John Hamon, whose family have farmed at Vermont Farm for generations, grows vegetables, eggs, chickens, pork and lamb and, soon, beef.
John and his family grow a wide range including carrots, cabbages, cauliflower, potatoes, asparagus and vegetables for salads. These are all sold in the farm shop so you can be sure it has just been harvested –pesticide free and fresh.
There will soon be a larger farm shop and John has plans to extend the range of organic Genuine Jersey produce offered.
There are free range eggs, from skinny brown chickens, and the free range chickens from fat white ones! These arrive as chicks and are then reared in the sheds until they can be put in the fields.
The pigs are saddlebacks –and the sheep are either Shropshire’s or a mixed breed. The vegetables are all grown from organic seed on the farm.
This is very much farming in balance with nature. There are a few more weeds, but weeding never hurt anyone! There is a traditional rotation of crops and animals round the land so that particular pests do not have time to develop.. It is great to see that, after all, the old ways are still the best and Vermont Farm is an excellent example of this. So excellent that there are 11 school visits booked to look round the farm in Environment Week (9th to 15th June).
The requirements for being organic are not easy - an annual audit by the Organic Society and Soil Association to make sure that only approved supplies are used. Being organic is not cheap either. If John has to buy in feed or supplies which cost about twice that of normal supplies. For this reason John tries to recycle everything on the farm as much as possible.
Vegetables are sold when they are in season, so the result is Genuine Jersey food with a real taste. If you want a particular cut of meat, there is a wide variety from which to choose or you can make a special request.
Vermont Farm is next to La Place Hotel on Route du Coin. Telephone 742383
