Purbeck Products : Chris' rantings

A founder member of Purbeck Products, Christopher Lees, who has a degree in agricultural science, has farmed in Purbeck for over thirty years. His 1,200 acres of land comprise a mixture of sandy land, heath and clay.
As one of the more senior members of the cooperative, he feels the need periodically to let off steam about today's paperwork-dominated world of farming. His "rantings" are accompanied by insights into other details of farming life and the delights of Purbeck and Purbeck Products.

A Taste of the Future

"As I get older".....

..... not wishing to hasten the end, however, when we get past 50 there are probably more years behind than in front of us. As a friend of mine said:
"At your age, you have one foot in the grave and the other on a bar of soap."
So, as I get older some tastes bring back strong memories.

whelk Take whelks, for example. I will always buy a cup of whelks from Jeff Lander at the Purbeck Products market, because it reminds me of the first date I had with my wife. "Try these " said she.
"Yeuck " said I, but tried them all the same with a bit of mayonnaise and a glass of white wine sitting on the walls of St Malo in the evening sun. They are delicious, a sweet taste of the sea ....... and I had fallen in love.

In these days bland food, fast food, fat food it is seldom that I find chicken that reminds me of those Sunday lunches at home: roast chicken, roast potatoes, fresh vegetables and horrid sisters. I can remember going with my mother into the depths of Purbeck to buy 25 prepared chickens that she put in the deep freeze. These were slow-grown chickens that lived outside.

Christopher contemplating whelks and other tastes of the past These were birds with taste, grown without the use of growth promoters or antibiotic laced food. Not like today's tasteless fowls from Thailand. Isn't it wonderful that we can again find chicken that taste this good grown in Purbeck by Andrew and Claire Head at Rempstone Farm on the way to Studland?

My mother used to feed the six of us, the odd (in my case, very odd) grandmother and a few mad aunts on one chicken. If we were hungry she would pile up our plates with vegetables grown in the garden. And those vegetables tasted good: we even ate cabbage.

You can find vegetables like this in Purbeck, grown by Ian and Karen Welsh in Church Knowle. They grow carrots that taste of carrots, potatoes that roast, sprouting broccoli that my children will eat. Not a spray in sight.
"God did not put me on this earth to weed!" says Karen standing up and stretching her back.
"Yes He did, so get on with it!" comes Ian's voice from deep within the sugar snap peas.

WORK IN PROGRESS: this website is currently being redesigned.