Thursday 26 November 2015

My first butchery masterclass





From our last blog you will remember that we are just entering the world of selling and tasting our very first traditional Sussex grass fed beef.  As part of this process we think it is really important that our involvement doesn't just end in loading our special animals for the abattoir but our respect continues all the way to how they are butchered and sold.  This is why we are so chuffed that head butcher Will (pictured top) from Barfields Butchers has taken half of our first animal, (the other half has gone to chef Charlie from the Chimney House, see previous blog).  We have been regularly supplying lamb to Will for a while now so we know what a great business he runs.

I had asked if I could spend a couple of hours one morning to watch our beef being broken down (note butcher language), so I spent Tuesday morning with Matthew watching and learning the incredible skill and art butchery is.  The second photo shows the chuck end of the rib which would be trimmed down further and tied to make rib of beef, perhaps the ultimate roast?  The last 2 photos are Matthew trimming out the feather bone and as you can see he looks pretty pleased!  It was a privilege to watch, thank you for having me guys!

More soon

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Freddie and Belle

Tuesday 10 November 2015

A real treat and a significant new chapter



Wow.  Our first steer (a castrated bull calf) was ready a few weeks ago and we sold one side to Will at Barfields Butchers on the Ditchling Road in Brighton and the other side to Charlie, chef at the Chimney House pub in Brighton.  This really did feel significant.  Our first beef, reared on our farm and fattening only on our grassland.  The traditional Sussex breed slow to fatten but worth the wait!  Charlie really kindly put together a tasting menu just for us and my Mum!  We were treated to cheek in a bun, delicious, followed by tongue with squash puree, incredible, heart (pictured above) with alexanders in an amazing broth, and we ended with onglet, with rape greens and chips!  The onglet was so tender.  It really does show that nose to tail eating is the way forward.  These often forgotten cuts are just what real eating is all about, hence our friend Ellie in Brighton has named her business Forgotten Cuts!  We were all slightly bowled over by the taste, the fact it was our very own meat and that Charlie had done this for us.  Thank you so much Charlie.  Please pop in and taste it for yourselves, you won't be disappointed.

More soon

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Freddie and Belle









Raddles on and ready to go!





One of my favourite jobs in our sheep farming calendar is getting the rams ready to go in with the girls.  At every other time of year when we try and handle them whether its to trim a lame foot or for shearing, it is hard work.  They won't stand still and make the task a whole lot harder.  However, when it comes to fitting raddles, well, they really do know what is coming next.  They stand still as good as gold.  Our two Lleyn rams (pictured above) will normally disappear to the other end of the field when they see us coming but when we turned up to load them in the trailer and they saw the raddles, they practically walked in.  Raddles?  A special harness we put on them which has a crayon positioned on their chest which then leaves a mark on the ewe once they have performed their business.  The last photo shows the ewes literally circling them in excitement.  Lambing 2016 here we come!

More soon

Camilla, Roly, Molly, Freddie and Belle

For those of you who have kindly noticed that there is a significant person missing from our usual sign off, dear Boris is no longer with us.  He was 15, which for a staffy we are told is unheard of.  We miss him and so does Belle.