News
5th March 2010 - Have a busy day ahead in the field after what has been a busy week. This morning I checked the first drilling of broad beans, the tap roots are 3cm long but as yet no cotyledon. Yesterday we drilled another block of broad beans. Seeding has continued all week so we will soon be doing some planting in the field. This morning we are working on the rhubarb and lavender at King's Farm. We were talking potatoes yesterday and we would hope to be planting the first earlies in 2-3 weeks. We have also completed manure collections from stables a few miles away from Sunnyfields. The dry week has been good and we look forward to a few more days of these dry days and chilly nights.
26th Feb 2010 - Nearly the end of another month. The wet and cold week has not helped the harvesting of parsnips, swedes, leeks and carrots. The seedlings sown last week have been moved from the germinating room into the outdoor tunnels and the seedlings sown at the beginning of the week are all about 1cm high, growth is obviously slow with the shorter days and cold nights. The broad beans drilled 2 weeks ago have now cracked and we have put the crop covers on to prevent bird damage.
This weekend we are supporting the Greening Colden Common Event on Saturday afternoon which is working with the Greening Campaign which is proving to be very good at developing strong community based initiatives to reduce the effects of climate change.
On Monday we are visiting Hounsdown School with Fit2cook to talk to pupils about the 2010 Create and Cook Cookery Competition.
Next Wednesday the 3rd of March is the 2010 Vitacress Conservation Trust Annual Lecture "Eating the Future" at the University of Southampton. Last year Chris Packham delivered an excellent lecture about global conservation issues. This year it is food.
20th Feb 2010 - We had our annual Soil Association inspection this week. Ten hours of detailed record checking, audit trails, and farm walks. This is the first time we have had a "winter" inspection and after first thinking that there is not a lot to see, I have now decided that it was a very good reminder of the detailed records we have to keep, not just to satisfy the Soil Association but to make sure we are monitoring what we are doing. No one can afford to be a "busy fool" during these hard times - and reducing waste - whether that is time or crops is very sensible thing to do.
Ian had a very interesting visit to the offices of The Greening Campaign yesterday and met Terena who heads up the organisation. They are certainly making some real progress - as they say "greeening the country community by community".
The broad beans we drilled last week will need covering with a mesh cover within a few days as the seeds will have started to swell from imbibing water which will soon make them a tasty treat for rooks and crows. They will literally clear a field with with the precision of being armed with a ruler and x ray vision. As a lecturer of Ian's said at agricultural college "one for the rook, one for the crow and one to grow" - we would rather have all to grow hence the mesh cover.
The fresh new season seeding compost has just arrived and this weekend will see us begin seeding for the tunnels - rocket, mizuna and perpetual spinach.
12th Feb 2010 - After a week of high pressure with frosts most nights and a cold easterly wind we have started working in the fields. We have ploughed some of Field 7 and we have drilled 10 beds of broad beans today at Bury Farm. We have used seed saved from last year, with broad beans being one of the easiest crops to "save your own seed". We receive our first delivery of blocking compost next week which means we will start seeding on a large scale. It is always tempting to go a bit early as the days lengthen - but you should always remember we are a long way from the last frost and the soil is still very wet and cold. But the good news is we feel as though we have started the growing season 2010.
4th Feb 2010 - The seed catalogues are very much out on the desks. We are waiting for drier weather to start getting broad beans drilled. February is a traditional time for the beginning of the years bean drilling, but if you get a dry spell you can go in January as well, however no such luck as yet. Yesterday we broadcast seeded a number of seed trays with mixed salad greens which we will grow on in the poly tunnels. We are still harvesting large quantities of root vegetables and brassicas such as kale and cavalo and we have all welcomed the milder temperatures and slightly more daylength.
January 2010
There is nothing like a challenging start to the New Year and the first two weeks have certainly delivered some very challenging conditions. Walking around the farm yard, delivering orders, digging root vegetables, pulling leeks and keeping the shop warm have all been hard. Down here alongside Southampton water we have had slightly better conditions than other parts of the South. On the plus side the cold weather will break pest and disease life cycles.
Next week we are attending a Food Lecture in London by Sir David King on "managing the Earth's resources to deliver food for nine billion.
We are already planning for this years crops as we all know how fast time does fly.
December 2009
Back in work again, just for a few days up to the New Year. The shop is open for two days and then the first Market of the year at Sunnyfields and then open all year until next Christmas!
Happy New Year to you all and here's hoping that 2010 is a good one for us all.
Christmas Dinners at Wave 105
On December 16th we must have set a world record for the number of local food dishes cooked LIVE in a radio studio. We will be posting all the video from the evening - but in the meantime go to Andy's Food Night Page to see what happened.
As you have seen part 1 is on the home page, below are the other nine parts of this local food extravaganza:
Christmas is starting to dominate most of our activities now. After recovering from the sight of 300 "Santas" on motorbikes coming down the main farm drive. Then a few days after - loading a 40 foot Christmas tree onto a low loader lorry which then delivered the tree to the Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth in aid of a charity event. Thanks again to Wendy and Clive Maton at Longdown for supplying this tree, Longdown (where The Otter and Owl Sanctuary is situated) is the place to buy your traditional Norway Spruce tree.
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December see's us at markets all over Hampshire and in London as well as our very own market where in combination with the farm shop and farm cafe, you will find one of the largest ranges of Hampshire, in season foods.
We will be in the Wave 105 studios every Monday in December up until the 15th December, when we will be having a little party in the studio "cooking up" a Christmas dinner with some Hampshire twists.
Please check out the market diary and opening times over the Christmas and New Year so that you do not miss us.
Once again a quick review of 2009 seems to once again say - A year of many challenges with the recession and climate change challenges perhaps being the most dominant issues. We once again thank you for supporting us and the many other local food producers we work with. 2010 we hope has to show more real progress on many fronts, so let us hope that together we can all have a good 2010 without too many negative distractions.
November 2009
November is a strange month on the farm and we find ourselves in the middle of many diffent activities. The fields still have plenty of standing crops, from brassicas to parsnips, spinachs, chards and leeks. The weather has again been mild although copius quantities of rain have been the main challenge.
The Wave 105 - Ride the Wave - Santa ride out to the farm to donate presents for Scratch proved to be a success. We had close to 300 bikes, 3 live bands and thankfully the weather held.
We have also started a regular Monday night slot on Wave 105 every Monday night from 9pm until 10pm on the Andy Jackson Show. Ian goes into the studio with a local chef, cook or food producer and they cook, eat and talk, seasonal food and more...
October 14th 2009
The weather held out for our Halloween evening with all the usual activities taking place from pumpkin carving to scary sounds and lots of seasonal food.Last year's went well - enjoyed by adults, teenagers and small children.
Hope to see some of you there.
Yesterday we launched 4 meat boxes on our box scheme range. Do have a look.
Monday night was the coldest so far this season - frost reported in West Wellow. A heavy frost will wipe out some of our summer crops such as courgettes and lettuce.
October 7th
Last week we made the most of the dry sunny weather and ALL of the potatoes are now out of the fields and into wooden storage bins.
Some of the carrots are also out of the ground - some still in the fields.
This week sees the start of the Squash season - do try all of the different varieties from small Gem Rolets to Spaghetti .
We had a great evening in our marquee on September 25th with a four course dinner prepared and served by Lainston House Hotel. They even brought their round tables and flower arrangements . Our next dinner will be on November 13th with a "Venison and Game" theme. Lee Dart from Newhouse Venison will talk all about managing the deer around the New Forest.
Thursday Bike Nights came to the end of its first Summer season. Around £1000 is being taken on Sunday October 11th BY BIKE to hand over to the Hampshire Air Ambulance. All raised from the admissions charges throughout the season. Thursday Bike Nights will continue through the Winter months on 1st Thursday every month 6pm - 9:30pm.
Sunnyfields Friday Night "Spring" Dinner" (held Friday May 1st)
It was much warmer and lighter than the March dinner. Those that came before in 2s rebooked in parties of 4s and 5s which we took as a very good sign. Fresh sardines, Spring lamb- moroccan style(with 14 spices apparently) and rhubarb tart were enjoyed by all. All the tickets sold out so if you would like to come to the next one book early.
Sunnyfields Friday Night Venison Dinner (held Friday March 27th)
with Lee Dart from Newhouse Venison and chef, Lui Hollomby.
The evening was a great success and we will soon be releasing a programme of Friday Night Sunnyfields Local Food Dinners.
November 13th 2008
We are pleased to announce that we have for sale local New Forest Marque Meat in the farm shop and on the home delivery service. 2008 has been an interesting year regarding a number of activities. We started rearing pigs again, something we did fifteen years ago. We have also opened a temporary cutting room in advance of a fully equipped facility. This enables us not just to rear and process our own produced meat but meat from other local producers. This all fits in well with The New Forest Marque which means that we have full provenance on the local New Forest produced livestock and once again more local food.
October 25th 2008
Susie Carter won the LIVE final of Britain’s Best Dish on October 24th 2008 in front of a live audience of millions.
Susie used many ingredients from Sunnyfields including beetroot which received special comments from the panel of top judges which included Sophie Grigson, John Burton Race, Jilly Goolden, Ed Baines and Blur's Alex James.
Susie “beet” off strong competition to win and throughout the series continually extolled the virtues of Hampshire produce and producers. WELL DONE SUSIE
October 23rd 2008
Today we have sent an e mail to many customers. Below is similar information with a few extra bits:
The Food and More Project has been a passion of Ian Nelson at Sunnyfields for a long time. At last it is gaining some pace. Please visit the website, have a read, make an expression of support or send us an e mail. Please tell us what you think of it…Thanks in advance www.thefoodandmoreproject.com
Britains Best Dish – Tonight Thursday 23rd October Hampshire’s own Susie Carter is in the head to head for the Best Starter. If she gets through tonight then she will appear tomorrow LIVE. The programme today and tomorrow starts at 5pm on ITV. Please watch and support Hampshire produce and Susie. On Friday she might need your phone vote to WIN Britain’s Best Dish 2008.
Halloween Evening at Sunnyfields - Friday October 31st from 6pm. Pumpkin carving (£5 including the pumpkin, carving set and candle) Lots of fun and games, farm café and shop open.
August 4th 2008
The season continues to move on at speed. We are now in summer holiday season so hopefully we might get some summer weather again. The past week has seen changeable weather with cooler temperatures interspersed with rain. Thankfully last weeks New Forest Show had reasonable weather which meant that the crowds did turn out, the show really did need good weather as last year's wash out resulted in heavy losses which if repeated would have put the show in serious financial trouble.
The crops in the field look excellent, the odd failure but generally good. We are fighting a weed flush in carrots at present and have a small back log of planting however this week should see us catch up again. It is the time of the year where the plant raising has ceased, the volume of planting is reducing so we should see some easing of labour usage.
We are beginning to turn our thoughts to The Food Show at The Romsey Show 2008. It is the largest outdoor food event which we are directly involved in organising. This years event is on Saturday 13th September 2008 and this year is the second Food Show within the Romsey Show. Last year was excellent, helped very much by the weather, bumper crowds, great cooking demonstrations and food producers. This years Food Show will match and hopefully exceed last years success. You can buy tickets at the Sunnyfields Farm Shop and via your weekly home delivery order.
Hopefully see you then...Ian
July 15th 2008
Here again and guess what I am going to have to start with....the weather. Last week we had 89mm of rain - quite unbelievable! In addition to the rain we are have low day temperatures and night temperatures typical of September. You might say that I am never happy with the weather, my answer to that is that I can handle hot and dry weather by irrigating with winter stored water but I cannot increase temperatures or stop it raining, so you can see for us what is the best option. Even though we are suffering from the poor weather we still have some fantastic crops which still excite me as I do my 5-6am farm walks.
Do not forget that all our markets during July are themed to coincide with The Hampshire Food Festival. Last Saturday saw us hosting a "childrens market" - music, ducklings, face and bag painting, educational quizzes, mum and piglets, bouncy castles and a "bucking cow". The weather held out and everyone had a good day. This Sunday see's us having a themed "strawberry market".
See you there?...Ian
June 8th 2008
Here again and guess what I am going to have to start with....the weather. I am sat in my office and it is about 26 degrees outside and we will be watering in seedlings this afternoon, which is ironic as we have had 136mm of rain since I last wrote on the 25th May, in old money that is nearly 5.5 inches of rain. We had nearly 4 times the May average in 4 days. In the first few days of June we then had 46mm when the monthly average is around 34mm. Sorry for being such an anorak. Below are some pictures taken at Kings Farm, they are of The River Blackwater and our lake, the river actually rose by 7ft in 12 hours.
What a difference 15 hours makes!
Anyway less of the negatives. The fields are starting to look better in places. We are in full flow on broad bean picking and we are all enjoying this early season favourite. Within the next 5 days we should be on schedule with all crops in terms of drilling, planting and weeding however we are certainly behind on a number of crops. The reasons fro this are mainly linked to a lack of hot sunny days and the odd 5 inches of rain landing at a couple of inches at a time.
For all of our sakes let us hope for that balanced summer weather with hot days expecially at the weekends and then rain at night. Until next time....Ian.
May 25th 2008
My writing of this page is rather erratic at present and reflects what has been a very busy month. Emma, my daughter who was helping in the accounts office is on a gap year trip to central America and returning (poor thing) to the office in 3 weeks and 2 days (who says I am counting, and that includes 2 days off to recover and re-adjust!).
The last 4 weeks are possibly the busiest of the year in the fields in relation to drilling and planting. We also found ourselves being distracted by other projects and activities from Food Festivals to hosting events at the farm.
Last week the final piece of "the moving bank" jigsaw was completed. We have moved from Barclays to Triodos. If you have never heard of Triodos then visit Triodos Bank and take a look. You might even consider depositing some money with them. Our experience of them to date is all positive and we see no reason for this to change.
This morning has seen the first rain on the farm for nearly 4 weeks. We have only had 9 mm however we are hoping for more over the next few days. Below are a number of photographs taken at Bury Farm, Sunnyfields and Kings Farm this morning. For me walking the fields is probably one of the most important jobs of any farmer. I hope to put fingers to keyboard more frequently than once per calendar month - so heres hoping.
Happy local food eating.......Ian
April 25th 2008
Spring certainly has arrived, longer days and we are starting to see seedlings growing and perennial crops waking up. The lavender at Kings Farm is showing large amounts of lush fresh growth and the rhubarb looking good.
The tractor drivers are working flat out, spreading manure and making crop beds. The propagation houses are full to bursting and we are rushing plants into the fields so that we can move the next lot of seedlings in. Courgettes are growing fast, the runner beans have been sown into pots and we are all starting to "feel full of the joys of spring"
With regards to the weather. April certainly has had more of a traditional feel so let us hope that recent "semi long range weather forecasts stating that this summer should be "more normal" with hot dry spells interspersed with rain is correct.
April 6th 2008
A week ago, I wrote spring is in the air, 3 days ago we put new polythene on one of our plant raising
tunnels - this is a job you always do when it is sunny and still!. Yesterday we were cutting the grass on the Farmers' Market "lawn" and breaking down wintered ploughed land and...
This morning more snow than I can remember here in years. A great opportunity to take some "different" photos. Outside my office window now we have blue skies and big fluffy clouds, 5 hours ago a lot of snow. So this morning has been a farm walk morning, checking what stage crops are. Below are photographs of the over-wintered broad beans which are in flower and the first of the spring sown "hiding" under the mesh and snow. The rhubarb (on the home page) is bursting forth and the lavendar is waking up. The field teams are now all itching to get going, so much planting and seeding to do and the tractor drivers are now working around the fields gradually getting the soil into a tilth. Hopefully the temperatures will rise and we can have a dry spell to allow us a flying start.
March 31st 2008
Spring is in the air. Or, at least it was yesterday and is this morning. We had a busy weekend at the Sunnyfields Market however we were once again burdened with strong winds and rain. Roll on some lovely spring and summer days.
Yesterday we were at a number of markets and I found myself at Winchester Farmers' Market helping with a themed market based on "your garden" there were demonstrations and talks by producers with everything from clematis pruning to growing lavender. Hampshire Farmers' Markets also launched their "pumpking growing contest" - a bit of educational fun for children to encourage them to grow something. Seed, compost, a plant pot and instructions were provided, all in all more than 200 "kits" were issued. E mail addresses were collected and articles will appear on the HFM website during the season to monitor progress. In October - final judging will happen at a Winchester Farmers' Market.
Our fields, field staff and machinery are gradually waking up. Last minute tractor repairs are being finished and the seedlings in the tunnels are getting close to planting out. Everything from spinachs, chards, rocket, mizuna, lettuce and brassicas. Anyday now all the onion sets, shallots and potatoes will be planted.We have 3 sowings of broad beans in already and will drill again this week, weather permitting.
Regards, Ian Nelson.
