We celebrated at the Visit Devon Awards last night having won two of the Food and Drink Devon Gold Awards for our Dexter x Devon Sirloin steak and Gloucester Old Spot dry cured bacon.
The Awards recognize the very best of produce from Devon and our steak and bacon was described by the judges as being ‘full of flavour’ and ‘available from a good range of local outlets’.
This follows our success at the 2011 Taste of the West Awards where we received an award for each of the seven products entered.
We are delighted to win these awards and would like to thank all our loyal customers for their support and hope they continue to enjoy our meats.
Can’t believe the last one was January! well 8 months have passed and the weather is still dark,wet and miserable and it’s August!
As usual the weather is as predictable as me burning tea every night- as soon as you hear the first combine you know that rain is in the air.As much as we need rain to help the grass grow we really could do with a little less of the stuff landing on the straw which is waiting to be baled.
While we wait for the sun to return to dry the straw ,we have Chagford Show to enjoy. We went down this evening to set up the stand,and hopefully will have a fun day there tomorrow. Okehampton Show was great success for us last week , but a very long week preparing for it!
We also had great results from the ‘Taste of the West Food and Drink Awards’this year . We entered 7 products and won 2 Golds, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze awards for our beef,pork and lamb.
We have started to sell the lambs born this spring, Blackspice one of our Dexter cows calved this morning and Iggy our pet piggy has 10 piglets.
The B&B has been really busy with guests from all over and a lovely couple have just arrived to stay for two weeks, so hopefully the sun will come out for them ,if not for us!!!
Happy New Year to all of our customers!and to anyone else who may be reading this. Hope you all had a Happy and healthy Christmas.
Our Christmas was not a healthy one(bad colds) and if you call defrosting water pipes all over Christmas a happy event ?!
Glad to say we have made it to the New Year with running water from the taps and now all across the fields,as we have had so much rain. At least in the cold weather the fields were dry.
Summer must be on the way with the B&B bookings coming in. The weather is sure to be better for those arriving in June.Having had Ben last year we have plenty of baby equipment for those wishing to come and stay with a baby, ie baby bath/toys/ spare clothes!
The ewes are due to be scanned on the 10th February, at which point we will know how many lambs are due or not.This is when we discover if the rams were working or sleeping!
Anyhow, thats about it for now, as nothing much as happened apart from surviving the snow and frosts, and you all know about that!
The cows are back in!
Monday was spent getting the cows that are due to calf over the winter into the sheds so that they can have their calves on a lovely nest of straw. Which is exactly what ‘Katie’ one of our Dexter cows did that very night. A little boy!
Our little boy Ben is not so little now and is beginning to get about, so is never where I leave him!
My other son has just reminded me that it is only 52 days until Christmas, and Christmas meat orders are coming in each day.
The B&B is still going, with guests still enjoying the delights of Dartmoor, in the glorious weather we have been having.
Off to get some sleep now before Ben awakes. He hasn’t yet realised that the clocks have changed, so thinks it’s Ok to get up at 4.30 am!
Another Special Delivery
Buying free range meat by mail-order from Lovaton Farm has always been convenient, but now you can guarantee you order will be with you before noon. We try our hardest to get our meat to your doorstep as quickly as possible, and now there is less waiting around, and less time spent in transit, so your meat arrives in perfect condition.
It has been crazy here the last few weeks!
Since the last write up, we have weaned the lambs from their mothers (not impressed!) have brought in the straw for bedding the stock next winter and have attended the two local agricultural shows with a stand in the Food Hall.
It takes alot of work to prepare for the shows,setting up the night before etc as well as preparing the meat for the day. Both shows were a huge success and it was so lovely meeting customers (existing ones and new).
We had some friends help on the stall who were fantastic and helped Simon survive the day, so a HUGE thanks to Emma,Louise, Ellie ,Molly and Harri(plus Molly’s friend).
Iggy (the pet piggy) Isis and Blacky our three youngest sows have all had piglets in the last few weeks.Mothers and babies doing well!
Talking of babies I must go and check Ben, he’s been fast asleep since 6.30 ,so I think I will go and join him.
Can’t believe I have left it so long to tell you all that has happened!!
A quick summary of the year so far!
We survived the frost and snow in January-it was a long month, with so much extra feeding and bedding up.
February -was wet and cold, a miserable husband came back in each day. I was 6 months pregnant and beginning to find it harder to climb into the tractor each day.We scanned the ewes to see how many lambs each ewe was carrying- or not! The results were good,as lots of lambs were due .
Sky had 6 puppies on the 14th.
March- the sun came out!!! we all got excited and six layers of waterproofs came off.
April- lambing started on 1st. We had the help of a student this year as I was not allowed to help lamb because I was pregnant. I just supervised and went off collecting silage for the stock. By now we had run out off feed, so had to buy some in. The roads seem very bumpy on a tractor when you have a large bump to support.
May-the lambs are bonny and skipping around in the sun. I by now am not skipping, I can hardly walk,but then on the 16th May, baby Ben arrived and not only could I see my feet again but I could also get into the tractor-no problem.
June-never ones to plead for rain but we really needed some by now. The fields we had shut up for silage we had to offer back to the stock for grazing, so didn’t bode well for the number of silage bales we will make.
July- we have no grass, so cut our corn for silage instead.and then it rains!
Still not enough to get the grass going properly.
At leasrt we haven’t had to mow the lawn much this summer and the B&B guests have had a lovely time, with walking on the moor and not getting soaked.
You are now up to date with events on the farm and I will try and keep it that way.
We arfe currently getting ready for weaning lambs, (if we can find some grass to wean them onto!) and preparing for the local shows where we have a stand in the food hall, promoting our meat.
This Sunday we will be at Castle Drogo for their Festive Food Fair. We’ll be selling meat and also have a few special offers for Christmas, so pop by and say ‘hello’.
For more details please see http://bit.ly/6yUDB6 (Dartmoor Events Website) or http://bit.ly/6fmjoZ (National Trust Website – Search for ‘Castle Drogo’).
In the run-up to Christmas we are going to be cutting Beef, Lamb and Pork every week. Please contact the farm to get your order in.
Christmas Reviews
January 8, 2010 in Customer Comments by Lovaton Farm
Occasionally we get an e-mail that reminds us just why rare breeds and free range farming are worth all the effort. This week, amongst the snow and ice we were treated to a meal by meal account of how our meat was used over Christmas by one customer.
We’d love to hear what you do with our meat, so please drop us an e-mail next time you’ve been busy in the kitchen.
In the mean time, here are those christmas reviews to whet your appetite:
Beef mince for hamburgers and chips- Really delicious beef- great flavour- some of the best burgers we’ve had and I’m American!
Sausage meat for Xmas stuffing (cranberry, cornbread and much else)- Very good and with a beautiful natural colour.
Roast shoulder of lamb coated in mustard- Sensational flavour and incredible succulence- one of the best roast lambs I can remember in many years. I noted that the neck fillet was still attached underneath the shoulder. Is this a West Country practice? In any case, it was handy to discover extra meat as my daughter produced an additional 3 people for dinner at the very last minute. As an aside, I feel that in the distant past, almost all British lamb was at least very good but this seems to me to no longer be the case. Is this because lambs are produced several times per year?
Marinated grilled rib of lamb chops- one version in spicy Indian style & another in Southeast Asian-style marinade. Both very good.
Pork chops with wild rice- Good flavour though we slightly overcooked the dish so it was a bit dry and probably not at its best.
Feather steak used in grilled Vietnamese beef with green mango salad with peanut, chilli and shallot dressing- This was OK but a little dry. I find it a bit hard to believe this is feather steak as I know it (though British butcher’s terminology can be strangely varied and I never quite understand it). Your beef had almost no marbling whereas feather steak is very marbled and although classed as braising steak, is very tender if cut across the grain, marinated and grilled or sauteed.
Chipolatas cut up and served on cocktail sticks as part of our joke Bridget Jones ‘turkey curry buffet’ (complete with bad jumpers wrapped as presents for all guests). Very good and with a natural pork flavour.
Hanger steak- Fantastic flavour and quality. This looked just like the cut we wanted (the French ‘onglet’) though it strangely did not taste of kidney as is usual since this cut is quite close to that organ. None the worse for that, however. A really terrific steak- leftovers made a great hot steak sandwich another day.