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Broom House Farm Newsletter
NOVEMBER 2016
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Hello Everyone!
After a busy October the autumn colours are still beautiful up here but make the most of them as they are disappearing quickly now. We've had our first snow, much to the excitement of Diamond Hall Juniors, who arrived in a blizzard. T
he Forest Adventure is now closed until Spring, thank you to everyone that's visited this year and had lots of fun. The Christmas build up has started - with festive treats being ordered, planned and prepared. Tickets are on sale for our 4 Broom House Farm Nativity performances...see below! There are still a few school visits before winter sets in, next week's primary schools are comparing farm life in 2016 with 1916 - so much has changed in 100 years, and this topic fits in well with the November's theme of remembrance. There are lots of gorgeous tiny piglets in the pig shed - come and say hello!
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Broom House Butchery News
Christmas Orders, Christmas Orders! Don't get stressed, let us help you to get organised! The Farm Shop is busy taking orders for all your Christmas needs - fill in an order form, tick that job off the list and take the worry out of Christmas! If you call in to place your order this weekend (Friday-Monday) we'll reward you with a voucher for a cuppa in the Coffee Shop! This is the place to come if you'd like a scrumptious locally grown organic bronze turkey, organic goose,large chicken, duck or guinea fowl. In addition we can supply delicious Kelly Bronze turkeys & geese from Judith Dryden at Murton.
We are offering a £5 EARLY BIRD discount this year for all Northumberland Turkey orders placed before 20th November...so don't delay, order today!
Probably the most popular Aberdeen Angus joint at Christmas is roast sirloin of beef, althogh rib of beef, fillet and roast rump are also popular. If you have a big family then you can't really beat a large chunk of tender topside or silverside - and then of course there's top rump and brisket - do have a chat with any of our butchery staff and they will guide you with cooking times, cuts, sizes and prices.
As well as beef there's delicious Saddleback pork and gammon. A piece of slow cooked shoulder is perfect for New Years Eve parties, whilst a hot ham is an essential part of Christmas Eve and many people opt for a stuffed loin of pork on Christmas Day.
Please download our
Christmas Meats Form
to give you lots of ideas - it's well worth ordering your pigs in blankets, bacon, stuffings and and sausages as well as your beef, pork, lamb and ham etc. We can make gluten free alternatives for most of our products, please ask. Then we can have everything ready for you just to pick up just before Christmas...there's always plenty of parking and hopefully there won't be a queue. There is also an order form for our homemade Christmas cakes and puddings and other treats.We'll be having Christmas Tastings on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th November, all are welcome! If you need any help with sizes or quantities please email us or ring the shop 01913718839.
Broom House New Season's lamb is selling well, looking and tasting amazing, try cooking a rack of lamb or a delicious slow cooked shoulder this weekend.
Our great offer of £8.50/kg for half a lamb and £8/kg for a whole lamb is still on until the end of November.
If you'd like to try something different, go for a cushion or rack of lamb, or ask for one of our aromatic apricot stuffed saddles.
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Broom House Farming News
The early lambing ewes have been tupped and the tups are now out with the main flock. The perennial struggle to increase ewe fertility continues: blood tests taken, soil samples analysed and mineral supplements tried. The snow didn't make for ideal tupping conditions, but hopefully the ewes enjoyed the sunny weather that followed it. The tups don't seem to be deterred by the horrible wet and muddy conditions but it's freezing work checking them every day by quad bike, gloves and winter layers have been dug out and new waterproofs purchased ready for the long cold days ahead. Driving round the flocks every day is very time consuming, and then every
Monday for the next 2 or 3 weeks the colour of the tups' crayons is changed. This week it's yellow, next week will be red, and after that it will be blue.
Scanning is booked for early January, that's when the ewes will be sorted into groups according to number of lambs being carried.
 Out and about
on the farm it's rather muddy. The cows have all been brought up to the pens and weaned this week, most will be about 4 months pregnant so it's time that they concentrated on the baby growing inside rather than this year's calf. The 8 month old calves stay inside for the winter and will be fed on a mixture of grass silage, clover and whole-crop oats. Before entering the shed each calf is weighed and the weights entered on to the computer. This year the weights were not as good as last year, too many cows for the amount of grass available in the drier summer. The calves will be weighed again at turnout in the Spring to see how many kilos they have gained during the winter. The cows are kept inside until they have stopped shouting for their calves, this takes about a week. Martin has dusted down his big red feeder-bedder wagon and feed trailers and is getting back into the winter time feeding routine. Out and about on the farm hedges have been cut whilst it's still dry enough to travel on the fields - the aim is to cut a quarter of the hedgerows every winter, but last year it got too wet too quickly.
Lamb prices are down quite a bit on last month but thanks to Brexit still up on last year. Over a third of this years lamb crop have been sold for breeding or added to the breeding flock here and most of the rest have now been sold "in the fat" either to the Farm Shop or the supermarket. Fewer than 20% are left on the farm - and
about a third of these will be kept to supply the Farm Shop between now and June, so there are not too many more to sell. A couple of trailer loads of cull sheep have gone to Darlington mart and a few cull cows were despatched to Northumberland, it's important to try and sell any non productive or surplus stock before the the expensive winter months...plus the farm rent is due - that never seems to decrease - no matter what happens in the rest of the world.
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Broom House Farm Nativity
On Friday 9th & Saturday 10th December Broom House Farm celebrates Christmas with a Nativity performed by the Durham Musical Theatre Company Read about them here! Join us with your family to get in the Christmas spirit with carols and a farm Nativity. There will be shepherds, wise men, carol singing, supper, mulled wine & even a donkey. Performances will include a short lamp lit walk around accessible areas of the farmyard, as the story of the nativity unfolds. Please purchase tickets from our online shop We will send you a confirmation email with details about arrival time, parking, food options etc. Adults' tickets £18.00. Children's (aged 3-16) tickets £14.00. Under 3s free but will not be catered for. All profits will go to DMTC funds.
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Broom House Farm Coffee Shop News & New Menu
The Coffee Shop is open
every da
y and our friendly young crew can't wait for you to come and try their great new menu ideas,w
ith vegetarian options alongside our best selling Breakfast, Brunch & Lunch.
As well as food there's our range of coffees and of course yummy cakes.
Afternoon Tea
(£19.90 for 2)
is now being served by the roaring fire in the Coffee Shop (please book a day or two in advance). We have a drinks licence so do celebrate with a glass of fizz.
Sunday Lunch is very popular, ring the coffee shop 0191 371 8382 to book delicious roast Aberdeen Angus beef,pork or lamb .
Term time Monday mornings are kick started by our Little Farmer's Club at 10.00am sharp, great fun for you and your preschool sons and daughters and free of charge (as long as you stay for brunch afterwards!) - wrap up warmly.
The monthly Knitting Wednesday afternoons are held on the first Wednesday every month, all levels of knitter are welcome to come along from 1.30pm, these sessions are chatty, crafty and much cake is enjoyed!
Christmas Afternoon Tea
(£20 for 2) will be available throughout December - bring your workmates for a Christmas chill and chat afternoon by the roaring fire.
Please note our December & January winter opening hours 9.30am-4.30pm.
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS: The Farm Shop and Coffee Shop will close on 24th December at 1pm, reopening at 9.30am on 28th December and close from 31st December at 1pm, reopening at 9.30am on 4th January 2017.
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Would you like to learn how to make a beautiful Christmas wreath with gorgeous festive foliage gathered freshly from the farm? This is a great way to get into the festive spirit and give your home a Christmassy welcome! Thank you to everyone that has already booked. We still have 1 or 2 spaces for our Christmas wreath making sessions during the evening of 15th and daytime on the 6th, 8th and 13th December. The cost for these workshops is £30 and includes festive refreshments,all foliage and materials. To book please
email
us as soon as possible.
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Watercolour Workshops
Local artist Jenny Ulyatt will be continuing her successful watercolour painting workshops, please do
drop Jenny a line if you'd like to join in.
November - Christmas Card Ideas
16th, 17th, 18th Nov. 10am £30 including lunch, tea and coffee.
January - Seascape - Textures in Landscapes
11th, 12th, 13th Jan. 10am £30 including lunch, tea and coffee.
CHRISTMAS IDEA! How about booking your mum/dad or brother/sister into one of these relaxing & sociable workshops.
Jenny will be bringing along a selection of cards and prints on the November dates -please do come along to the Coffee Shop and have a look - great Christmas gifts!
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Thank you for reading our newsletter. Please let us have your Broom House Farm news and stories, thank you to those of you who give us feedback by email and on our Facebook pages. We're looking forward to seeing you all up at the farm or down in Durham Market Place again soon.
With best wishes,
Mark, Jane and
The Broom House Farm Team |
| FREE! |
Let them eat cake!
Come up to place your Christmas order during the week and reward yourself with a piece of cake. Show this voucher to claim 1 totally free piece of cake in our Coffee Shop when spending over £5 on food/drinks.
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offer valid Mondays-Fridays in November 2016.
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FREE!
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Try some scrummy sausages!
Spend £50 in the Farm Shop and we'll give you a totally free packet sausages -
a great chance to try a different flavour from our delicious range of beef, lamb and
pork sausages.
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This offer excludes Christmas deposits
offer expires: 30th November 2016
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| Christmas Shopping is easy with BROOM HOUSE FARM GIFT VOUCHERS Farm Shop Butchery Courses Forest Adventure Afternoon Tea  Broom House Farm Vouchers make great Christmas presents and are available in any denominations. If you'd like to be sent some vouchers please just email us and we can pop them in the post for you in good time for the festive season. |
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Broom House Farm Events
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Mondays 10am term time -
Little Farmers' Club
Saturdays 9am -1.30pm Visit our stall in Durham Market Place
Thursday 17th November Durham Farmers' Market
16th, 17th, 18th November Watercolour Workshops
Sunday 4th December Sedgefield Farmers Ma
rket
Friday and Saturday 9th-10th December Broom House Farm Nativity
Find our more details by checking the
Broom House Farm Website
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November Recipe
Ingredients
2-2¼kg loin of pork on the bone, rind removed
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary, plus extra whole sprigs
1 large onion, thickly sliced
2 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp redcurrant jelly
500ml vegetable stock
50g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small lemon, grated zest
50g fresh white breadcrumb
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary needles
Method
Make deep incisions in the pork, close to the bone. Mix together the garlic, chopped rosemary and 1 teaspoon salt. Rub into the cuts, spreading any extra over the meat. Preheat the oven to 220C. Scatter the onion and sprigs of rosemary into a roasting tin. Put the pork on top, skinned side up, cover tightly with foil and roast with the rind on top for 30 minutes. Turn down the heat to 190C and cook for a further 30 minutes remove the rind when crispy and roast the pork uncovered for another 30 minutes. In a pan melt the butter and cook the onion gently until soft. Off the heat, add the lemon zest, breadcrumbs and rosemary. Season well. Core the apples. Cut a line through the skin all round the waist of each. Fill each apple with onion stuffing. Mix the vinegar and redcurrant jelly for the glaze. Remove the pork from the oven. Turn the heat to 200C. Stand the apples around the pork, brush the pork with a little glaze and
drizzle a little over the apples. Return to the oven and roast or a further 20- 25 minutes, basting with a l
ittle jelly and/or vinegar to taste.
Test the pork by piercing in the centre with a skewer. The juices should run clear, not
pink. If in doubt, remove the apples, keep warm, cover the pork with foil and cook for 10-15 minutes more. Put the pork and apples on a warmed plate and leave in a warm place for 15 minutes. Spoon off the excess fat from the
tin and put the tin on a medium heat. Pour in the stock. Boil vigorously for 5-6 minutes. Taste and season.
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