Farmers' Market Monthly Schedule 2024

 

Farmers' Market monthly schedule 2024

1st Saturday    Balham
1st Sunday       Blackheath

2nd Saturday  Ealing

3rd Saturday   Wimbledon 

Last Sunday (4th or 5th Sunday) Winchester (Hants)

Please note:

We have limited milk available and most is already allocated to existing regular customers.  Any spare milk will be allocated to those on a 'reserve' list which will be held for each market.  If you would like to add your name to the reserve list, please let us know as soon as possible and, if there is any milk available, you will be notified by text on the evening before market.   Please note that it is very unlikely that there will be any milk available for general on-the-day sale at markets.

Email:  ellie@elliesdairy.co.uk

Tel: 07770 777970  (text is best!)

Farmers' Market Monthly Schedule 2023

 

Farmers' Market monthly schedule 2023

1st Saturday    Balham
1st Sunday       Blackheath

2nd Saturday  Ealing

3rd Saturday   Wimbledon 

4th Saturday    Water Lane Walled Garden (between Cranbrook & Hawkhurst, Kent)
Last Sunday (4th or 5th Sunday) Winchester (Hants)

Please note:

It's that time of year again!  

As we wait patiently for our girls to start kidding in the spring, we have very limited milk available.  Please reserve your milk a few days in advance of market to avoid disappointment as it is unlikely that we will have any spare milk for sale at market for the next few months.

Email:  ellie@elliesdairy.co.uk

Tel: 07770 777970  (text is best!)

Farmers' markets monthly schedule 2022

Farmers' Market monthly schedule 2023

1st Saturday    Balham
1st Sunday       Blackheath

2nd Saturday  Ealing

3rd Saturday   Wimbledon 
Last Sunday (4th or 5th Sunday) Winchester (Hants)

Please note:

It's that time of year again!  

As we wait patiently for our girls to start kidding in the spring, we have very limited milk available.  Please reserve your milk a few days in advance of market to avoid disappointment as it is unlikely that we will have any spare milk for sale at market for the next few months.

Email:  ellie@elliesdairy.co.uk

Tel: 07770 777970  (text is best!)

Farmers' Market monthly schedule:


1st Saturday     South Kensington & Balham
1st Sunday       Blackheath & Romsey (Hants)

2nd Saturday  Alton (Hants)

2nd Sunday    Winchester (Hants)

3rd Saturday   Wimbledon & Ealing
4th Saturday   Notting Hill & Twickenham
Last Sunday (4th or 5th Sunday) Winchester (Hants)

Please note:

It's that time of year again!  As we go into winter, milk production is now dropping.  Please reserve your milk in advance of market to avoid disappointment as it is unlikely that we will have very much spare milk for sale at market for the next few months.

Email:  ellie@elliesdairy.co.uk

Tel: 07770 777970

  

'Twas the night before Christmas ...

Well, we made it through another festive season and have landed on Xmas Eve still in one piece, though a little weary ... The dairy fairies have done a fabulous job of keeping our market stalls and counters stocked with yummy cheese, Joe has worked his little goatie socks off at Borough Market and the goats are completely oblivious to any of the chaos going on around them!

And now the fridges are all empty, the last hampers have been delivered and I am tucking into some scrummylicious truffle Brie from our friends at Allsop & Walker .. You can never ever ever have too much cheese! 

And so it only remains for me to thank all our customers for their support over the past few weeks and to wish everyone a Very Merry Xmas!!

As is now traditional, I leave you with a delightful piece written by a goatkeeper in Wales.

ooo-0-ooo

There is a very lovely ancient tradition that holds that on Christmas eve, at midnight, animals are given the power of speech. I’ve even heard it said that at midnight, all the animals sing songs of praise.

Walking into the warm barn, coming in from the icy, windy dark outside, it’s easy to believe this lovely story. I look into the slender faces of my familiar, much loved goats, with their dark eyes and knowing expressions, and I can easily imagine them opening their mouths to sing at midnight. Glenda, Wandi, Patsi, Juliette – I know all their names, and I can tell them all apart, as identical as they might seem to a stranger. I can imagine just how each of their voices might sound, raised in the choir. Juliette rears up her hind legs to have her cheek scratched – just there, by the hinge of her jaw –and to rub her head lovingly against my shoulder.

I come here every day, twice a day, to milk these goats and commune with these lovely animals, and they have taught me a thing or two about miracles.

They have taught me about dedication, and patience, and discipline. Waking up at 6 am on a freezing morning, and going outside sounds like a punishment when I’m wrapped in my duvet. But as soon as I haul myself up and out, and into the barn, I realize the truth of it – coming into the barn is my reward. The teaching really is in the practice – putting my hands on the goats, tending them and receiving the healing milk that they give me, is all I need to know of magic.

The Christian tradition holds that the king is born in midwinter. The pagan tradition too, speaks of rebirth in the time of darkness. It is a principle as old as man, when we were frightened and crouching in the caves, waiting for the light to return. Peasants have milked goats as long as humans have been around, and I follow this time-honored tradition with gratitude now, as the warm streams of milk hit my pail in a fragmented melody.

In that song, I can hear everything I need to know about rebirth. These goats are pregnant in the darkness, gestating new life. In the spring the kids will be born, and the milk will be freshened. The life force dies back, and blossoms up again. New life. It is a miracle that we few – who are lucky enough to tend the farm – learn over again with our hands and feet, arms and eyes and hearts, every year without fail.

Christmas eve, in the darkness – the goats and I wait together in the silence. We wait for the rebirth that is certain. It is certain as life, certain as breath, as certain as the knowledge that someday, spring will come again and light will return to the world.

ooo-0-ooo

A trip to the vet for Hugo

And so Wednesday morning duly arrived and straight after morning milking, I loaded our rather large and stinky hormone-driven Hugo into the trailer and set off for the veterinary surgery where Peter was scheduled to perform a little 'operation' on him.

Poor Hugo!  I had explained to him what was going to happen but I don't think he really understood!

As I mentioned in the last post, we had taken the decision to have Hugo completely castrated for his own sanity and the safety of other goats in his area.  It was not a decision that was taken lightly - any operation carries a risk and although Hugo is a big healthy chap, this kind of procedure under general anaesthetic can be quite dangerous.

Having unloaded and weighed him (to calculate the anaesthetic dose), we moved him into one of the stables at the clinic where Peter gave him a couple of injections to sedate him.  Very quickly, Hugo sank down into a deep sleep.

The operation was swift and perfectly executed by a well-practised Peter and his team of nurses and having administered a final dose of painkillers, they then left Hugo to come round in his own time.  And so I sat with his huge head in my lap, snoring and drooling away for almost 2 hours before he was finally conscious enough to haul himself to his feet.

Turn your sound up and you can hear him gently snoring away!

He is now recovering well at home and, when the hormones all finally work their way out of his system in a few weeks, he will be able to live permanently with all his old lady friends.  Lucky old Hugo!

And, just as a little footnote .. those of you who follow us on Twitter may have seen a photo of one of our little female kids who has recently been very poorly:

She has been living in a cosy corner with a nice warm fleecy jacket and a heat lamp and has been getting lots and lots of cuddles and treats and TLC ... All our efforts seem to have paid off as she is now much better and almost back to her usual cheeky little self ..

Such a difference and so nice to see!

It's all about the boys!

August, September, October ... and here we are already in November!  Leaves are falling and so is the temperature as the thermals are starting to make a more regular appearance for morning milking .. And, as we all know, dear readers .. as the temperature drops and the days get shorter, so goatie thoughts turn to romance ...

Joe and I spent a very wet and stinky day some weeks ago moving all the working stud boys back up to the farm so that they could be closer to the girls ..

And so it was that our lovely Hugo was first out of the blocks this season with our gorgeous goatie girls Lara and Zenobia ...

And here he is doing his very best to woo our lovely JoJo with his best chat-up lines ..

But our young buck Hilton has now taken over and is proving to be very popular again with our ladies this year .. This is a group of girls vying for his attention!

Two of his young sons, Percy and Wilbur, have also managed to escape a couple of times this week when their hormones got the better of them, so we may well have a few unexpected 'surprise' babies in the spring!

Sadly, our lovely Hugo is getting older now and, understandably, he gets very frustrated at not being allowed in with the ladies all the time.  He cannot live with the younger males as he tends to get quite violent with them and we are concerned that he may also manage to injure himself with his constant attempts at trying to knock over very large and heavy metal cattle gates which we have to use to keep him separated.

For those of you who have followed our blog for several years, you may remember that Hugo came to us as a young chap from an older goatkeeper who was suffering from dementia.  He was kept alone and did not receive a lot of attention and was quite a handful when he first arrived.  It look a lot of TLC and persistence (and personal injury to yours truly!!) to get him settled and happy.  In a more 'commercial' herd he would now be put to sleep as his working days are over but, as you know, we are not your average commercial herd.

So .. David and I have taken the rather non-commercial decision to have Hugo castrated.  This means that he will become a much calmer boy and we will then be able to either leave him in with the girls permanently (where he can no longer do any damage!) or with the younger stud boys.  His hormones will completely disappear, he will not smell any more (for which David will be eternally grateful) and he should live a good few years being perfectly happy and content.

To those of you who have no concept of adult male goat behaviour, I understand that this may seem a little drastic!  But, trust me .... there is nothing quite like a 120kg testosterone-fuelled male goat in season.

His little op is scheduled for this coming Wednesday morning with our lovely vet Peter and so we all cross our fingers that everything will go well for our big Daddy Hugo!