The Hacknell Chronicles

 

When May arrives, we breathe a sigh of relief. Usually the stresses and strains of lambing time, planting and calving are nearly over and we can look forward to a bit of down time! Maybe, it’s too early in the month, but chilling out still seems out of reach for the time being. Today we moved the cows with their young calves along the road to their summer pastures which takes a several of us to control the traffic and make sure they don’t charge off down the wrong road to the village, though luckily it’s pretty quiet round Burrington !

I was also thinking today how maybe ignorance is bliss, and the trouble with having been farming for thirty years is that we know what needs to be done, and there’s always more to learn, so the job never stops! But May is full of rewards too, with the hedgerows full of wildflowers and the blossom in the orchard is looking magnificent. There’s been some rain for the crops and the grass is growing, so all is well.

The weather hasn’t been that warm so far this year and I wonder if it’s waiting for the bank holiday next week to be a scorcher! If you are having a family get together our barbecue boxes have got all the right ingredients with a huge variety of sausages, burgers and koftas, and if it turns out to be a wet one, there’s lots of tender steaks which are just as good cooked indoors. If you are having a larger party of 10 or more, then I sometimes recommend you choose a simpler selection with less variety of things to cook, so for 20 people, I’d pick 20 steakburgers and maybe 40 sausages of different flavours and some koftas. If you are having a bigger celebration, then do talk to me about buying a whole lamb or side of pork or beef which would be good for a crowd of 40 or more. We are happy to cater for any number and do give me a phone if you want advice on what to choose.

Next weekend on the 23rd and 24th May, there’s going to a lot going on down at River Cottage in Axminster, where they are holding their Spring Fair. There will be cookery demos and masterclasses and I know there will be Higher Hacknell lamb on the menu as I’m supplying them next week! I’ve also got a stall in the food producers marquee where they’ll be tons of goodies to stock up on. There are garden tours and advice on growing from the land team (where our Jim works) and music too, so although it won’t be a rest, I’m looking forward to it as it should be great fun.

If you’d like to get a meat delivery in time for the bank holiday, then please order by this Sunday, either online at www.higherhacknell.co.uk or phone me on 01769 560909 and we can deliver on Thursday 21st or Friday 22nd May.

Whatever the weather, I hope you have a good bank holiday,

Look forward to hearing from you soon

Best wishes
Jo and Tim and all at Higher Hacknell Farm

Lots to celebrate in the coming weeks, with Mothers’ Day on the 15th March and preparations for Easter well under way with new Easter Meat Boxes in the pipeline. The four day holiday is a great time for get togethers after the long winter months and we have all the best ingredients for a family feast! Whether you stay traditional with a delicious roast leg of lamb or go gourmet with a french trimmed rack or boned loin, our lamb hogget is the ideal centrepiece to mark the occasion. We’ve filled our Easter boxes with additional goodies such as a gammon ham and chicken to make sure there’s plenty to last the whole bank holiday.

Organic is on the up once more, and the Soil Association have just launched a campaign to explain why organic meat is the food you can trust. The higher standards of animal welfare insist that animals are given plenty of space and fresh air to thrive and grow - guaranteeing a truly free-range life, including reduced exposure to antibiotics and other drugs commonly used routinely in intensive farming. Organic agriculture is better for the environment, helping to fight against climate change by sequestering carbon in soils, and organic farms like Higher Hacknell are havens for wildlife, where plant, insect and birdlife are overall 50% more abundant . Most importantly it’s good to know what’s in your food when so many supermarket labels can be confusing to say the least! GM ingredients and artificial preservatives are banned under organic standards, so the best way to reduce exposure to pesticides in all food is to buy organic. Tim and I get furious when we read and hear it recommended that people should give up meat to save the planet from climate change. Eating meat which been reared on upland farms where other crops can’t be grown actually helps to store carbon in the soil because the grassland is not being ploughed up, and animals are naturally fertilising the fields, it all makes good sense!

Back to earth and the work ahead; I think we will lose all sense of reality by the end of the month, with the mayhem of hundreds of lambs being born and transforming our fields from a haven of tranquility to what will be noisier and more frenetic than a playground on the first day of school! Each of our children have helped with the lambing at one time or other and it’s become almost a family rite of passage. It’s Ellie’s ‘opportunity’ this time when she returns from university, so we
hope that all those late nights out clubbing will have trained her to stay up all night in the lambing shed! There’ll be more to follow on Facebook….!

We have had some issue with our website server and you may have experienced slow loading of the site, so we apologise for this and recommend you phone us on 01769 560909 if you have any problems, though we hope they are now resolved. You can also message us on Facebook or Twitter.

There are only a few days left to order that special roasting joint of beef, lamb or pork for lunch on Mother’s Day at www.higherhacknell.co.uk as we need orders by this Sunday 8th March for delivery next week on Thursday 12th or Friday 13th. Make the most of our seasonal offer of 10% off Rib on the Bone which lasts until 15th March and check out our NEW Easter Boxes.

I hope you enjoy the arrival of spring- as March has come in ‘like a lion’ let’s hope it goes out ‘like a lamb’ as they say round here.

With best wishes from

Tim and Jo and all at Higher Hacknell Farm

Frosty mornings and blue skies have brightened up an often dreary time of year on the farm. The cold clear weather has been good for getting on with the all important job of muckspeading, building fertility back into the soil for the coming year. When there is a high pressure weather system it’s a good time to rack off our home made cider too, filtering it into clean barrels leaving the lees behind. ‘Candlemas’ at the beginning of this month marks the mid point between the winter solstice and spring equinox and traditionally when the farmer counts up his bales to see if they’ll last through. Luckily that’s not a worry this year, and the animals have got plenty to eat, and don’t mind it being a bit chilly.

 

I think we’re the same too! Happy as long as we’ve got plenty to eat! At this time of year, there’s nothing better than slow roasts and warming casseroles and our winter warmer slow cook meat box is perfect for that ‘hungry gap’ at just £70. And why wait till Valentine’s Day to treat yourself to a tasty rump steak? We experimented the other day with melting some beef fat in with the cooking oil to make the chips extra flavoursome with great results. I’ve been delivering pigs, lamb and beef to Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s River Cottage H.Q for their restaurants and courses and getting some inspiration from their chefs. They cooked delicious rack of lamb with a rich gravy sauce made from finely chopped lamb heart, with red onions, balsamic vinegar and I think a generous slug of cider brandy. I’m not quite sure of the exact recipe but it tasted fabulous.

So if this has got your taste buds going, choose your own selection of our award winning, high welfare organic meat from the Higher Hacknell website, and get FREE delivery until the end of this month . This special offer (on orders over £100) is available when you write FEBFREE in the comments box at the end of the order, or mention it if you order by phone on 01769 560909, and we will deduct the cost of delivery when we take your payment.

There’s birdsong in the air, and snowdrops and daffodils to remind us that Spring is on its way, whilst here in the farm butchery we are planning our new ‘Spring’ boxes for the months ahead. We wish you well and look forward to hearing from you soon.

With best wishes from

Tim and Jo and all at Higher Hacknell Farm

Going, going, almost gone …it’s the last week to order for Christmas. If you haven’t got in touch with us yet to buy your Christmas meats, please let us know what you’d like by Sunday 14th December at the very latest.

We are in our final countdown, making sure there is enough of each cut to fulfill all your orders. Every year we wish we could produce cattle with more ribs of beef and fillet than mince! But don’t worry, it’s not too late for turkey and goose. I love to cook a big turkey and feast on the leftovers, which I usually enjoy more than the Christmas meal, when I’m more relaxed! It’s always nice to get a good sized gammon ham to go with the cold meats too. Goose is a lovely treat, especially for the smaller gathering. Don’t forget all the trimmings too, bacon, sausagemeat and chipolata sausages. Everything can be found on the Christmas page on our website, or just phone me on 01769 560909.

Most of the Christmas orders will be delivered on Tuesday 23rd December and we think it’s a good idea to have a morning delivery as it will be a very busy day for the couriers. If you like an AM delivery just write this in the comments box and it will cost an extra £4. Alternatively let us know if you’d like to collect from Crediton Farmers Market on Sunday 21st or from the farm on Tuesday 23rd or the morning of the 24th. We are also delivering Christmas orders on 18th and 19th December, but for fresh turkey and chicken it’s better to have the later date.

Now December has arrived I feel it is OK to start tucking into mince pies, and wonder when we are going to find time to get a Christmas tree and decorate it in between packing orders and going to Farmers Markets! The next couple of weeks are going to fly by, I expect, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the weather won’t spring any nasty surprises on us. No one in the butchery is allowed to mention the ‘snow’ word! If the weather could just keep going like it is today, cold, bright and sunny, that would be my Christmas wish!

And on that note, we wish you all a wonderful Christmas of feasting and fun.

Very best wishes

Tim and Jo and the team at Higher Hacknell Farm

 
Although we haven’t had any really cold weather yet, the rain and windy weather has made it feel pretty wintry now on the farm. Working outside in the driving rain isn’t much fun for Tim at this time of year, so when he gets a chance he likes to go and do some work in the woods. They are a lovely place to be on a November day, when the low winter sunlight glints through the bare branches. He’s been coppicing there and clearing parts to let light in and give wildflowers a chance to grow. We’ve fenced the animals out of the woods this year and this has helped with regeneration of hazel and woodland plants, but there are still plenty of deer that pass through and munch on the young shoots, though they’re lovely to see. There’s also a huge maze of badger sets and underground tunnels they have dug, so it’s sensible to fence them in, away from the cattle.

 

Traditionally it’s the time of year when farmers sell stock and take them to market before winter sets in. Our cattle and sheep have certainly grown well with the best season for grass that we’ve ever known. It means we can select the very best for our Christmas sales, and there’s plenty of delicious meats to choose from. Our cold store and hanging room is going to be filling up in readiness for the festive season ahead. Please don’t delay sending us your Christmas orders as the weeks will fly by and there’s less than a month to go! Some cuts such as Fore Rib of Beef on the bone and Fillet of Beef are always a favourite and as we sell only cattle from our farm and don’t buy in ‘extra’ bits and pieces to fulfill all the orders, it is a good idea to get in early!

 

We also need to count up numbers of turkey and geese, make enough sausagemeat for stuffing, and bacon for those pigs in blankets and all the trimmings. I’m looking forward to cooking a big turkey at home this year with the family. Last year two of our children were away for Christmas and as we spent the day with my sister, I didn’t need to cook the Christmas dinner. Although it was lovely to have a relaxing day off, I did miss all the ‘left over’ meals of cold meat, turkey pie and the lovely rich soup from the stock bones. But I put a turkey in the freezer for their return from travelling, so we celebrated late at Easter! As we only have freshturkey and geese at this time of year, why not take the opportunity and buy extra when they are available?

 

Please give me a call if you’d like to know anything about ordering, such as what size you need to feed the number of guests you are entertaining or if there is a particular cut you’d like, but can’t see listed on the website. Likewise please ring on 01769 560909 if you have any difficulty ordering at www.higherhacknell.co.uk. We have been doing some website maintenance recently, so apologies if you have had problems getting through. Do keep up with our latest news in the busy weeks ahead on Facebook and Twitter.

 

A final reminder that we’ll need all orders in by Friday 12th December, which isn’t very far away now. We’ll be sending out orders as usual on Thursday 18th and Friday 19th December and the last date for delivery is Tuesday 23rd December, unless you collect from the farm butchery or Crediton Farmers Market.

 

Take the stress out of Christmas and let us deliver your Christmas meats to your door! We are looking forward to hearing from you soon.

 

With best wishes

 

Jo and Tim and all at Higher Hacknell Farm

 

 

It’s party time at the farm and these lucky lads are getting ready to meet our lovely lady ewes! First we have to help them get dressed up with a generous amount of raddle on their chests and then our 8 ‘rambos’ can get together with our 350 ewes ! Now the days are getting shorter, the ewes come into season and will hopefully be ‘covered’ in a single three week cycle; in week one, we generally mark them with red raddle, which is changed to blue the following week, and maybe another colour for the third so they leave a ‘tell tail’ sign which means we know roughly when the ewe will lamb and that she is ‘in lamb’. It is amazing how quickly the hillside changes colour from the green of the grass and white of the sheep, to red, white and green; those boys work hard! We had a false start the other day when one of them managed to get in with the well grown lambs, but he didn’t get away with it for long, as Tim and David caught him before he could do any harm!

 

 

It’s another festival season with our farm cider making taking place this weekend, when family and friends come over to eat, drink and help pick up the apples in the orchard and turn them into juice on our ancient cider press. There’s a wonderful photograph taken by James Ravilious, whose work we greatly admire, of cidermaking here in the 1970s with the caption, ’twas like swallowing razorblades’. I hope things have changed since then! I’ll probably cook up a big slow cooked brisket joint which makes delicious pulled beef with barbecue sauce and should be able to feed a crowd with some home grown baked or mash potatoes. We have a few cooking ideas for brisket on the website recipe page , but I like to cook it long and slow, till it falls apart. It is also our special offer of the week at £10 per kg.

 

 

It feels like Christmas really begins here after cider making, when your Christmas orders start to come in and we get our preparations under way in the butchery. You’ll see the Christmas page is now on the website with a choice of delivery dates, the main one for fresh turkeys being Tuesday 23rd December. Richard, our butcher, will be salting legs of pork for gammon and ham joints in the next few weeks and I’ll be making sure we have plenty of meat hanging in our cold room, but do order as soon as possible as some cuts always sell out, such as ribs of beef and fillet. As we only use whole beef carcasses reared at Higher Hacknell Farm, and don’t just buy in extra cuts, like most butchers do to fulfill orders, it takes a lot of planning this end and we encourage you not to leave it too late. If you’d like to discuss what you’d like this Christmas, then do call me by phone on 01769 560909 or email, otherwise there is plenty of information on our website www.higherhacknell.co.uk.

But don’t forget there’s Halloween to come, as well as Guy Fawkes Night. We have a ‘bonfire night box’ at £27.50, full of our tasty homemade sausages and 100% beef steakburgers which will feed a hungry crowd wanting a warm bite to eat after watching fireworks in the chilly night air. The Autumn colours are beautiful now and our golden brown South Devon cattle look especially stunning at this time of year, blending in with the rusty gold of the larch and turning leaves. The weather has been kind so far and they are still outside at grass, but it’s getting wetter and soon they’ll churn up the fields with mud, so it will be time for them to come in and our winter farm routines to begin.

Keep in touch in the next busy weeks ahead, and let us help sort out your Christmas meal plans. We look forward to hearing from you soon and you can follow our Christmas preparations in the butchery and on the farm on facebook and twitter.

Best wishes

Tim and Jo and the team at Higher Hacknell Farm