in this issue:
Sue Lawrence - Star of the Hour Show
Greetings! Just made my blog before my end of month deadline!
I expect that you will be expecting a good old moan from me about the weather in this blog.............the sun is shining this morning :-)
It is the weather that makes farming so exciting, you try and make plans but someone somewhere can put a spanner in the works so easily. It must be so boring being a 'Mr. Supermarket' when you can fly produce in from overseas when the local supply is held up with the weather.
Iain is still busy picking fruit, we are just getting started in our late tunnels which should give us strawberries through until early November!
Willie, the contractor who cuts our grain, is tearing his hair out trying to cut bits and pieces between the showers. He is hoping to be here to cut our barley in three dry days, that could be anytime from this weekend to the end of September!
Kirsteen and I are heading down to the big smoke (London) to the Speciality Food Fair in a couple of weeks time to see what is new and to speak to some of our suppliers, well OK its an excuse for a couple of days away!!
Sue has just launched her latest book, 'Taste ye Back', and we are delighted that Sue is coming to Craigie's this Sunday (30th Aug) at 2pm for an hour to sign copies of her latest book. Do not forget to bring the exclusive offer attached to the foot of this section.
If I am perfectly honest I am not a great fan of cook books, but Sue's books are far more than just a cook book, they are also great reads. I picked up Sue's latest book when it came in and I have found it really hard to lay down, watch out Mr Rankin!
We have been saying that our late raspberries will be ready mid August for the last 6 weeks, unfortunately mid August has come and gone and the late rasps have not really got going yet!! Hopefully we will get a few days sunshine and they will ripen up shortly. Once they get going we will have rasps for a good 6 weeks.
Strawberries are still available ready picked and are as sweet tasting as ever!
Our Victoria Plums are either boom or bust, this is a boom year as there is a great crop of them.
The hens have moved from the orchard to make way for picking. The first ones are just ready and are available for PYO and ready picked. Do not be surprised if you find any eggs 'growing' in the trees! Check out the fruit news link on the website for upto date fruit news.
I have been talking about it for a while now but it looks like the builder will be starting mid to late September, planning to be finished by November! We are not planning to close during the building of our extension so fingers crossed it all goes smoothly!
This is a link to the outline of the plans. We are currently working on the internal layout so if you have any comments please let me know. We will be posting a page on the website to keep you updated with progress once the building starts.
Our extension will give us a butchery counter (let me know if you know a good butcher looking for a new challenge!), a bigger deli and cheese counter and an improved cafe area.
Greetings! And I thought it was just farmers that moaned about the weather..........if I had a £1 for everyone that has said to me in the last couple of days
'................but it is just too hot.'
I would be off on holiday, to somewhere a bit cooler!!
in this issue:
There is one thing for sure, this weather has brought the fruit on leaps and bounds. Most of the fruits are now available for PYO now with strawberries extremely plentiful and tasty! It is a bit concerning because the late variety (Symphony) is also in full swing, two weeks early. I think this will mean a very quick and short PYO season.
Please check the Fruit News Page on the top menu bar of all the main web site pages
The Craigie's team is going to visit Tom and Steve at Puddeldub next week to see their pigs, buffalo, Aberdeen Angus cattle and Jacob sheep. Their products are great for the barbecue, in fact they even do a great barbecue pack which is great value for money and really tasty. I seem to remember last summer it was steak pies we were selling but the trolley load!
We will be starting our summer hours on Tuesday 7th July, we will be open 7 days a week from 9am until 6pm.
It was great to see so many of you at the Highland Show, and thanks for not giving me too hard a time about my 'Sunday best', it was great to get into a pair of jeans and trainers on Monday!
I had a great time at the show meeting lots of old and new friends. Hopefully I found a few new products which we hope to stock in the shop, watch this space.
The raspberries are now becoming more plentiful and the price of the ready picked rasps are now down at £6.99/kg (£3.17/lb).
Open Farm Sunday (weekend for Craigie's) was a great hit. We were so lucky to have been used for the press launch and to get a visit from Nick Nairn. He was really great with the kids from Dalmeny school. Check out the picture of Nick along with some of the Craigie's team on our web pages.
During that week we hosted three school visits and on the Open Farm Weekend Craigie's has never seen so many people, cars were parking in the middle of the farm! Sophie, George and cousin David raised £500 for The Teenage Cancer Trust with their Splat the Rat and other activities. A big thank you from me to all of volunteers and the team at Craigie's whom without the weekend would not be possible.
And yes the tractor and trailer ride will be out more often during the summer!
Check out our new soft fruit info page on our website for up to date details on the availability of fruit and vegetables for PYO.
Our pick your own fruit will not be ready until July this year, but if our early tunnel raspberries and strawberries are anything to go by the PYO crop should be a good one and worth waiting on!!
If you want to order any ready picked fruit please email me with your requirements and I will make sure the pick of the crop is kept for you.
Anne has introduced a few changes to the menu for the summer, back are the yummy homemade strawberry tarts, if you haven't experienced a Craigie's tart, you just do not know what you are missing out on!
Amongst the new additions is a Steak Rolls, a tender freshly cooked minute steak in a roll served with a mustard sauce, fresh salad leaves and crisps.
In the shop we now stock the new Chase Vodka which is a very fine vodka made in the UK. http://www.chasedistillery.co.uk
Now that the barbecue season is upon us you must try Puddledub's burgers and sausages, or even better their barbecue pack is just what the coals need!
Don't forget the berries and cream.
Apart from the hive of activity around the fruit their is not much happening out on the farm at the moment. The cereal crops will be starting to ripen soon in preparation for harvest in September. The potatoes are growing fast and we are just trying to keep them clean from potato blight.
It's that time of year again! The caravan gets dusted down and is taken all of three miles to the show ground at Ingliston for the Royal Highland Agricultural Show. http://www.royalhighlandshow.org/home
If you have not been to the show before it is a great day out for the family (kids go free!!)
I have been promoted this year from Deputy Steward of Car Parks to Deputy Steward of Shops and Crafts, at least I will be 'in' the show this year! Please don't make fun of me if you see me dressed in my finest ;-)
What a difference a bit of sunshine makes! Our ready picked strawberries and raspberries are now on the go, a bit short supply this week but they should both be plentiful next week. Our pick your own fruit will not be ready until the end of June beginning of July.
Our own asparagus has only two weeks left before we stop picking it, so make the most of the short season of this fantastic veg before it is all over for another year!!
We had the press launch for LEAF’s Open Farm Sunday at Craigie’s today, this involved lots of school kids, Nick Nairn and lots of press. All went very well and hopefully the kids from Dalmeny and Gorebridge enjoyed their visits. Tomorrow we have Kirknewton PS coming to see around the farm.
Our Open Farm Weekend takes place this weekend (6th and 7th June). We have lots of things happening for all of the family, and it’s all free!
All of the above and more will be taking place at Craigie this weekend from 11am until 3pm. The shop and cafe will be open as normal from 9am until 5pm. The cafe menu will be substituted for a barbeque/salad buffet (breakfast will be served as normal until 1130am).
There will also be lots of tasters going on in the shop as well as suppliers popping in to chat about their produce.
Hope you can make it along for a great weekend of activities.
We had our first pick of asparagus today! This will be our first full harvest year of the asparagus we planted 3 years ago! The season is a short one, we will pick until the middle of June so make sure you enjoy this lovely veg when it is in season, only £1.40/100g freshly picked in our shop!
We will just be getting small picks this week but next week we should be getting bigger picks and we will open the field up for pick your own when the spears start popping through the ground with more vigour!
To celebrate the start of the asparagus season we will be having an asparagus weekend; more about that later this week!
Remember to watch the 530 Show tomorrow (28th) on STV, Craigie’s will be on as a nominee for the Visit Scotland Food Tourism Award! On Thursday you will be able to vote for us (or any of the other nominees!!) on line and get a chance to win a holiday. http://eatscotland.visitscotland.com/food-tourism-award.html
We are busy planning our Open Farm Weekend which will be on the 6th and 7th June (LEAF organise this event nationwide and are using us for a press launch, don’t tell anyone but Nick Nairn is coming along for the press launch!)
Anyway, we will be raising funds for The Teenage Cancer Trust, one of our super ‘Saturday Girls’ had a really tough time a couple of years ago fighting cancer. At our Open Weekend our kids, Sophie and George, are leading the fund raising part with activities such as ‘Splat the Rat’(Don’t worry no live animals will suffer just some really fat IKEA rats!) and throw the cow pat (remember to wash your hands!)
Also on the same weekend there is a sponsored walk from Western General, Edinburgh to the West of Scotland TCT unit, Glasgow. If you are interested in taking part in the sponsored walk, either the whole 60 miles or just a small chunk as small as 2 miles, please contact Alison Freeland on 0131 3312791 or Aileen Thomson on 0131 3311108 as soon as possible (I meant to email this out earlier!)
If you cannot make either our Open Weekend or the Sponsored Walk but you want to donate to this worthwhile cause go online to www.justgiving.com/gowestforTCT
The funds raised will go towards funding a special unit at the Western General, like the one they have in Glasgow, so that teenage cancer patients can maintain some sort of normality during treatment.
I got a telling off for starting my last blog of on a ‘moany farmer tone’, so............. Spring is defiantly arrived at Craigie’s.......... in the form of three wee orphan lambs. George was helping out his Uncle at the lambing and arrived home with three lambs! They are still a bit young to brave the cold but we will be bringing them out (as long as it doesn’t rain!) at 11am and 3pm on Saturday and Sunday for around 15/20 minutes to feed them. So if you want to lend a hand feeding a lamb come along about then. In a week or so they will be out all of the time.
Richard and his crew from Fife finished planting the spuds at Craigie this week, it has been a really great dry spell for getting all the planting and sowing done, we will be needing some rain soon...................!
We have had a wee shuffle around in the shop, hope you like the new lay out. The Puddledub Pork has been going really well, we now stock Tom’s nephews ‘Puddledub Buffalo, beef and Jacob lamb, you have got to try it is really good and great value as well.
Hot of the press.........Mike from Stewart Brewery is coming along on Saturday 25th between 12 and 3pm to do a beer tasting, you can count on me being there that afternoon!
The cameras are rolling again! The ‘5.30’ show are coming to Craigie’s with their cameras on Wednesday 22nd, it will be broadcast some time week beginning the 27th. So if you want a moment of fame pop along!!
We installed a new till system in the shop and cafe today, it seems to be working fairly well but please be kind to us if we are still a little slow finding our way around it! (I am looking forward to pouring a large dram to de-stress after I have finished this blog!)
I am a bit fed up today, I have been in the office looking out to the haar (sea fog) and everyone I have spoken to on the phone have taken great joy in telling me that it was a glorious day just a couple of miles inland!
Anyway the sun will be shining brightly this weekend because it is our first Nature Weekend. We have lots and lots of activities on to suit everyone - Join in children’s arts, crafts, games & nature activities. Enjoy family nature walks and sample local produce in the café.
We will also be showing off our new people carrier! Well our agricultural version which is a tractor and trailer ride. What’s more it is all Free!! The shop will be open as normal from 9am until 5pm, the fun and activities will be happening between 10am and 3pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Judith has got lots of samples and tasters in the shop, we now stock Puddledub Pork, they do a fab range of sausages.
Out on the farm, Iain is busy building tunnels and making sure the strawberries are growing well. All of our spring barley has been sown into some lovely dry ground conditions. We rent our potato ground out to another farmer, it looks like he will be starting to plant them any day, so if you see a field with lots and lots of tractors and machines in it, they will be planting potatoes.
Just a bit of news hot of the press! We are up for another award, Visit Scotland Food Tourism Award, there is a short list of four – Cream of Galloway, Tom Lewis at Mhor, a chocolate place up north and us!
The STV cameras will being paying us a visit during the week beginning 20th April and we will have a 2.5 minute slot on the 5.30 show on STV sometime week beginning 27th April. The awards ceremony is in May!!
I am really please for our team, they have all put so much work into Craigie’s – well done guys!!
Hope you can make it up at the weekend and join in the fun on our 1st Nature Weekend!!
I hope you are well and enjoying this spring ‘like’ weather, let’s just hope it continues!
January and February are generally months that I get a chance to reflect on the past year and plan for the year ahead, taking it nice and easy. Not this year, I need a holiday, again!!
Since my last blog I can report that we have been granted planning permission for our extension. Great news, just hope my banker comes back with a ‘yes’ so that the builders can get cracking! The planning department have put some heavy restrictions on us, we have to install another two bicycle stands! A big part of the extension is a butcher counter so at the moment I am visiting all of the butcher shops in the surrounding area and further afield trying to get some tips. If you know a good butcher or two looking for a job call me!!
Iain and his team have been busy on the farm. One block of strawberries tunnels are covered with some fleece over the strawberries to keep them nice and cosy, hopefully we can get them kick started so that we can get the first of our fruit in late May. Iain is watching the weather closely so that we can get another block of tunnels covered soon. We are also busy planting raspberry canes up in pots, again in tunnels, hopefully they will start fruiting early/mid June.
Judith has spent the last couple of months looking at new suppliers and getting some great new lines in to supplement or current lines, she emailed me two pages of info to send out, sorry Judith but you are getting cut down to a couple of lines!! New cheese-Sweet Milk and Carola from Pam Rodway in Moray. Frozen Scottish Scampi (planning a fresh fish counter in the extension!!). Summer Harvest Rapeseed Oil from Perthshire. Grahams Milk from Stirling, including their Jersey Gold range of milk, cream and butter. Carroll Heritage Potatoes. New wines from Cairn O Mohr. More chocolate from The Chocolate Tree, Gifford (hope the diet is over!!).
Arran Brewery range of beers, the lovely people from the brewery are coming in tomorrow (Saturday 28th Feb) to do a beer tasting!!
There is lots more but I have already gone over Judith’s quota of linage, just pop in and she will tell you all about the rest herself!
Anne and her team have been equally busy in the kitchen, breakfasts have become really popular especially at the weekends, there was even hardy group out on the deck for their breakfast last weekend!! Just do not be up too early on Sunday the 8th March for breakfast-it’s our Christmas staff night out on the 7th!! Anne and Jana are not at their best first thing!
Look out for our RSPB nature weekend, its free, it will be fun and it is soon (4th and 5th April). Please spread the word!
Happy New Year to you and all the best for 2009.
Sorry about the delayed good wishes but I have been enjoying some good weather, good books and some good company (all, apart from the latter, for a change!!)
What a year 2008 turned out to be, up for a number of awards and to win the Glenfiddich was a wonderful end to the year! A big thanks for all of the support and good wishes we have received from you and the rest of our customers. The team at Craigie’s has done extremely well for such a new venture.
But we are not going to stop there, 2009 will be a very important year for us.
This is just a taste of what we have planned, but please email or talk to me about any suggestions on what we could do better or what you would like to see, your ideas and suggestions are how we have got to where we are today. To show my appreciation, anyone that takes the time to email me back with some ideas I will send you a voucher for a free cuppa.
We have been building up a relationship with the RSPB over the past few months and Lewis will be in the shop this weekend from 1030 until 1430 on Saturday and Sunday to talk about the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch, he will have telescopes and different activities aimed at all ages. We have set up a bird feeding station out by the deck (a big fat robin has found it). We are also planning to set up a bigger feeding station in a wooded area, any volunteers that want to help please get back to me.
Do not forget Burns night on the 25th Jan, we have great haggis from Reivers and venison haggis from Angus Glens, not forgetting the neeps, tatties and Scottish cheeses! If you want anything kept aside please ask for an order form in the shop or send me an email.
For those marmalade makers the bitter oranges from Seville are in stock at the moment (£2/kg) for the rest of you, Mum is busy making marmalade at the moment specially for you!