Well….Is local better??!!

This was the question of everyone’s lips last Thursday at Orchard Park, when their New Year events programme started with a fascinating evening of food, drink and debate.

Richard Cumming Managing Director of Orchard Park said “We wanted to offer our customers the opportunity to explore the issue and to show how local producers and local supermarkets need to work together.  This was illustrated by the menu we planned for the evening – which was a compliment of locally produced, locally sourced and not so local food and drink”.

On arrival guests were welcomed with a glass of vintage Cava which was kindly donated by Jamie Charrington-MacKenzie of Hicks & Don wine merchants,  or a glass of beer from the Keystone Brewery, then the panel of experts chaired by BVM editor Fanny Charles answered a series of questions from the audience that covered issues as diverse as how many people actually buy their weekly groceries from local producers and there was even a question close to Orchard Park’s heart when  the question “why more farmers do not rear traditional breeds if the meat is so superior?” fortunately Sheila Clarke of Lagan Farm was on hand and responded that ‘there has been an age of specialisation in Holstein cattle which produce a huge amount of milk, and Belgian Blues who produce large quantities of meat, however this is now changing with animals performing well on what the farmer can produce in a sustainable way with a move away from importing products such as soya and in turn reducing carbon footprint”

The illustrious panel included Charles Dowding a commercial vegetable grower and passionate campaigner for local produce, Jason Payne Manager of Asda, Gillingham, Charlie Turnbull of Turnbulls Deli and Shaftesbury Feastival, Jim Highnam MD of BV Dairy and Alasdair Large of Keystone Brewery.  All were delighted by the high standard of the questions asked and were certainly kept on their toes by the knowledgeable audience.

During the evening a carefully planned menu  was served including a delicious antipasti of olives from Olives Et Al, cheese from Longmans Dairy and Godminster  and award winning chutney from ‘Dorset with love’ . Anya of Orchard Park made blini’s which were topped with Mere smoked trout terrine.  Shaun Carthy, chef at OP made a mouth watering soup of Celeriac, spinach and horseradish which was followed by fillet of Irish Moiled beef from Lagan Farm with lentil du puy, prepared by Callum Keir of Holbrook House who, in the interval, gave a short cooking demonstration.  After a second round of questions, a not so local dessert was served of exotic fruits supplied by Asda which was complimented perfectly with a good serving of local clotted cream from BV dairy.

Mr Cumming said “We were overwhelmed by the interest in the evening and we have had some wonderful feedback from audience members and the panel and we hope that this will the first of many such events here at Orchard Park.

In fact Orchard Park have already planned a Gardeners Question Time on March 28th, please visit www.orchardpark.biz  or call 01747 835544 for further details

Orchard Park Question Time.

There has been huge interest in the forthcoming Question Time event being held at Orchard Park on Thursday 26^th Jan at 7pm, and now that details of the menu have been published, there is going to be a lot more!!

Orchard Park’s own chef Shaun and guest chef Callum Keir of Holbrook House have been busy planning a delicious tasting menu for guests to enjoy throughout the evening as they battle with the question “Is local better”!

First there will a chance to try some olives by Olives Et Al, a local cheddar from Godminster organic, and a blue cheese from Longmans Dairy all set to get the taste buds buzzing!  Winter root vegetable soup follows as the questioning debate gets under way.

During the interval Callum will give a short cooking demonstration using Lagan Farm’s own Red Poll beef; he will be preparing Fillet of Red Poll Beef with Lentil Du Puy and this delicious dish will then be served to guests.

After the second session of questions the evening will end with a delicious selection of exotic fruits supplied by Asda and served with BV Dairy clotted cream as guests chat with members of the panel.

Local brewer Alastair Large of Keystone Brewery will be offering samples of his locally produced ales and Jamie Mackenzie-Charrington from Wine Merchants Hicks & Don will show how French wines can complement both local and international dishes!

The evening promises to be a perfect blend of the local and not so local, come along and join the debate, tickets are £12 each or 2 for £20 to include the complete tasting menu and a soft drink.

Tickets are available from Orchard Park, Turnbulls Deli and Shaftesbury TIC.

For more details please contact Jilly at Orchard Park on 01747 835544

In spite of the lack of rainfall, dire predictions of global warming, drought and various types of pestilence waiting to fall on our poor old heads, what an absolutely marvelous season we are having, so let’s give praise and enjoy all our blessings.

The old Blackmore Vale clay cursed and reviled all the winter, turns up trumps when it really matters and grows us loads of lovely grass and fodder when drier, easier working soils have given up.

Silaging is going well as I write and the hay crop looks promising. When the cattle’s victuals are in the clamp and bale we can then relax – a little bit.

We have finished lambing, a very good crop indeed, the first new seasons lamb is in the shop – and going out again just as fast.

The last few cows to calve are still in the barn. Lagan Ladyship, who looked as if she was carrying quads, just got busy and produced a strong looking calf. What sex it is I cannot tell you, since she fixes me with a long cold stare, shakes her head, stamps her foot and clearly tells me to keep my distance. She’s bigger than me, so I think I will!

More drama again this morning – the little Kerry Bog Pony mare “Bessie” decided she was not going to foal in our carefully prepared foaling box, she was going to sneak off behind the hedge when we put her out in the field, and have it there. Whereupon the two other ponies decided to try and steal the foal for themselves to save themselves the bother of producing their own.

So confronted with a distraught mum, a thoroughly confused little filly foal and a stupid stallion trying to help, a certain amount of sorting out was needed. All’s well that ends well however, but isn’t it amazing how useless the males of all species are at times like these.

The Italian P.O.W.’s who worked at Park Farm after the war made several items in stone and concrete, one of which was a fountain. We bought it up here when we moved and at last it is now working as originally intended. It’s an awful timewaster outside my office window, so fascinating to watch all the different birds drinking and bathing in it. The starlings have a communal dip, as do the sparrows, but the little goldfinches are quite dignified and the wagtails are quite hilarious, their enjoyment is so obvious.

Hope you can all enjoy this wonderful summer to the full.

Sheila.

A bright sunny day, full of hope and a new growing season almost with us. Apart from the relief of having made it through another winter, there is the real optimism that comes with the knowledge that a fresh spring means a fresh start when you can try to avoid all the mistakes made last year and get it going properly! Garden writers always advise careful planning during December and January, and if the weather always, start to prepare the garden for spring. In reality a quick flick through the seed catalogue might just precede a visit to the garden centre and then you come face to face with the wall-of- colour seed racks! How to decide? My guidelines are very simple; know what space you have to work with. There is no point in trying to grow crops that need vast amounts of space if you don’t have it. Secondly grow the things you like to eat. Thirdly make sure that you can actually grow to maturity the crops you have selected; that means getting them sown early enough and in the right conditions.

Thinking back to my training (I studied agriculture) and I can clearly remember that the key to productivity was always claimed to be timeliness – getting crops sown at the right time, not too early when seed rots in the ground and not too late so that it cannot reach its potential. Plants are like that; they need time, space and respect and it doesn’t matter if you grow to eat or grow to admire, it always works the same way.

So, what to grow this year? I am lucky enough to have plenty of space and a tunnel to grow in. It worked well last year with tomatoes and salad crops. The plan is to get early broad bean and pea crops growing along with leaf veg such as spinach and various salads. The tomatoes will go out there as soon as they are large enough and the frost is gone. With rising food prices most of our energy will have to go into the veg garden although some early season work on shrub and perennial borders will mean that they can more or less take care of themselves until June. I do make compost, leafmold and chip wood plants so that gives me enough material to spread as a mulch, which is so important in suppressing annual weeds, retaining moisture and feeding the soil. No need to dig it in, the earthworms will do that for me. If you have the opportunity, get hold of Charles Dowding’s excellent book ‘Organic Gardening’ sub-titled ‘The Natural No-dig Way’.

You don’t have to garden organically but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t but more importantly the principles of improving soil quality through the addition of organic matter is fully explained without breaking your back!

Shoppers and retailers are concerned about the changes in VAT this week. Garden centres are no different from other retailers, and are now trying to find a sensible path through the mine field of price changes following the VAT increase to 20%.

Richard Cumming, managing director of Orchard Park garden centre, on the outskirts of Gillingham, said “We will be absorbing most of the increase in Vat as I really do not want to saddle my customers with an extra burden at this time of the year. I expect that there will be a few price increases later in the year but I am far more concerned about the effect of rising fuel costs. Already a number of suppliers have said that they will be charging extra or making surcharges to cover their increased costs. Again we will do our utmost to keep any increases to the minimum. It could be a real boost for local industries if they can produce plants or garden products within easy distance of the garden centre.”

The Lagan Farm Shop based at the garden centre has always had a policy of sourcing local wherever possible to keep the food miles at a minimum. The vast majority of the meat on offer has been bred and finished within a reasonable well aimed stones throw of the shop!