The Awards Ceremony was held at the historic Lincoln Minster School and our family table of 10 were treated to a delicious 3-course meal using local Lincolnshire produce.  Andrew's parents, who farmed in Yorkshire for many years, joined son Tom and girlfriend Laura, youngest son James who has played a key role in sales and marketing this year, Ben who heads combining our crops (amongst many other jobs), Nicola "my girl Monday" and social media expert, young Tom our very promising young student (recently qualified from Riseholme Agricultural College) - nice to reward those who help make "Ownsworth's" the success it is and a nice way to publicly say "Thank You!"

Winning "Grower of the Year" is such an honour and demonstrates our continued commitment to growing and producing the very best rapeseed oil we can.  A panel of judges looks at everything from the product quality, bottle design and labelling, PR and marketing, customer service, product knowledge from our staff, environmental and community care and interaction, staff training, recycling and waste,business development plans etc - in fact a wide range of criteria are considered.  So to win for a second consecutive year is simply fantastic! And well done to everyone at "Team Ownsworth".

I was delighted to also be asked to be the "guest speaker" at this year's awards and took the opportunity to highlight the need of all members of Select Lincolnshire to ensure that post-Brexit we all played a full part in helping promote www.selectlincolshire.co.uk and all its members, Lincolnshire and British produce.  Winning the top awards does come with a responsibility to set the bar for high standards in production quality and customer service. 

Dinner jackets and cocktail dresses put away for another day - we were all back to work the following morning.  The boys were busy drilling the last few fields of next year's crops, Andrew was busy catching up on his pile of paperwork before helping to bring our cattle in from the grazing fields to house in the cattle sheds over winter.  And we manage to attract more pickers for our grape harvest.  All togged up to keep warm and with the promise of a hot lunch our cheerful bunch picked grapes, stacked crates for 4 days and promised to return again next year!

On 22nd October 2016 we attended The Bramley Apple Festival at Southwell Minster near Newark.  Many quality producers joined us in this stunning building and new and regular customers found us in our regular spot.  Held at the end of October each year - this is a fabulous food event which you really shouldn't miss!

As we approach the Christmas period, life on the farm is beginning to slow down.  We've been quite busy with bookings at our holiday cottage www.fulbeckgardenscottage.com and this week I am busy making up our Christmas Gift Packs (our 250ml rapeseed oil/sweet balsamic vinegar/BBQ sauce), wrapping up cookery books and boxing up our still white and rose wine.  Come and see us at the Louth Christmas Fair on SUNDAY 27th November 2016 10am to 4pm held in the Market Square - a fantastic family day out with plenty of parking!  A huge range of food and craft stall holders will be there with plenty of Christmas atmosphere!

...until next month!