The first lambs arrive! Plus, a visit to FarmED and many many moths.
- alice3166
- Mar 29
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 30
This week’s big news - hot off the press - is that lambing has started! Our favourite ewe (Miss 96, her ear tag number being 1096) gave birth to a beautiful little ewe lamb. We are hoping she grows big and strong so that we can keep her in the flock as it gets larger. This was followed a few hours later by a rather flighty first time mum with twins. We are trialling a new barn set up this year, the best addition by far being the introduction of person-sized swing gates between the pens that means we won’t have to be clambering over gates as much. While we were sitting watching the new mums looking after their lambs, we thought how appropriately timed lambing has been this year to coincide with Mothering Sunday. Wishing all of the mothers who might be reading this all the best!
It seems a long time ago now, but on Wednesday Brendan and Alice went off to FarmED (a great demo farm and regen agriculture hub) in the Cotswolds. They were feeling quite nervous as this was the first time they’d ever been invited to give a talk and tell the Rush Farm/Stockwood story. The nerves were unnecessary as the lovely team at FarmED were very welcoming, as was the select but highly engaged audience. We all gathered in the library there and discussed the highs and lows (mostly highs, of course) of the unique and wonderful ownership structure at Stockwood. The conversation carried on over a delicious FarmED lunch, and in the end we realised we had been talking for over 2 and a half hours! It was especially nice to meet one of the existing Stockwood CBS members, who lived not far away. Thanks to all!
Prior to that there was a busy weekend of mucking out some of the cattle barns in preparation for lambing. We were just in time! Following the sale of 10 store cattle at a TB market in Ludlow, there was enough space to put in the ‘maternity ward’ for the sheep. Luckily the weather has been kind to us and the fields were dry enough to take the tractor and trailer on as we mucked out. The tractor had a busy week as not only were we mucking out but we managed to complete our first BD500 spray of the year! Much earlier than normal, which can only be a good thing. BD500 is a biodynamic ‘compost’ that consists of cow manure buried inside a cow horn for 6 months to mature. While it may sound a bit 'far out', there is a fascinating process that goes on in the horn that is too complex to write about here. Come on one of our farm walks to learn more about it! Either way we were happy to get a good dose of 500 on the fields to give them a microbial boost as the soils start to warm up and the grass begins to grow.
Another highlight of the week was a visit from the very lovely ornithologist and lepidologist who comes to the farm to monitor our bird and insect populations. This time he had set up a moth-trap (no moths were harmed) in the woods. Not expecting much due to the early time of year, we were all amazed when the trap yielded over 150 moths of 14 species, including some he had never encountered before! Hopefully now that we’ve started to take this kind of data we can track it over the course of the year, and years to come. Insects and birds are excellent indicator species for the health of an ecosystem, and thankfully all signs are pointing towards a very happy ecosystem on the farm.
Looking forward, we have some exciting events on offer. First up is a foraging course led by the excellent Wild Food UK, on Tuesday 8th April. On Saturday 19th April we are hosting our first ever floristry course, where people can make Easter themed bouquets with dried flowers - all materials provided including some wonderful hand made decorations. And finally on Saturday 26th April we are hosting a Stockwood Spring Festival! We would love to see you there for a great day out with the kids or grandkids as there will be a little lambing day, tractor rides and kids activities as well as stalls from the businesses on the park. You will be able to meet local makers and artists, and enjoy a range of demonstrations and short talks about everything from local history to cooking to needle felting! Click the link below to find out more about all of our upcoming events
Until next time,
The Rush Farm team
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