Happy New Year to you! I hope you have had a good holiday season and recharged your batteries ready for the New Year. Here at Waterloo Cottage we are excited as the end of January is the time when we shall bring out our air dried ham. It has taken 12 mon ths to make, not including the breeding and growing of the pigs. The pigs that made this ham were planned for at the end of 2010. They were British Saddle back pigs, as we hadn’t brought Ginger and Warren into the herd at that time. The pork legs and shoulders were cleaned, salted and left for about two months. During Our goal is to emulate the quality of Proscuitto, Serrrano and Parma hams: exponents of air dried hams claim that the diet, breed of pig and the process all contribute to the quality of the fi nished ham. Some of these people have been doing this for hundreds of years, I can feel a summer holiday exploring these producers is long overdue… On the farm the lambing is starting. We have taken all the ewes up to Dale Farm, a hundred acre farm we rent from a neighbouring land owner. There is a large barn and a lean-to and with our increasing fl ock it would be good to be able to watch the ewes more carefully this year. Last year the spell of cold weather in April made it very diffi cult for our late lambs. So, the lambs are coming early this year and will be born in the barn. As soon as we are sure that they are fi t and feeding well they will be out into the fi elds. In the shop we are using January to recover from a busy Christmas and plan ahead for the range of products we will be producing through the year. Our pie production tripled in 2012, with our Steak and Ale, Steak and Kidney and Chicken and Ham pies providing a wholesome meal, easily prepared at home for our customers with their busy lives. Please remember our special offer for those of you who collected their Christmas meat from us. Come back just 4 more times in January and February, get your card stamped and we will give you a £10 meat voucher and one of our jute bags for life free. We are now open: Weekdays 8am-6pm |
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