Wark Farm

Newsletter July 2021

It's Summer, so I feel this should be a happy newsletter. But today one of our cows and her calf are struggling, losing their battle to hold on to the thread of life. And I'm finding it difficult to be cheery. She's an older cow and a month ago, she somehow injured herself quite badly. The vet said there wasn't much we could do, wo we did the little we could do and then waited. Every day was a day she got closer to giving birth. And every day, we grew a bit more hopeful, especially as she seemed to recover slightly. Then she finally calved. I felt so relieved. The calf looked good. The cow not so, but I'd already braced myself for that. But today, the calf's gone considerably backwards. She's barely holding on to life and we don't think she'll make it long. And it makes me really sad. I guess in my head I'd hoped for this calf to grow up bottle fed, even closer to us than our other Belties. Her mother is a really gentle cow, we'd expected her calf to have a similar gentle character. But now we'll be losing both. A big loss.

At the moment I'm writing this, I'm in Belgium. I'm spending some long overdue time with my daughters. But I'm missing the farm more than ever. Waking up to new born calves. Every day a possible gift. It is one of the most exhausting periods at the farm, but it's also one of the most wonderful ones. But when something like this happens, my need to be at the farm is even stronger. I want to be there. For Laurel. But also for the farm. Which may sound strange, but I guess that's what happens if you build up a connection, if you bond, not just to a person but to a place as well. I've started to feel bonded to the land, to the animals, even to the plants.

But the land gives back as well. And I'll let that thought soften my sadness. I'll look at the below picture Laurel sent me of another recently born calf that's doing well and hold on to that. I'll hold on to the fantastic herd of cows we have at the farm and the many gifts that will still be born in the next weeks.

The July order form is now open. SPECIALS THIS MONTH are our smoked back bacon and our smoked streaky bacon.

On our product range for this month: * There's our usual list of aged Belted Galloway Beef * Hebridean Hogget/Lamb, the full range of fresh cuts * SPECIAL OF THE MONTH: We also have SMOKED back bacon and SMOKED streaky bacon on the menu this month as a special (our usual bacon is unsmoked) * We also have our home cured unsmoked bacons and delicious gammon steaks back on the menu, as well as gammon boiling joints to make your own hams. * Our famed Wark Farm pies, made with our own hot water pastry recipe and filled to the brim with high quality meat (frozen) All our beef and lamb meat is cut fresh, which means that it can be frozen at home. It also means that, while we try to accommodate everyone's requests, we cannot guarantee not to run out of certain cuts. We treat orders in order of receipt, meaning that the sooner you get your order in, the more likely it will be that you will get everything you requested for. Unlike our meat, which is typically sold fresh, our famed pies are sold frozen, ready to be baked at home. Our pies are made from scratch at the farm, including their secret recipe golden crust. ORDER INFO: Ordering deadline: Tuesday 13th July, noon. Order confirmations are not sent out automatically, but will be emailed to you by latest Wednesday 14th July. COLLECTION/DELIVERY INFO: Orders can be collected at the farm (Sunday 18th July between 11.00am to 2pm) or picked up at Banchory Farmers Market (Saturday 17th July). We also do deliveries in central Aberdeen and Aberdeen City and most of Deeside and Donside. Deliveries will be done on Friday 16th July. Delivery is free of charge for orders above £40, otherwise it is £5 delivery charge. Please check with us whether we deliver to your area if this is the first time you're ordering from us. PAYMENT INFO: Invoices will be sent out by email at latest Tuesday 20th July with information on how to pay by bank transfer. The updated order form link is below.

Order Form

As ever please get in touch if you have any queries. Best wishes Laurel & Sabrina

The updated order form link is below.

As ever please get in touch if you have any queries.

Best wishes 

Laurel & Sabrina