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tod
and barbara bulmer came to our attention in the spring of 1985 just before we opened
'the village restaurant'. we were hunting out local suppliers
and heard that a farm in cheshire was growing asparagus. ros was adamant that we
must have it on our menu!
tod’s mother melsom can trace her
family history at kenyon hall as far back as 1500. when tod and barbara took the farm over
in 1978 it embraced all aspects of a traditional mixed agricultural regime. by
1990 they had phased out the livestock and now concentrate on growing
horticultural and arable crops which they can sell locally.
tod always impressed
me with his attitude to artificial inputs, only reacting to serious problems rather than automatically putting chemicals on the crops in order to grow
blemish free food for the supermarkets. at kenyon hall
farmyard manure is used to retain a natural background attractive to predatory insects
such as ladybirds ~ which control greenfly etc...
he does select
modern adaptations of natural inputs if he feels they may be beneficial to his crops with no
environmental or health implications. he clearly wishes to be judged on the
taste of what he produces...
tod suggests his
asparagus is good because “our cool climate means the stems grow slowly ~ and we
pick a high proportion of fine spears”.
tod’s land isn’t really light enough to grow it properly, but, he argues, “my
asparagus struggles so much that it achieves close to optimal flavour”. it isn’t greedy
for fertiliser (but he treats it to a little natural horse manure); ladybirds
(see third picture) cut out the need for pesticides; “we use a tiny amount of
residual weed killer at least 4 weeks before the tips push through”.
cutting stops on 21 june “because if you keep cutting after that,
there isn’t enough time for the fern to grow and put its goodness down for next
year’s crop”.
the bulmer’s have
been growing old fashioned aromatic strawberries for thirty years ~ refusing to supply supermarkets
because “they want varieties that look nice and have a good shelf life ~ but
don’t necessarily taste of anything”. tod grows six varieties of strawberry for
their flavour ~ and sells them all to the final consumer.
“the best way of earning
money from growing potatoes is to sell them to supermarkets ~ but they insist on
a blemish-free skin”. the soil at kenyon hall is not suited to that “so we grow
maris pipers for local fish and chip shops; they have the correct dry matter
content, a wonderful taste and a nice floury texture”.
“if people would buy food with their taste
buds rather than their eyes they would get something much more wholesome ~ and
enjoy
better health...”
I tend
to agree with you mr bulmer!
if you want to buy tod's
produce for your own kitchen, go to:
www.northernharvest.co.uk
ramsons 
