Our series that follows life on the UK’s only Jewish farm

Late summer on Sadeh is one of my favourite times of the year. The tomatoes are turning red; there are so many courgettes that we have plenty to hand out to the guys who fix our tractor; the pumpkins have started turning orange and we are harvesting green beans by the bushel. Although there are harvest periods at other times of the year, late summer is when so many different types of vegetables are ripe for picking.

The hedgerows are also producing fruits faster than we can pick them. We harvest blackberries daily, as well as damsons, for chutneys and jams, although they’re also great to eat as they are. During our Rest and Renewal Festival in September we made hedgerow wines to be served at next year’s supper club. We might even be able to make cider as the apples were ready early this year.

But it’s our latest recruits – the chickens – who have been our autumn highlight. A few weeks ago we collected five chickens from the British Hen Welfare Trust, who rescued them from a sad life on a factory farm. They had about three feathers between them, but now Barbara, Terri, Nugget, Kneidle and Hope have started growing their luscious feathers back. Our sponsors are keeping them in chicken feed, and it’s down to the rest of us to provide chicken pastoral care, making sure they get the hugs, pets and snacks they need. One project for the winter will be to replace their rather small enclosure with a new chicken coop palace. Stay tuned!

By Talia Chain

Visit sadehfarm.co.uk to find out more.

You can also find Sadeh Farm’s regular column in JR magazine, from the April 2019 issue.