July at The Rhynd

Jul 31
3 min read

SCOTTISH THISTLE AWARD NOMINATION

There are so many amazing farm-related businesses across the UK that it’s easy to feel like a very small fish in a very large pond. However, we did want to try and get a seal of approval for our wine safaris and forest feasts, so many months ago I entered the ‘Best Eating Experience’ category in the Scottish Thistle Awards.

Because the wine safaris are one-offs, and we don’t operate like a restaurant, there are limited things we can apply for. AA Rosettes are out, as are many other awards ceremonies. However, the Scottish Thistle Awards are the big ones. They are to the tourism sector in Scotland what the World Bog Snorkelling Championship is to bog snorkelling. Or, as The Times put it, they are the industry’s equivalent of the Oscars.

You can imagine my surprise when we were told a couple of weeks ago that we had made the regional finals for the Central and East region, which includes Fife, Edinburgh, Angus, Dundee, Perth and Stirling. We are incredibly thankful and delighted to have made the finals and it’s an amazing mark of how hard the team has worked, from executive chef Jack to manager Athene, via all the other helpers such as Chloe, Emily, Mia and Keira.

We started with a very simple goal – to serve amazing local produce to a fine-dining standard in the middle of the forest. We don’t try and save on ingredients (indeed, at our last event each portion of beef cost £13 per person!), and we always shape the menu to what’s in season here on the farm and across the rest of Fife. We’ve stuck with that while trying to improve every other aspect, whether that’s the loos or ease of service. It remains a challenge to keep food warm while plating up when there’s a wind…

The awards are on Thursday 17^th September and we’re taking a full team. Regardless of who wins the category, it’s a fantastic event to support. Scotland’s abundance of incredible dining should be celebrated.

Well done to everyone – including the maintenance team that built the Craw’s Nest in the spring.

ELSEWHERE ON THE FARM

We are currently knee deep in harvest, with the winter barley, oil seed rape and oats all in the shed. In a week or two, we’ll get cracking on the wheat – hopefully the rain stops at some point!

We’ve also recently taken on 16-year-old Freddie via Ringlink Scotland’s pre-apprenticeship programme. It’s designed as a six-month, hands-on learning experience and the numbers from the past few years are amazing. There have been 261 participants since 2013 and 80 per cent of those have completed their apprenticeship on farms. Fifty per cent of those have then been offered jobs by their placements. The rest? Thirty-three per cent go on to further education and 17 per cent get jobs elsewhere.

Freddie went on a week’s induction course before starting here and was surprised that he was the only candidate from a farming background. Indeed, 55 per cent of apprentices come from non-farming backgrounds, which is a great statistic.

Farming isn’t glamorous and the hours are long, so it’s great to see so many new people entering the industry. Where farming will be in the next 20 years is a different, more worrying question. With increased pressure on environmental aspects, and an ever-increasing need to produce good food that’s available for all, there are some very difficult questions to answer and we’re going to see some massive changes. It’s usually the younger generation that’s better at handling those changes, so well done to Ringlink for creating such a scheme.