March 2017 - Little Fant Farm Life

Another month has passed us soo quickly, and with the days now staying lighter longer we never seem to sit down until after dusk which is normally around 8:30pm.

At the end of March the restrictions impossed throughout the Winter on Poultry were lifted in certain areas due to the threat of Bird Flu and thankfully we are all safe here at Little Fant Farm,

and our Chickens, Ducks and Geese were let out of their shelters and able to eat fresh grass again.

The majority of our spare time has been spent in our new section of the farm, which now makes the total amount of land that we farm just over 18 Acres. This consists of 4 Acres of Pear Orchards, over an Acre of Plums,

9 Acres of grassland which we farm for Hay, within it are Wild Meadow Flowers and our new land of 4.5 Acres we are hoping to grow food crops and flowers for pick your own veg boxes, pumpkins and flowers.

The beginning of March saw the arrival of this years Pigs, which always seem to be hungry and are enjoying the farm veg and the freshly cut grass.

Orlando is still up to his old tricks of disappearing into the hedgerow!

And we have Geese & Chickens sitting on eggs, as well as a few in our own incubator which may be hatching any time soon.

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We also had some fantastic news about the development of land behind us, which was refused by the Government and previously Maidstone Councillors on the grounds of the harmful effect any development of that sight would have on the countryside and scenery.

The farm fields behind us are part of the remaining Fant Farm and it would be great to see the land being farmed again as it was last year, now the threat of development has gone.

Back in January Little Fant Farm was mentioned in the KM after we helped with a statement airing our concerns about the loss of countryside for the local residents. You can read about it all here

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Part of our plans for the farm is to encourage schools or people looking for work experience to come and visit us and so far we have had a lovely young lad come down when he is free and help around the farm, who has been off school but I can now say he is back in full time education and beamimg with confidence, and we would like to say thank you for your help and its lovely to see you down here.

We also have a weekly visit from students of Grange Park who are studying at Hadlow College and we help them with their work experience, they do a fantastic job every week and bring some fun to those not so great farm jobs!

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Every Sunday we open the farm and Farm Yard Tea Barn and Mother's Day saw our busiest day yet of this year, thank you all for coming and supporting our farm and its produce.

We have also had great response for our Farm Yard Birthday Parties and Barn Hire, so please get in touch if you would like to have a celebration here at Little Fant Farm, all the details are on our website

As the weather warms and school holidays come, and you are walking through the farm when the Tea Barn is not open, please remember we may be out working around the farm on farm machinery, which is big and doesn't stop very easily, so please give us lots of room and if your children are on their bikes, stay with them whilst you are coming through the farm and please make sure your dogs are on their leads.

It is very important that you also stay on the farm track as detailed in the maps attached to the farm gates, so we know we can safely move farm machinery around other parts of the farm.

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For April we are open daily from 11:30am -4pm from Sunday 9th April - Easter Bank Holiday Monday 17th, with our Easter Farm Trail starting on Monday 10th. Which has been great fun organising and we are looking forward to theming the farm for Easter.