Good afternoon,

A quick roundup of the week - we’ve welcomed a new group of cows to our growing herd, and they are in fine fettle out in the field today. They are pregnant pedigree Sussex cows we bought from a local farmer to replace our older Sussex mums, so we can keep our breeding stock in good health.

This weather is great for the orchard - sunshine in the day and cold at night. We’ve tested the ripeness of a couple of apples this morning with iodine drops - the iodine goes blue with starch and stays orange with sugar - and unfortunately we’re not quite there. Hoping another week will be enough to do the job.

We are swapping apples for cider tomorrow, and happy to test your apples for ripeness when you bring them - starch doesn’t ferment so unfortunately we’re not able to do much with unripe fruit. More information about the swap here.

SoPi will be serving sourdough pizzas from midday, so please join us with or without any apples.

I blended this year’s batch of mulled cider at Ringden Farm yesterday, taking the last of our 2022 harvest from the tanks, a spiced syrup of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg & ginger and mixing it with their freshly pressed Discovery juice. Once packed, it will be back on the farm ready to serve at our Autumn Market next month.

Plenty of steak, short ribs & roasting joints in stock, if you wanted to pop in tomorrow.