October on the farm
We can certainly tell the seasons are changing. No frosts as yet, but the nights are drawing in and the jumpers are back on along with waterproofs. We do love autumn time the scenery is incredible and for me its foraging time. My favourite wild mushroom has to be the Puffball and we are in an abundance with them, lucky me Oliver loves them too.
Our harvest of grass wasn’t at its best due to the dry weather conditions this year, but it was still busy as normal. Wheat came off the fields without too much drama, which our outdoor pigs where very happy about. Once milled the wheat from our fields is then fed to the pigs making them super sustainable and not eating commercial pig fed is so much better for them and us. They do take a little longer to mature, but we are fine with that in fact that’s what we are all about long and slow maturing for all of our animals.
We have 7 pigs at the moment and we are now in talks whether to keep back a couple of the gilts (lady pigs) to start our own little closed brood of pigs, watch this space!
Our ever expanding herd of Dexter cows are still happily out on the grassy fields. Dallas our Dexter bull is out with a group of ladies in the hope we see more Dexter calves next year. Next month will see us bringing them all in from the fields for their annual TB (tuberculosis) test, fingers crossed that goes which a hitch. At this time the team from LLM Vets in Bakewell pop out to not only take the test, but also pregnancy diagnose the hopefully expected mums.
As I mentioned our ever expanding herd of Dexter’s, last week saw 12 new cows arrive. We do have to keep them separate from our herd to make sure they have no infections or diseases they can pass on to our well established herd. We test for a viral disease known as BVD (bovine viral disease) as soon as the cows arrive with us. This is a tag in their ear which takes a sample of tissue for us then to send to a laboratory to be tested. Once given the all clear all of our cows can be together, but this disease can cost us highly. It can cause reproduction issues, tummy problems and in some cases death so this running through our herd isn’t good, best to test. Fingers crossed all 12 have a negative result.
Our fresh Dexter Beef Boxes are back this week. This particular carcass has been hanging now for 3 weeks again just locking in all of that goodness in the meat. We now have our boxes available to pre order https://www.unthank-meat.co.uk/beef-meat-boxes
Lets talk home grown veggies. Back in the spring we planted vegetable seeds in a small veg patch to see how it would go. Well September through to this month we have had a bumper crop of white potatoes, beetroot, chard, rocket, lettuce, swede and carrots. Last week we hired in some helpers and harvested all of our potatoes. It went great the lads along with myself and my boys did a top job, we harvested a ton of them and they are super tasty. The are a variety called Melody which are a great all round potato, great for mashing, boiling and roasting. We also eat them as jackets and they are so fluffy and soft. You cant beat growing your food its just the best. We now sell them in our honesty hutch at the farm gate and here on our website.
This month also sees us gearing up for the festive months. I have already put together our 2022 Christmas Collection with some incredible luxury hampers all with our very own meat and veggies from the farm. These include our Dexter, grass finished beef rib, fillet & sirloin along with the finest joints from our outdoor reared pigs, grass finished hogget and our home grown veggies https://www.unthank-meat.co.uk/2022-christmas-collection. They are proving super popular. We are also now offering to leave a deposit and pay nearer the time to help out. Every little helps! Again all information is in our 2022 Christmas Collection section.
Another biggy this month is seasonal recipes. We all love warm, comforting foods and all of our meat boxes include slow cooked meats, which I think are the tastiest of any meat. So this month I am going to be focusing on more seasonal recipes along with looking after the animals of course so please keep an eye out for those and if you have any recipes to share please do.
Anywhoo lots going on, which we love especially the run up to Christmas, thanks for reading and don’t forget to buy your meat & veggies right here knowing that everything is grown and looked after in the same place by the same people always, cant beat that.
Happy autumn
Sending all our love
Charlotte & Dan x
