29 Nov May 2023 Newsletter

Posted at 13:00h in Newsletter by

Paardekraal Produce May 2023

With winter upon us farm life has switched into winter mode, and we have adjusted our working hours accordingly.  The days are shorter with it getting darker earlier and mornings are getting lighter later.  Even the chickens and guinea fowl come in earlier and by 6:00pm everyone has settled down.

Since early March there has been little to no rain.  The veld has dried off quickly, yet the streams keep on running due to the fountains and springs that keep pushing out water.  Last year Geoff and the staff cut down a significant part of the poplar forest on Onbedacht and we can see the benefit of that now with water pushing out of the mountain and the area that is forest has returned to the wetland that it was.

Farming is challenging at the best of times but now we have Eskom with its load shedding that is adding to the challenges.  Selling livestock is not as easy as it used to be.  Consumers are not buying the volumes of meat they used to, due to electricity interruptions playing havoc on refrigeration.  That means the butcher is not buying meat which means the abattoir and feedlot is sitting with volumes they cannot sell, so the intake from the farmer together with the price has reduced. Just some of the many headaches.

With winter kicking in there is definitely a quieter pace.  The goats have dried up in preparation for kidding end of June.  As a result, I am now working the batches of frozen milk that I have.  I did experiment with making a Tomme de Chevre (a hard cheese).  I showcased this at a cheese tasting that I did with a group of local ladies on Paardekraal where we tasted all the cheese that I make and the Tomme went down very well.  It still needs to be perfected but I am getting there.

I have a pop-up stand on the stoep of Lot44 in Graaff Reinet where I sell my produce on the first and last Friday of the month. It has been well received by the locals and a great place to make friends and see friends one doesn’t always get to see when stuck on the farm.

Geoff and I attended a Richard Bosman charcuterie course in Prince Albert.  I can highly recommend this course to anyone.  It was so inspiring, I promptly went back to the farm and made pork rillette from the frozen bellies of our last batch of pigs.  Speak about the pigs, the male piglets have been weaned from their mom and we are about to wean the female pigs.  The piglets were weighed yesterday and on average they are 45kg, so they still have some time to go.  As there is less whey available to the pigs the growth rate will slow down now.

There are simply too many chickens on the farm.  It’s taken a while for me to figure this out but wherever you look there are chickens.  We finally managed to do the deed on some roosters so 18 roosters have been processed into chicken pie and chicken lasagne.  It was a mammoth job and load shedding and the coronation had to be taken into consideration when prepping.  With the change of season there has been a dramatic drop in egg production for both the chickens and the ducks.  This is to be expected as they are moulting and producing new feathers requires a lot of energy so hence the drop in egg laying.

The vegetable garden continues to surprise us and the first of the aubergines were picked.  We have already had our first frost mid-April, so every evening the vegetables and lime tree get put to bed with the coverings pulled over to protect flowers and fruit in case of frost.  The green beans are now finished as are the courgettes, but there are aubergines (as mentioned), green & red peppers, and tomatoes are continuing.  Geoff has planted the winter vegetables but there are more to still be planted.

For this month I have the following on offer:

  • Free ranging farm Chicken eggs.
  • Country Vegetable soup made from the organic vegetables from the garden (vegetarian)
  • Green bean, courgette, and lentil curry (vegan)
  • Chicken Lasagne
  • Chicken Pie
  • Cape Curry using farm hogart.
  • Green Bean Bredie using hogart from the farm
  • Pork rillette
  • Italian style preserved green beans in olive oil

 

All produce is made from free ranging animals.  We do not administer growth hormones or antibiotics on a routine basis.
Whilst every effort has been made to remove bones from the dishes, care should still be taken when consuming.
Dishes do not contain pork.

Many thanks for your continued support.