Introducing our new Shepherd

Name: Arthur Ramage

Age: 21, he claims he’s just had a hard paper round!!!

We would like to introduce our new Shepherd, Arthur who commenced work with us at Grange Farm on Monday 1st February. Arthur and his family have moved to North Yorkshire from North, Northumberland to work for us. He will be looking after our three flocks of 1,800 breeding ewe’s which produce 2,500 lambs, the Dorset flock which are used for early breeding and the North Country Blackface which produce our Mules. The flocks cover Levisham Moor, approximately 1800 acres and another 300 of the in by land, which is the land around Grange farm.
Arthur has brought with him his 5 dogs, Davey, Ben and Liz can be seen in the photograph below, Spot and Wallis were “unavailable” for the photo shoot .
Arthur is fitting in well at the farm. When I asked him what made him want to work for the Ginger Pig, he answered the fact we are passionate about animals, we do what is best for them. He says he is most looking forward to lambing season, it’s the busiest and most challenging but extremely rewarding.

Valentine's Day Pies

You don't have to get married to enjoy something special - why not have a Valentine's Day pie this weekend, Les can do wonderful things with pastry hearts.

Savoury Pie Wedding Cake

We are often asked for "special pies for special occasions", but Susi Chapman made us put on our very special thinking caps - a savoury pie Wedding Cake.

Our baker, Les, created a classic 3-tier Wedding Cake - the base pie contained free-range pork layered with chicken fillets and cranberry stuffing, the whole pie topped with cranberries. The jelly filling was made with champagne; the middle pie contained local venison and other wild game, free-range pork, all wrapped in dry-cured streaky bacon, again topped with cranberries and filled with a port jelly; the top pie contained free-range pork, blue stilton and apple, topped with an apple crust, filled with a cider jelly.

Susi (now Mrs Pitura) and her husband have very kindly allowed us to use some of the photos taken at their wedding.

Gloucester Old Spot Hams

I had a litter of Gloucester Old Spots last year who have spent all their lives in the Orchard at Park Farm, eating all the apples and pears that have fallen from the trees. They were destined for bacon, sausages and hams because I knew they would be carrying a good layer of fat. The legs are presently curing in a mixture of salt, brown sugar and salt peta, this is the traditional cure for a York ham. The hams will be taken out of the salt and hung to dry by the end of February and ready to eat by mid March. The hams are cured on the bone and will weigh approximately 25lbs. If anyone is looking for something really special in the ham line, these York cured hams from orchard fed Gloucester Old Spot Pigs (which will have a proper layer of fat) will be fantastic. They will be £85 each or £125 cooked and glazed and we only have 6.

Tomato Sausage

TOMATO SAUSAGE - I have just found a great recipe for a sausage I used to make when I farmed in Nottinghamshire (I think it was a local speciality as all the butchers in Worksop used to make them). The first batch will arrive in London on Thursday and be in our shops for the weekend. The Recipe is a little dry bread mixed with Napolina tinned tomatoes to soak up the tomato juice, pork shoulder and beef flank seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg which is coursley minced together with loads of sundried tomatoes, then filled into thick sausage skins. This goes really well with sausage, mash and buttered cabbage. If any of our old customers can remember a favourite sausage we used to make send us an email and we will do our best to find the recipe - Tim Wilson

Burns Night - Haggis

BURNS NIGHT - 25TH JANUARY 2010

Back at the farm we have made some traditional Scottish Haggis using legs of mutton, liver, hearts, toasted oatmeal, onions and spices. This year we have gone away from stuffing them into sheeps stomachs as many customers found the flavour too strong and have used a synthetic alternative, however the casing is only for cooking not something you ever eat. We have poached the Haggis at the farm and they are properly cooked through, they just need reheating by placing them into boiling water and simmering for approximately 25 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes and swede. Now on sale in all our Shops.

Dorset Lambs

Our Dorset sheep have started lambing.

The pictures above and below show the sheep in the lambing pens.



When the lambs are old enough they can be held together.



The numbers on their sides are for the shepherds to match the lambs to their mothers.