Dec 15
Christmas at Home Farm
Posted in Organic Farming Livestock , Organic Food by David Wilson
Christmas at Home Farm is very much like any other December day on this busy working organic farm. The main difference is that we try to get the jobs done extra early on Christmas Day itself so that we can get home to our families sooner rather than later.
For us Christmas day starts early, with milking at around 5 o'clock in the morning followed by feeding and bedding of the livestock at about 7am which goes on until 9.30 or 10ish. These are the priority jobs before we can start on other things, such as packing the organic vegetables for our box delivery scheme and our farm shop, The Veg Shed.
I always find that the build up to Christmas gets a bit frantic because people seem to shop as though they are about to enter a three month siege rather than a couple of days when the shops aren't open! The seasonal vegetables in our organic box scheme at this time of year include the usual winter staples of potatoes, carrots and parsnips, as well as beetroot, swede, red and white onions, red and white cabbage, leeks, Jerusalem artichoke, celeriac, cauliflower - all perfect accompaniments to traditional Christmas dishes.
On Christmas Day we still need a minimum of four people working on the farm to ensure everything runs smoothly. There's something rather magical about tending the stock early on Christmas morning - it's very quiet because there's none of the usual noise from cars or planes. We prepare as much as we can on Christmas Eve to minimise time working on Christmas Day itself, by putting extra bedding in for the young stock and the beef. Other than that we try not to vary things too much from the norm - cows especially are rather like children, they love routine and they do get a little unsettled if they feel anything is happening too out of the ordinary. Having said that, they certainly seem to enjoy the Christmas carols that play from our old wireless in the cowshed during milking at this time of year!
It also pays to check fuel levels in the tractors that are to be used - I remember only too well one Christmas Day when the scraper tractor ran out of fuel so we spent ages bleeding it through in driving rain - not exactly a wondrous Christmas story!
We tend to eat our Christmas Lunch at about 2.30 in the afternoon and it always includes an organic turkey along with an organic ham from the farm and our own organic vegetables. Veg such as sprouts just taste so much better when they're freshly harvested and eaten a short time later. The meal is finished off with a Christmas pudding and a selection of Duchy Originals mince pies, which I do enjoy.
By the time lunch is finished it's about 5 o'clock and time to get back out and feed the calves and other stock. After having feasted so heavily ourselves it feels good to have an excuse to waddle outside and do something a bit physical. Feeding the livestock in the afternoon helps to shake lunch down into the right compartments and makes for a more enjoyable evening.
And that is when the Duchy Ale comes out - I have four sons who unfortunately all enjoy real ale so it's important to keep a proportion of the stock well hidden while there's still work to be done!
