This Farming Life - January

January is a quiet time at Castlefarm. Our main work on the farm is tending the cows. They will remain indoors until they calve from February, and they need to be fed silage and bedded with straw daily.

In terms of milking and our supply of organic milk, the spring calving herd has been dried off. They will begin calving in February. Our autumn calving herd of 22 cows is still being milked twice daily to supply consumer demand for fresh organic milk during the winter.

This year Castlefarm Shop will again open once a month, but our honesty egg box will continue to be restocked regularly as demand for Castlefarm eggs remains constant. The downside of winter weather is that the hens lay less. This is because of a variety of elements, the cold, the lack of greenery and, especially, the shorter days and daylight.

Our first beef heifer of the season will go to the butchers at the beginning of February. Her meat will be sold at the end of February.

In our garden, we have covered our rhubarb patch with well rotted farmyard manure. I have also cut back our autumn raspberries so that only 2 inches of their canes remain. We have begun digging the polytunnel and digging manure into the soil. I have not yet touched our vegetable patch. The ground is still too wet, and at this time of year I am not planting any seeds.

The ducks are hard at work de-slugging the allotment sites. They will remain on the allotments until March. They don’t damage anything under ground. I have just finished planting roses and flower bulbs. It is a little late for the bulbs but better late than never!

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Castlefarm Shop will next open on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th January. Anyone interested in collecting their own eggs is welcome to join us at 3pm on Saturday 28th. We will also have an allotment talk and tour at 2.15pm on Saturday 28th.

Castlefarm Shop opens the last Friday and Saturday of each month from 10am until 6pm. To receive our newsletter, news of new products & cooking tips by email please contact Castlefarm Shop, Narraghmore, Athy, Co Kildare, Telephone 087 678 5269, Email jenny@castlefarmshop.ie, log onto www.castlefarmshop.ie or telephone +353 (0)59 863 6948

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