| June 2009 |
|
So, 7 months since last update and lots to report, in summary:
* completed second new shed in February, a very cold month, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone! A proper Winter at last * flock of silver nicks, brown nicks and corals moved into the new shed end Feb and have been laying ever since. Really good batch, (named the Beauties) only marred by the fact that 60 of their sisters were killed by our first ever fox strike in January. Not only do we miss the birds, we also miss their eggs every day as lost sales. * new flock of 350 chicks took their place in the brooder sheds 18 weeks ago, all silver nicks (none of the browns or corals available). This flock is considerably more settled than any of the last 3 or 4 and we think it's as a result of having no corals, they're so flighty! Beautiful white eggs but they can wind the whole flock to fever pitch so we're happy to live without them in this batch, (named the Specials). * moved these young hens to their laying houses last weekend and they've now laid us 10 wee eggs! within 2 weeks they will be doing 250+ per day (too much, too young!), but sales very strong right now so will be able to sell them. Now just need to power wash their old brooding sheds in next couple of weeks ready for the next batch. * completed the Mayonnaise project 3 weeks ago, (will write more on dedicated Mayo page in next week or so) and went straight into production. We're pretty pleased with ourselves - the kitchen works well, the packaging is great and the product itself is fantastic. We know that Hellman's sets a pretty high bar at a reasonable price, but ours beats it on flavour as well as on the bird welfare and local food fronts. Pricing is always a balancing act - too low will generate lots of sales but result in us working flat out without paying back the investment we've made; too high will mean low turnover, low profit and worse still give us a reputation of being expensive. So far, cutomers are telling us it's good value, and Mandy can see a few pence from every jar paying back the overdraft. Phew! * finally, before I rush off and pack todays eggs for the riverford shops, thanks to Riverford Veg for supporting us through the development phase of the Mayo - 4 months from start to finish is probably quite good, but their patience was palpable. Also thanks to Rodney Cleave the butcher and his team for letting us loose to create a high care kitchen in what was an old workshop at the back of his shop. We're also grateful to Diana Cooper (the matriarch of Tideford, famous for its pestos and soups) who helped us develop the recipe from concept to delighting the Riverford taste panel. Finally, my thanks to Mandy for taking that recipe and refining it to make a brilliant prduct that will make our bloody fortunes! Possibly..... AJ 26/06/09 CE |
