Wark Farm

And now, from someone completely different…

I love this season. The yellows, red and orange colours outside seem to call out to us to bring their sense of coziness and warmth back into our own homes. Maybe through decorating our home with earthly colours, a branch or a winter flower here and there, maybe through poking up a fire or maybe through lighting up some candles. Or maybe simply through gathering those we love, around a dining table, and sharing a meal with them. After all, for all of history, for all of different cultures, food has forever been something that is able to connect people. Food has always had the ability to bring warmth into our lives, both literally and figuratively.

Same here in Belgium. Belgium, you ask? Maybe you wonder why there is suddenly talk of Belgium. Well, that's because today is a guest post, a post written by SaM, a dear friend of Laurel.

People in Belgium like to call themselves ‘Bourgondiërs', an old term which simply means that we like to see ourselves as people who enjoy ‘eating and drinking'. We can endlessly talk about that new restaurant/food place we discovered, we scout newspapers and magazines for new foodie places to bring our friends to and we set up dinners that start at 2 pm and end by 9 pm ( which is when the kids need to be brought to bed, because of course we had our kids participate as well; After all, we Belgians believe in introducing our kids early to what will become fine dining later on in life). And so the list could go on and on.

But while we Belgians thoroughly enjoy food, we have to admit that we may not always be sufficiently critical about where that food came from. We comfort ourselves behind the idea that organisations such as Food Safety will do the necessary to protect our health, that bunches of ‘green idealists' will take actions to enhance animal wellbeing and that as long as someone else does whatever it takes, we don't have to do it. But that's a simple dismissal of our own responsibility. It's foregoing on the fact that our actions, every single one, do matter.

Bringing warmth into our lives starts from the inside. It starts in each of us. And it starts with the things we do, the choices we make. It means choosing for food that will nourish us, food that is not polluted by commercially driven fillers in any way that may come. It also means choosing for food that was made in a way respectful to nature, to animals, as all those colours, all that beauty we see today in nature, is not something we should take for granted.

We don't need to radically change our life. When I exit the supermarket, there are lots of non-organic foods inside as well. Nothing in life needs to be black or white. But I will tell you what you will see when you look at my life in detail. You will see a fair number of organic products in my shopping cart, you will see me buy in local shops frequently instead of large chains and you will see me giving change when I came across good street artists. Because every single action matters and if I can make this world even a little bit better, that is great.

I guess that brings me back to why I'm writing this post here today. Ever since I met Laurel and got introduced to her farm, I've been in awe of the heart she has for food and nature. So as the fire transformed the farm and life got really busy for her, I offered to write this post today. To contribute a little part of my time and to spread the word, an open invitation to the next orders that can be taken from the farm.

To cook. To gather. And to enjoy.

Of which...

This month we have a full selection of Belted Galloway Beef and the first of this years new season lamb, before we switch to new season lamb and another batch of our home grown chickens. We have there return of some bacon to the product list and the entry of the geese, duck, gammons and turkeys for Christmas orders. Please let us know also if you wish to reserve particular joints of beef for Christmas too, we have some very good looking Galloway beef ageing ready. We will be delivering orders on Friday 16th, will be at Banchory Farmers Market on the 17th and will be open for collection of order at the farm on Monday 19th (no shop yet, but you can place an order for pick up).