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Tod and Barbara Bulmer, Kenyon Hall Farm
Tod and Barbara came to our attention in the spring of 1985 just before we opened our old 'Village Restaurant'. We were hunting out local suppliers and heard that a farm in Cheshire was growing asparagus. Ros was adamant that we must have it on our menu...
Melsom Bulmer (Tod's mother) can trace her family's history at Kenyon Hall as far back as 1500. When Tod and Barbara took the farm over in 1978 it embraced all aspects of a traditional mixed agricultural regime. By 1990 they had phased out the livestock and now concentrate on growing horticultural and arable crops which they can sell locally.
Tod has always impressed me with his attitude to artificial inputs - only reacting to serious problems - rather than automatically putting chemicals on the crops in order to grow blemish free food for supermarkets. He uses rotted farmyard manure to retain a natural background attractive to predatory insects such as ladybirds (which control greenfly).
He does select modern adaptations of natural inputs if he feels they may be beneficial to his crops with no environmental or health implications. He clearly wishes to be judged on the taste of what he produces.
Tod feels his asparagus is good "because our cool climate means the stems grow slowly and we pick a high proportion of fine spears". Tod's land isn't really light enough to grow it properly, but, he argues, "my asparagus struggles so much that it achieves close to optimal flavour".
Asparagus isn't greedy for fertiliser but Tod treats it to a little natural horse manure. Ladybirds cut out the need for pesticides but Tod uses a tiny amount of residual weed killer at least 4 weeks before the tips push through. The season finishes on 21 June "because if you keep cutting after that, there isn't enough time for the fern to grow and put its goodness down for next year's crop".
The Bulmer's have been growing old fashioned aromatic strawberries for thirty years ~ refusing to supply supermarkets because "they want varieties that look nice and have a good shelf life ~ but don't necessarily taste of anything". Tod grows six varieties of strawberry for their flavour ~ and sells them all to the final consumer.
"The best way of earning money from growing potatoes is to sell them to supermarkets ~ but they insist on a blemish-free skin. The soil at Kenyon hall is not suited to that so we grow Maris Pipers for local fish and chip shops; they have the correct dry matter content, a wonderful taste and a nice floury texture".
"If people would buy food with their taste buds rather than their eyes they would get something much more wholesome ~ and enjoy better health..."
I tend to agree with you Mr Bulmer!
If you want to buy Tod's produce for your own kitchen, go to: www.northernharvest.co.uk
