Rushmere Farm

Book onto this Saturdays farm tour through the website or join for FREE if you are a Rushmere Farm Steward. Saturday 16th May at 10am. We will do a bit of an introduction to the farm and our organic arable system before walking up to @hampshiremaketgarden to speak to Mark and Kate about how vegetable growing is going. #stewardship #farmstay #organicfarming #carbonnegative #vegbox

Wild Rogues - the heart of summer at Rushmere. Long, bright days outside with good people. You don’t need to come for the whole week; come for a day or just come for an evening. If you volunteer, the evening meals and music are included in the daily or weekly price. If not, you can book in just for the evening events. Days close to the soil: rogueing oats, milling wheat, working the market garden, exploring the woods. We’ll be out with the @southdownsnp Rangers, learning wildflowers and birds, talking habitat and conservation, we’ll follow wheat in the field to fresh bread, and create a vision for the future of small farms like Rushmere with workshops and thought provoking discussions with @ninanananunu . Every day will be warmed up and wound down with @themindfulmovementmission and we’ll learn from and eat the freshest, lushest and most delicious organic food you can imagine from @hampshire.market.garden . In between, there’s space to talk, think, and meet people. We were so inspired last year by the kindness of people, and the support from our little community, so if this feels like something you could get on board with we would love to have you. You can book through the links in our bio. We have already had a greater than expected number of bookings particularly for the Thursday when @alexrobertsmus is playing so don’t wait too long. Wild Rogues 23–27 June Thatch Thursdays start this month (21 May) 5-11pm. Then Third Thursday of every month. No booking, just come along for pints, pulled pork, and a bit of fun at our low key pop-up pub. #rushmerefarm #wildrogues #stewardship #southdowns #farmstays

A significant birthday for our great pal @aleccyganowski , sculptor, maker, mover and shaker @rushmerefarm . Fired up the new bbq, surrounded by bluebells, Annabel’s and good smells, giving the magical canopy its first run of the season. A real treat to be able to do this for our friend who has put so much kindness and effort into moving to our little community so far from home. #organicfarming #farmstay #community #woodland #feasts

Thanks to our growing community of stewards for creating such a great atmosphere for discussion. Perfect morning to kick off the monthly walks ☀️🌿 #organicfarming #stewardsoftheland #ecostays #biodiversity #countrysidecommunity

Stewards access benefits and discounts at Rushmere Farm as well as continuous learning and an opportunity to make a change; for food, the environment and people. Tomorrow at 7 am, we’ll have our first Stewards walk meeting at The Cattleyard, Rushmere Farm for an overview of this organic farming system and prospects for the stewardship program to come. #organicfarming #stewardship #farmstay #carbonnegative

Our first adult Stewards farm walk of the year will be this Saturday 18 April. 7:00–9:00am. Early spring farm overview and introduction to crops, soil and wildlife. (No dogs please). Non-stewards pay £20. Stewardship includes both individuals and families, and both are important. Some walks are early morning adult walks. These start before most of the world is awake, when the farm is quiet and wildlife is active. They are more focused, with deeper conversation and closer observation, and they finish by 9am so the rest of the day remains free. Other walks are designed for families, with a later start, a more relaxed pace and space for children to explore, ask questions and be involved. #stewards #organic #farmstay #community #outdoorlearning

The canopy is up and we are (almost) wedding ready 🌿 #RusticWeddingCharm #WoodlandWedding #EnchantedWoods #IntoTheWoods #WildElopements

Thatch Thursdays & Wild Rogues. On the third Thursday of every month, we will open a pop up pub with pints and pulled pork (other food and drink options will be available!). Our first thirsty Thatch Thursday will be on 21st May. All are welcome. No sign up required. Wild Rogues, our summer volunteer week, will be held 23-27 June. Come for as much or as little as you like. There will be lots of insights into farming and conservation, delicious dinners, music, mindful movement, yoga and many moments of being outdoors, working with people, learning, laughing and living. Sign up through the link in our profile, and if you’re a lightweight like I am, book a cottage, yurt or pitch. #stewardship #farmstay #popuppub #wildrogues #organicfarming

Thanks Rooks. Rooks are smart. They quickly learn that seeds are planted in a row, and in their hundreds can systematically empty a field. So whilst neither I nor the villagers enjoy it, we sometimes have to use a gas gun to deter them. We don’t use herbicide here so once every 6 years we plough to bury the plants that would otherwise compete with our crops. We then cultivate to create a tilth for the seed. Due to the weight of modern tractors two tines are set to lift the compaction behind the wheels, but in so doing occasionally lift tufts of grass/weeds buried by the plough. We would then roll to get good seed-soil contact and make it trickier for pests to get in, as well as to prevent risk of damage to the combine-harvester later in the year. We’d been nervous to roll as the moist tufts would be rerooted but in balance we thought it was better to crack on before the seeds started to chit. So yesterday this field was completely flat. There must have been 300 rooks out this morning so I came out with a gas gun. I noticed the field was no longer flat. I watched them through the binos for a while. They were dextrously plucking each squashed sod from the ground, flipping it over and extracting beetles and grubs from amongst the roots. By the time I had got there they had done the whole field. No turf left unturned. Now the grass and weeds will dry out in the sun and our crops will be unhindered. I’ve no doubt they’ll be onto the seed next but I’ll give them a day or two to finish what they were doing. The benefits of a diverse ecosystem. #farmstay #organic #stewardship #nature

Spring has sprung 🌷 and to celebrate we’re offering 20% off cottage stays! Come and get amongst the bluebells whilst they’re bloooomin 🪻 use code APRIL2026, valid until 30th April. 📸 @joannahancox #farmstay #organicfarm #springstays #woodlandwalks #farmstewardship

Is there an economic case for conventional farming when chemical imports are insecure, prices are high and when there is enough food being produced to feed the predicted population 20 years from now? This article shows that an organic arable system operating at 75% can be as profitable as a conventional system using fertiliser at its current price. And prices are going up. I would love to know if I am missing something. And I would love to know why, even if the economic case was equivalent, would you choose the option that is subject to volatility, as well as damaging to the soil; a farmers greatest asset? @soilassociation #organicfarming #farmstay #stewardship

Milking it whilst I still can #getit An honour to be asked to talk on #thefoodprogramme by @bbcradio4 and big thanks to @nomadneens for unscrambling my ums and errs. It is apt to be talking about our supply chain at this time, and localised food processing is a part of our food security which should be taken seriously. My takeaway from the programme, and in my relatively short experience so far in farming, is that localised infrastructure and food businesses provide security to communities, as well as high quality produce with provenance. But it seems at some point the goal becomes to sell out to a bigger firm, to earn the living that you never made when you were in it because you were too busy investing in your staff and growth. So how do we make small sustainable sovereign businesses comfortable in order to avoid the insecurity centralisation and globalisation? Listen to the full programme to hear from @hodmedods #askew&barrett and some other great speakers. #oatdrink #toats foodsecurity