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Welcome
to The Organic Farm Shop and Café at Abbey Home Farm
-
long live local organic food and farming
Opening
Hours
Tuesday
and Wednesday 9 to 5
Thursday
and Friday 9 to 6:30
Saturday
9 to 4
Closed
Sunday and Monday
NEW
YEAR HOURS 2007/8
Friday
28th 10 - 4
Saturday 29th 10 –4
the café is open for drinks and cakes but not lunch on the 28th
and 29th Dec.
Wednesday 2nd January normal hours again
Happy New Year to all our customers old and new.
OUR
BUYING POLICY
In
the middle of a circle is Abbey Home Farm. Here we grow and raise as much
food as we can, soil
type and climate allowing. We then move out from the middle of the circle
slowly and carefully. First to the local area, then the neighbouring counties,
across the rest of the UK and then on, still with great care, across the
channel to Europe and the wider world.
Air freight
is rarely used but we do often choose imported vegetables that are in
season in their country of origin and brought to uk by lorry and ferry
rather than uk vegetables that have been grown in heated polytunnels using
massive amounts of fossil fuels.
(we
are always looking for research done on energy use. any comments welcomed)
The Shop
- dec 2007
We
are proud to be producing/raising the following on farm for sale in the
shop.
It
is very labour intensive and not at all good for 'economies of scale'
to have a lot of small enterprises but
we
are working our way towards becoming a really sustainable farm which can
feed the local community with all its fresh food.
Our
aim is to grow everything we need for a full meal. This is not easy.
To make a farm pay, most farmers
concentrate
on one enterprise. We are doing the absolute opposite. When we took
over the farm in 1990, it
was
sheep, dairy (sold off farm) beef and arable.
We
have introduced and learnt about laying hens and pigs, vegetables and
soft fruit, running a farmshop
and
cafe and conference/education space. Lately we have started to pasteurize
our own milk. We now have
our own
whole and semiskimmed milk and our own cream for sale in the shop and
also our own
chicken.
These small new enterprises are challenging, labour intensive and financially
risky for us. But we
believe
farms are for feeding the local population, not for growing one thing
that is sent all over the
country
or the world, often benefiting the middleman more than the producer.
The
Price Perception Issue
but
please
do not just think we are more expensive than the supermarkets. Come
and try us out. Like for like we are often up to 20% cheaper. And so many
people tell us that when they start doing a full shop here their weekly
bill goes DOWN. Less distraction buying things they dont really
need, less waste as they can buy one of something, more attention paid
to what is cheap at the moment rather than sticking rigidly to a shopping
list. If necessary to fit the budget less meat, more of a treat.
PRODUCE
FOR SALE
We have a very wide range of products. this list is just
an
indication of our stock to date. Prices are not available as they vary
tremendously with the seasons and groceries have special offers coming
and going.
PLEASE
NOTE we do not mail order
LINEN
-hardly more expensive than sprayed cotton, very soft, washes well, and
fairly traded. Do tell your friends about it, we need to sell lots to
keep the printers in work throughout the year in Rajasthan. They do depend
on our sales here now as we no longer have Cargo in the market
place.
We
are concentrating on keeping the 'ready meals' freezer full at the moment.
Perfect for people with no time to cook who want to eat organic food without
that ready made preservative taste. Mainly veggie and often vegan
but a few dishes are creeping in now with meat from the farm.
The Organic Pharmacy and
Essential Care, both made in the UK are the latest additions to our range
of skincare shampoos and cosmetics that do not contain sodium laurel sulphate
and parabens. For your interest, Spiezla and Essential Care have
Soil Association certification. Do take home the free skincare brochures
to browse through. newest to this area is ESSELLE which is not only one
of the only fully certified ranges in the uk but also VERY LOCAL, being
made in Brize Norton.
OUR
OWN PRODUCTS
Vegetables
We have established our own 15 acre organic market garden which surrounds
the shop. Our stocks are supplemented by other organic growers to offer
a good range of organic fruit and vegetables at all times. Seasonal produce
is our priority.
Meat
All the pork, beef and lamb you find in the shop has been reared at Abbey
Home Farm, giving complete ‘traceability’. Our organically reared animals
benefit from a safe additive-free diet, homoeopathic medicine and no fear
of overstocked fields. Our meat is butchered to an extremely high standard
by a local Soil Association registered Master butcher. The chicken is
bought in from Sheepdrove Farm. It is soil association certified.
Dairy Products
Milk
from the farm here. and its non homogenised.
yoghurt,
butter etc from yeo valley, cheeses from uk and abroad.
Eggs
We are the proud owners of 4 small free-range flocks of Black Rocks.
Fish
Selection of fresh and frozen trout, salmon, fish fingers........
Groceries
We source these as locally and as fairly traded as possible. We stock
breads, cakes, jams, marmalades, chutneys from Gloucestershire!! Also
oils, pasta, pulses, herbs, juices, ice-cream, chocolate …and much more!!
Alcohol and Fruit juices
We stock a wide variety - latest additions include gin and vodka!
Cut Flowers : april - october approx!
Daffodils, anenomes, tulips, foxgloves then sweetpeas, dahlias, cornflowers,
nigella, cosmos, larkspur, rudbeckia....cut from our garden, but limited
supply.
Childrens organic clothing and nappies.
We stock green baby, gossypium
Bed and table linen, made from organically grown cotton.
Skincare and cosmetics
Spiezia, The Organic Pharmacy, Green People, Essential Care, Urtekram,
Green Baby, and Dr Hauschka as pictured below.
<TOP>
OLD SHOP NEWS
WHATS NEW
**Lipstick!? When my husband Will saw the Dr Hauschka range of make-up
slip into the skincare section he asked me whether I had forgotten what
i was doing here. No, I haven't. It is important that women (or men) who
wear lipstick have an alternative to lipsticks which may contain aluminium,
lead, ground up lice and their blood (!) barium salts and more horrible
sounding things. And eye shadow? And mascara? The research is not happy
reading.
**At last, IMSE, real organic terry towelling nappies, slightly shaped
and according to one of our customers, 'the best real nappies on the market.
They have no Velcro or studs, just very attractive plastic panties. Pity
about the plastic but I think it's unavoidable? Comments welcomed as always
on how you get on with them.
Also fab looking and very reasonably priced baby clothes in soft, soft
organic cotton fairly traded from Gujerat.
ECOVER REFILLS - 5kg only from now on.
Because there is so much spillage and mess trying to fill the small bottles
down the refill end of the shop, we have decided to offer refills of 5
litre bottles only which are far easier to fill than the small bottles.
You could maybe then do the messier decanting into smaller bottles at
home. It is also cheaper to buy in bulk!! If you don't have a 5 litre
empty, you will need to buy a full one once.
Have you noticed?
Wider range of smoked salmon, frozen baguettes, larger choice of small
yoghurts, baby clothes, organic washable nappies, Ecover stain remover,
make up, ayurvedic and homeopathic remedies...
As you know we are getting a wider and wider range of products. If you
find anything interesting elsewhere that you would like us to stock do
let me know - organic of course! Also let me know if you would like to
order larger quantities of rice, porridge oats, dried fruit, flour, pulses
and muesli. Bex
* Abbey Home Farm supplies the shop with all its beef, pork, sausages,
ham, gammon, bacon, lamb and eggs. Two beekeepers sell us honey from bees
they keep in the middle of the farm. The vegetable garden grows over 200
different varieties annually, 99% of which is sold through the shop.
* more than 60% of what we put on our skin is absorbed into our blood
stream. There is now even talk of conventional sunscreens being as harmful
as the sun itself. We have a wide range of 'natural' products to browse
through including Spiezia, Living Nature and Dr. Hauschka.
* we have Anne McIntyre, a well known medical herbalist and local author,
also specialising in ayurveda, practising here once a month. (see a selection
of her books in the book section) Caroline Hockley, a well qualified nutritionalist
does very informative 6 week courses here and one to one consultations.
Their phone numbers are on the notice board.
*
DID YOU KNOW?
* If you are short of time discuss different ways of
shopping with us.
You can email or fax through your order and we can
have it ready for you to collect for a small charge. We
can also deliver into central Cirencester most evenings.
* Our solar panels have been working well this summer,
supplying much of the hot water for the kitchen.
Soon we will be lighting the wood burners which
provide much of the heat for the cafe, the kitchen
water, the office, the loos and the Green Room.
* SKINCARE: Many people believe that over 60% of
what we put on our skin goes into our bloodstream, so
we are starting to stock a good choice of natural
skincare, shampoos and cosmetics. Do take the
information we keep home to read from Green People,
Living Nature, Dr. Hauschka and Spiezia, our latest
addition by popular customer demand. Very pure
ingredient wise, formulated by an Italian doctor who
lives in Cornwall.
* CLOTHES and SOCKS: We don't eat them but did you
know that cotton is the most sprayed crop in the
world? Encouraging cotton farmers to farm organically
by buying their crops helps the environment and the
cotton pickers. Watch the clothes area - we hope to
increase our range soon.
* BED AND TABLE LINEN - hardly more expensive
than sprayed cotton, very soft...........fairly traded
with our own workshop in Rajasthan. What more can
we say?
BOOKS AND MAGAZINES
We have just started selling magazines. Do have a
look. Any other titles you would like to see?
The book selection is growing too. Everything you
need to garden organically and then to cook what
you have grown.
NO MINCE OR BACON AGAIN???????????
I might be in danger of repeating myself but please do
bear with us when the particular piece of meat on your list
is missing from our shelves (again!). As you know, all the
meat (apart from the chicken) we sell in the shop is from
our own animals. We KNOW how our animals are treated,
what they are fed and what has been, or rather not been,
put into their bodies. But sometimes nature doesn't give us
what we want.........the bacon shortage this summer was
solely due to the boar not doing his duty properly last year!
He is now being watched by Darren and John more closely!!!
And although we do strive to have what you want on the
shelves, if we do fail remember you are shopping at a real
farm where things don't ALWAYS go exactly to plan.
EXPAND YOUR READING WHILE CONTRIBUTING TO A GOOD CAUSE
From this autumn you will be able to buy (for a minimum donation of £1
in the
honesty box) good quality paper and hardback books from a bookcase in
the
café area at the Organic Farm Shop. The Cirencester Amnesty International
Group is very grateful to Hilary for this generous donation of space which
will
help to raise funds for Amnesty's work on human rights. Donations of good
quality books are always welcome. Please phone 01285 750466
One of the great pleasures of working here is the opportunity to enjoy
the thriving
wildlife at Abbey Home Farm. Next time you visit the Farm Shop, allow
yourself
time to enjoy the woodland walk or the conservation walk to Ragged Hedge
Wood,
a particularly beautiful place on a misty morning in the mellow autumn
sun.
The range of habitats; hedgerows, wider field margins, etc. that link
small
pockets of woodland are essential for the survival of our native flora
and fauna.
For me it came as a huge shock this summer to learn that once common bird
species such as the Yellowhammer and the House Sparrow have recently been
added to the UK's 'red list' considered to be of highest conservation
concern!
Fortunately, these are still regularly seen, around our vegetable gardens
along
with other rare species such as the Spotted Flycatcher and a delightful
summer visit from a pair of nesting Hobbys. Wildlife is not a 'by-product'
of
pesticide free farming but a fundamental part of the system. Ali
It was interesting to see that the most frequent answer to the question
'How can we encourage you to shop here more often?' on our recent questionnaire
was 'move nearer to where I live'. I imagine that was mainly written in
jest, but it started me thinking about two things. The first is the question
of food miles, the second of connection.
The whole raison d'etre of The Organic Farm Shop is summed up in these
two issues. That not only can the food we put in our bodies be fresh,
but that adults and children alike can connect to where their food comes
from. Which is why that remark has to be in jest. We are here, down a
slightly bumpy road, for a reason. Because the chickens are here, the
sheep, pigs and cows are here. The vegetable and herbs and flowers and
soft fruit grow here, the cooked dishes and cakes are literally made in
front of your eyes here.
And so to all of you who want us to move closer to you, don't feel guilty
about travelling those few extra miles, think instead of the items in
your basket that have never been in a lorry, an aeroplane or a boat.
Of course, we do also sell goods from all over the world as time has proved
you want the choice. Our buying policy is simple. In the middle of a circle
is Abbey Home Farm. Here we grow or raise as much food as we can, soil
type and climate allowing. We then move out from the middle of the circle
slowly and with care. First to the local area, then the neighbouring counties,
across the rest of the U.K. and then on, still carefully, across the channel
to Europe, then out into the wider world when necessary.
And what one may ask, does 'necessary' mean? Bananas and coffee, or mangos
and French beans? Here I bow out of the discussion gracefully, my only
desire being to see our farm succeed in offering a wide variety of fresh
organic reasonably priced food to the local community in as sustainable
way as possible.
And so it was the other day that I ignored the golden rule of the shopkeeper
and told a customer that I didn't think she was right wanting me to stock
South American apples when French apples are easily available. "I don't
buy French," she said, "the French are awful, they never have anything
English in their shops" I could not understand her logic. France is more
fortunate in having a far longer season than us. That is why we buy French.
Any one who worries about the 'traffic of globalization' would surely
not choose to bring apples all the way from South America when there are
still delicious apples just over the channel? We sparred heatedly, and
then laughingly agreed to disagree. She went out with a bag of French
apples. I went back into shopkeeper mode.
Here's to us all with our different ideas and views and foibles, united
in our desire for chemical free food.
Keep shopping, we do enjoy meeting you.
Hilary
P.S. I thought I was going to write about the new shop and café. So just
a brief note. Eleven months on and the builders are nearly finished. We
loved the little shop but this is very much easier to work in. Thank you
for all your encouragement, compliments and patience in the noisy times.
I don't think it needs to get any bigger now...
Organic babies
It's so exciting to see a new generation of organic babies visiting
the shop. Here are a couple of them and a very touching story behind one
of them. Welcome to all our new organic babies!
Matthew Alasdair Woods 13/11/02 10lbs. 2½ oz
Born to Sarah and Michael Woods
Edward Walker 7½ lbs.
After trying to conceive a baby for 4 years, I was advised by my doctor
to eat as much organic food as possible so thank you to The Organic Farm
Shop. After eating only organic for 6 months I conceived baby Edward.
Edwards Mum
ON-LINE SHOPPING
I have been sending orders by email for 2 years now, and I have found
this service invaluable. I would recommend it to anyone, as it is so quick
and simple to do.
Like many people, I struggle to find time to write a shopping list, let
alone the time to do the shopping. The email shopping service offered
by The Organic Farm Shop means that I can buy excellent quality food and
other products with ease. I have a basic shopping list that I amend as
required then send it in an email. The order is picked and packed for
me ready for collection, saving me considerable time and effort.
The hardest bit is making the template shopping list, but even this doesn't
take long. I keep my list in a Word document. In this I list probable
quantities required and any comments next to each item. To place an order
I simply:
1. copy the list into an email
2. glance around at the kitchen check which items I may need more (or
perhaps less) of
3. make these adjustments to the email
4. send the email
So, if anyone else wants to make their life a bit easier, I would recommend
they give it a try.
Many thanks to Hilary, Becky and everyone at The Organic Farm Shop for
all your help.
LOCAL HEADACHE CURE
I just wanted to thank all at the Organic Farm Shop for curing my
headache - figuratively speaking, that is! As a natural nutritional therapist,
who believes in healing through food and not supplements, I always find
myself trying to steer people away from convenience foods and, therefore,
I have to spend a lot of time looking for, and recommending, different
sources of natural, organically produced alternatives. Not an easy task
- I've even resorted to recommending mail order organic vegetables from
Norfolk. It's no wonder that my clients couldn't/wouldn't stick to their
new diets! Was there any way to make shopping for things as diverse as
linseeds, organic skin care products, spelt wheat and organic, locally
produced vegetables, easy and pleasant? Well, yes - I've found it. I now
simply direct them to The Organic Farm Shop and let them browse. The staff
are always friendly and able to answer any questions about the produce.
So a big thanks you for taking away my biggest headache and inspiring
my clients to continue!
Trish
BULK ORDERS & ORDERING
We are always on the look out for more interesting and varied products
to add to our range in the shop and much of my time is spend sourcing
products that are organic and good and that we think you will enjoy. Recent
additions include bagels, more crisp flavours and chocolate covered nuts!
However, we are always interested in stocking more of your favourite organic
products that we may not be aware of so please don't hesitate to ask me.
Bulk orders are also taken for most dry goods and attract favourable discounts.
Please contact me with any request.
Bex
WHY WE LOVE THE ORGANIC FARM SHOP
We find shopping at The Organic Farm Shop to be not only good for
our health, but good for our bank account as well. In our first shop at
The Organic Farm Shop, we spent about £30 less than we normally would
buying organic food at Waitrose. The food from The Organic Farm Shop is
also of a much higher quality - I've never seen or tasted celery as nice
as yours!
It's wonderful to be able to buy fresh, wholesome, delicious food at reasonable
prices. With the produce from The Organic Farm Shop we can be more in
tune with the Earth and the seasons, and play a more active role in the
promotion of organic growing and lifestyles, things about which we feel
strongly.
We also find it very reassuring to know and see where most of our food
comes from and we feel secure in the knowledge that we are giving our
baby son the best food we can.
Many thanks to all at The Organic Farm Shop, and we look forward to more
lovely food!
Kira and Martin, Cirencester
*The reason so many of you haven't found eggs to buy for the last
few months is because the hens lay so slowly in the winter. Get more hens
you say. Then we have too many in the summer. But we have just welcomed
200 more Black Rocks onto the farm and soon they will be earning their
living happily, we hope!
*The wood burner in the café is hopefully a welcoming glow in the winter,
but it is also heating the hot water for the kitchen and radiators in
our store room, the two loos and the office. All the wood we burn is from
the farms own managed woods. Thank you Will and Rob!
*The Green Room will also have a wood burner which will heat eleven radiators.
In our efforts to reduce the amount of oil and gas used here, we have
invested in solar panels on the roof of the shop to heat the water in
the kitchen in the summertime. We have also put the wires ready for solar
electric when the budget allows... ... ...
2002
news
There is a lot of talk in environmental circles at the moment about germs,
or rather the sad lack of them in the average household. So I don’t want
to go down the ‘there is a new religion and hygiene is one of its gods’
(Bernard Shaw) path. But we are going to try out some different household
products in the next few months. All environmentally friendly and recommended
by customers (thank you Linda) or others retailers. As you know we have
very little space, so there wont be an army of washing powders, cleaners
etc. but if you try something other than Ecover do let us know what you
thought of it and whether you would buy it again.
Also beauty products. I bought an ayurvedic range of hair, face and body
products on my last trip to India. The soaps have been selling well in
Cargo for quite a while. Do let me know if you are enjoying any of them
in particular. And do you have a favourite make yourself?
Fish – we realize that this is the trickiest area for us and many
of our customers. The only organically certified fish is farmed and we
know there is a lot of opposition to fish farming Suffice it to say adhering
to Soil Association fish farming standards do mean the stocking rates
are very low and the feed has no additives and colourings. Sadly our local
organic trout farm is no longer trading so we are looking further a field,
but for small quantities chilled deliveries are often prohibitively expensive.
However we hope soon to have a small selection of fish for you to buy.
<TOP>
NEWSLETTER
I like to start the newsletter with a few words about what a great few
months we have had and how well the shop has been doing, but as all our
regular and oh so loyal customers know only too well the past four months
have not been so wonderful. Christmas at the shop WAS great and so was
the beginning of 2001 (the people who doubted that anyone would venture
up the drive in the winter have been proved wonderfully wrong) but in
February the countryside went into crisis and the rest, as they say, is
history. Dreadful history. Relatively we have been very lucky. Difficult
though it was to move into town and then back again within 2 and a half
months, compared to the plight of so many small businesses in the countryside
we suffered very little, and one very positive thing has come out of it
all. That we are in the right place here on the farm, with the vegetables
and the animals all around us. Contrary to expectation, a shop in town
is not a financially viable proposition. And also contrary to many people’s
expectations, here on the farm IS.
Which brings me on to the good news. Part of me would like to spend the
rest of the page shouting about the mishandling of the whole affair, and
the rest of the newsletter considering the more than slightly worrying
quotation which begins Teddy Goldsmith’s introduction to the very pertinent
Ecologist Report 2001* that “Itis increasingly difficult for small food
producers and retailers of any kind to survive, let alone thrive, within
the context of a global economy committed to the maximization of trade
and development.” But I shall leave you to read what is actually going
on in the magazines we have in the café!
The good news. The Independent on Saturday gave us a fantastic colour
picture and write up headed ‘Small is Beautiful’ helping even locals to
find us for the first time. This week we are celebrating our 2ndbirthday
at ‘home’ where the staff and the customers are happiest.!! The best months
of the year are ahead as we see the garden blossom and we cook and sell
her abundant fruits………. tell your friends and neighbours about us because
we do need to thrive, not just survive, in this world of multinational
control over what we produce and eat. Hilary
A GMO FREE ZONE
Large Family?
If you would like to save some money and order staples in bulk, e.g.,
rice, oats, sugar, pulses, oil, washing liquids, etc., ask for prices
and ordering details. Obviously the larger the amount the more you save,
but even on 3kg instead of 500g there is a small saving. Juice, wines,
cider and beer discounts are available if you order by the case. Please
ask for a price list.
WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY
I first stumbled across the organic farm shop last summer and, organic
zealot that I am it took just one glance at the overflowing boxes of every
good thing imaginable for me to become a devoted regular customer.
But this wasn’t enough for me. Buckling from the vigour's of my Other
Life as a secondary English teacher, it struck me with each weekly visit
how remarkably bright of eye chipper of disposition, lithe of limb –sane!-
the farm shop staff seemed to be. This, coupled with some soft -focus
pink-tinted images of myself skipping around the poly tunnels in artfully
patched dungarees like Barbara from “The good life”, or floating winsomely
in from the garden with a teeming trug in the manner of Joanne Lumley
in those ‘Mellow Birds’
commercials from the 70`s, impelled me to ask Hilary if
I could come and help out once a week.
Well, it didn’t take me long to realize the true physical reality of work
at the farm shop –more Fatima Whitbread than Felicity Kendall. Sarah says
that for the first three months her abiding memory of me is straggling
in from the veg shed like a drowned rat in a green kagoul as the rain
poured and the wind blew. And I can envisage Keith’s reaction if I suggested
going anywhere near his poly tunnels with a trug .
But I love it. There’s nothing like the excitement of the first of the
season’s lettuces or discussing with the lovely customers the endless
possibilities of Russian red kale ,to put the world back in perspective.
And, after the months of exile in town, its truly uplifting driving up
to the farmyard at the start of the working day.
I don’t think Hilary ever envisaged when she conceived of The Organic
Farm Shop that it would serve as a half way house for the rehabilitation
of the chronically stressed and, and indeed, looks frankly bemused when
I comment on how blissfully calm and happy I am after a days work here.
She’s under the impression that she’s a hard taskmaster but then she’s
never met my bottom set year ten.
In fact, purely in the interests of Education-Industry links, I often,
with increasing urgency, invite the farm shop staff to reciprocate by
coming and relieving me of Year 10 period six on a Tuesday, but so far
I’ve had no takers. Funny that…
____________________________________________
Hello my name is George and I’ve just celebrated my first birthday. You
may have seen me at the Farm Shop as I’ve been shopping there almost every
week since I was born.
At first I wasn’t allowed to eat the delicious fruit and vegetables, but
I loved looking at the bright colours and different shapes, and watching
all the busy people from my baby seat. At about the same time as I grew
my first teeth I started eating sweet potatoes, in large quantities!!!
I gradually progressed through a whole variety of produce exploring the
different tastes and textures and at one time I was eating twenty-one
bananas each week. I also eat lots of the “Suma” products; I have a very
healthy appetite!!!
Recently I’ve been riding my pram to the farm shop in town but I am really
looking forward to going back to the farm; seeing the animals, and the
fields where my dinners grow. My parents get a thrill knowing that I can
eat delicious organic food that has been grown minutes away from where
we live.
____________________________________________
Quite apart from the delicious produce and helpful staff, the customers
of The Organic Farm Shop should take their fair share of praise! Where
else do you find such friendly fellow shoppers who chat and exchange recipes
with complete strangers? Thanks to one such encounter last week, my family
was treated to a watercress soup of great distinction! What’s news about
watercress soup you may ask? Well perhaps you will be lucky enough to
meet the that same customer one day and find out! Gloria (Accounts department)
____________________________________________
Abbey
Home Farm - Organic Producer of the Year 1999
The
Organic Farm Shop - Organic Retailer of the Year 2000
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