April in Oldstead: New Life on the Farm, Spring Foraging & Garden Harvests
Spring well and truly arrived in style this April in Oldstead, and with it comes one of the busiest, and most rewarding, times of the year here at the farm. With the month drawing to a close, we’re finally able to say that calving and lambing season is officially wrapped up.
This year welcomed twenty-seven beautiful new calves and eighty-nine lively lambs to the farm. Watching them out in the fields makes every early morning, late night and sleepless check worthwhile. Like children, they spend their days play fighting, racing around the pasture and occasionally wandering a little too far, while their mothers keep a watchful eye and call them back to the flock.
Out in the fields, AJ the bull will spend the next nine weeks with the herd before enjoying a well-earned rest in a quieter field, hopefully having completed his work successfully for another season.
Life on the Farm in Spring
Although lambing may be over, the work on the farm certainly isn’t slowing down. Over the coming weeks we’ll continue carefully monitoring the health and condition of the calves and lambs, while also preparing for the next important stages of the farming calendar.
Shearing season is fast approaching, the cattle sheds need mucking out, and like every farmer at this time of year, we’re keeping one eye firmly on the weather. Good grass-growing conditions are essential if we’re to produce enough homegrown hay and silage to feed the animals through winter.
Cherry Blossom Season at Oldstead
April also brings one of the most fleeting and beautiful moments in the Oldstead garden — the blooming of the Japanese cherry blossom tree.
Its deep pink blossom only lasts for a short window, making it one of the highlights of the spring season. This year we harvested just a small amount, leaving plenty for guests to enjoy while visiting Oldstead, but still managed to urban forage enough blossom to create 30 litres of cherry blossom vinegar and 50 litres of almond-scented blossom syrup.
Nothing goes to waste in our kitchen garden and pantry. The leftover flower pulp from both products is transformed into a second-use shrub, perfect for cocktails and seasonal drinks.
Wild Garlic, Sweet Cicely & Spring Foraging
Mid-April marks the end of another successful wild garlic season. After weeks of foraging and preserving, we reached our targets of:
- 32kg of pickled wild garlic buds
- 37kg of pickled wild garlic stems
Now, the wild garlic flowers are blooming in abundance across the woodland. These delicate flowers are currently being preserved in honey and vinegar, ready to appear later in the year across dishes and drinks at Made In Oldstead.
Elsewhere in the hedgerows and garden, sweet cicely is currently at its very best. Its delicate aniseed flavour makes it a valuable ingredient for the chefs’ pantry, though it must always be foraged carefully. Sweet cicely closely resembles some of the UK’s most poisonous plants, including hemlock water dropwort and poison hemlock, making expert identification essential.
Towards the end of April, the first spruce tips also began to emerge. We’ve wasted no time getting out into the woodland, harvesting 14kg in just the final few days of the month.
Looking Ahead to May
As we move further into spring, we’re hoping for a little rain to help wash away the garlic flowers and swell the capers, signalling the final stages of the wild garlic season and the beginning of the next chapter in the garden and hedgerows.
At Made In Oldstead, every season shapes the menus, pantry and produce we create. April has been full of new life, fleeting blossoms and exciting harvests, and we can’t wait to see what May brings.
