OF&G :: The Blog

The photos of our pumpkin carving competition entries are now with the judges at Farmers Weekly, who have kindly agreed to adjudicate on this important matter!

So, before they come up with a final decision, a chance for everyone else to compare and contrast. Feel free to post your favourites in the comments below. It’s quite a strong line-up:

Which is your favourite?

Spoooooooky

With our own staff madly slicing away for an in-house competition, we’ve been treated to some fine examples of the dark art of pumpkin carving from some of our friends too.

We’ll be revealing the OF&G entries in good time (haven’t seen them all myself yet!) but to keep things moving, here’s what others have been up to:

A first time attempt from Harper Adams student, Claire McClellan, does her credit!

Farmer, Sam Kingston, got to work on a 'Bumkin' (butternut squash x pumpkin) for this fine effort.

And one final, self indulgent addition. Design for this one is all the work of my five-year-old son. Knife wielding courtesy of his mother!

Another first timer's design - this one by a five-year-old!

Thanks to Claire and Sam for allowing us to share their efforts here. You can catch up with both of them on social networking site, Twitter. (Claire / Sam)

It’s with great pleasure that we can reveal the OF&G Pumpkin Caper has been elevated to new levels with the involvement of expert independent judges.

Well, I say ‘expert’, by which I mean Caroline Stocks, deputy news editor of Farmers Weekly, and Isabel Davies, Farmers Weekly community editor. Caroline is, according to Isabel, a “demon” pumpkin carver in her own right, while Isabel obviously knows a thing or two because she is the main pumpkin supplier to the FW team, via her mum. So that must make them experts, right?

Whatever, they are no doubt discerning judges of a good vegetable-based carving and we are privileged that they have agreed to help us out in this crucially important matter.

The standards are high though. Isabel insists they will be looking for “innovation as well as artistic flair”. So no pressure then.

The entries are trickling in so far, but given that the deadline is the end of play tomorrow, we expect a veritable rush of another five or so by then. At which point they will be photographed with suitable t-light illumination and sent off to our esteemed judges for a decision. Don’t hold your breath though. It’s vital the judges are not hurried in their deliberations, so we’ll just have to wait on tenterhooks until they decide to put the entrants out of their misery.

Ooh, gripping.

Always game for a laugh, a bunch of OF&G staffers have now accepted the challenge to create the best pumpkin carving as a way to bring fulfilment to their lives following the end of the sunflower competition!

Thanks to suggestions from our followers on Twitter, the new wheeze was soon whipped up and a supply of pumpkins obtained for those wishing to chance their artistic arm for widespread admiration or ridicule…

[Note: the pumpkins are, sadly, not organic. We couldn't find any. Do they exist?]

No sooner was the orange payload dropped in the office than ever-keen Certification Officer, Roy Lawford, was hard at work scooping out the innards and getting to work on his design.

So, we proudly bring you the first entrant in the OF&G Pumpkin Caper:

A fine first entry to our competition by CO, Roy Lawford

I think you’d have to agree Roy has set the standard there. The plant/hair is kind of incidental, but this pic became a must following a suggestion from Twitter friend Claire McClellan who saw the first, less strategically positioned, photo and pointed out our obvious neglect! Thanks, Claire.

The others who are taking part have until Friday to get carving and then we’ll see about getting a line-up photo of them, suitably illuminated.

Another key step on the (long, slow and somewhat tortuous) route to our Certification Manager, Steve, getting his Farmers Weekly tractor jumper has been achieved.

The wool has arrived, courtesy of the lovely Juliet Morris at Ystrad Organics, who is also one of our Twitter friends.

Our resident knitter, Certification Officer Katie Owens, is gearing up to start this crucial piece of work. I believe, though, that a mini version is being completed first for Katie’s God son, which should be complete by next week.

It’s all getting quite exciting. Interestingly, the enquiries about getting copies of the pattern are still flowing in. It makes you wonder whether the FW team should be looking at getting an updated version done. They could probably double sales of the magazine for a week!

Here’s our wool, ready and waiting to be turned into the finest knitted creation OF&G will ever have seen…

Our organic wool from http://www.ystradorganics.co.uk/

We will, of course, keep you updated.

…. not altogether a surprise. Let’s face it, if you’ve been following our sunflower shenanigans you’ll be well aware that there’s been a clear leader for a while now.

However, today we have the full results and can put to bed a very colourful episode at The Old Estate Yard.

There has been controversy, competitiveness, secret recipes and devastating rabbit damage. The competition has been reported in a leading trade publication and posts on the topic have had a disturbing tendency to top the “most read” list on this blog.

So without further ado, let the ceremony commence:

[ENTER STAGE RIGHT]

Ladies and Gentlemen – and Certification Officers,

The OF&G sunflower growing competition was the product of an inspired suggestion made at a staff meeting while the company “gardening club” was being discussed.

Obviously there was a great deal of work to be done to ensure the success of such a mighty undertaking, but after 12 committee meetings and legal approval of the proposed rules and regulations (a document only slightly more involved in its preparation than the Magna Carta), our intrepid entrants were free to unleash their horticultural skills.

Meticulous planning was demonstrated by some of the more committed entrants, while some simply opted to drop in a seed and draw faces on their plant pots.

As growing began in earnest, there were some testing times along the way, as well as challenging hurdles to be negotiated.

Not all entrants made it serenely to the eventually necessary re-potting stage, though special mention has to be made of the specimen that was, to all intents and purposes, completely devoured by a rabbit, only to come storming back to an eventually mid-field placing. A sunflower we can salute for its true Dunkirk spirit!

It is likely that this ceremony will not be the final chapter in the story for those who were there. The debate on the selection of suitable finishing pots will rumble on in years to come. But today is our chance to recognise commitment, achievement and skill. And with that we open the envelope of dreams…

In reverse order:

Processing CO, Ruth Lamb – 107cm (died due to lack of water. Tch)

Processing CO, Joanna Gleeson – 116cm (Commended for most attractively decorated seedling pot)

Producer CO, Katie Owens – 123cm (worthy, but disappointing)

Quality Systems Admin, Lorraine Pickering – 132cm (alleged ‘secret feed’ proved, well, pointless)

Producer CO, Nicola Mason – 146cm (the famous rabbit-mauling comeback)

Office Manager, Angela Norman – 170cm (arguably our most green-fingered person. Was she mugged?)

And the clear winner, with a delightful specimen that could probably make two dozen bottles of oil all on its own…

Producer CO, Alex Patchett – 205cm (cor blimey, wot a whopper!)

Congratulations to Alex. Please step up and take your bow:

Our worthy winner. Alex Patchett with his impressive entry.

And with that, we’d like to thank everyone who has supported this endeavour, including: our worldwide Twitter followers; the Chief Executive, for not shutting it down when it all got a bit silly; Stephen Clarkson, the judge and jury; our mums; the sun; the great British summer; and especially the bees. But not the rabbit.