Good evening,
The Trenchmore herd moved back to the yard last week after spending the last 8 months grazing and improving the pastures around the farm. We wish they could overwinter outside but the heavy clay soil we are on would be thoroughly poached if they did. It's one of the metrics that we're working to improve whilst looking after this land.
The healthier the soil, the faster it can absorb water and the more resilient it will be to being trampled over winter. We hope we can overwinter outdoors some of the herd in years to come.
It's always fun getting them back home along the lane - thank you to our neighbours for gently pointing any distracted ramblers in the right direction.
We have oversown our grasses in a couple of permanent pasture fields with a mix of wheat, oats and beans. We've used a diverse seed mix because it will give us a delicious cocktail for our silage next year, plus the different species will provide different nutrients and root lengths to the soils. The varying root lengths help to improve soil structure, increasing water absorption and releasing more carbon captured from the atmosphere into the soil.
We have just finished building a new barn in the yard, which will hold straw and manure over the year. Composting the manure slowly under shelter will help us retain the nutrients (no leaching with rain water) and reduce the evaporation of ammonia (less surface area as piled high).
We devoured the Shrub Sussex veg box I ordered for the house last week and can now confirm... it is excellent. The veg is picked on Thursday and delivered to us on Friday so incredibly fresh. It is seasonal so I'm expecting more leafy greens and roots this week - fine by me as I am in a fairly committed soup stint.
We have plenty available to order again for collection on Friday or Saturday. I've also restocked the website with beef that will be ready to collect next Friday (20th).
And lastly, we're offering a pair of Moo glasses with every case of keeved cider ordered at the moment - we hope it will make a great lockdown sipper, or stocking filler.
PS. keep an eye on your inbox this week because our very good friends (and super shepherds) Rosie & Jack are going to do a newsletter take-over with information about their Nuthurst farm...
