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We are a group of micro farmers who welcome anyone who keeps animals or grows vegetables and fruit, or loves cooking! Who would like to come along to our meetings or events and share their experiences with others. You don't need to have lots of animals to be a "smallholder." Many people who grow vegetables, have some bees or maybe a couple of backyard chickens come along and enjoy the meetings and events as well.
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Interesting blog statistics
Below are the current number of blog views for March - we are even getting some from as far away as Australia and India!
FOR SALE - POL Hens
| Rhode Rocks |
Point of Lay Hens for Sale
£15 each
Beechwood Blue
Speckeldy
Rhode Rock
Pied
Contact Danni
 |
| Blue Brahmas |
Blue and Black Brahma Hens Large Fowl For Sale
£25 each
Contact Danni
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Sheep Shearing 9 May 2011
Do you need your sheep sheared?
If so, get in touch with Fiona who will be organising a shearing session on 9th May
Email her with your details:
FI.PRATT@BTOPENWORLD.COM
Don't miss this opportunity to get your sheep sheared..........
Email her with your details:
FI.PRATT@BTOPENWORLD.COM
Don't miss this opportunity to get your sheep sheared..........
Monday, 11 April 2011
Next meeting - 19 April 2011 7pm - Blue Boar
Mcveigh Parker are coming to talk to all about fencing and agricultural supplies.
If you could bring along a homemade cake or some biscuits to share, that would be great.
Look forward to seeing you all there.
Danni
Thursday, 7 April 2011
HOT NEWS *** Danni and Gareth ***
Congratulations to Danni and Gareth who have just announced their engagement!
We would like to wish you both all the very best for the future.
East Essex Smallholders Group
NEWSLETTER - October 2010
October 2010
Here we are again
Yet another month gone by !!
The days are getting shorter and we all know winter is on its way.
Many congratulations to Woody who has had two litters of piglets both born in September. Both mums (Prudence and Margo) and all 17 piglets are doing well.
Our last gathering on Tuesday night was a great success, we had a wonderful tour around Springstep Dairy and for those of you who came I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. For those who couldn’t make it, if Bob and Sally Kirk are kind enough to invite us again next year please try and come. Take it from us it’s a treat not to be missed.
We started with a tour of the big barn where all the nannies, were chilling out and settling down for a relaxing evening on one side and on the other side romance was in the air with the Billy’s and their lady friends!!!
Sally filled us in on the history of Mundon Hall as we went on our way and Bob explained all about the husbandry of the goats, we carried on through to the milking parlour and through to where the milk is pasteurised and processed into the cheeses, cream, ice cream and yogurt. The health benefits of using goat products were also explained to us.
Then into the shop were we had a tasting treat of different cheeses finished off with some creamy rum and raisin ice cream (just what our family need to keep our hour glass figures !!)
Sally then took us all over to the house where we had tea and biscuits with goat’s milk.
And I have to say we are converted. No more milk from the supermarket for us !!
We have placed an order for 5ltrs of milk each week, we can collect it frozen store it in the freezer and take it out as needed.
Sounds good to me and we are supporting a local business.
Would it be a good idea for all meetings to be
arrive at 7.15pm for a 7.30 start? Let us know.
We have booked the Blue Boar in Maldon for the next meeting Tuesday 26th October 2010
We thought we would leave this meeting for general chit chat get the feel of the place, fill in the proforma on who we are, phone numbers, what animals we have etc. As everyone seemed to think this was a good idea. Perhaps we could also work out a plan for the future meetings.
From the feedback received it seems most of you would like a guest speaker for some of the evening, with the remainder given over to our usual discussion and chat.
Tuesday 23rd November at The Blue Boar Maldon
NFU talk on the services they offer including insurance starts approx. 7.45pm
Tuesday 14th December at The Blue Boar Maldon.
We thought we would make this the
‘Smallholder Christmas Jolly’
Many people have shown an interest, they offer a buffet at £6.00 a head
Vol au vents filled with prawn and marie rose sauce
Chicken sate
Vegetable spring rolls
Cocktail sausages
Quiche
Spicy Potato wedges
Sandwiches filled with beef ham tuna mayo and cheese
If you would like to join in the party final numbers and payment of £6.00 will be needed at the October meeting.
Tuesday 25th January 2011 7.15pm Blue Boar Maldon
We have a local vet who is very keen on giving us a talk on Poultry. Again we can arrive from 7.15 and the talk will start at approx. 7.45pm.
DEFRA would like to attend to talk about their role in keeping livestock and rules and regulations we should abide by !! although DEFRA are still waiting for confirmation of funding for this!
Have your questions ready (this is one that shouldn’t be missed).
Tuesday 22nd March 2011 7.15pm Blue Boar Maldon
Carol Knight of the Alsa Farm Pedigree Gloucestershire old spot herd in Stansted Mountfitchet will be giving a talk on breeding and rearing pedigree pigs.
Tuesday 19th April 2011 7.15pm Blue Boar Maldon
McVeigh Parker will be giving a talk on fencing and the products they offer
That’s all your suggestions catered for so far,
Well, except for Fiona who has requested Alan Titchmarsh.
We seem to be having a few problems sorting that one out!!!
If anyone knows of somebody to ‘do a talk’ on vegetable growing please let us know as mother could do with some help.
So come on get your thinking caps on, you tell us who you would like or what subject you would like talks on and we will try our best to arrange it.
I am trying to persuade a fellow small holder to do a demonstration on her craft skills which are pretty amazing. She knows who she is.
Thinking past the winter would you like a summer BBQ and quiz night?
Well that’s it the end of our very long news letter
Best wishes to you all and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 26th October at the Blue Boar 7.15pm
Smallholders Profile
Name/s
E-mail
Phone
Area
Animal’s kept
Hobbies/Interests
Wish list for the future
NEWSLETTER - November 2010
Welcome
Well we've had our first night at The Blue Boar, although there were only 13 of us, we had a good catch up and enjoyed the Farmers Ales and the warmth of the pub. Everyone agreed it was a good change of venue except the parking! People struggled to find the small car park which is located around the back of The Police Station and you have to pay and display £4 which is refundable at the bar when you spend £5. Spaces are limited so I suggest you park in the Main White Horse Car Park by the school which is a five minute walk and free in the evenings.
The evening was fast disappearing when we decided to get down to some business!
Extra greens for pigs
With the increased price in feed and wanting to vary the feed to improve the flavour of the meat, I have been in touch with a few carrot suppliers:
Stockfeed in Cambridge can offer a 20to Load of carrots @ £380 a load, sounds to me like too many carrots and a mess!
Ashbro in Suffolk, supply nets of carrots to feed merchants, if we take mixed nets delivered to one place they can offer. Carrots and Parsnips at £1.75 and Apples at £2.00.
If anyone is interested, please get in touch.
Alternatively if anyone has any ideas of how we may be able to get in with the supermarkets even if we are paying a small amount, or wholesale fruit and vegetable suppliers please let us no.
Christmas Party 14th December
The Blue Boar is booked and fifteen people have paid, if anyone else would like to come, please can you either bring the money to the next meeting or forward to me, The Pub requires numbers the money by the 1st December.
Please find the buffet menu:
Vol au vents filled with prawn and marie rose sauce
Chicken sate
Vegetable spring rolls
Cocktail sausages
Quiche
Spicy Potato wedges
Sandwiches filled with beef ham tuna mayo and cheese
Butchery Course
I have contacted Ansells in Maldon who are interested in offering a Sunday Morning butchery course in the new year, initially for Pigs but maybe another day for lambs. I am waiting for them to come back to me with a price. If you are interested can you email me so I can get an idea of numbers.
Table Birds for February
Me and a few others in the past have arranged for day old table birds. Last year I met one of the drivers from Poulet Anglais at Tiptree and took collection of 100 Hubbard chicks. If anyone is interested in these for this february, please get in touch so I can have numbers to get a quote. The birds normally take about 16 weeks to rear.
Tuesday 23rd November at The Blue Boar Maldon
NFU talk on the services they offer including insurance starts 7.15pm
Tuesday 14th December at The Blue Boar Maldon.
‘Smallholder Christmas Jolly’
Tuesday 25th January 2011 7.15pm Blue Boar Maldon
We have a local vet who is very keen on giving us a talk on Poultry. Again we can arrive from 7.15
Tuesday 22nd February 2011 7.15pm Blue Boar Maldon
DEFRA would like to attend to talk about their role in keeping livestock and rules and regulations we should abide by !!
Have your questions ready (this is one that shouldn’t be missed).
Tuesday 22nd March 2011 7.15pm Blue Boar Maldon
Carol Knight of the Alsa Farm Pedigree Gloucestershire old spot herd in Stansted Mountfitchet will be giving a talk on breeding and rearing pedigree pigs.
Tuesday 19th April 2011 7.15pm Blue Boar Maldon
McVeigh Parker will be giving a talk on fencing and the products they offer
That’s all your suggestions catered for so far,
Well, except for Fiona who has requested Alan Titchmarsh.
We seem to be having a few problems sorting that one out!!!
If anyone knows of somebody to ‘do a talk’ on vegetable growing please let us know as mother could do with some help.
So come on get your thinking caps on, you tell us who you would like or what subject you would like talks on and we will try our best to arrange it.
I am trying to persuade a fellow small holder to do a demonstration on her craft skills which are pretty amazing. She knows who she is.
Thinking past the winter would you like a summer BBQ and quiz night?
Well that’s it the end of our very long news letter
Best wishes to you all and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 26th October at the Blue Boar 7.15pm
Smallholders Profile
Name/s
E-mail
Phone
Area
Animal’s kept
Hobbies/Interests
Wish list for the future
NEWSLETTER - January 2011
Happy New Year fellow Smallholders!
I hope you all had a great Christmas despite all the snow leading up to the festive period. Last weekend with the better weather, it reminded us that spring is just around the corner. Then it dawned on mum and I that we Lamb in 8 weeks!!
I would firstly like to say congratulations to Mr and Mrs Green they have now had their first litters of Mangaliza Pigs.
I would firstly like to say congratulations to Mr and Mrs Green they have now had their first litters of Mangaliza Pigs.
We also enjoyed a litter of Gloucester Old Spot Piglets born on Christmas Afternoon!
I think everyone enjoyed the finish to the 2010 meetings, with a very informative talk from NFU in November and the Christmas Buffet.
I think everyone enjoyed the finish to the 2010 meetings, with a very informative talk from NFU in November and the Christmas Buffet.
We hope everyone who raised Turkeys for 2010 enjoyed their Christmas Dinner and were pleased with the service Henry Carr offered. Hopefully he will be able to provide the same service next year. I have had some fantastic feedback comments and have bookings for Christmas 2011 birds already, I’m sure others have had the same.
Unfortunately Carol Knight is unable to attend the March Meeting, but I have rearranged SX Environmental Services to come and give a talk on the pest control products they offer.
I think everyone has noticed the vast jump in the price of animal feed. Sow Nuts have gone up £80 per tonne since the summer. The fruit and vegetable stall at Colchester market on a Saturday morning are selling nets of carrots, parsnips and turnips for £1.50 per net. I collected some before Christmas and they have been very popular with the animals.
If you have a spare moment, take a look at http://www.dissupplies.co.uk/. Di offers a great service of agricultural supplies in Essex, and we have just ordered some mineral buckets for the sheep.
Nigel has been doing research on the table birds, it seems Sasso’s are proving rather hard to get hold of. He has suggested we stay with the supplier we have used for the last few years Poulet Anglais.
He does JA757 and Colouryield, which finish in 10-12 weeks. He also does JA787 which have a higher proportion of broiler blood line so they finish in 8-10 weeks or become huge when older.
The Colouryield are the brown/gold and white birds. The other 2 are basically white but also can have bits of black on them.
In the past Nigel and I have had a mix of Colouryield and 757, and they have been very tasty Birds.
They work out £1.30 per poult, I will have to meet the driver at Brentwood to collect them, I can put them in my brooder, until they are collected, but I would need cash in advance to pay the driver.
Delivery will be 23rd of March, Please email me to confirm, variety and numbers.
Caroline mentioned at the last meeting, she has a friend who would be willing to help us set up a website for the group, if anyone is interested in helping to set up and maintain the website please email Caroline: Carolineaugust3@yahoo.com.
Susannah also mentioned she would be willing to demonstrate her wool skills if people were interested. Mr Doubleday has offered the use of his premises for the session and for those without any fleeces we have plenty that we are happy to donate. Please contact Susannah, so she has an idea of numbers and set a date: Susannah@susannahhall.org
I will forward dates for the butchery course in the next few weeks.
Due to work commitments, I am struggling to find enough time to arrange and coordinate the meetings, to a standard of which I think it deserves. I was wondering if anybody is interested in lending a hand with newsletters, planning meetings i.e. organising guest speakers and outings to enable the group to move forward. Please email me if you would be willing to help and have ideas for the future.
I have been contacted by the editor of aboutmyarea.co.uk, asking if the group would like to submit a different positive article. Is anybody interested in writing an article on smallholding? Please email me and I can forward you the details.
A quick reminder of the next few Months:
Tuesday 25th January 2011 7.15pm Blue Boar Maldon
We have a local vet who is going to give a talk on worming and common ailments in poultry.
Tuesday 22nd February 2011 7.15pm Blue Boar Maldon
DEFRA will be attending to talk about their role in keeping livestock and rules and regulations we should abide by!!
They have requested some of the questions we may ask, so they can make sure they have all the appropriate information and leaflets. Please email me by 18th February.
DEFRA will be attending to talk about their role in keeping livestock and rules and regulations we should abide by!!
They have requested some of the questions we may ask, so they can make sure they have all the appropriate information and leaflets. Please email me by 18th February.
Tuesday 22nd March 2011 7.15pm Blue Boar Maldon
SX Environmental Supplies will be giving a talk on the pest control products they supply.
SX Environmental Supplies will be giving a talk on the pest control products they supply.
Tuesday 19th April 2011 7.15pm Blue Boar Maldon
McVeigh Parker will be giving a talk on fencing and the products they offer
We look forward to seeing you all on the 25th January.
All the best
Danni
With the help of Mum and Caroline!
NEWSLETTER - February 2011
Hello Fellow East Essex Small Holders
Welcome to our February news letter, the first one by us, Donna and Caroline.
Hope it is of the usual standard, as we are new to this. Any hints and tips are
welcome, but please be aware we are ladies of a delicate age!!!!!!
Hopefully this will be the last one that is sent by e-mail as we are currently
developing our own website (well, Sussannah and Carlie are doing all the hard work
we are just helping with ‘good ideas’).
We have set up a small informal ‘committee’ as Danni asked for help running the
group. We are Danni, Sussannah, Carlie, Phil, oh and not forgetting us Donna and
Caroline. We all volunteered to take some of the workload and organisation.
Our First meeting of the year was on Tuesday night where we announced the
imminent arrival of the website and had a collection to purchase the web space and
domain. We raised a total of £77 .
We would like to send a BIG thank you to everyone who contributed.
Back Yard Poultry - Susan McCann
The ‘Back yard poultry’ talk by local vet Susan McCann was a great success many
thanks to her for coming. I think we all gathered some very useful information.
Here are the details for the useful websites that she mentioned.
to add them as a link when the website is up and running. We will also add the
contact details for Marriages, they sell Flubenvet already mixed in the food. This can
make life a bit easier.
New Members
We also had some new members come along which is always good to see. We
would like to welcome them wholeheartedly and we hope you enjoyed yourself and
will come to future meetings, (If we didn’t scare you off).
DEFRA
Danni received a call from Defra this afternoon who due to ill health have cancelled
their talk for February. We think we may have managed to scare them off even
before we sent them a list of questions! Although they say they are still very keen
to meet us, but want to be sure they send the best suited people. I have arranged
for pest control to come instead on 22nd February and will slot Defra into the 22nd
March as soon as it can be arranged. Please forward any questions to
Recipe of the Month
We have attached (hopefully) a recipe which we think you might enjoy. We are
hoping to include a ‘recipe of the month’ on the website. If you have any that you
like to share with the group please forward them to Caroline
Pig Keeping Course
For those interested Fiona is running some One Day Pig Keeping Courses, mainly for
anyone interested in raising pigs for the freezer, but can also be structured for
those wishing to have 'pet' pigs in the garden or simply for anyone wishing to spenda day with all things piggy!
A 'hands on' experience where you will learn basic pig husbandry covering housing,
fencing, regulations, handling/moving, feeding and general healthcare. Courses are
planned for March and subject to demand April too. Cost is £75 per person including
refreshments, lunch, information and a pig keeping book to take home, more details
can be found at www.madaboutpigs.co.uk
If anyone would like to offer any helpful hints and tips or amusing anecdotes
regarding your adventures in small holding we would love to include these in future
newsletters.
Dig It
One of our other columnists, Fiona’s Dad, has been talked into/told he will be doing
a gardening feature each month. So a big thank you to him and here is his first
article.
Allotment and Garden February
This is the time for getting equipment ready ie; seed trays and pots, making sure
they are all clean and ready for use.
Disregard old compost making way for fresh as old compost loses its nutrients.
This is also the time to buy seeds, onion sets and seed potatoes. You can start
'chitting' potatoes in a greenhouse or any light, cool place. Egg boxes are ideal trays
for these placing the tubers 'eye' end up. They should be ready for planting out in
late March/April.
Sow broad beans, early peas and spinach also early maturing cabbage and
cauliflower in pots, from the middle of the month onwards, in the greenhouse,
cloches or in poly tunnels.
If you have established rhubarb it should be coming through now, so if you want to
pick stalks early cover with an upturned bucket or pot to 'force' it.
Dig over the veg patches and dress with well rotted manure or fertiliser.
Remember to check bird boxes are secure or put up new ones.
Finish pruning and tidying the garden before the spring growth really takes off.
Just a few things to do in February
Well that’s all for this month we hope you have enjoyed our first edition;
Next Meeting
Happy smallholding hope to see you all on the 22nd February at The Blue
Boar
Donna & Caroline
RECIPE OF THE MONTH
Potato and Blue Cheese soup
Ingredients
Potatoes (soft ones that mash)
2 medium onions peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic peeled and crushed
Blue Cheese cubed (its best with a mild one Garstang Blue or Stilton
Knob of butter and enough oil to lightly fry the onions
1 Litre vegetable stock
150ml cream (or good natural yoghurt)
Salt and Pepper
Method
Peel the potato’s (or you can leave the skin on if you wish) and cut
into rough chunks.
Heat oil and butter in a large pan, when butter has just melted add
the garlic and onions. Cook on a gentle heat for 5 minutes.
Add the potatoes and the stock, cover and cook until the potatoes are
soft. If you are using cream add it at this point. If using yoghurt add
just before serving.
Mash or liquidise the soup using a food processor or hand blender.
Return soup to the pan and add the cheese cubes, heat gently until
the cheese has melted.
Season to taste.
If using yoghurt add now or garnish by crumbling on a small
amount of blue cheese.
Serve immediately with warm crusty bread and salted butter.
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