Good afternoon,

If you need a little reassurance that spring isn’t far off, we welcomed our first spring calf this afternoon. And we welcomed Rosie’s ewes back into the orchard to nibble down the grass for a few weeks on Monday.

Our wheat is hanging in despite being drowned, then frozen and drowned once more. The reseeded grass looks good, and with some sunnier drier weather, it should start to really take off.

We’ve decanted all of the 2023 harvest cider to blend it with fresh apple juice from Ringden Farm, as our acidity was a little low (please don’t @ me about the bramley ban…). The pH for our orchard & swap fruit was 4, and it ideally needs to be less than 4 in order to remain stable - the acidity of Ringden’s fruit is lower than usual too but higher than ours so should do the trick.

I posted about the 2023 low acidity in apples on the cider maker’s google forum and so far just had a response from Nick in Oregon with the same experience, but not much of a suggestion as to why. So as with most things, I’ll resort to blaming the weather as the amount of rain and sun endured, especially in the 70 days before picking, does influence the flavour of the fruit. In both Sussex & Oregon, presumably.

We have 3bros serving burgers in the yard 12-3pm tomorrow, whilst the yard shop & Moo Tap is open 11am-4pm, with plenty o’ beef in the fridges.

Valentine’s Day Steak night has just a couple of steaks left for any last minute romantics, or singletons who can eat beef for two.

I’ve booked some great new stalls for our Spring market, which is still a few months away but certainly a date for your diaries: 27th April.