Attack of the Giant Gooseberries

    Another crop coming on nicely at the moment are our gooseberries. We have a 30m long row so harvest 50-100kg of fruit during the season. We recently cut back the undergrowth around the plants, which was starting to stifle them but they are still cropping really well.

    The rainfall and lack of sunshine of late, have had their effect and the fruit still has a week or two before it starts to ripen properly but soon we shall start picking. We wait patiently for the ripening fruit to start changing colour.

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    Some will be sold at the farm shop in Picton St. Bristol and some will be frozen or used fresh for the staff and volunteers on the farm. Did you know that some 19th and early 20th-century cultivators produced single gooseberries that weighed over 50grammes! I think we will stick with our lil ones and I look forward to some gooseberry crumble in a few weeks time!

Creepers, Comfrey and Cheering Spuds

    A while ago we told you all about our potato growing, up in Espalier Field. http://radfordmillfarmblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/crops-are-growing-its-been-while-since.html I thought I'd let you see an update of how they are doing now.

    As you can see the field is looking really good with only medium weed growth and lovely healthy plants. There are a number of invaders and you can see we have just this morning pulled all the thistles up.

    We leave them on the field to help suppress further growth, by denying light to the soil and eventually the nutrients from these weeds as they decay, will return to the soil and be absorbed by the plants we do want to grow. Now was a good time to remove the thistles before they seed.

    Here's a comfrey plant to the right, growing in amidst the potato crop. We like comfrey as it digs very deep and brings up minerals the other plants can't get to. It's important to weed out the comfrey in the potato patch as well, because it is a "hungry feeder" meaning it consumes nitrogen in order to grow. It is not "nitrogen-fixing", meaning growing little nodules on its roots that affix nitrogen in the soil as it grows, such as beans, clover, etc. However, the leaves are full of nitrogen, and once they are cut it is a good idea to get them back into the soil, either as a mulch or to line the trench when planting potatoes, or to make a liquid feed. Here is a bit more about our friendly plant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfrey . At Radford Mill farm we have a small field dedicated to growing comfrey but I'll post more info on that another day.

    Here you can see a morning glory creeper climbing up a potato plant. We shall remove these shortly, before they get too established and the spuds will no doubt all cheer us on!

    As a long term established organic farm we pride ourselves on growing natural food so we do not use pesticides to control the crops. Over the years we have enriched our soil naturally and we reap the benefits of this with strong healthy plants that crop well and taste fantastic. If you are in the area of Bristol, why not pop into our very own farm shop and try our wares.

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Hogging The Limelight

    A few weeks ago we built a pig roast spit for events we hold here at Radford Mill Farm and last weekend we got to take it for a test ride. The pig was around 40-50Kg and made a fine photo opportunity for the 150 people we easily managed to feed from it.

The fire was prepared early to get the and stones nice and hot.

Once cooked the pig is removed from the spit 

and placed in our a purpose built tray until we are ready to carve and serve.

Our big secret ingredient is of course Nigella Lawso... I mean music...

    Our eco-cooler (the stream) did a great job of chilling the wine and I'd just like to state for the record, that I was placing wine in the water and hadn't consumed too much.

    The kids at the event were queueing up to learn how to carve the pig and all children were returned to their parents with all fingers counted and intact.

    The pork was juicy and succulent with some excellent crackling. The meat was accompanied by roast vegetables with herbs and generous helpings of apple sauce. So all in all a very successful first roast. I can report that a number of people (names withheld to protect the guilty) had third helpings!

How To Roast A Dinosaur

    One of the other projects currently being worked on, that is linked to our upcoming farm wedding, is a pig roasting system. We have designed and made a spit in the farm forge, capable of being used to roast a pig over several hours. Remember a pig could weigh over 100KG so we need a very sturdy piece of equipment to achieve this.

Mario in the RMF Forge

    Step in one of the Radford Mill Farm's main staff Mario, who is an expert blacksmith and engineer, with a design no doubt capable of roasting a dinosaur! Mario used the heat from the forge to bend all the steel, into an ornate but immensely strong design. We plan to do a test run before the wedding with a lamb, so everyone here at RMF is really looking forward to that!  

The Sliding Clamp of the Pig Roast Spit

The Bridges of Radford County

    In May of 2012 there will be a little extra excitement at RMF (Radford Mill Farm) , when we will be hosting our first wedding party of the season, with 200 people attending. The event will take place on Goose Meadow, close to the river and Radford Mill and will involve a pig roast and much merry making. The happy couple and their guests will be spending most of the day enjoying the the peaceful scenery we have to offer and if the weather cooperates, the flowers will look lovely.

    Our guests often arrive by car and we provide parking in a field on the opposite side of the river from the meadow. In the past they have then had to walk around from the car parking field to the meadow, via the lane and the farmyard but this isn’t ideal. Avoiding the mud and machinery of a working farm yard can be challenging in a wedding dress, not to mention avoiding the killer kittens that will soon be our new vermin control security team. To solve this problem we are currently creating a bridge to span the river, using laminated wood. Here are a few pictures to show the early stages of the construction.

The jig

    The jig took 2 days to complete with lots of careful measuring and will provide a framework which all the laminated planks will be made on.

Dribbling Glue

    The design of the bridge was aimed at producing a blade-like structure that is strong and long lasting and the 4 layers of planks are fixed together with screws and glue.

First Plank Fixed to the Former

    We hope to create a slender and graceful arch, using natural materials where possible, that fits in with our organic ethos and once finished, the pedestrian access to Goose Meadow will be much improved. Lets hope Jim the river troll, likes his new roof! Watch this space for more on this project soon.

Welcome, Bienvenida, Ola, Ciao, Salut, Hae, Velkomin, Ahoj, привет, Hej, Szia, こんにちは, Sveiki, Labas, Hei, Czesc, Merhaba and हाय !

Welcome to the Radford Mill Farm blog, coming to you from the heart of the beautiful Somerset countryside, here in the UK.  Please spend a bit of time getting to know us and what we do and maybe we can tempt you to come and visit our farm.

While here you can help by volunteering as a WWOOF guest or why not buy some of our yummy organic food and drink. Here at Radford Mill Farm we also host weddings, offer camping and group accommodation, willow for basket making, scrumtious apple juice and offer a range of brilliant educational courses. All produce is made or grown to the highest standards, as Radford Mill Farm has been certified organic by the Soil Association, since 1980.

So pull up a chair, relax and enjoy your visit to our blog. Thanks for reading.