Wark Farm

Above picture: Our cows in snow and sunshine; Picture taken by Georgina Bain

Newsletter December 2021

It's well embedded in language and culture that in this part of the earth we have four seasons and that they follow each other in a steady sort of progression. Being so settled a concept I assume that there is some reasonable factual and historical basis for it. The weather this year has however given us quite some reason to question a complacent notion of the seasons.

On this bit of hillside at least, last years winter hung on to the baton so long that it passed straight to summer and spring was left out of the relay. Grasses and meadow flowers rushed straight to flower and seed, missing out the green growthy bit in between. Summer was either hot and dry or cool and wet and at its end handed over to a warm and damp season that grew grass like it could have been spring. And while the grass still grew green and the trees coloured late, winter crashed onto the land with an ill tempered thump and a landscape altering storm.

I have no science or theories to say any of this seasonal oddness is new or is just as it's always been, but it does leave me with some sense of unease and a renewed questioning of what a resilient farm ecosystem should look like. We are already planning some fairly significant changes to the way we manage the ground and the animals next year but if we can draw any guidance from all this unpredictability perhaps it is that our current ideas for adaptation should only be the beginning.

But to end this year first, our December order form is now available…

On our product range for this month:

* There's our usual list of aged Belted Galloway Beef and Hebridean Hogget/Lamb, a selection of venison cuts (frozen) and our range of home cured bacons, delicious gammon steaks and gammon boiling joints

* Our famed Wark Farm pies, made with our own hot water pastry recipe and filled to the brim with high quality meat (frozen)

* FESTIVE SPECIALS SECTION: Especially for the festive season, you can order our delicious home cured gammons (cured pork leg joint, boned and rolled), game pheasants, game pheasant breasts and game duck.

* OUR POPULAR SAUSAGES ARE BACK and we also have our chipolatas back on the menu. These are fresh so you can easily stock in for the next months!

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.

ORDER INFO:

Ordering deadline: Wednesday 15th December, noon.

Order confirmations are not sent out automatically, but will be emailed to you by latest Friday 17th December.

COLLECTION/DELIVERY INFO:

Customers can choose for either collection at the farm (Thursday 23rd December, from 11am to 3pm) or delivery (which can either fall on Thursday 23rd December or on Friday 24th December, depending on the orders that come in. We can't tell you in advance if delivery to your area will be on Thursday or Friday, but we will let you know at the start of that week.) Delivery is only possible to certain areas in central Aberdeen and Aberdeen City, Deeside and Donside and is free of charge for orders above £40, otherwise, it is a £5 delivery charge. Turkeys are not included in the calculation of the £40 threshold as we're selling them for a third party, so if for example you only ordered a turkey, there will be a delivery fee. Also 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 Thursday 30th December with information on how to pay by bank transfer. The updated order form link is below.

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

Best wishes

Laurel & SaM

December Order Form