Broom House Farm Blog

The main lambing season has started earlier than expected on this farm, Mark was expecting to be busy from tomorrow but we have already got a shed full of babies.  They are squeezed into every corner of the barns, waiting for a decent weather forecast so  that we can put them out on to the grass.  Hannah, our lambing (Vet) student has saved the day by arriving early as well and she has been extremely busy, together with the men on the farm, building pens and moving ewes and lambs about.  Even the chilren have volunteered to help out...I knew the Easter holidays were there for a reason! 

It's very wet and muddy here after 24 hours continous rain.   Those early lambs in the field are hunched up and miserable and the tiny new lambs in the sheep shed will not be heading for the outdoors any time soon.  Come and see them at our lambing open afternoons over the Easter weekend.  Preparations for the sowing of the field beans and oats have ground to a halt and everyone on the farm went home last night soaked through to the skin.  Only the ducks are happy! 

the first lambs have been born

It's Pirates Week at half term in the coffee shop/ship!  Come and join in the fun!

It's so cold and snowy up here on the hill, here's a recipe to warm you up!

Ingredients to feed 6 hungry people on a snowy Winters' day

1kg minced Aberdeen Angus beef, 4 carrots, 2 sticks celery, 2 onions, tablespoon tomato puree and 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce. 1 leek, plain flour, 4oz grated suet, 2 rashers streaky bacon, pinch mustard powder, black pepper

Having been fully organic since 2007 we think that this was one of the better decisions that we have made.  Obviously not every farm could be organic and organic farming isn't for everyone but it has made the job more interesting and rewarding for us. Our butchery shop however  relies more for it's reputation on the fact that all the beef, pork, lamb and mutton that we sell from there is from this farm.  It's local and it's visible.  As you come down the road to the shop  you will pass some of our cattle, sheep and hens  and you can call into the pig shed and see how merry the piglets are.  Enter the shop and ask us any questions about how the meat you're buying is produced or about the different cuts and we'll try to get you an answer at once. Last week one lady wanted to find out all about the abattoirs we use.  Another customer wanted to ask how long we hang our mutton for.  One of our regulars wanted bavette of beef...out with the dictionary!!, there's still a lot to learn.  Here's a comforting winter lamb recipe, perfect for hungry children after school - and if they won't eat lamb (like Emma...since pet  lamb Fluffy was nurtured) then just substitute beef.  It's delicious with mutton too.

these piglets are just a couple of days old, their Saddleback mother is relaxing in the sunshine today having given birth to all these babies...can you count?! 

Roast Lamb is my favourite, I love it hot and then cold and then made into curry or  a proper shepherd's pie

We've begun to harvest the oats using the forager combine harvester.