Jo's Blog: September

It also makes me think about the people behind the food. The ones who've been quietly getting on with it all year while the rest of us have been complaining about the weather.

White Rocks Farm in Underriver is one of those rustic, understated places that cares far more about their animals than having a slick website & brand. It’s been a family farm since 1965, they rear some of the best (and most delicious) rare breeds: Dexter beef, Oxford Sandy and Black pork, Dorset Down and Shropshire Down lamb, Guernsey goat, Bourbon Red turkeys, and angora goats whose fleece goes into mohair. The pigs are reared in woodland. The cows, sheep and goats are on pasture. No pesticides, no artificial fertilisers, and natural repellants in the market garden - sheep's wool as a slug deterrent is a detail I find ridiculously pleasing. They also diversified into a Special Educational Needs college in 2010, with students learning land-based skills alongside the animals. You can pick up eggs, meat, apple juice and more from their 24/7 vending machine or honesty stall.

In the Elham Valley near Canterbury, Longland Farm rear heritage breed ducks, geese and turkeys to the highest welfare standards. Slow-growing breeds, locally grown and milled feed, lush grass to roam during the day, dry plucked by hand and game hung to develop a real depth of flavour. They even process everything on-site to eliminate travel stress and maintain quality right to the end. Their Light Sussex chicken is how chicken should taste. They’re multiple Great Taste award winners too, you should definitely find out why. If you're starting to think about Christmas, this is where your bird should come from.

And finally there's Nicholls Nectar, whose wildflower honey is about as direct a connection to the Kent landscape as you can get in a jar. The bees forage on local meadows and hedgerows, the honey is raw, unprocessed and packed with the flavour of wherever they've been. Nicholls Nectar's mission goes beyond the product too - they're committed to bee conservation and the health of honeybee colonies in the UK. Without healthy pollinators, the farms above wouldn't thrive either.

So as the evenings draw in and the fields empty out, it feels right to raise a glass - or a fork - to the people who filled them.