What's Cooking Arnault?

    So what will you do if you come to volunteer with us, here at Radford Mill Farm. Well we do our very best to try and vary the work but when it all comes down to it, we have a lot of manual work in the soil (I'm trying not to say the 'W' word ...  weeding!). It's an organic farm so to produce great tasting healthy food, the weeds are a part of our life! C'est la vie :) 

    Sometimes though we change things around a bit. A snapshot of the tasks from today is as follows: planting leaks, picking gooseberries and blackcurrants (and weeding them), weeding out an invasive species (Himalayan Balsam) from our willow plantation, repairing a trailer, planning a rainwater harvesting system, doing improvements to the mill building, collecting a large number of old stone slabs and a used toilet for reuse (thanks freecycle!), more planning for our soon to be fitted new solar photo voltaic systems and of course everyone over the week, takes turns washing up and cooking. 

    Many people find it a challenge to cook for 10 or 15 people but theres always help at hand and once completed, you can enjoy a great sense of achievement, when you produce a nice meal for everyone. Don’t forget to cook something for the vegetarians though!!

    Here’s Arnault from Brittany, one of our long term WWOOFers, cooking us all pork chops, which were yummy! Arnault will also give you advice on anything to do with Cheese because everyday is cheeseday! Arnault is also a big fan of cakes and is a dab hand at making them.

    This chocolate treat graced our dinner table for nearly 2 whole minutes! You can't buy any of Arnault's cakes as we are guarding them with a high security fence but we will be selling our freshly picked, organic gooseberries and blackcurrants throughout July. You can get these at the Radford Mill Farm shop, in Picton Street in Bristol. Pop in if you're nearby and treat yourself! 

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Run Away Chickens!

    City folk who go out on an evening, often see foxes roaming the streets. Sometimes furtively and sometimes as bold as brass. I myself saw an adult fox last winter, sitting on top of a VW Polo in a London street. The fox was watching its cubs playing in someones front garden, just half a mile from Tower Bridge!

    The country however is a different matter and foxes here are far more wary of people. Just recently however, we have been graced with some sightings of a new resident on the farm. Ok its not a great picture but here is the new fox in the neighbourhood, caught on film a few days ago one sunny evening (yes we did have a sunny evening), down in the Alder Bed close to or willow plantation.

    We had been keeping an eye on this fella as we previously lost 2 chickens within a few days. Foxes are known to stalk their prey just like a cats and they often play with it before they kill it. If they aren’t hungry they may even catch a small animal just for fun, then let it go. A fox’s hearing is very sharp and they can hear a watch ticking 40 metres away. I saw this particular one on a disused railway embankment we have here, about 100 metres away and he sat and watched me for 2 minutes. As soon as I started talking on my phone he ran off.

    Apparently the fox is seen as a sacred animal in Japan so perhaps we should treat this one to an all expenses paid, one way trip to Tokyo. Sadly we shall probably have a friend come in and take care of the problem, as we only have 10 chickens left now. Its still nice to see some real wildlife and not just an animal hanging around some dingy bins, behind a back street Chinese restaurant.

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.