Castlefarm Shop Newsletter

11-Nov-2009

Castlefarm Newslettter, October 09

Castlefarm Shop October newsletter 09
Email jenny@castlefarmshop.ie to receive this newsletter by email
Castlefarm Autumn events diary
• Sunday 11th Oct 2pm Foraging walk with Paddy English.  Learn about and feast from our 300 metre wild foraging hedge.  The birds may even have even left a little fruit on the hedges for you to taste! No charge.

• Sunday 18th Oct Farmer for a morning at 11.30am.  Help feed the piglets and new born calves, collect your own ½ dozen of eggs.  €7.50 per child including eggs.

• Sunday 25th of Oct 3pm. Free farm walk.  Meet our new hens. See how the pigs, ducks and new hens have settled in and see the how the farm is changing ahead of the winter.

• Friday 30 and Sat 31st October.  Halloween kids club from 10am-3pm culminating in a party each day.  Pumpkin carving, face painting, trick or treats, games crafts and more, fiendish baking.  Cost €30 per child, includes small lunch and Halloween lantern.  To book or enquire contact Michelle on 086-3736402 or email tours@castlefarmshop.ie

• Christmas craft fair Sunday 22nd of November.  See below carol singers and stallholders wanted!

Whats in season in the Castlefarm garden
Growth has really slowed down and our final tomatoes, grapes, raspberries, rhubarb, courgettes and cucumbers will be harvested in the next 2 weeks.  Leeks have come into season and carrots and parsnips are on their way.  We will continue to have plenty of Swedes and cooking apples for the next couple of months.

Organic milk on the way
The Little Milk Company is a group of farmers (including myself and Peter) who have got together to produce cartons of organic milk.  The milk should be heading for the Castlefarm Shop shelf later in the month and I will let you know when it is available.

On the farm
Autumn calving continues with a couple of calves still being born each week.  We are getting the cows’ winter housing ready.  Last week we brought in extra straw from another farm a couple of miles away.  Our organic cattle feed also arrived and this month we will start supplementing the cows diet of grass with this feed.

Castlefarm egg situation
Just to explain the shortage of eggs at the moment....
There are 3 factors which have led to the slowdown in the hens laying
The sharp drop in temperature (hens do not like sudden changes in the weather), the dark evenings (hens need 14 hours of daylight for optimum egg production) and the hens age (most of our hens are now 2 years old which means they are laying at 40% production)
We have 120 new point of lay (young) pullets arriving on Saturday and they will be laying within the month. 
So this time next month our honesty box will again be full and we will have plenty of eggs for everybody!
We apologise for the inconvenience but hope you appreciate our explanation.
The good news is that our young ducks are now at 70% production and that our new point of lay pullets are winging their way up from Cork as I type.

Organic Angus beef update
Later in the month we will be sending our final organic Angus heifers to Murphy’s butchers in Tullow.  Lars Murphy will hang the beef for 21 days and then for 3 weeks from the end of October we will be selling our final beef boxes.  Each beef box contains a mix of steaks, roasts, mince and stewing beef.  The boxes will cost €12/kg with approximately 12kg of meat in each box.  Our next beef boxes are available in late October. If you would like one of the year’s final beef boxes please let me know immediately.  Email jenny@castlefarmshop.ie

Christmas craft market – local artists, craftspeople and carol singers wanted!
Our annual open air craft market takes place on Sunday 22nd of November from 12-6pm in our farmyard.  We still have stall spaces available and are also looking for local carol singers who would like to raise money for charity (I donate €100 and if you are good enough, customers are sure to show their appreciation).  Please let me know if you are interested in participating as a carol singing group or as a trader.

Turkey orders for this Christmas
Yes I know it seems really early but I have only been able to order 30 turkeys of Colchester’s Drumeen farm certified organic turkeys of this Christmas.  I have ordered 15 bronze and 15 white.  I am looking for names immediately and deposits of €50 per bird by 1st November to secure same.  As per usual I cannot guarantee exact weights but will try to match as close as possible.  So anyone who would like to order should do so as soon as possible, many were disappointed not to be able to order one last year.

Recipe
Sloe or blackberry liquer
Fill an old lemonade or large apple juice bottle with fruit up to its neck – if using sloes you will need to prick each one a couple of times with a needle.  Then using a funnel empty a cup of sugar into the bottle shaking it all the time so that the  sugar falls down through all the fruit and reaches the bottom.  Then add some gin or vodka, continue to pour until the alcohol fills to within an inch of the top of the bottle.  Cap the bottle.  Then leave bottle on kichen counter for a week giving it a few shakes every time you pass.  After a week the sugar should have disolved and the liquer can be put away, preferably in a dark cool place, until christmas.

Opening hours Friday 10am – 7.30 pm, Saturday 10am-6pm and Sunday 12-5pm
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Contact Castlefarm Shop, Narraghmore, Athy, Co Kildare, Telephone 059-8636948, jenny@castlefarmshop.ie, www.castlefarmshop.ie