Newsletter, October 2008

Early birds can take advantage of a free gift! See below:

Check your order
News from the farm
The latest on venison nutrition / wheat free products
The ultimate venison book
BBC GOOD FOOD SHOW GLASGOW
HOW MUCH NOTICE FOR ORDERING VENISON?
REDUCE (OR ELIMINATE) your carriage charges
Small orders
Last Delivery dates
Order early and save hassle!
What to do if your parcel has not arrived
Sending presents
Farmers' Markets dates
The Farm Shop
New Year orders
Recipes
Free gifts- our seasonal thank you!
 

Check your order

When you place an online order, you will receive an automatic acknowledgement. However, to make sure that we have received your order, please check your emails for a personal e-mail reply. If you haven't received this within 24 hours, please telephone us - the Internet is not infallible! It is important to check your emails anyway, in case we have a query about your order.

Well, that was the wettest spring, summer and autumn we have had in 35 years at Reediehill. Even our annual Children's Sausage Sizzle in the Auchtermuchty Festival had to be cancelled. Fortunately, the deer have weathered the storms and floods, relishing a burst of late grass. Rowanberries yielded a bumper crop, though there was only a small window between them being ripe, and rotting on the trees. But all is safely gathered in and we are now ready for our big push to get some seriously good venison out to you all.

A new development here is that we are installing a specialised and very clever butchery waste incinerator. This will reduce our carbon footprint (which is already very low) even further. At present a lorry comes all the way from Aberdeenshire to collect it – madness, surely. The surplus heat will produce hot water for the butchery and office, and the small amount of ash it produces will make splendid organic potash for the grass.

The ultimate venison book

The biggest excitement this year was that Nichola Fletcher's Ultimate Venison Cookery won 'Best in the World' Award for its category in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. It was a bit like winning an Oscar: stage, orchestra, champagne, speeches - I nearly fainted with excitement. So don't forget it makes a good present for Christmas, and for anyone taking delivery early, there is a £5 off (see below)!

BBC GOOD FOOD SHOW IN SECC GLASGOW

We will be taking a stand in the Slow Food Area of the show, which runs from 31st October - 2nd November I will be doing a joint Slow Food Tasting workshop at 10.30 on Friday 31st October, and at 12.30 on Sunday 2nd - we hope to see lots of you there!

The latest on venison nutrition / wheat free products

I recently spent a session with a nutrition consultant. She was very encouraging about our products. Our young venison is green on all four elements of the 'traffic light' scheme because it is low in total fat, saturated fat, salt, and sugar. It is also officially high in iron, potassium (good for blood pressure), phosphorus, riboflavin, niacin, vitamins B 6 & 12. It's also a source of zinc. For those with a wheat intolerance, our products are wheat-free – we use oatmeal from a mill that only grinds oats. Oatmeal lowers cholesterol and gives a delicious nutty flavour. The only exceptions are our wee pies and our spiced parcels, which have pastry. Our venison also came out top for flavour in a recent LINK project which was examining venison produced in different ways.

ORDERING VENISON IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER

We are extremely busy at this time of the year, and although we always do our best to fulfil late orders, we need 2-3 weeks notice to be quite sure of being able to complete your order. However, please don't hesitate to phone and check availability, as we often find we can manage a last minute order - it depends on what has been ordered for that week. Please note that because we are going to the BBC Good Food Show, we will be extra busy in the week beginning 27th October, so urgent orders only that week, please!

New Year orders

Because of the way the public holidays and weekends lie this year, we regret that we are unable to make any deliveries between Christmas and New Year. The farm shop will remain open, though.

Minimize your carriage charges

If you can make up an order of £140 or more, carriage is free. So how about making up an order with friends, either to share the carriage charge or even make it up to the carriage free rate?

Small orders

If your order weighs less than 1.8 kg (4lbs), you can use our Small Order service which costs only £8.75. It comes by Royal Mail Special Delivery and arrives before 1 p.m.

Last Delivery dates:

Our last despatch date for 2008 will be Monday 22nd for delivery on Tuesday 23rd December. However, we can only manage a certain amount of dispatches on that Monday. Please give us a delivery date with your order (to reduce unnecessary telephone calls), though if you are able to take it on another date it is useful to know this. If we have problems with your delivery date we will contact you, otherwise assume that it will arrive before noon on the date you requested. Remember to mark in your diary when to expect the parcel and to make sure someone will be at home all the time that morning to sign for the parcel. If you think you will have to go out, you must let us know so that we can instruct the carriers. And you must leave a note for the carriers (FEDEX) telling them where to leave it, otherwise they will take it back to the depot and you will have to collect it.

Order early and save hassle!

Our vacuum-packed venison has a shelf life varying from 3 weeks (joints) to 6 days (spicy parcels and pies). You can also safely freeze the packs. So why not avoid anxiety and take delivery early?

What to do if your parcel has not arrived

Although our carriers are very good, nevertheless at Christmas all carriers work flat out with the increased traffic. Also, weather conditions, traffic jams, or security alerts can occasionally lead to a delay. So if your parcel has not arrived by 12.00 (1 p.m. for Special Delivery Small Orders), do not patiently wait - telephone us immediately on 01337 828 369 ! If we have not heard from you by 1.00pm (2 p.m. for small orders), we will assume that your parcel has arrived. This allows us to plan our day and, if need be, go out. Remember - we can only solve a problem if we know about it; the later you let us know, the less time there is for us to sort it out for you. Because we are so busy, telephone is more reliable than email.

Sending presents

We are delighted to send presents to your family and friends, but please help us to help you. We'll need your friends' post code, address & phone number. However, we can't send venison as a surprise because our carriers need a signature on delivery and won't leave a parcel unattended. So please make sure your friends realise it is essential that they stay in to sign for it. Also, please give them our number to ring if there is a delivery problem. We will send the receipt for the order direct to you.

Farmers' Markets

Remember that we need three weeks' notice for market orders as well. Edinburgh Markets are weekly; last market on 20th December. Last St. Andrews market is on 6th December. Last Dunfermline market is on 13th Dec. Perth is on 6th and 20th December. Cupar, is on 20th. Kirkcaldy is on SUNDAY 21st. We will not be at any markets on December 27th.       

The Farm Shop

The shop only closes on December 25th & January 1st, but to be sure of your order, please remember we need three weeks' notice.  After Christmas, the butchery is closed for recovery (of staff!) & maintenance (of premises) 19th January.

Recipes

There are plenty of recipes to choose from in our recipe archive. I have added a refreshing and quick one for a simple and scrumptious winter salad – just the thing to refresh yourself both before and after the season of indulgence! You will also be sent a recipe/cooking guidance sheet with your order.

Free gift- our seasonal thank you!

As always, we like to encourage orders outwith the busiest weeks. As a way of rewarding anyone able to help, we would like to offer you a free gift if you can TAKE DELIVERY of your order before the end of November. We offer four choices:

Choice 1: two x 350g packs of our seriously good wheat-free sausages Choose from 8 different flavours.
Choice 2: A connoisseur's taster pack of 250g venison liver and one whole venison heart, plus a recipe sheet. 
Choice 3: £5 off a signed copy of Nichola Fletcher's Ultimate Venison Cookery.
Choice 4: A special offer of only £7.50 for the deluxe hardback edition of Charlemagne's Tablecloth; a piquant History of Feasting – the perfect escapist's read! Great presents, for you or for friends.

Just write your choice into the 'Special Instructions' box on the ordering page, and mark it "free gift". Or mention it to us on the telephone. If you are making use of the small order carriage charge (which has a weight limit of 1.8kg) , please allow 700g for the sausage offer, 750g for the connoissuer's pack, 1.2 kg for the venison book and 600g for the feast book.

We send you all our best wishes for the coming season, and thank you for your support and enthusiasm
 

Nichola Fletcher and the team
(Graeme, Pauline, Gemma, Dave, and John)