THE FINAL ENTRY

Finally, we are getting settled in Kent and the new farm blog has started.

Please follow us to http://www.hortonparkfarm.co.uk

This Offley Hoo blog will eventually be taken down altogether.

Thank you for reading and for following us and we hope to see you again in our new home.

Good bye to Offley Hoo

It will be good bye to Offley Hoo on 31st August 2011 as Jon and Sarah are off to new pastures in Kent. Jon will be the Farm Manager for Horton Park Farm near Ashford.

The packing and sorting is well under way and the whole family including the house cow and her two calves, the pony, hens, and sheepdog will all be making the crossing over the Dartford bridge to settle in their new home before autumn comes.


This blog will shortly be taken down and once we have found our feet a new one will start.
The photo shown is taken from the top of the hill overlooking the new farm. Out of sight on the left is the sea! Farming and the seaside how brilliant is that?

We'd like to welcome Matt and Liz Broadhurst and their family to Offley Hoo and wish them every success on the farm. Matt is moving from the Letchworth City Farm to manage Pilkington Farms at the start of September.

This picture sums up yesterday.

900 stalwarts braved the cold and the rain to come to our Open Farm Sunday.

The band Rock, Stock and Basil were fabulous, the food and drinks great and we couldn't have done it without our marvellous band of intrepid and wonderful helpers.

Thank you everyone for coming and for helping.

More pictures and reports will follow later this week however this remains a very busy week and we had two more educational visits today - the Women's Institute this morning and Offley First School Reception class this afternoon.

Farmers Market stalls

Even the garden is wonderfully tidy as everyone has mucked in to put on a good show for Sunday.

Here is a list of some of the stalls at the Farmers Market:

Offley Hoo Traditional quality beef, pork and lamb in the MEAT ROOM

Suzanne Hartley's plants, flowers and herbs

Hitchin Lavender

James Parish with his farm grown wild bird food

Simon Mead and his oil seed rape oil

Leno and Gloria with their deli

Locally made savoury and sweet pies

Wobbly Bottom Farm goats cheese

Artisan bread by the Foragers at the Verulam Arms, St Albans

Cakes by the Pudding Stop Company at St Albans

Free Range eggs, jams and chutneys from Apple Paddock

Organic flour grown in the Chilterns from Virginia Deradour and Wren Davis Ltd

Farming Today Radio 4

Good morning We've just been on the radio. Here is the pod cast

It is only a few minutes half way through the programme. Farming Today is always very interesting and can always be listened to via a podcast or BBCiplayer.

We have kindly been lent another people carrying trailer for Sunday so we will now have 2 trailers operating on the day for the tractor and trailer rides.

We'd like to thank Allied Mills and Allinson bakery for their delivery of conservation grade, nature friendly bread this morning.

Because we grow the wheat for Allied bakeries bread will be part of our displays on Sunday, however purely in the interest of quality control Jon had to try some for his second breakfast of the day and he declared it is "Offley good toast".

sneak preview

Here is a sneak preview of 'Murial', taken by Jon on his phone. Murial tells the story of Farming in the Chilterns. We need lots of visiting children to help complete the picture. How they do this, will remain a secret until this Sunday.

We are now putting up the rest of the displays.

Tomorrow, Sarah and Philippa will be pricing up some of the pork, beef and lamb, and the butcher will be on hand on Sunday to cut and price the rest eg: steaks and roasting joints to individual customer requirements.

The band are looking forward to coming and are being very generous with their time.

The phone has never stopped ringing with queries from visitors and opportunists wanting to sell us something. Thankfully our temporary entertainment licence has finally come through so we are now on track for another great Open Farm Sunday.

Saturday will see the final touches and Sunday morning we will welcome our volunteers and marvellous helpers and any last minute jobs like fetching in livestock. BBC Three Counties radio are also coming to talk to Jon.

It is not just the public who like to visit this farm. This evening Jon is hosting a visit of local National Farmers Union Members and they are having a trailer ride around lots of the farm to see all the environmental and Stewardship options. We also had a visit from a London teacher at lunchtime today who is bringing her school on two separate visits in July. She came to complete her risk assessment and plan the two days events. Their theme is food on the plates so we are tailoring the visit to that, but if they are lucky one group may get to see the farrier shoeing the pony as it is scheduled for the same day.

Farmers just love looking at other farms, and in the drought the fields are not quite looking as good as they could. So perhaps it should be called the 'warts and all' tour.

'Murial' is ready

'Murial' is finished -
and next we have to prepare all the parts for the collage including the wool which has been specially machine washed in a pillowcase for health and safety reasons.

The photos show how I gathered the wool from a self shedding Wiltshire Horn sheep earlier this year into a bag.

The sheep was shedding naturally and I just pulled it off into a sack.

Put into a pillowcase for machine washing.

Washed in a machine at 30' with modern detergent not once but TWICE to 'cleanse' the wool for small children to handle.

Then laid out in the garden to dry in the wind and the sun.

Hopefully, we will have lots of happy children on Sunday making woolly sheep for the collage

the preparation goes on

The brilliant thing about Open Farm Sunday is not only do we get to meet lots of people who want to learn about how their food is produced but also the farm has an annual clean and tidy up.

As I write this Darek is painting the inside of the educational buildings, now the next stage of renovations are almost done. I am off to the Cash n' Carry to get supplies for feeding and watering all the helpers on Sunday.

Tonight we will be continuing with the mural, and all sorts of fiddly jobs like printing and laminating notices such as car park, etc.

Phone calls are pouring in with questions about access and parking and it seems like a lot of people are already planning to come and enjoy themselves.

BBC Three Counties radio will also be coming on Sunday morning.

Adam Henson on Open Farm Sunday

Here is Adam's video all about Open Farm Sunday.

some useful rain

10 mm rain overnight so far and still raining. Hopefully enough to persuade the grass to grow and the game cover to germinate. It is colder than we are used to and Gig the pony was shivering at 6.30am. Half an hour inside his warm stable with some hay and a rug on and he is much recovered.

Meanwhile we must plan what to do with the 35+ ladies from the WI who are coming on a farm visit at 10.30 today if it remains wet.

This photograph is from a previous educational visit by another WI group on 23rd May. The tractor has stopped and Jon is explaining all about new hedges and beetle banks.

EDIT: Update at 11.15am, another 3 mm rain making 13 mm in all since 6pm last night, that is half an inch in 'old money' and enough to make a difference says farm manager Jon.

The lovely WI ladies have braved the weather and set off on their trailer tour of the farm whilst the rest of us continue with routine tasks and organising things for Open Farm Sunday.

Gig having a bit more soaked hay inside and his rug is now off, he appears to be restored to his normal greedy self.

EDIT: 5.50pm. Jon is very pleased with the rain, the WI ladies were just slightly damp after their trip and their tour ended with Jon lambing a ewe. Unfortunately the lamb was stillborn, but that is farming for you.

Next Monday we have another WI group and Offley First School Reception Class after lunch. We look forward to both these visits.