As we head into late autumn, we are harvesting the last of the medlars, hawthorn berries and rosehips. The medlars have given us the best ever crop despite the drought. We picked over 400kg of fruit which we have been selling to wholesalers. We wonder where our produce ends up and what it will be used for….

We are also starting to sow plants for the next year. Field beans and garlic have gone into some of the outdoor beds. We are experimenting with winter salad crops and herbs in the polytunnel as well. Our hope is to learn how to grow food so that there is something available all year round.

Volunteer Experiences

FarmEco continues to welcome new volunteers to the farm. Some hear about us on social media, or a poster on a community board. The local social prescribers are also bringing people who are struggling with the mental health or social isolation.

Volunteering is not just for people who are fit and healthy. We aim to include people whatever their needs. A care home paid us a visit, with the residents helping to sow seeds in trays. We have raised beds so that people who can’t bend down can still enjoy getting their hands in the soil. Sorting, weighing and packing fruit and vegetables is another task that can be done sitting down. Some of our leaders have their own health problems and physical limitations, but working as a team, there is usually someone else around to do the heavy lifting.

If you would like to join us, you are welcome to get in touch. We meet on Tuesday and Friday mornings and are planning to start a Saturday morning group as well in the new year.

Members’ Gathering

Our members are a key part of the farm whether they are able to come and join in with volunteering, or are just supporting us quietly in the background.

We are arranging gatherings through the various seasons to take stock, discuss plans and most of all to have fun and enjoy a farm to fork meal together.

Our autumn gathering involved pressing apples to make fresh juice, eating pizza and drinking cider.

Membership is open to anyone who wants to support the work we do here, building local food production, supporting wellbeing and farming in a nature-friendly way. Membership fees are vital to the sustainability of the work that we do and we really do value the ideas and expertise that some members contribute.

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We are finding it to be a great crop for our farm. It appears to be drought resistant, having as much fruit this year as ever before, unlike the apples which were greatly reduced. It doesn’t seem to have any pest or disease problems. This means that we can sell 100% of what we pick. With apples, only about 20% are fit for sale.

Here are some ideas on what to do with this fruit:

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How to Make Medlar Pulp

Medlar pulp is the base for many great recipes including cakes, puddings or chutneys. It can be made in advance and frozen into 200g or 400g to defrost when needed.

Equipment

• Largest and widest pan you have
• – Potato masher
• – Jelly bag and frame
• – Heatproof bowl or jug
• – Coarse wire sieve
• – Sturdy bowl
• – Folded damp tea towel

Ingredients

• – Bletted and rinsed medlars
• – Water

Instructions

• Put the bletted and rinsed medlars into your largest and widest pan, and barely cover them with water (defrosted medlars may also be used).
• Bring the pan up to the boil and reduce the heat. Simmer for 15 minutes over gentle heat while simmering, break down the fruit with a potato masher.
• After 15 minutes turn off the heat, remove the pan from the stove and set aside to cool slightly.
• Set up a jelly bag on its frame, making sure the elasticated neck of the bag is hooked securely onto the frame. Place a heatproof bowl or jug under the frame.
• Carefully ladle the hot contents of the pan into the jelly bag. Wait a few minutes until the stream of juice flowing into the bowl or jug has slowed to a trickle.
• Set up a coarse wire sieve over a sturdy bowl, which you’ve placed on a folded damp tea towel to keep it steady.
• Carefully unhook the bag of still warm medlars and invert the bag so the contents fall into the sieve. Depending on how much fruit you’ve simmered, this may need to be done in several stages.
• Using either a ladle or a wooden spoon, push the pulpy mass around the sieve in a circular movement. You should soon notice smooth medlar pulp falling into the bowl below.

Notes

The pulp can be kept in the fridge for up to three days if you’re not using it immediately. It could also be stored in the freezer.
If a recipe calls for a relatively small amount of pulp (around 200 to 300 g / 8 to 10 oz), you can do this by hand: assume you’ll produce a roughly equal weight of well bletted fruit. Peel back the papery skin and discard, then peel the fruit to remove the five stones hidden in the pulpy mass by pushing the flesh through a large wire sieve into a bowl.

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Medlar and Walnut Loaf

A moist, aromatic teatime loaf featuring sweet medlar pulp and crunchy walnuts, delicious on its own or spread with unsalted butter and strong cheese.

Course Dessert

Keyword cake, medlar

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Calories 310kcal

Equipment

• 2 lb loaf tin (22 x 10 x 6 cm) | Lined with greaseproof baking parchment
• Large mixing bowl
• Wooden spoon
• Whisk
• Skewer
• Wire cake rack

Ingredients

• 125 g Butter cubed
• 200 g Medlar pulp
• 150 g Light soft brown sugar
• 2 Large eggs
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 225 g Self-raising flour
• 1 pinch Salt
• 100 g Walnuts Roughly chopped

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / 350°F / gas mark 4 and line a 2 lb loaf tin with greaseproof baking parchment.
• Put the butter and medlar pulp into a large bowl. Using a wooden spoon, stir the ingredients together until there are no more lumps of butter.
• Whisk in the sugar until smooth, then gradually incorporate the eggs until everything is combined.
• Add the baking powder, self-raising flour, and salt. Whisk again until the mixture is smooth and lump-free.
• Fold in the roughly chopped walnuts.
• Spoon the mixture into the prepared loaf tin.
• Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 170°C / 150° fan / 340°F / gas mark 3.
• Cook for another 45 to 50 minutes until the loaf is brown on top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Rest the loaf in its tin for 15 minutes before removing it to a wire cake rack to cool down completely.

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Medlar Sticky Toffee Pudding

A rich, spiced sticky toffee pudding featuring a flavorful medlar base.

Course Dessert

Keyword medlar

Servings 6 people

Calories 400kcal

Equipment

• 1 8" square baking dish or equivalent sized round or rectangular dish
• Mixing bowl
• Small bowl for soaking dates
• Small saucepan for toffee sauce
• Wooden spoon or spatula
• Knife or skewer

Ingredients

• 200 g medlar pulp or bletted medlars prepared into smooth pulp
• – 175 g pitted dates chopped
• – 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• – 175 ml boiling water
• – 85 g unsalted butter softened
• – 140 g dark brown soft sugar
• – 2 large eggs
• – 175 g self-raising flour
• – 1 tsp mixed spice
• For the Toffee Sauce:
• – 100 g dark brown soft sugar
• – 50 g unsalted butter
• – 100 ml double cream

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan) and generously grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
• Place the chopped dates into a bowl, pour over the 175 ml of boiling water, and stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Leave it to stand for 10 minutes until the dates are soft and plump.
• In a separate large mixing bowl, cream the softened unsalted butter and dark brown soft sugar together until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
• Fold in the prepared smooth medlar pulp followed by the date mixture (including the soaking liquid).
• Sift in the self-raising flour and mixed spice, then gently fold everything together until just combined without over-mixing.
• Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish and bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sponge is well risen and springy to the touch.
• While the pudding is baking, make the toffee sauce by combining the dark brown soft sugar, butter, and double cream in a small saucepan over medium heat.
• Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly for 3 to 4 minutes until smooth and slightly thickened.
• Poke a few holes in the top of the baked pudding with a skewer, pour a third of the warm toffee sauce evenly over the top, and serve the remaining sauce on the side.

Notes

Grilling the top at the end makes the top fudgy.

Delicious when served warm or hot with cream or ice cream.

The post Medlar season appeared first on FarmEco.

There has been a lot of talk in the news recently about the need to scale up food production in the UK. If lack of fuel, or conflicts mean that food can’t be shipped or flown into the country, we will soon be struggling. Even within the UK, lack of fuel and power cuts will soon cripple distribution networks. The closer to your home you can access food that is actually grown or processed there, the better.

We are just learning how to grow and scale up our fruit, nuts and vegetables. As our customer base grows and our income increases, we will be more able to produce more food. We are already in a unique position of having many different types of fruit and nut trees maturing on the farm. If we were an industrial scale farm only growing beetroot or potatoes, we wouldn’t be that useful for our local community!

Buying local has many benefits; it keeps money circulating in the local economy, creates local jobs, security that food will be available nearby and there is visibility of how the farm produces the food.

Better value

Buying direct from the farmer or producer cuts out the middle man. When we sell to a shop or wholesaler, we can only charge half of what they sell our products for. That is fair enough given that they have to pay themselves a salary and pay rent, electricity, business rates etc. However, if you buy straight from the farm, we can sell to you at a lower price than the shops. Meanwhile we receive a higher price than the shop keeper would pay us. This creates a win win situation.

We believe that our produce is far better than what is available in the shops. For a similar price you are getting a better product. I am talking in terms of flavour, nutrition, positive social impact, low environmental impact and sustainability. A tomato (red, spherical object wrapped in plastic) is not a tomato (grown in living soil, ripened by the sun, full of flavour).

Enhanced Flavour and Freshness

I think that nothing tastes better than a piece of fruit or vegetable picked straight from the plant, still warm from the sun, eaten in the field where it grew. If you buy straight from our Honesty Hut, you can be sure that the produce is fresh. We don’t have to pack our fruit in refrigerated lorries and fly it across the world. We don’t keep it stored for months so that people can have the same choice year round whether something is in season or not. Our fruit is available according to what is in season. Only a few of our crops storing well for more than a few weeks.

Most fruit and vegetables come in a huge range of cultivars. Supermarkets and industrial farmers generally grow ones that produce uniform looking produce that stores well and looks good on the shelves. Smaller farms, like ours, aim to grow varieties that have great flavour regardless of whether they are a bit misshapen according to the norms we have got used to. Studies suggest that fruit and vegetables which have more flavour are also likely to have greater nutritional content in them. A simple meal made with great ingredients tastes fantastic!

Connection with the land and farm

When you buy food from the supermarket, or even from larger veg box schemes or farmers’ markets, you don’t really have a clear idea of who grew your food or how it was grown. Labels such as “organic” or “Red Tractor” may sound good and give some reassurance, but you still don’t really know.

At FarmEco, we are happy to welcome our local community and customers onto the farm. You can come on a volunteer day and get first hand knowledge of how we grew our food. Or you can come to one of our Open Days or Farm Tours. Become a member and you suddenly have a real feeling of ownership over the food that is grown for you or by you.

As a CSA (community supported agriculture) project, we want to involve our local community in decisions about what we grow each season. Some crops might not suit our climate or soil, but many do. Buying from someone you know improves your feeling of belonging to the community. It reduces feelings of disconnect and loneliness that are so present in modern society.

Environmental Impact

We grow our food without any artificial fertilisers, pesticides or other industrial treatments. While other farmers are stressing about the price and availability of fertilisers, this problem has no impact on us at all. We are making our own compost with materials collected on the farm. We use our compost as well as sheep wool and sheep dung as soil enhancers. The team practices “no dig” as much as possible. This allows the soil life to regenerate. Healthy soil leads to stronger plants which are more disease resistant.

We also grow a great diversity of plants on the farm. This creates many different habitats which suit different birds, insects and animals. Having a functioning food web means that we have predators on site to eat potential pests and keep them under control. We accept that some of our crops might get nibbled, but we have enough to share with other species!

Our fruit and vegetables are all grown and harvested by hand, thanks to our team of volunteers. We pack our produce in paper bags which are recyclable. By selling most of our produce at the gate, we barely use any fuel; just for our antique tractor to move larger harvests from the field to the yard. In the future we hope to instal a fridge which will run off one solar panel. This will store our soft fruit for a bit longer than we can at present.

The post Top 5 Benefits of Using Local Produce appeared first on FarmEco.

Who we are

FarmEco is a community benefit society, owned by its members and with the aims of helping the community and the environment. We do not own any land, but rent 3 acres (the labyrinth area and the community garden). We also have a licence to use the little woodland and care for and harvest the fruit and nut trees on a further 51 acres of land. The farm is owned by the Rose family. It is administered under the name S Clarke Farms.

Where we get our income

Our biggest source of income at present is a three year grant from the Lottery Communities Fund. We were awarded it in April 2026. We are using this time to develop the organisation, the community and the work we do. One of our aims is to develop more income streams. This way, when the 3 years are up, we can continue to flourish. Our income streams include:

Others on the farm campus

The area near the car park including Thorpe Performance gym, the cafe, the hairdresser etc. are completely separate entities which like us pay rent to the Rose family. Screveton Sheds did grow up under the umbrella of FarmEco. However, it has now become a separate entity as of June 2026. It is part of the national Sheds organisation. We all aim to promote wellbeing in our various different ways.

Our other close neighbours on the farm campus include the pigs, goats and sheep. The pigs and goats are owned by the Rose family and are their pets. The Rose family also run the popular Christmas tree sales, providing real trees to the local community for the festive season.

Another tenant farmer owns the sheep that are sometimes in the fields. They form part of the silvopasture system alongside the fruit and nut trees. The sheep help clear up windfall fruit, reducing disease cycles of coddling moth and plum moth. They help fertilise the trees with their manure and urine. In addition, their wool makes an excellent mulch for the trees.

So, the next time you visit the farm campus—whether it’s to grab a coffee at Velo Verde, pick up some fruit at our Honesty Hut, or enjoy the fresh air—we hope you’ll have a clearer picture of who we are and what we do. FarmEco is all about connecting people with nature and each other. We’d love for you to come explore the community garden, join us for an upcoming event, or even become a member to help support our future!

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On 31st August we held our Open Day to launch the “Growing Communities” project. This project is being funded by the National Lottery. After 18 months of proposals and clarifications, we were finally awarded a three year grant in April of this year. This funding has allowed us to employ our first two part time staff ever. So after a few months of going through recruitment and orientation, we are now up and running and rearing to go.

We are expanding our volunteer sessions, inviting more schools onto the farm, and engaging with corporates to come to the farm. Additionally, we are building our membership base. All of this is helping more people to engage with the beautiful farmland and the bounty that the trees are now producing. As more people with different skills get involved, it expands what we are able to do. Furthermore, it expands what we can learn from each other.

The grant is also providing funding for our wellbeing team, who are independent contractors, to run their programme. This includes 3 nature care courses a year, monthly wellbeing walks, and 6 Green Memory Cafes as year. Additionally, there are taster sessions for frontline staff.

About a hundred people attended the launch day. Those who came were all very intentional in visiting us. This resulted in many good conversations, contacts and people deciding to get involved with FarmEco. Most importantly, we all had a great day with taster sessions for forest bathing, apple pressing, bio blitz as well as farm tours and activities for children.

First50 campaign

As a Community Benefit Society, we are owned by our members. Membership is open to anyone who would like to get involved with FarmEco, whether supporting us from afar, attending wellness events or getting stuck in with volunteering.

Our membership offering is a work in progress, but we plan to hold several social events at the farm each year. Members can help guide what they would like the farm to become. The contribution of £5/month (or £50/year) per person will help us to become less reliant on grant funding going forwards.

We are offering a free FarmEco cap to anyone signing up before the end of October. We are hoping to get up to 50 members as a first target. Members will be invited to an autumn evening sitting around the fire pit, cooking pizzas in our outdoor oven, and sipping cider or herbal teas. Join up and join in!

Honesty Hut

One of our new initiatives which is working well is the honesty hut. We started by putting out a few vegetables that the home education group had grown in the community garden. There was great excitement when we received our first 50p payment!

As the fruit harvest season arrived, we started adding to it and found that sales increased. We hope that it will become a local hub that people living nearby or visiting the various businesses, gym and cafe will use to buy their local, seasonal fruit. Improving local food security and access to real, nutritious food is something I am passionate about.

This is another project in development and we are not at the farm every day to restock, so it is on the rustic side at present. I can recommend Tuesday afternoons and Wednesdays as the best time to visit. Do come and buy some produce; you will find varieties that other shops don’t sell. We currently have merryweather damsons, various apples, quinces, hazelnuts, sea buckthorn available.

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Our tomatoes and cucumbers have continued to produce fruit, with the white cucumbers out performing the green variety.

Behind the scenes

We are excited to see our new shed starting to take shape in the horticultural area. We desperately need more space for our tools and other equipment as well as a cool, rodent free, well ventilated room to store our harvested produce. Up to now we have either had to store it outside, in the polytunnel or in a barn (prone to rodents) across the farmyard. The new shed will be ready by early September and will even have a cool room to prolong the life of our soft fruit. It will be powered by passive cooling systems and solar power, keeping our site fully of grid and sustainable. We will be harvesting rainwater off its roof as well to increase our resilience.

As part of our Lottery funding, the team has been busy putting together a launch day for the Bank Holiday Monday. This will be an Open Day to showcase what FarmEco is all about. If it is successful, we may make this an annual event. At the moment we don’t know if 30 people are coming or 300! We will go with the flow and enjoy the day whatever happens!

Due to popular request, we have added a recipe module to our website. Over time we will collect recipes relevant to the crops we grow. This will be useful, especially for the more unusual fruits and veg. If you have any recipes that you would like to contribute, please email them through.

Lastly, thank-you to Nick for all the lovely photos that he is taking of the farm. He is capturing mouth-watering images of our produce, highlighting some of the wildflowers and insects around and showing our volunteers in action. He has also taken some great drone footage which we will add to our YouTube channel.

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FarmEco Slivovitz

An alcoholic liqueur made with ingredients from the farm. Very simple to make!

Course Drinks

Keyword alcoholic drink, plum

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Equipment

• 1 sharp knife
• 1 chopping board
• 1 mason jar

Ingredients

• 500 g plums
• 4 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp sea buckthorn berries
• 500 ml vodka

Instructions

• wash and destone the plums
• put half the plums in the mason jar
• add 2 tbsp honey
• pour over the vodka until they are covered
• add the other half of plums; fill the jar to near the top
• add the rest of the honey; alter amount according to your preference
• add the sea buckthorn berries
• top up with vodka to above the fruit
• close the lid and invert to mix several times
• keep in a cool, dark place and invert daily for the first two weeks
• leave to mature for about 3 months
• strain out the fruit (keep the fruit for other delicious recipes
• bottle up and give as Christmas gifts, or enjoy yourself!
experiment with our different varieties of plums and damsons
we have a local beekeeper who has hives on the farm

The post August news appeared first on FarmEco.

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Plum Jam

Small batch plum Jam

Keyword plum jam

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 3 Jars

Equipment

• Large heavy-bottomed preserving pan or saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• Sugar thermometer optional
• Sterilised jam jars
• Jam funnel or ladling spoon

Ingredients

• 1 kg Fresh plums stoned and chopped roughly
• 1 kg Silver spoon sugar
• 100 ml Water
• 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp Lemon juice
• 1 Cinnamon stick optional

From Branch to Jar – Plum Jam

Thank you to everyone who joined us in the orchards recently for plum picking! There is truly nothing quite like the taste of fruit straight from the branch. If your kitchen counter is currently loaded with baskets of juicy plums, we have the perfect weekend project for you. This simple, small-batch plum jam is incredibly easy to make, naturally vegan, and fills the whole house with a warm, spiced aroma. We’ve scaled this recipe perfectly for a classic batch of 1kg of plums—perfect for filling about three standard jars to enjoy or give as gifts.

Step 2

The Rolling Boil: Turn the heat up high and bring the mixture to a full, bubbling rolling boil. Depending on your stove, it can take a bit of time to get everything up to the right heat. Once it reaches a fierce, rapid boil, let it bubble for 4 to 5 minutes, then take the pan off the heat. The Wrinkle Test: Take a cold saucer from the freezer and drop a small spoonful of hot jam onto it. Let it cool for a minute, then push it gently with your finger. If the surface wrinkles, your jam is done! If it’s too runny, boil for another minute and test again. (If using a thermometer, you are aiming for 105°C).

Step 1

Before you start, pop two small saucers into the freezer—you will use these later to test if your jam is ready. Thoroughly wash and sterilise your glass jars. Soften the Fruit: Put your chopped plums and the 100ml of water into a large saucepan. Simmer gently over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the fruit is soft and tender. Dissolve the Sugar: Turn the heat down low and stir in the sugar, ground cinnamon, and lemon juice. Stir continuously for about 10 to 15 minutes until the sugar crystals have completely dissolved. Do not let it boil yet!

Step 3

Jar It Up: If any white foam has floated to the top, simply skim it off with a metal spoon. Stir in the optional cinnamon stick and let the jam rest for 15 minutes—this stops all the fruit pieces from sinking to the bottom of your jars. Ladle into your warm jars, seal tightly, and enjoy the taste of the farm all year round!

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Some of our team were hesitant to try these odd looking vegetables, but we sliced up an orange one and everyone agreed that it was like a normal green cucumber, only better! There was no bitterness and the pips in the centre were soft and easy to swallow. These cucumbers have a thicker skin than shop-bought ones. The skin is not so thick that it is unpleasant to eat, although you can peel them if you choose.

Last week, our volunteers took some home to try out. The verdict was that they stored far better than plastic-wrapped shop cucumbers; remained crunchy for many days and tasted great.

I have experienced home-grown cucumbers which wilted within a few days, so this variety has been a great find. Sadly, we are struggling to find outlets that will buy them. Raw took a few kg last week, but reported that they didn’t all sell (although customers who did buy them gave positive feedback). They didn’t want to take any more.

Personally, I love growing and eating strange fruit and vegetables, hence why I pick seeds of varieties that are unusual shapes or colours. However, the vast majority of people have set ideas about what vegetables should look like. I guess, getting people to eat more organically grown fruit and veg is the first step and introducing them to more unusual varieties may have to come further down the line. What do you think?

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