Nearly Christmas!

WOW - i can't believe that we are nearly at the end of another term!  So much has happened over the last few weeks....we had 'Harry the Hernia' our last weaner back - delicious sausages and now we've just taken delivery of 7.5 kilos of dry cured bacon!  We think that keeping him a couple of months longer has produced a lovely flavour - might have something to do with the wonderful apples that we have been feeding too!

Neville with his final 'wife'!

Helen showing Charlotte
how to stroke a pig!

'Neville' the ram has married all his ewes, so we are taking him home next week - fingers crossed, and we look forward to the scanning in January!  Thank you Adrian Andrews!

Dan hard at working putting
on the roofing felt! p.s he's a volunteer
not a student!

We had a very successful stall at the Cotswold Hunt Christmas Fair at Andoversford, and raised £250 selling produce, wreaths, bulbs and our Christmas Cards.


We were given a garden shed a few months ago, and have at last managed to clear the old pig nursery, and put up the shed!  It looks great - just a few finishing touches - and then we will have ourselves a 'woodworking' shed for the New Year.  We have also had a separate Duck Pen put up by the students this week - we are looking for some more ducks to build up our egg supplies?

our Stall at the Christmas Fair beautifully designed by
Penny and Gerry!

We are looking forward to showing some Trustees around this week, and then on Thursday, we have our end of term Christmas Lunch - something the students really look forward to - i wonder who Danny will dress up as this year....?!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our students, volunteers, followers, and supporters a very Happy Christmas, and look forward to catching up in the New Year.

post half term

The students are back, and we have had a busy week - the decking is finished, and the disabled toilet is done - although we still need to do some 'cosmetic' work - i.e boxing in the pipework - oh and add a lock to the door, as we have taken out the internal locking doors...!

NEVILLE! our pure bred Wiltshire
 Horn Ram we have been very
kindly lent

'Nev' with his Ewes....nearly
there -  only two more to go!

'Neville' our ram is getting on famously - he arrived last Monday (see photo) and is proving very popular with the girls on the Bank!  They really love having such a big field to roam around in - albeit being gently pursued by Nev!

The shed hasn't gone up yet - it's taking much longer than we thought to get the floor sorted.

The hens are back laying slowly, and looking much better having finished moulting!  We have put the bantam mum out with her chicks into the main run, but in a hen run on their own for a week or so.

My little Friday helper!

Annie !

We are busy getting all our produce ready for selling at The Christmas Fair at the Frogmill Hotel, Andoversford - do hope you can all make it.

Gerry and i went to do a 'breakfast talk' at the Severn Vale Rotary Club this week - at 7.30am! Everyone said how much they enjoyed it, and it was great to get our (well mine at least!)first talk  under our belt.

   Our final weaner is going off tomorrow, so we are looking for 4 more - preferably Sandy and Oxfords again - to keep the Gilt company, until she goes off to the boar.

half-term!

My Blog has really gone to pot ......i can't blame anyone else, although now the Website is 'LIVE'....there is not the constant panic to update the blog all the time!

We have closed for two weeks, in order to do some building work.  we have been really fortunate to receive funds to put in some disabled facilities.  We are converting one of the toilets, and putting ramps and decking around the main building - already it looks so different (photos to follow!)

We also hope to get our 'woodworking' shed put up next week (another donation) and so will then have 3 main areas to work in when the weather's on the turn....like this week!

We have been adding to our stock of poultry... hopefully leading to an increase in egg production - and now have a fantastic selection of pure bred hens.   One of the bantams hatched out her 11 chicks, and has just moved out to the field in her own hen with run.  Unfortunately the quail have gone on strike, having been laying every day - (only one hen...and two males!)

We have a lot of news in our Autumn edition of the Newsletter, and lots going on between now and Christmas, so do have a look at our Website :- www.scrubditchcarefarm.org.uk 

On SATURDAY 9 NOVEMBER, we are having a  COMMUNITY APPLE JUICING DAY, here at the Care Farm - all details on the website...save your apples and come and join us!

We're back....and straight into lots of jobs for the Autumn!  The students have been busy clearing the raised beds where the vegetables have finished; turning the soil, and spreading on our compost.  We have been planting more winter salads in the poly tunnel - our mixed salad bags are really popular on Fridays at the Country markets!  We have a few runner beans left, along with some broad beans and beetroot.  The covered yard is all cleared and stacked with hay and straw at one end, ready for the winter.
Thursday is 'horse care' and the students really enjoy getting the horses in from the field, and spending time grooming them.

Big news - our Quails have started laying! - All two of them / actually it might be only one - we are still not quite sure whether we have 2 females and 1 male or the other way round! Our hens are not laying very well at the moment, so we think we may have to buy some 'point of lay' hens in from someone locally.

Two of the weaners went off last week - they weighed out at 44 and 49 kilos - very presentable!  We have sold nearly all the pork already - one more to go in November.  Next week we are taking 4 ram lambs, and Butts Farm are buying them from us to sell in their shop!

Gerry and i have been busy attending several meetings about 'personalisation budgets, and inclusion'.  Hopefully this will mean we have a better understanding of how our students can get funding to attend the Care Farm in the future.

Do have a look at our website it's nearly finished....www.scrubditchcarefarm.org.uk  !!

 Next,  we are starting to put together / make items to sell at the Christmas Fair at Andoversford, in November.

a few bits and bobs before we start the new session!

I thought i would post a couple of photos to keep everyone up to date with what's been happening in the holidays!

First off, we have noticed over the past few weeks, how many hundreds of caterpillars they are - most of them seem to be eating our brassicas (Cabbage Whites of course!)  The 'Peacock' caterpillars have been feasting on the stinging nettles in the field - i'm glad someone likes them...we've had 'Painted Ladies', Tortoiseshell, Brimstone, and lots of Common Meadow Butterflies too.

Peacock Butterly Caterpillars
eating stinging nettles!

Danny's friend 'Storm' chewing
his belt!

Last week, we had a disaster with the contractor who was combining the corn - see photo!  The combine was only a week old...!!

The remains of the combine - it caught fire from dust in the
engine - due to the corn being SO dry this year...the wheels
exploded - scary!

Hen's and ducks are well, and the weaners are nearly ready to send off - we are taking two next Monday..and are deciding whether to breed from the Gilt..We are weaning the lambs tomorrow, and bringing them back up to the farm, to weigh them.  We have been approached by a farmer from Evesham; happy to lend us a ram for our 12 Ewes, so we will go over to check him out before finalising anything.

We had a terrible 'incubation' again, with only 2 chicks arriving - we must be doing something wrong...!  Let's hope they are both hens not cockerels!  The Quail are thriving - all three of them, and will go out to the hen run shortly, in their own ark.

Term starts on Thursday, so will be 'blogging' again shortly!

NEWS FLASH!

WE ARE NOW A REGISTERED CHARITY!

bits and bobs!

The last day of the Summer Term, we had a special lunch for all the students and volunteers - here in our garden.  It was a beautiful day again, and we all managed to squeeze in under two unbrellas.  After a delicious lunch, students and volunteers all bought something for the picnic with them - we gave out certificates to all the students.  After lunch they all went up to the care farm to say goodbye to their favourite animals for a while!

Hilly one of our volunteers with
her caterpillar birthday cake!

Our local Waitrose manager hard at work
discussing the 'why's and wherefores' of
the strimmer...!

We had a wonderful day with some Waitrose staff from our Cirencester store recently!  14 of them spent all day with us - see photos........

 We are half way through the holidays, and Gerry has been busy running a series of 'Summer Activities' for school age children.  The first week was incredibly hot, but armed with plenty of sun cream, sting relief spray, and hats; all the children had a great time!  We have 3 more Activity days next week, on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, with a few spaces left so.....email Gerry if you are interested.


We've had a busy time with some of the Ewes - having put them out to pasture on a lovely old Bank; we discovered that two of them had developed abscesses on their necks.  They had lost a lot of condition, unlike all the others, so we brought them home to the farm and called the vet.  Rob,  took syringes of 'puss' and blood from both of them and gave them antibiotics.  We have just had the results back, and luckily it's nothing serious - with all the dry weather, it's most likely either an infection from thistles, or where they have lain on a hawthorn in the field.  Then of course we've just had the bill from the vets too....not so good!  The rest of the flock look really good - some of the ram lambs should be ready to go off at the end of next month.   My friend Cindy, has put her beautiful Mare and foal out with the sheep, to keep them company.

Gerry has also been busy at the 'Country markets' each Friday morning too - we pick furiously on Thursday evenings, and then she leaves at 7.30 am to set up on Friday!

TERMS STARTS AGAIN THURSDAY 5 SEPTEMBER....