I'm now taking 2014 Christmas Turkey orders

 

 Brook Cottage Farm

 

Free Range, HeritageTurkeys

 

Please call to order

 

01279 777235 / 07919 888655

 

Traditional and rare breed turkeys - Norfolk Black, Cambridge Bronze, Bourbon Red, Slate Blue and Lavender, reared slowly having been fully free ranged at low density on a generously sized grass paddock (see picture).  Humanely slaughtered on the farm to reduce transport stress: compassionate farming and the highest standards of animal welfare are at the heart of what we do. 

Traditional breeds do not have the "double-breasted" conformation of modern breed commercial birds but they produce meat with superior texture and flavour. 

 

Please call to order your turkey.

A £20 deposit, balance payable on collection from Furneux Pelham.

 

Price is £12 per kg

 

Ooo I do love making lists. This morning I have made, yet another, long list of all the things I would like to do / could possibly do on the field. Obviously the first part of the list concerns all things equine - fencing, cross country courses, sorting the office out with shelves for hats etc but then the list moves on to a section for the farm ..... now this is exciting - what about pick your own strawberries for summer 2015? How about a petting corner sort of thing, with pigs and rabbits and quails and ducks and goats? All in pens and paddocks around a lovely twisting footpath for people to walk along and stop and feed the animals as they go? We could put up owl nesting boxes, create habitats for hedgehogs and develop a nature trail? What about a birds of prey centre? You see.. the possibilities are endless.

I have at least ticked one thing off my list today and that was to arrange the October half term riding school activities - and these are now on the Facebook page.  I will print copies out to give to regular riders and I might have one laminated and put up in the office.  I have recently discovered that Leanne, the yard manager, has a laminator at her house! How cool is that? I am making a list of all the documents it would be very useful to have laminated and put up in the office.

Whilst Autumn is beautiful, and the shift in routine for the animals is refreshing and new, it does mean shorter days and so unfortunately once the clocks go back we will no longer be able to have our Thursday and Friday evening lessons. We will have to squeeze you into the weekend timetable instead.  I have got out my woolly socks and gillets, and the hunt is on the all the millions of gloves I bought last winter for the kids to wear whilst riding. At least no one minds wearing a body protector now its cooler .........

xx

"I haven't posted for a while" ......

I sometimes used to read other blogs and often came across a post which read "sorry I haven't blogged for a while, I've been a bit busy" and I used to think why apologise, does anyone care all that much? Anyway, seen as it is a year since my last post I am going to start this post with "sorry I haven't blogged for a while, I've been a bit busy"....

Actually I have been a flighty tart and switched to facebook! We have a facebook page - brookcottagefarm where I have been posting details of the riding school's holiday programmes, lessons etc.

The riding school has been officially open for almost 6 months now and oh my god I am LOVING it. The ponies are great, we have the wonderful Sam Callow teaching with me and a fabulous team of helpers. We have held two summer shows during the holidays and days like these have given us a lot to celebrate.  There is still so much to do and so much to save up for, like a barn, a tractor, more ponies, a security door for the tack room, a cross country course around 15 more acres of fencing.

We have made plenty of mistakes along the way (notice how that was "we" rather than "I"!!) but I think that's ok to make mistakes as long as one learns from ones mistakes. So I have written the learning points down so as to be sure not to repeat them.  Things like, don't have over 1,000 bales of hay cut with nowhere to store it, don't forget to castrate one of the ram lambs, don't advertise the wrong dressage test for the show, don't have only one set of tack room keys and then lose them on a Saturday morning before a full day of lessons meaning we can't get the saddles and bridles out of the tack room, don't forget to get the horses vaccinated on time so as not to have to start all over again etc etc.  But boy have we learned some extremely useful skills - for example I don't believe anyone in East Hertfordshire can tie tarpaulin onto a hay stack to cover it from the rain with baler twine as well as me, I just don't think anyone (not even my Dad) can match me on that one. And I have developed the most deep farmers tan - complete with white ankles and feet and sports bra markings.

Projects for this autumn are to look into grants for planting woods / trees / hedges and then to plant them ...... we are doing Christmas turkeys again and the riding school is fully up and running and lovely and busy.  I am looking to be accredited as an RDA (riding for the disabled) facility so that I can hold weekly RDA sessions for the Herts & Essex branch in addition to the riders with disabilities who ride with me on a private basis xx

Pictures from our opening party - thanks Denis O' Regan for fab photos x