November & December 2022 at Stourton

Kiln Dried Logs – Last Pre-Christmas Order and Delivery dates

We want to make sure that you are kept warm and toasty over the Christmas period. Don’t forget to stock up on logs for your fire or log burner.

Our last order date for log orders is Friday 16^th December and our last delivery date before Christmas is Tuesday 20^th December.

We will be closed over the Christmas period and won’t be re-starting deliveries until Thursday 5^th January, so if you order whilst we are closed this will be the first possible delivery date.

To place your order please click here.

More Kiln News!

Also this month we have updated the biomass boiler so it now uses spare heat to supply hot water & heating to the farm office – doing our bit to become as sustainable as possible.

Treecycle Scheme – Recycle your Christmas Tree and Support St Barnabas Hospice

Each January, St Barnabas and their wonderful supporters go across the county to collect your Christmas trees and recycle them! All that is asked in return is that you make a suggested donation of £15 to help St Barnabas care for patients living with life-limiting or terminal illness across Lincolnshire.

Their friendly team of Christmas elves will take care of your tree in the most environmentally responsible way, meaning you don’t need to make a trip to the tip or spend time vacuuming needles out of your car.

This year, they are collecting trees from many towns and villages across Lincolnshire including post-codes starting LN9 5 / LN9 6 between the 7th January and 11th January 2023 just click on the link below to arrange:

https://stbarnabashospice.co.uk/tree-cycle/

Supporting Charities and our Local Community

Thank you so much to all our wonderful visitors who have visited us this year, together we have been able to support a number of charities and local community groups; namely Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance, Lincolnshire Rural Support Network, the DEC fund for ActionAid, L-CAT, St Barnabas Hospice and St Swithin’s Church, Baumber.

Through holding events in our venue at Stourton Woods we have raised a MASSIVE total of over SEVEN AND A HALF THOUSAND pounds, in fact – £7,703.54 to date which is just amazing.

We have supported these charities and organisations as they really are close to our heart; from those who provide a critical life-saving response to those supporting people living through the war in Ukraine as well as those who provide end of life care.

If you have had an accident, felt anxious, watched with horror the impact the war is having in Ukraine or cared for a loved one with a terminal illness, you will understand how much these charities need our support and every little really does help.

Further to our charitable donations we have continued to work with local schools and community groups and we have hosted 6 group visits, subsidised through our farming Higher Level Scheme, with over 150 people coming to learn how we manage the deer and the farm here.

We look forward to being able to donate more next year through our events and open days.

If you’d like to talk to us about organising a group / secondary school visit, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

The Adventures of our Treasured Memory Tree

Talking of recycling… the Treasured Memory Tree which featured at our Enchanted Lights event in November lives on!

Firstly it was moved onto Clays Lane so those visitors to the Walled Garden Baumber will have spotted it on their way in / out.  It is now being used AGAIN in the farmers “Christmas Tree Challenge! Can you Beat us? Who wins?” featured on YouTube  as a bit of fun before Christmas!

This tree certainly has plenty of stories to tell. It’s last adventure will be via the Treecycle scheme for St Barnabas Hospice.

Farming update

Due to the wet weather we had during November things have slowed right down on the arable farm. As mentioned last time we have lifted a little more sugar beet, with another lot due to be lifted before we finish for Christmas.

Ken has been busy helping Dan out bagging up products in the log shed amongst other bits and bobs. We have started maintaining some kit in the workshop too.

We’ve also taken the opportunity to update our skills with some training courses; on our telehandler and our mini loading shovel. These day refresher courses demonstrate that we are responsible operators of these machines and are valid for 5 years.  Antony is also currently being trained and assessed in felling large trees which is an opportunity for him to update his knowledge and gain advance chain saw handling skills.

We may well make use of the drier frosty conditions to get the last of the spraying for 2022 done. We have an application of grass weed herbicide to make to the oilseed rape to complete before the sprayer can be put away until spring. These frosts will also be of use to apply a little slow release sulphur and potash fertiliser to the oilseed rape.

Over the next few months it will be important to keep pigeons away from the oilseed rape and while doing that ensuring our supplementary feeding buckets around the farm are kept topped up.

Deer Diary

As our last event was held in early November we decided to get ahead and make the winter welfare and shelter of our animals our top priority.  If you attended the Artisan Markets or any of our events this year you will have seen the round house structure near to the car park.  The roundhouse was kitted out with all the essentials including NEW handling gates in the middle making it safer to move the herd around the sections as well as a thick bed of straw, feeding troughs, self-filling water troughs together with fencing and bales around the outside.  This gives the calves enough shelter from the cold wind but light enough so they can see out; it’s a rather nice winter home for them!  Moving deer is a challenge at the best of times, and Dan & Ken worked hard to make an improved ‘catching pen’ within the deer enclosure before they enter the handling centre… and it worked!   In the handling centre the deer are treated with wormer and mineral boluses topped off with a pink tag in their ear so we can track them and comply with our quality farm assurance regulations.  They are then moved to their cosy winter home in the roundhouse – and they love it.  With the temperature plunging in the last few days, we are really pleased how well they have taken to their new surroundings, they are displaying very calm and contented behaviour.

As a reminder, we are closed from Friday 21^st December until Thursday 5^th January 2023. We would like to thank all of our visitors, traders, supporters and staff for all of their hard work and support during 2022. We will shortly let you know what our events plans are for 2023.  In the meantime we wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Best Wishes

Helen and Antony