Old Spot News

The eight piglets born two weeks ago are thriving in the nursery with their mother Mrytle. They are enjoying regular feeds and are now running and playing with each other when they are not sleeping under their heat lamp keeping them as warm as toast.




Mrytle in the nursery feeeding eight very lively piglets (2 weeks old)





Mrytle's piglets are growing very rapidly. They now have access to their own mini water trough, and are starting to take their first few tastes of grower pellets (as well as regular milk feeds).



There is soon to be more activity in the labour ward. Today we set Monica up ready for farrowing. She is due tomorrow and looks extremely promising!! Needless to say we are very excitied! The heat lamps are set up in case she farrows when we are not with her to ensure that the piglets are kept warm. This is to ensure the piglets have maximum chance of survival.

Fingers crossed in my next post I shall bring more pictures of our spotty friends!

Some pictures from the spring of the Sheep



One of the Ryland ewes - Rylands are a Rare Breed and we have a small pure bred flock. There meat is very tender and fatter than a commercial lamb. The additional fat gives a great flavour.



One of our girls and her lamb - she is a North Counrtry Mule and the lamb's father was a Texel ram.

Two of last years crop of Lambs




 

Mr Willows Lamb for Sale

In two weeks time we will have succulent Mr Willows Lamb available for sale. We tend to sell the lamb in halves, however for those of you with large freezers we can supply whole butchered lambs or indeed smaller quantities as well!

So what do you get for half a lamb???

1 x Leg cut into 2 joints

1 x Shoulder cut into 2 joints

13 Chops (approx)

3 Chump chops

1 Kidney
1 Shank
1kg Sausage (approx)

Please contact us for further information if you are interested. Prices to follow.

Beautiful  Roast English Lamb (http://www.cookuk.co.uk/)

New arrivals

On the evening of Thursday 20th January in minus temps Mrytle gave birth to her second litter of piglets! She has eight very healthy well spotted babies. She has had four gilts and four boars all very lively and confident little characters. After an initial shaky start due to temperatures that seemed to plumit the moment she started to farrow (typical) they are all well and settling into life in the nursery.

The piglets are all for sale as Monica is due to farrow on the 7th February - and she is looking extremely promising!

Gilts £55
Boars £50

Ready in 7 weeks (from 17th March 2011)

PORK and CALVERDOS Casserole

We are now starting to experiment with reciepe ideas for our Gloucester Old Spot pork. Hopefully we will give you inspiration for the bits you wouldn't normal cook and maybe some new ideas for the cuts you already use!

PORK and CALVERDOS Casserole

2lbs diced pork shoulder
6 shallots finely chopped
2 medium white onions
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
Flour
Salt and Pepper
Mushrooms
4 Apples
White Wine
Calverdos
Chicken stock

Chop the onions, shallots and garlic and cook until soft in a casserole dish/pot (10mins)
Season the flour with salt and pepper and dust the diced pork with the seasoned flour.
Add the pork to the onions etc and brown.
Peel, core and chop the apples into large peices and add to the dish.
Add a pint of stock, a large glass of white wine and a good glug of calvados.

Cover with the lid and cook at 220 degrees for 30 minutes
Then turn the oven down to 150 degrees, cover with a double layer of foil and the lid and cook for a further 2hours.

Chop a good quantity of mushrooms add and cook for a final 30minutes.

Just before serving add a slug of cream

Serve with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

New Year Sausage!

Happy New Year to all you 'Mr Willows' fans out there!

You'll be happy to hear that this month is not only the start of a 'new' year but also a NEW batch of Mr Willows sausages. Very exciting we know!!

After having such rave reviews from some of the places we supplied 'The White Lion @ Knighton', we ended up selling our sausages at a record rate and therefore had to turn away some of you lovely people away empty handed.

We are planning on making these variaties of sausages, if you think or would like to recommend any other fab flavors do let us know.

Perfect Pork
Pork Tomato

If you'd like to pre-order any sausages to make sure to get some feel free to email us your order to
rose_edge@yahoo.com

They are priced by weight:
£3.50/500g
£6.50/kg (approx 15 sauages)

Get your orders in quick before we sell out!!

Mr Willows' Pop-up Resturant!?

A craze that has been hitting the London Streets in recent months is the new POP-UP culture. In these recession times it seems that people have been having a go at new avenues and atempting dreams of their own resturants. Welcome to the Pop-up resturant craze!!

Here are a few that are already up and running in the 'big Smoke'
http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/features/8001/London-s-underground-restaurants.html

Our 'Never Eat Wobbly Jelly' friend has been to the 'Savoy Truffle Club' and could not rave about it enough!
"Gav and Alison, were wonderful hosts and the food was to die for! The whole experience was so exciting, 2 days before being given an address and then turning up at someones home for dinner with a load of other like-minded people. Fabulous!"

As part of our New Years resolution we are considering having a go at a Mr Willows Pop-up resturant!! What do you all think? You'll get to taste some off our delicious home reared meats used in seasonal reciepes with locally sourced produce to accompany our wares. Then the best part if you like what you try you could always purchase some at the end of the evening (if we have any left that is!?) ;)

Just to give you a rough idea how a pop-up resturant works.

• You bring your own booze - we can supply glasses and tap water
• Payment for the meal is made before you arrive.
• The menu is set before (so know panic of what to choose)
• Two days before the date of the evening you will be emailed the address and directions of how to get to us.
• You'll sit in our home with other people and chat lots! 

It's a cross between a resturant / a friends dinner party / and mayhem (airing more towards mayhem!)
So if you think this is something you'd be interested in - Do let us know by either commenting on this post or emailing us at rose_edge@yahoo.com