Strawberries

Yes we know it's still April but this weekend we are delighted to be able to offer you real English strawberries. They are an early variety, Sonata, which taste the way strawberries used to before they were available 52 weeks of the year with the supermarket foriegn imports. They are sweet, juicy and delicious, but don't take our word for it pop by the shop and buy yourself a punnet, you won't regret it.

Seasonal Eating - Easter Weekend

A very happy Easter to you all.

At their best at this time of year:

New potatoes
Broccoli
Rhubarb
Asparagus

Also in season:

Carrots
Cauliflower
Maincrop potatoes
Leeks
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Onions

They can all be found in the Orchard Farm Shop along with the last of our 2010 crop of apples and pears.

Dandelions - Dandelion Wine

Lots of dandelions flowering in the orchard at the moment so we thought we'd share a recipe for Dandelion Wine:

• 2 litre jug of dandelion heads


• 4 oranges


• 1500 grams of sugar


• 4.5 litres of water


• 50grams of all purpose yeast plus 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient

1. Cut away the green from the flower heads.Boil enough water to pour over the flowers to cover them completely and leave for two days to steep.


2. After two days, squeeze the oranges, retaining both the peel (without white pitch) and the juice separately.Gently re-boil the mixture with the peel of the oranges ,allow to cool slightly.Whilst cooling, add the sugar to a fermenting bucket and then carefully strain the hot mixture through a fine cloth or muslin. Stir the mixture afterwards to dissolve the sugar completely.


3. Allow to cool, before adding yeast nutrient, orange juice and yeast.Move into a fermentation jar and fit airlock, store in a warm dark place and allow to ferment.


4. Rack off as required & bottle when cleared.

Seasonal Eating - this week

At their best at this time of year:

New potatoes

Broccoli

Rhubarb

Asparagus

Also in season:

Carrots

Cauliflower

Maincrop potatoes

Leeks

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Onions

They can all be found in the Orchard Farm Shop along with the last of our 2010 crop of apples.

Cowslips

We have cowslips for sale in the farm shop

at £2.00 a pot

they look wonderful planted with forget-me-nots.

Blossom Time

The apples are in blossom

The Orchard Today 7th April

Our plum trees are a mass of white blossom

The apple trees a mass of green, but upon closer inspection, nestled in those little green leaves are

blossom buds.

If this warm spell continues it won't be long before the whole orchard is a froth of blossom.

In the Orchard - Plum Blossom

Our plum trees are a mass of blossom at the moment, beautiful but fleeting. A windy day may well send all the petals fluttering to the ground where they will lay like snow. But not before the fruit is set, we can look forward to a delcious harvest of plums in just a few short weeks.

Asparagus

This is a snap of the very first asparagus of 2011 in the farm shop. It's English, grown just a few miles down the road, in the next village to us and it's delicious. We LOVE asparagus and it's arrival is one of the super things about Spring.

Seasonal Eating - this week

At their best at this time of year are:

Broccoli

Rhubarb

Cauliflower

Purple Sprouting Boccoli

Also in season:

Carrots

Leeks

Potatoes (maincrop)

Onions

They can all be found in the Orchard Farm Shop along with the last of our 2010 crop of apples.

The Orchard Tea Room - Proposed Plans

So here are the proposed plans for the Orchard Tea Room

Work on the tea room will commence shortly.