Categories: From the Farm This Week
      Date: Dec 19, 2010
     Title: 19 December 2010

Rain, we have rain and warm as well. The plants, trees and grass are loving it, is so good i even had to stay inside and do some book work - GST, emailing reports and organic paper work, etc. Looking at the huge heap of paper you can tell it aint rained in a while.

We spent a day in New Plymouth doing deliveries and Christmas shopping. Wow

On the road carting lambs for the Bach on Breakwater restaurant and the Farmers Market this week along with pigs and poultry.

Ruth has been all week sorting poultry chicks into breeds and sizes for going into the paddock trailers.

We have started hoeing up the spuds as they are growing like hell I can't believe we are still hoeing spuds in December Ila has been planting rows of carrots, turnips, swede and orach for us and the stock. We are down a labor unit as Samuel has been working for another farmer daylight to dark to finance a car.

We have moved all of the sheep and cattle onto the fallow paddocks to reduce the risk of facial eczema and cutting and feeding tree fodder every day.
Done a few loads of firewood and now packing and sorting for the market on Sunday.

At the Farmers' Market this week

REMEMBER this is the last market before Christmas and its usually mad so don't miss out.

Don't forget to pick up your orders

Make your Christmas an Ethicatarian event by eating certified organic, rarebreed meat, local and ethically farmed and don't stop there - go up to Patricia and Richard at Naturallee and to Nashnui and add some certified organic fruit and veg to go with it....

• Duck eggs, Bantam eggs, Hen eggs
  Get them for your Christmas cake
  Get into the bantam eggs for your salad or the kids, small eggs just put the finish on the attention to detail you need.
• Egyptian Lamb
• Dry cured, nitrite free Bacon and Sausage
• Sweet cured traditional Bacon made at The Fridge
• a few nitrite free hams
• Lamb legs and our fantastic rolled and stuffed Wiltshire lamb roasts
• Muscovy Ducks
• Indian Game Chickens, Ixworth Chickens

Oh yes i have to tell you all........ last week i got the comment again...... ."If these breeds are so rare why are we eating them? " .........Well you have to realize we are talking about farm live stock . When we breed say pigs of a rare breed 50% of the piglets are male. Out of them we select the very best to continue the line, the same with the females. Only the very best we can breed are kept or sold for breeding, the rest we finish for meat. This way the old heritage breeds get stronger and better.  
So when you eat our meats and eggs you are in fact helping in a huge way to save these breeds. For with no market for them they will die out for sure .
................................

Remember we will grow your food for you so if you want Ethical food at the right price, we have box lots and whole and half orders.

We are planning lots of courses next season, talk to us about them and please tell your friends and work mates we do this.

Merry Christmas to you all