THE Farmer’s daybook

A farmer’s daybook is where they note everything going on with their herd; milk yields, health, behaviours, emotional states. Our online daybook is where you can keep up to date with the latest goings-on on the farm.

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Posts tagged biodynamics

Shop staff

Some of the shop staff, Izzy, Maddy and Katharina, are off to pastures new. Jenny Thornhill, Shop Manager, explains how much help they’ve been in the shop over the Covid-19 period and what is next on each of their journeys.

ShopKitty M18 September 2020staff, volunteers, biodynamics, vegetablesComment

Gardening in the heat

When the sun comes out, the poly tunnels start heating up. Great for tomatoes and cucumbers, but tough for the gardeners that keep everything growing. Nir Halfon, Garden Manager, explains how his team have managed with the 30℃+ temperatures this year.

GardenKitty M16 August 2020Gardening, blog, heat, biodynamics, basil, vegetables, harvest, organic, polytunnels, water, drought, dryComment

Cows and mutual grooming

Grooming is universally recognised as a bonding experience. As well as seeing to personal hygiene, it helps to establish relationships between animals.

CowsKitty M14 July 2020Plaw Hatch Farmcows, grooming, herdsman, cow, farm, biodynamics, behaviour, healthy, natural, grass, blog, Farmer's Daybook, farming, Plaw Hatch FarmComment

Shearing 2020

Farmer and shepherd, Gala Bailey-Barker, reports on her experience of shearing this year and being able to get hands on with the flock.

SheepKitty M18 June 2020shepherd, sheep, shearing, summer, wool, apprentice, Gala, blog, Farmer's Daybook, Plaw Hatch Farm, biodynamics, Demeter, Demeter Certified, grazing, lambs, ewe lambs, rams, Romney, LleynComment

Volunteering in the garden

Fancy getting involved in the garden? As the season picks up, many hands make speedy work of soft fruit processing and weeding. Nir Halfon, Garden Manager, also tells of how Covid-19 has changed the demographic of volunteers on the farm.

Garden, VolunteersKitty M9 June 2020Plaw Hatch FarmGardening, Garden, volunteers, sustainable, vegetables, biodynamics, biodiversityComment

April 2020: Shepherd's Report

Farmer and Shepherd, Gala Bailey-Barker, reflects on a successful lambing and all the factors that helped bring it together.

Lambing, SpringKitty M20 April 2020Plaw Hatch Farmlambs, lambing, sheep, shepherd, spring, mixed, biodynamics, organic Comments

A busy garden

Help from the volunteers is making all the difference in the garden this year.

Garden, VolunteersKitty M17 April 2020Gardening, Garden, spring, polytunnels, volunteers, sustainable, biodynamics, crops, vegetablesComment

The right way to eat meat and drink milk

Shop Manager, Jenny Thornhill, explains the stark differences between small scale, mixed Biodynamic farming and large scale industrial monocultures and gives her opinion on the cultural climate towards eating meat and drinking milk. Does farming how we do hold the answers to many of the problems we face with the environment today?

SustainabilityKitty M19 February 2020Plaw Hatch Farmsustainable, chickens, cows, pigs, pork, beef, eggs, lamb, sheep, meat, commercial, yield, mixed, agriculture, biodiversity, biodynamics, organism, ecosystem, nature Comments

Our laying hens are going mobile

Plaw Hatch Farmer and Shepherd, Gala Bailey-Barker, discusses the exciting changes happening with our chickens this year.

ChickensKitty M30 January 2020Plaw Hatch Farm chickens, biodynamics, sustainable, ethical, farming, eggs, rehoming, garden eggs, garden hens, orchardComment

Linking sustainable and healthy diets with farming outputs

Garden Manager, Nir Halfon, speaks of his presentation at the Oxford Real Farming Conference and discusses the problems with industrial farming and the modern diet.

SustainabilityKitty M20 January 2020ORFC, food security, local, biodynamics, landscape, ecosystem, biodiversity, diet, farming Comment

9 Jan 2024

Why cows have horns

It has long been a policy of Biodynamic husbandry to keep cattle with horns. As well as the aesthetic value, the horns have an important function in the life of the cow.

23 Nov 2023

A year as a farm Apprentice

Approaching the halfway mark in my 2-year placement here at Old Plaw Hatch Farm, the coming of the shorter days has allowed me to reflect on what has been one hell of a ride this past year.

27 Oct 2023

The realities of a garden

Growing vegetables in a political climate that has very little understanding of how food actually gets from the producer to anyone’s kitchen table (let alone the unpredictability of that same climate) means we are very grateful to the crops that have been successes, and we move on quickly from those that were or are, to put it bluntly, failures. Let me briefly talk you through our growing year so far…

24 Oct 2023

Supply and demand

Recently we’ve seen a real surge in new customers and have also noticed that existing customers are coming much more frequently and seem to be doing the majority of their food shopping with us. These changes are rarely down to one thing, and I believe at the moment there are several reasons.

24 Aug 2023

Why should I go to the AGM?

Firstly, because we would really love you to. Of course, at an AGM there is the dry procedural stuff, it’s a legal requirement, but there is so much more. It’s an opportunity to hear directly from the people who grow your food.

15 Aug 2023

The garden this summer

The summer is flying by and we have already started to get the first harvests off the fields like onions, potatoes and squash. The Spring was very late this year, however, Summer is not over yet.