Time is flying by as we plough on through our second year in business. Last year we celebrated our 1st Birthday with cake and beers in the office, even Granny joined us for a chilled one.Our second birthday passed us by before we knew it, after a hugely successful year working with 22 clients over a variety of different sectors.
We are looking forward to our 3rd Birthday when we hope to have completed all of the exciting new projects currently on the horizon. Watch this space…………………..
When we heard about the Blackburn-based charity ‘Community Spirit’ and their mission to help feed and clothe the homeless and needy, we were both moved and inspired. The volunteers meet every Tuesday at the Old Fire Station in Blackburn to serve hot and cold food and drinks and donate items of clothing for those less fortunate.
The Charity approached us to design a logo that demonstrates how they bridge the gap between crisis and comfort for their service users. The Old Fire Station is near the Wainwright Bridge and we incorporated this into our design which we donated.
This really is a remarkable group of people, visit their Facebook page and see for yourself the difference a little compassion can make.
We are excited to have been shortlisted for the Lancashire Business View, Red Rose Awards.
The Red Rose Awards celebrate excellence in business, commerce and industry in various sectors and business size categories across Lancashire, the awards provide the best possible platform to promote success. We have been shortlisted for the Rural Business of the year, we are excited as this is our first award we have ever entered.
The award ceremony takes place on the 13th March at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, with over 900 guests attending the ceremony, we can’t wait for a night out and hopefully to bring home an award to show to the herd.
We have our hooves and trotters crossed.
We are excited on the farm to see that Felfies are becoming the latest trend of 2014.
A great example of social media from The Irish Farming Journal kicked off this trend by starting a competition to see how many farmers would send in their own Felfies.
This has now gone worldwide! We have selected a few of our favourites and we could not miss out on having a go ourselves, with the recently arrival on the farm of Enock our four year old Irish Donkey. William our “Tractor Driving Executive” has been posing with Enock they work well together and are available for parties, bar mitzvah and weddings
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We could not miss out on celebrating the fact that we work in a county that never sees rain, hail, snow or sleet on a daily basis. NOT.
We shook of the rain, turned up the heating and celebrated Lancashire Day with some of my Granma’s freshly homemade Eccles Cakes.
It would have been rude not to have embraced the flagship dish of Lancashire Hotpot for lunch too. Another beautifully baked, tasty dish courtesy of Granma Stuart kept the cold at bay yesterday!
Here is the recipe for her legendary Lancashire Hotpot. Many have tried to recreate this to no avail. Good Luck!!!
Ingredients:(serves 2)
½ lb. stewing beef
1 large onion
1 carrot
3 and 1/2 potatoes
½ beef stock
Rosemary and Salt & Pepper to taste.
Method:
Preheat your oven at 160˚C
Start by browning the meat in a drop of oil, just to steal it.
Once browned remove this and put into a bowl.
Brown the onion. Add the carrot and potato, cook for 2-3 minutes to soften.
Put meat and veg into the pot and add the stock (and Rosemary). Stir well.
Place the pot in the oven and leave for 2 hours.
In the meantime thinly slice your remaining potato for the the topping and lightly fry them for a few minutes.
Upon taking it out, stir it up and make sure everything is cooked, add salt & pepper to taste.
Let it cool.
Top with a layer of potato slices layered over one another (you may alternatively use short crust pastry) and put back into the oven for 20 minutes until the potatoes (or pastry) is golden and crisp.
Serve with pickled red cabbage or beetroot.
Helen has recently been featured in the Lancashire Business View Magazine as a “Young ‘un 2013”. Lancashire Business View’s feature celebrates the brightest young business talent that the county has to offer.
Here is the write up about Helen:
“ Helen launched Farm Creative after travelling the world and deciding that there’s no place like home. Settling on her family’s farm (hence the name) just outside of Preston, the Company rapidly grew from a single client to 20 within 6 months. Customers hail from all different sectors, from fuel management pumps to Lancashire Police & Crime Commissioner and more recently, Graham & Brown. This work involved designing press packs and pattern books for the new Dragon’s Den recruit Kelly Hoppen.”
Working with Graham & Brown on their collaboration with interior designer, Kelly Hoppen, we created a wallpaper sample book design that was as stylish as the collections within it. To raise awareness of the collaboration, we designed and distributed press packs that were sent to PR agencies and media outlets around the world. The packs included a bespoke USB key which gave recipients immediate access to all the high-resolution images. Kelly Hoppen Launch Event
We are excited to welcome a new member to the team , seven week old Red Labrador Tilly. She has been thrown in the deep end a little, she doesn’t have much experience but is showing a keen eye for design and her attitude is amazing.
Really happy to see one of the most common farm yard animals being used in high end car advertising. In the light of this, we have sent three of our prized chickens to drama school in the hope that they will feature in the next Mercedes Benz Tv commercial. Each of chicken has it’s own strength, Cornelius excels at modern dance and tap, Julian is all about method acting and Bartholomew is just the diva. The future is bright the future is chickens. The New Mercedes Advert