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Futurefarms - Martin Ltd |
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Newsletter-Summer 2007 |
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VEG STORY |
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This is our biggest, most varied and most wonderful of enterprises. It involves more people, more wages and more effort; it gobbles more land and more of the budget than anything else. It lifts the heart and ruins the back and feeds more people than anything else we do. It takes seeds as fine as grains of sand and with water and sunlight provides a cabbage as big as your head and tomatoes with the sweetness of tropical sugarcane; no one can doubt the supremacy of the veg plot. One small wrinkled potato turns into ten big ones under the quiet mantle of the earth – while we work on the land we are very close to simple beginning of things and despite the visits to the osteopath we can’t leave it alone. Our vegetable ‘impresario’ is Janet. She plans out the one and a bit acres at Folliots (Tidpit); the poly tunnel (60 x 18) and the three acres of land at Drove End Field. She plots the sowings of 45 different crops; she raises ALL the cabbage, cauliflower and other brassica plants from seed in her greenhouse; she raises all the tomatoes, aubergines and peppers from seed; she organises the jobs on the whole enterprise ably helped by Heidi, our knowledgeable and experienced vegetable person. NO ONE APPLIES A SINGLE DROP OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZER OR A SINGLE SQUIRT OF PESTICIDE TO THE VEGETABLES YOU EAT. DON’T FORGET! The harvesting of the crops happens every Friday to get ready for the Saturday Market with top-up forages during the week for the village barrow. ‘Spuds’ and onions are stored in the bottom shed at Folliots causing much mental anguish for the population of voles and mice. John and Jake Hooper carry out all the ploughing and cultivating and land preparation for us. Heidi drills the seed crops with a precision seed drill pushed along like a thin wheelbarrow with semaphore arm-like row markers to keep things straight – although not always! All the plants raised from seed are planted by hand. I think Futurefarms finds and exposes the talents that rest within a village and allows those talents to blossom. It encourages people to have a go at something perhaps quite outside their normal experience. This spring we borrowed a single-row homemade onion planter from Bill Parker of Tarant Gunville and we hired a mini tractor from Groundwise in Alderholt to pull it. I had the comfortable job of driving the tractor whilst Eddy followed by Margaret had to sit astride the machine adopting a ‘yoga’ position that not even Suzanne could dream up. We planted 40 rows in one day with 3 people. On our onion planting Saturday(work day) with 7 people in a biting north-easterly wind we also managed to plant 40 rows between 2 pm and 4.30. Then we repaired our strained muscles with Sue’s chocolate cake and platefuls of Beth’s fresh scones. If anyone would like to learn more about the vegetable plot, please give us a ring- we could do with your help. |
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THE GAUGE First of all the Gauge apologises for the glaring error in the last News Bulletin(Issue 5). The heading of the chart should have read ‘Annual Rainfall on Martin’ with the total for 2006 reading 882.5 mm- sorry. The ‘Gauge’ was totally wrong about February - it couldn’t have been wetter. Well how exact do you want your science? Lets just say 2007 started out very wet with all the reservoirs in the southeast reporting 95%full. The oak came into leaf well before the ash –we are in for a ‘splash’--The ‘Gauge’ conclude’s that this is the perfect climate.-oh- and the water parsnip was early under Tidpit bridge this year.
Good Hunting--- Best wishes - The ‘Gauge’ PS The ‘Gauge’ forecasts that June will be quite dry!! |
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FOOD LABELLING - LIGHTS AT RED |
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Have you read in the press about the unfurling nightmare surrounding the labelling of our food? Have you got up close to the ‘traffic light’ system versus the ‘red tractor’ - or just plain ‘British’ which means it could be grown in Bolivia so long s it is packed in Britain. What a muddle and the large and respected supermarkets battle it out to select a system to help us decide what to eat. So what’s best? Not ‘produce of more than one country’ - try ‘produce from only one Parish’ - and see how that fits. |
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FOOD LABELLING AFTERTHOUGHTS Pig farming is where the difference between animal welfare standards in Britain and elsewhere is the greatest. Britain is the only country where it is illegal to tether sows in stalls for farrowing. Castration is illegal here- not elsewhere. Chickens- Half the chicken eaten in Britain is imported mainly from Brazil and Thailand. There is an EU ban on imports of raw poultry from Thailand but ‘cooked’ meat can still be brought in. Antibiotic drugs that promote rapid growth are banned in Europe – not in Brazil and Thailand. If a chicken arrives in Britain already frozen it may have been processed in heavily chlorinated water – illegal here. Don’t eat poultry unless you know where it has come from! |
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COMPOSTING - ‘is a quiet bonfire’ |
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The chicken shut-up rota is a great success and many thanks to all those involved; namely, Margaret for designing the rota and to Gary Blandford-Hull, Michael Wingate-Saul, Phil Griffiths, Mark Barnes, Len Jackson and in the winter Suzanne Spreadbury for doing the work. Futurefarms produced superb cauliflowers for sale on 21st April 2007 .The seeds would have been sown in March 2006 and the plants set out in June 2006. All credit to the veg impresario! We had a visit this spring from a world authority on Trace Elements in the ground. Danny Goodwin-Jones parcelled up our soil for analysis and talked to us earnestly about the importance of elements in our diet and left us worrying about the levels of selenium and cobalt in Drove End Field. A full report will be published in the next news bulletin. On Friday 20th April we had a visit from Dr. Caroline Lucas MEP. She is the MEP (Member of the European Parliament) for the South East and Drove End field is at about the North West tip of her constituency. She was most interested in Futurefarms and in the Cooperative spirit of the venture. Clarissa Dixon-Wright has written an article about us for Country Life Magazine which will be published soon. A big thanks to all our loyal and fantastic customers. Please keep on spending. The more revenue that ends up in the till on a Saturday morning or in the box on the barrow, the further we can go with this exciting addition to our village life.
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FIELD NOTES - The poly tunnel blew inside out on 13th February this year. We managed to save the polythene from ending up on the cathedral spire and we dug a new trench and reburied the cover for another season. Out of an annual turnover of £24000 we paid £6000 in wages to employees and to subcontractors thus keeping that precious economy within the Parish.
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Pork Chops and Mushrooms From Jane Wingate-Saul |
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4 pork chops 2 tbsp butter Cut 4 sections of foil large enough wrap the chops. Trim any excess fat from pork chops and fry in butter until golden on both sides. Remove from pan and place on the foil. Add finely chopped mushrooms to the pan and cook until soft. Add the lemon juice and the flour and cook until almost thickened. Sprinkle the chops with the thyme or oregano and season with salt and pepper. Spread the mushroom mixture plus 1 tbsp of cream and some parsley over each of the chops. Fold up the sides of the foil over each chop to completely seal them. Place the chops on a baking sheet and cook in a slow oven (150º C) for 45-50 minutes until tender. Serve with any seasonal vegetables available from Futurefarms plus their delicious new potatoes. |
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Futurefarms Diary. Forthcoming events. Leek planting:- 30 June 2007 Work days—hoeing Any volunteers, please contact Janet. Open Day and Potato lifting 22nd September 2007 10 am - 12 noon (Lunch) 2 pm - 4pm (Cream Tea provided).
FIND YOUR FOOD IN A FIELD NEAR YOU.
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