It is GAME ON at the Verrow. The warm and bright weather has brought Spring on very quickly. For us, it is a little bit like that feeling when you have slept through your alarm. It has been an unusually dry winter for most parts of England. If you are a builder by trade then you will have had very little to stop you from working. Here in Herefordshire Farmers are busy planting potatoes and whilst the warmth and dryness means a good early start for most, there will be a certain fear in everyone’s minds as to what lies ahead. Logic and probability would suggest that rain must come at some time and pessimists might predict too much water will fall from the skies in the coming months. For us at Fern Verrow, we thank our lucky stars that we have a spring which provides  all our water on the farm and so we have been able to irrigate the herb beds and the flower beds, it’s most unusual to be needing to water things outside at this time of the year. If rain does not fall, then all plants struggle to grow. This means the same for grass. Warmth and moisture means levity. So, fingers crossed that there will be some rain so that the sheep outside, who are all busy having lambs at this time of year, can have plenty of lush green grass to eat and thus to thrive.

We have put our Cows outside this week and all the pigs are in the fields, contained by electric fences to eat their way through the remainder of last years crops, which does them a lot of good and also helps us to begin to prepare the soil for planting new vegetables into. The pigs will eat off the growth above ground and begin to open the soil up. Then we will move the pigs off the soil and spred a thin layer of cow manure onto the ground. This cow manure has been outside composting for a year and will help to condition the soil and aid in fertility. This will then be worked into the soil and when the consistency of the ground is fine, rather like the soil that pops up in a molehill, then it is ready to make into beds and the planting and sowing of vegetables can begin. Preparing the soil is not unlike making a pastry the old fashioned way without a magimix, but with two knives to cut up the butter. The finer the consistency of the soil, the easier its is to work subsequently. So when the soil is dug into or opened, the process begins. If the weather above ground is dry and hot, then moisture in the open soil evaporates. If it goes too far this way, then it will dry into clods. Rain will bring moisture, as will the morning dew. So it is a case of catching it just at the right moment, in order to achieve the fine consistency you are looking for.

This Saturday, please take note that we, along with the other “Maltbies” will be in our new location that is Spa Terminus, on Dockley Road. Please check the map on our home page or the Maltby street website. The entrance to the Yard where we are will be an alley way off Spa Road. Lots of free parking is around the area. We will be a little makeshift, but will get things organised in the following weeks. Look forward to seeing you there!

First day of Spring.. and yes it really is spring.. warm dry days ( trying not to think about the dryness) Seeds have been sown and germination going very well. I have been particularly obsessed with flowers this week, with a new flower bed having been created, and with the help of Cornelius we have sown flower plants from seed… white flowers seem to be our theme this season, most exciting, look out for white cornflowers this year. Harry is busy with fencing and landscaping Fern Verrow, something that makes him very happy. Kata our new worker is learning about how we do things here, and she has helped us with putting all the pigs onto the land to help with their necessary work on the land. So things going well and according to plan.

Animal wise our ewes are looking fat and are due to lamb in a fortnight. Curly our cow and her daughter Calfie are  to be put onto pasture next week. Haven’t seen any cows outside yet, but sure that we are ready for this now as the grass is growing and we have plenty of good pasture to feed our two ladies. The chickens are laying well, and we will be incubating some eggs next week with the intention of raising some chicks for meat and egg production. Very exiting news, we have a goose sitting on a dozen eggs, something that we have not had much success with in recent years. Her “husband” sits alongside her and accompanies her down to the stream every morning, honking at the other birds to make way. Fingers crossed that we shall have a few goslings waddling around the farm in about three weeks time. Hatching them is one thing, but stopping them being taken by hawks is another.

This week is our last day at Stanworth street, from next Saturday 31st we will be at Spa Terminus, please look on our home page for a new map.

Meanwhile this weekend we have sausages for sale, more lovely greens, herbs and salad crops. The first of the Sanguinello blood oranges( the best in our opinion) These are from Italy and are certified biodynamic, as are the new crop of lemons.  More blossom for sale, this week the plum twigs are just about to produce their very delicate, white opaque blooms.

We have a few ducks for sale for Easter if anyone would like one please let us know and we can book one for you.

Fifty years of planting by the moon – Eminent Researcher Dies

Maria Thun, the key figure in establishing the modern sowing and planting calendar taking in the phases of the moon and the movement of the planets, died at her farm in mid Germany on 8th February 2012.

Hers was a methodical research embedded in an enquiring mind, which began in the 1950s when noticing changes in germination patterns she set out on what was to prove to be a life long journey investigating the phenomena of different plant growth characters when sown on different days. By linking this phenomena to astrological calendars she observed a suitable day to sow leaf, root, flower and fruiting seed types and moreover when to plant them out.

There have been farming calendars before, even Old Moore’s Almanac featured a sowing guide a hundred years ago but it was Maria’s linking the sowing calendar with biodynamic farming practice with its awareness of star and furrow, compost preparations and field sprays that gave her calendar a special relevance.

From her biodynamic farm in Germany, Maria Thun published her first calendar noting her observations 50 years ago in 1962 and although there have been other sowing and planting calendars since, she is acknowledged as the central figure in establishing the calendar as a vital land practice tool beyond the biodynamic movement.

Hers was a story of constant evaluation, the best time to cut wood, turn milk to butter, graft saplings, take honey, make juices. Even traffic dangers were noted on certain days, an exhortation to be careful when driving or as a pedestrian.  Many farmers and gardeners not to mention foresters and food processors owe their good husbandry practice to her yearly publication and she will be missed for her acquired and instinctive wisdom on land matters. As if to acknowledge her work many high quality vineyards discovered in the last decade the dramatic improvement of wine taken from biodynamically grown plants harvested in certain constellations. To everyone’s surprise, Tesco and Sainsbury´s have organised wine tasting sessions based on her observations.

Her son takes on the farm and her work as well as being a renowned artist.

We will be at the Arch again this week with a host of green vegetables. Purple sprouting at its best tasting sweet and good for you. Spring greens in season, properly cooked ie without too much cooking are delicious. More blossom buds also for sale.

The new growing season draws near, couriers arrive with heavy boxes of seeds. The land is ready for the pigs to move onto various patches to turn, airate and eat off any weeds that may be lurking. Two of our new workers arrive next weekend, so we will start sowing again. All the fruit bushes and trees have been pruned, and growth is begining to appear, let’s hope that winter does not reappear bringing potential frost damage to tender shoots.

We are again at the Arch this weekend, with lots of nice greens, purple sprouting, spinach and kales. Salad leaves are plentiful. As many of you know the Maltbies are on the move, our last trading day in our present spaces is 24th March. From 31st we will be just a few minutes away at Dockley. Full addresses and maps to follow next week.

We are back at the Arch this Saturday after a two week gap… lots of growth the last two weeks with the lovely early spring weather. This week we have some beautiful cauliflower, spring greens, a good quantity of purple and white sprouting. Carrots, parsnip and potatoes. Cavolo nero and sprout tops also.The first of our own herbs too, amazing for the time of year. We will also have some very pretty iris’s and blossom cuttings for sale. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Freezing rain is falling making surfaces rather slippery underfoot. The snow forecasted last night didn’t come, so we are thankful, and hope once the ground has thawed that we will be able to harvest a few vegetables.

We will of course be at the Arch tomorrow with as much as we can bring. The chickens are laying well, so we have quite a few eggs to sell this week. We have plenty of potatoes and squash. Some spring greens and cavalo nero. Again a wonderful selection of citrus, please note that sevilles are coming to an end, as are the bergamot lemons.A fresh batch of bacon and gammon joints also for sale this Saturday. Don’t forget that we are not down in London again until the 3rd march.

February is here, for us the last winter month, and the ground is frozen two inches deep. Beautiful clear sunny days, the morning and evening skies full of pearl like shades of pink and blue. The first real cold spell we have had all winter. Always in two minds about it of course. We love the quality that the frosts bring to our soil. However freezing temperatures can, if too prolonged, damage the plants. Painful memories of last years “big freeze” creeping into our minds. Any picking for this week has had to take place in the afternoon, to allow the warmth of the early afternoon sun to revive the drooping heads of the cold plants briefly before the temperature begins to fall again at about 3pm. How do plants survive the cold I ask myself, whilst I am layered up in thermals, and woolen jumpers, at least three pairs of socks, a thin layer first , thick wool the next and a top coat of looped cotton socks on top, and a pair of neoprene lined boots. Looking rather square and large, with a small head above my wide shoulders and a wooly hat to make myself look more ridiculous!

Yes, how do these cold-blooded plants survive over the winter, standing naked in exposed areas? I am no botanist, but from my observations and experience I see that they are very clever and resourceful. With the lower than usual amount of moisture in the soil, and that the frost is not deeply into the ground, the brain and life source of the plant (its roots) are not frozen or damaged. The heads and leaves of the plants are drooping and hanging low in a state of semi dormancy. I know that these plants have a natural source of lets call it anti freeze, and that they are protecting themselves so that the moisture in the leaves and stems does not freeze and kill off any life in the plant. Often the tips of the leaves and any new growth can get burnt by the cold. So although picking has been tricky and in some cases impossible this week, with the thaw forecasted next week, all should be well and the plants will be perky and upright again.

We are at the Arch on Saturday with a selection of Fern Verrow Winter produce, and two varieties of blood orange, lots of other beautiful citrus too.  We have made a new bergamot lemon and lime marmalade to try, and also some preserved bergamot lemons. Sausages this week also, and Bacon next.

Just to let you know in advance that we will not be at the Arch on Saturday 18th February and Saturday 25th February. We are unable to leave the farm for two weeks, but we shall be back as usual on Saturday 3rd March.

In his unusual and extremely readable autobiography, “Memories, Dreams, Reflections”, the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung describes his encounter with the Native American cheif of the Taos pueblos in New Mexico in 1932.

“I was able to talk with him as I have rarely been able to talk with a European,” Jung recalls. “To be sure, he was caught up in his world just as much as a European is in his, but what a world it was! In talk with a European, one is constantly running up on the sand bars of things long known but never understood; with this Indian, the vessel floated freely on deep alien seas. At the same time, one never knows which is more enjoyable: catching sight of new shores, or discovering new approaches to age old knowledge that has been almost forgotten.”

Chief Ochwiay Biano (which means Mountain Lake) must have sensed a kindred spirit in the Swiss Doctor, because he was devastatingly candid with him, saying:

“See how cruel the whites look, their lips are thin, their noses sharp, their faces furrowed and distorted by folds. Their eyes have a staring expression; they are always seeking something. What are they seeking? The whites always want something. They are always uneasy and restless. We do not know what they want. We do not understand them. We think that they are all mad.”

When Jung asks why he thinks they are all mad, Mountain Lake replies,” They say they think with their heads.”

“Why of course,” says Jung, ” what do you think with?”

“We think here,” replies  Cheif Mountain Lake, indicating his Heart.

After this exchange Jung fell into a deep meditation. The Chief had struck a vulnerable spot. Jung saw image upon image of cruelties wreaked by his forebears:  “the Roman Eagle on the North Sea and the White Nile, the keenly incised features of Julius Ceaser, Scipio Africanus, and Pompey. . . Charlemagne’s most glorious forces conversions of the heathen. . . the pillaging, murdering bands of the Crusading armies. . .the peoples of the Pacific islands decimated by firewater, syphilis and scarlet fever carried in the clothes the missionaries forced on them.”

Chief Mountain Lake had shown Jung the other face of his own civilisation: it was ” the face of a bird of prey seeking with cruel intentness for distant quarry. . .”

What makes this dialogue reported by Jung so relevant, is that it is a living encounter between a representative of the unconscious ” heart-thinking” of the ancients and a modern man of science and pioneer of consciousness who understood that the wisdom of the heart must catch up with our overdeveloped ” thinking heads” if we are to survive. We must marry our thinking with our doing. We have to preserve the gold in the age-old “knowledge of the heart” and keep making it ever more conscious if we are to protect our growing human possibilities from the keen-featured bird-of-prey mentality that circles above. We must develop a new consciousness of the Heart.

We will be at 55 Stanworth st on Saturday as usual, with a good selection of our winter vegetables , and a  few ” bought in” from southern Euorope which shines out: blood oranges from Sicily, Seville oranges from Southern Spain, Bergamot lemons from Morocco.  A feast for the eyes and for your tastebuds and general wellbeing in the depths of winter.

Any of the produce that has not be grown at Fern Verrow, is from small producers and is grown biodynamically or organically and we believe grown with the above in mind.

Sorry for the lateness of this weeks post… just to say we are at the Arch as usual with plenty of produce. Purple Sprouting, some brocoli, perfect cauliflower and a good selection of green leaves. Lots of potatoes, squash and roots. Another batch of this years citrus from Italy… sweet, very juicy oranges and bergamot lemons from Morocco. Also this week the first batch of marmalde. A very bright four fruit using pink grapefruit, bergamot lemons , lime and seville. Another that is deep in colour and texture, caramled seville.

Will try and have a more interesting post next week

We are back at the arch this Saturday. We will be bringing a great selection of vegetables, partly thanks to the spring like weather we seem to have had most of this winter so far. The old favourites such as leeks, kale and roots are all abundant and in great condition. Purple sprouting and cauliflowers are showing six weeks early, so these too are for sale this week. What extraordinary weather we are having; if one didn’t know the date and amount of daylight hours, you would think that spring was upon us. Snowdrops, daffodils and tulips all poking their first growth through, usually at least eight weeks apart. Birds are singing as if it were spring. It has just been Harry and Jane since Christmas and we are enjoying getting on with things quietly. Pruning fruit trees and bushes is off to a good start, and general planning for this coming season.

Very happy to say that we are able to bring the first of new season citrus this week, pink grapefruit, oranges… including blood oranges, not quite at vampire stage yet, but sweet and good. Bergamot lemons too make their first appearance and the first of the Seville. Watch out for marmalade in the next few weeks.

See you on Saturday