likely to see as a result of this tax is that farms of our size will either stop investing in new facilities and infrastructure or possibly even sell up. And those with the capacity to, will have to scale up or diversify in order to bear the brunt of this tax with their profits.

There is an argument that farming needs to become more cost-effective and efficient, and if that means we end up with fewer but larger farms, then so be it. But that would be a shame for local food systems, rural communities and the environment. Small to medium sized farms are the ones you can visit, buy from directly, build relationships with and hold to account how the land is looked after and how your food is produced.

If you wanted to come and see us, we’re serving burgers & cider and selling produce grown on our farm, in the yard on Saturdays from 11am to 4pm.

Moo love,

Rachel

Newsletter 11th October

Good afternoon,

It’s our Autumn market tomorrow and the 9th event we have done of this kind. The first was in the spring of 2022 with portaloos, not enough parking spaces or pint glasses. It’s grown a bit since then, with each one being a little bigger and running a little smoother. Whilst we are still learning, I think we have figured out the important bits that make it such a fun day - good music, excellent producers, a walk with Nev to see what’s happening in the fields, and if we’re lucky, a bit of sunshine.

Tomorrow is set to have all of the above so we’re hopeful it might be our best yet.

We have brilliant food stalls selling fish, pork, bread, charcuterie, hot sauces, sausage rolls, chocolate, kefir, lamb, sourdough pizza and wagyu burgers. And we’re well covered on the drinks front with wine, mead, beer, brandy, rum, kombucha, coffee & cider - all brewed or distilled in Sussex. Plus we have chilli plants grown on the lane, bone broth made from Trenchmore beef bones and candles from our county.

We’re open from 11am until 4pm and we hope to see lots of you enjoying yourselves in the farmyard. If you want to reserve some Sussex Wagyu beef or Silly Moo Cider to pick up, you can do that here. Dogs on leads are welcome, the walk with Nev will set off from the yard at 2pm, and we’re swapping apples for cider throughout.

Moo love,

Rachel

Newsletter 4th October

Good afternoon,

We have taken 6 tonnes of fruit from 2 Saturdays of apple swapping, and picked about 4 tonnes from our own orchard. We’ve dusted off the washer & scratter and persuaded our trusty old press back out of retirement this week, and squeezed just about 3,000L of golden juice. The wasps are noticeably fewer this year thanks to the late wet spring, which isn’t good for the existential threat of insect decline - but definitely makes apple pressing more fun.

Most of our orchard isn’t quite ripe so we aren’t in the full swing of picking. We purposefully planted our 19 varieties in the order of when they’d ripen, so we’re a couple of rows in and will hold off a little longer before starting on the rest.

We’re open for apple swapping tomorrow and the following two Saturdays, including next Saturday which is also our Autumn Market.

There are burgers on the menu tomorrow and tomahawks in the fridge, so pop in - with or without apples - and join us for somethin’ juicy.

The Autumn Market is a week tomorrow.

We’ve got 16 different food & drink stalls selling beer, hot sauce, Scandi bread, pork, wine, chocolate, sausage rolls, charcuterie, kefir, spirits & chilli plants.

Plus, Trenchmore Beef, Nuthurst Lamb & Silly Moo Cider from the yard shop, local drinks from the Moo Tap, AND the best purveyors of coffee, burgers & sourdough pizza we could find.

There will be a live band & DJ, and a farm walk at 2pm for those who fancy it.

We’d love to see you all there.

Newsletter 26th September

Good afternoon,

I know we’re still a few months out, but some of you are much more organised than me and have had your Christmas menu sorted since August. If you are considering beef, you’ll be pleased to know our Christmas offering is now ready to pre-order online.

This year you will get a beef box with a centre-piece joint and plenty of other bits to keep you well-fed into the new year. You can collect from us on 7th, 14th or 21st December - see what’s in the box here.

Wreath workshop

And whilst we’re planning festive things, our favourite florist Charlotte will be back to run her wreath workshop at the farm on Saturday 30th November.

She will show you how to make your own wreath from eco-friendly materials sourced from the UK, which you will get to take home with you.

book

Steak spotlight: chuck rib eye

This is a brilliant alternative to rib eye as it’s a continuation of the same muscle. It is situated just above the denver and, because of some bad branding, is often mistaken for a braising cut. It actually does perfectly well with a flash fry - the muscle is harder working than the rib, but also tends to have more marbling as the marbling is a result of micro tears in the muscle that are filled with fat for protection.

The meat is really flavourful and we have plenty in stock in the fridges this week. Order here.

Supper in Saltdean

We’re hosting a supper at the Saltdean Lido this evening, with a 5 course menu celebrating Trenchmore.

I’ll be imposing on your meal to talk about the farm, so if you can stomach that then you should join us from 7pm.

They have a few last minute spots available.

menu & booking

Foraging supper

Greening Cowfold are hosting a foraging walk and supper at Trenchmore on Saturday 19th October.

It’s an absolute bargain at £10 pp for the walk and food, and is a great way to raise some money for Greening Cowfold and learn from Matt, who will be guiding the walk.

For more info & to book, please email Jerry at greeningcowfold@gmail.com

A new farmer’s market on Saturday

Find us selling beef & cider from just outside Hove Town Hall on the last Saturday of each month, 10am - 2pm, starting this weekend. More details here.

Other stalls will be selling veg, olive oil, honey, coffee & hot sauce so come and grab something delicious for the weekend.

Newsletter 20th September

Good afternoon,

One of the things we enjoy most about our yard shop is introducing customers to cuts of beef that they might not have tried before. The tricky thing is that as soon as you get passed sirloin, rib & fillet, butchers have different names and different ways of cutting the same joint, which can make buying and cooking a little daunting.

The butchers we work with are crafty at finding the steak wherever possible, from smaller and lesser used muscles. A few of these cuts were only discovered fairly recently and so aren’t as popular or expensive - but are no less delicious and often kept back as the butcher’s treat. It takes time and skill to turn meat that might have been destined for a mincer or slow cook into something that can be flashed fried and served with chips, and we want you will try them all.

Shepherd Rosie painted this for our shop to help familiarise customers with the cow.

One of our favourites is the denver steak. The muscle comes from the chuck area and is situated just below the blade bone. The muscles on top of this bone are harder working, but the underblade and denver are mainly needed to help mobility and cushion the bone.

We get about 5kg of denver from each body and the meat is extremely flavourful and well marbled as it’s a continuation of the short rib. There’s no bone and very little connective tissue so a quick hot cook is all it needs.

Bring your steak to room temp, pat dry, and season well

Add a tsp of dripping to a searingly hot pan and once melted, place the steak in the pan

Add some rosemary and whole garlic cloves to the pan to flavour the fat

Cook for 3 minutes on the first side, and 3 minutes on the second side - or until your preferred doneness

Put on a warm plate, drizzle with the rosemary garlic fat and rest for 10 mins

So darn simple, so darn tasty.

order

Our apple swap starts tomorrow, and we’re hoping for lots of your delicious fruit between 11am and 4pm. 3Bros are serving burgers, which you can pre-order or grab when you’re here on a first come first serve basis.

The fridge is full of steaks - denvers, flat irons, chuck rib eyes & hangers. Pop in and pick up something that you might not have tried before.

Our Autumn food & drink market is now only 3 weeks away.

We have lots of lovely local food & drink producers, hot food vendors, live music & DJ, a seasonal farm walk, apple pressing & apple swapping.

There will be mulled cider & jolly vibes aplenty.

Our November farm to table supper is coming up with Caspian Armani, who was the head chef of Isaac At.

He has developed a hearty menu to compliment the start of winter using wagyu shin, High Weald Dairy’s cheese & apple juice from our orchard.

Menu & booking online.

Newsletter 13th September

Good afternoon,

We are well into calving season so I went to see who I could find to share with you this morning. The girls were glowing in the morning sun - working it for the camera with perky ears, blonde tails and wet noses. We’ve had another set of miracle twins this year, which Nev has affectionately named Topside & Silverside. Topside wasn’t getting on so well outside, so Nev brought him back to the yard for bottle feeding. He’s now on solids and doing great, and Silverside is thriving in the field with mum’s full attention.

I’m about to make this year’s blend of mulled cider, which certainly signals a change in season. The late summer sunshine is great for the orchard as the fruit need both sun and chill to finish ripening. After a slow spring, we’re expecting a late harvest and will start testing our fruit for ripeness in a week or so.

The crop looks a little better than we initially expected but not a drop on last year’s so we’re still hoping for a good turn out at the apple swap, which kicks off in a week’s time. For anyone with surplus fruit, the details are here. We are also soon to start recruiting apple pickers so please email me if you’re interested.

A few tips for making sure your own apples are ripe is to twist the fruit 90 degrees and it should come off the tree easily, without any part of the branch or leaves attached. The pips should be brown and to be extra sure, you can test the starch has turned into sugar with iodine drops, which we have at the farm and you’re welcome to use.

The boys are serving burgers tomorrow, and Clare will be looking after the cyder tap and shop - which is well stocked with fillets, sirloins, denvers, brisket, short ribs and roasting joints.

She is also selling chilli plants, sauces and jams so pop in from 11am - 4pm to see what is available.

We don’t have much of an update after last week’s email, other than the stock has all been recalled and our new batch arrived back from the bottlers today. I want this newsletter to be honest about the good times and the bad times, both of which there are plenty in farming & food production. Even still, I’m always a little apprehensive to bring everyone’s attention to things that have gone wrong, and I am very grateful for the kind messages we received in response to last week’s email. I was reminded how lucky we are to have this community, who know that sometimes shit happens and how we pick ourselves up and move forward is what counts. So, thank you.

Newsletter 23rd August

Good afternoon,

The autumn calving has begun and they are coming in thick & fast with 8 being born yesterday. We’ve almost finished carting bales back to the yard, with just another 100 to collect next week before the shed is completely full, setting us up nicely for the winter.

Andrew is mole ploughing this afternoon, which helps drain the fields of excess water by creating a channel for the heavy rains to flow through. The rainfall over the last year is an unsettling sign of things to come and we’re taking precautions when we can.

We’ve just harvested our barley & pea crop that went in this spring, and the yield was thankfully much better than expected. And, we’re repairing the the shed floors in the yard this week, to make them a happier home for hooves for when the herd come back this winter.

Farm tours & tastings

We’re about to start hosting our farm tours & cider tastings and we’d love you to join us.

Andrew will take you on a walk around the farm to learn about regenerative agriculture, and then you’ll come back to the yard for a cider tasting with me, and we will send you home with some bottles to enjoy.

You can get 10% off using the discount code POTOFFCRX when booking through the Wecandoo website.

Burgers are back

Yesterday was National Burger Day and we’re celebrating in the best way we know how - with the return of our burger boys to the yard tomorrow.

A Flour Pot brioche bun, Trenchmore wagyu beef, Weald Smokery cheese, Tynfield Farm bacon & the 3Bros famous burger sauce - it is absolute burger magic.

The forecast is wet but we have plenty of sheltered seating in the Cyder Shack & barns. You can book online or just pop along from 11am.

Apple swapping

Our own crop is looking pretty sad this year so we’d really appreciate your help spreading the word to get as many apples at our swap as possible.

11am - 4pm -

21st & 28th September

5th, 12th & 19th October

The 3Bros will be serving burgers so there really is no excuse not to pick & pilfer any apples you can, and take something delicious home with you.

Newsletter 26th July

Good morning,

This week we’re talking about P, K & Mg - phosphorus, potassium & magnesium for anyone drawing a blank on the periodic table (me, always me). More specifically, we’re interested in the target levels in our heavy clay soils and what levers we can pull to try and reach them. Spoiler: it’s mostly cows.

We send off soil samples every year so we know what’s going on 7 inches below ground in our fields and received back our latest results this week - for P, K, Mg and our overall organic matter.

Sumersby, Thorny, Willow & Cowfold are the 4 fields we took over last year, whereas we have been farming Hobbs, Hackney, Ascot & Burnt House for 12 years.

The Mg has always been sufficient thanks to the type of soil we have, and important for soil structure and essential for healthy lactating cows. P is needed for growing roots and K for shoots, and it’s important to have everything in balance.

The results from our 4 new fields is pretty representative of the state of most of the land when we took them over, and we are chuffed with how our old 4 are faring after a decade of thoughtful farming. The organic matter is now sitting very comfortably within our target range, and the phosphorus & potassium levels are improving.

We can’t take much credit as it’s mostly down to our gang of grazers. We rotationally graze our fields by putting the cattle in densely populated groups and moving them to fresh ground every 2 or 3 days. This encourages them to tread their muck and some of the plant matter into the soil. We also spread all their winter muck and bedding onto the fields, which is what Andrew has spent some of the last few weeks doing.

In addition to muck, we’re planting mixed species herbal lays and protecting our topsoil with constant crop cover, which feeds more diverse nutrients into the soil and stops harsh weather from eroding it.

Farming often feels like playing a very long game, and it can take time to see results or reap rewards - which makes lab results like these all the more encouraging.

We’re open for burgers, cyder & more soil chat tomorrow from 11am - 4pm, if you fancy.

Rachel x

The Trenchmore Table

Slam is back in the yard and firing up the barbecue on Friday next week.

There will be live music and a spot for you to pitch a tent or park a van, if you fancy.

Check out the menu and book online.

Newsletter 19th July

Good morning,

Do you have plans tomorrow? If you do, we hope they include popping to the farm to enjoy our summer food & drink market. If you don’t, you should pop to the farm…

There will be live music & floor fillers from farm favourite DJ Dan, 14 food & drink stall holders, 3 food options & a coffee truck, a Nev-led farm walk at 2pm, sunshine forecast & jolly good times to be had.

Our fridges are all completely full of Sussex Wagyu beef so there will be plenty to pick up and take home, or you can reserve something online.

online shop

In other good news, the pea and barley mix that we sowed in the failed wheat fields is growing well and looking lovely this week, with some sweet white flowers scattered about. The whole crop will be cut and silaged for the cattle in due course.

Hoping to see plenty of you tomorrow, and wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

Rachel x

Newsletter 11th July

During this remarkably slow news week, I seem to have lost a hen in the orchard. We had 6 yesterday and only 5 scampered over for the stale remnants of a loaf this morning. Only one has laid an egg for the past few days so they really are not much more than free range freeloaders at this point, but I’m still hoping number 6 is just exploring the far corners of our well-fenced orchard. Probably with a handkerchief carrying snacks tied to the end of a stick. There is no sign of a fox and the other girls seem unflustered so we’re hoping for a swift return.

It’s our summer market on Saturday 20th July and I wanted to tell you about a few of the new producers who will be joining us - scroll down for the new faces.

We also have the farm favourites - bread from Flint Owl, charcuterie from Curing Rebels, chocolate from Cocoa Loco, hot sauce from Spiced Sussex, kefir from Susana & Daughters, honey from The Sussex Bee Farm, spirits from Slake, wine from Kinsbrook, chillies & sauces from Clare’s Chillies, burgers from 3Bros, pizza from SoPi & coffee from OneFourCoffee. It’s a strong line up.

Free entry, ample parking, live music and sunshine booked in.

online shop

As for this Saturday, we have beef in the fridge and burgers on the menu - the yard shop & Moo tap is open 11am to 4pm and the burgers are served ‘til 3.30pm on Saturday.

Moxon’s Fishmongers

Robin is bringing his superbly smoked fish, which has been brined in hand-harvested Portuguese sea salt and smoked on a blend of hardwoods. We’re really looking forward to having our first fish stall at a Trenchmore market.

The Artisan Forrest Kitchen

Joanna makes a range of gut-healthy fermented foods including krauts, kimchis & vinegars in Forrest Row.

All delicious, probiotic rich, organic and made from foraged or locally grown plants.

Big Boned

Kat makes bone broth for dogs from our beef bones in small-batches that are slow-simmered for the most flavour and nutrients. Bone broth supports joint health, aids digestion, and provides essential vitamins and minerals to our four legged friends, and turns a bi-product into something delicious.

Tynefield Farm

Although not new to Trenchmore, we’re pleased to have Flavian and his pork back for this market. What is new, is that he has just launched an online shop so you can now pre-order for the market or for delivery another time.

If you opt for ‘free shipping’ and add in the notes that you want to collect it at Trenchmore on 20th July, Flavian will bring it with next week.

Newsletter 4th July

Good afternoon,

Nev & Knowles have been mowing & baling like mad, fuelled by fridge remnant sarnies and sunshine. They’ve covered 160 of our 350 aces of pasture, and this week have moved from mowing to muck spreading to get through our piles of the good stuff saved up from the winter.

The cow muck is spread in a thin layer onto freshly cut grass and will trickle down into the soil with a little rainfall, which is forecasted for next week.

Elsewhere, we have been busy filling out our events schedule for the summer and there is much to look forward to.

The Trenchmore Table - 5th July

There is still time to join us at the Trenchmore Table tomorrow evening.

Tickets are £38 for three courses of seasonal food, including Sussex Wagyu for the main and the sweetest strawberries from Shrub Provisions for dessert.

menu & booking

Farm tour & cider tasting

We’re offering a series of farm tours & cider tastings on Friday afternoons in August & September for those interested in learning a bit more about Trenchmore, regenerative farming and how to make cider.

It will cost £49 and the six dates are listed on our website. You can sign up to the waiting list and we will be in touch to confirm the booking soon.

dates + info

Trenchmore Lates

On 17th August we would like to invite you to join us for an evening of cider, food & live music.

You are even welcome to make a night of it and camp in your own tent or van.

More information & booking coming soon.

So plenty coming up over the next few months, but for now, the fridges are stocked with steak, the boys are cooking burgers and Rosie is pouring ciders in the yard on Saturday.

Come down, fill your boot & your belly.