IT ALL STARTED WHEN…
After making a brief but hugely successful appearance with her lambs at the Earth Trusts most popular event, their Annual Lambing Festival in 2016, Emma was invited to take over as shepherdess of the Wittenham Clumps.
With a first-class degree in Orthotics, Emma has sheep farming in her blood. Growing up on her parents small holding in the New Forest, she’s always had her own sheep and with the Earth Trust Farm Step tenancy she saw it as a fantastic opportunity to pursue her passion and grow her business, Emma’s Ewesful Acres was born……….
Fast forward 6 years and Emma successfully switches between crafting custom made Orthotics for humans and tending to 350 breeding Lleyn ewes and a herd of Pedigree Sussex & Simmental cattle.
100% NATURES WAY…
Emma’s animals graze across the wildflower meadows of the Wittenham Clumps and along the Thames Path at specific times of the year, helping conserve these natural habitats. You will often see them if you ever take a walk that way!
The cattle ensure variable sward lengths to promote different types of plant and insect life whilst the sheep clear the ground of all the dead vegetation, once the flowers have gone to seed, to ensure the seeds the best chance of germination in the next spring. By grazing a varied diet of wildflowers and native grasses the animals are able to mature at a natural rate increasing their health and improving their flavour. They are never fed grain!
And as sheep are known to self-medicate, having access to local wildflower meadows is perfect. If, for instance, they have an upset stomach they will graze on specific plants that help cure them.
EMMA’S WAY…
Emma is passionate about working with nature to produce high quality meat, traditionally reared in a sustainable way.
And Emma, a solo female farmer, prides herself in rearing happy animals with minimal intervention, protecting the natural habitat they freely roam amongst.
She farms in a way that helps promote the whole ecosystem of the wildflower and native grass meadows by using minimal wormers and insecticides to aid dung beetle activity and protect the natural molds & fungi in the soil.
Promoting good soil health creates a strong base for the grass based and wildflower eco system to thrive and also ensures an excellent habitat for ground nesting birds & invertebrates.
ABOUT OUR BREEDS…
Lleyn sheep are a breed of sheep from the Llŷn peninsula, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. They are bred for prolificacy, good mothering, quiet in nature, high milk, great meat and excellent for white wool.
It is said that the Sussex Cow is descended from the horned “red cows” once found throughout much of southern England, inhabiting the dense forests of the Weald land of Sussex and Kent. Quiet and easy to handle they have an excellent temperament and are well known for their placid nature.
The Simmental or Swiss Fleckvieh is a Swiss breed of dual-purpose cattle. It is named after the Simmental – the valley of the Simme river – in the Bernese Oberland, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Reddish in colour with white markings they are raised for both milk and great meat.
Our produce has got people talking, have you herd what they’ve said..
“Bought my first box from Emma this month- awesome! The quality and flavour was superb, and my Dad was an old school butcher so I’m pretty fussy! Easy pick-up too and just love that it’s local.”
We hope you like our approach to sustainable farming and look forward to welcoming ewe to our Happy Herd of customers.