Shaking a Tail Feather: a Catch-up with Charlie
If our passion for high-welfare, sustainable farming has rubbed off on you, or you’ve met our rare-breed Norfolk Black turkeys or Lincolnshire Buff chickens, we’d like to introduce you to our keen-as-mustard Trainee Poultry Manager, Charlie Forsyth. Read on for feisty cockerels, connecting the farm to the fork, mobile chicken houses, woodland foraging, a hectic hatchery and loving the outdoors.
“I’m originally from Hertfordshire,” said Charlie. “At college, I did a BTEC Level 3 in Countryside Management. It covered things like horticulture and land management; it was 70% practical and 30% theory. During the course, I volunteered at a country park, doing things like maintaining the grounds and talking to the public. I knew I was going to do something outdoors but it was difficult to find park-ranger jobs, especially as I didn’t drive.
“After college, friends told me about Church Farm Ardeley near Stevenage. It was a free-range, high-welfare kind of place and I interned there for a year. I planted veg, worked in the butchery and fed geese, ducks and cows. When my internship finished, I became assistant butcher and farm assistant, dividing my time 50/50. I liked seeing the whole farm-to-fork process and I’m quite passionate about it. People are often disconnected from what they eat. I enjoy eating something I know I’ve cared for. I think more customers care about this sort of thing now.
“Church Farm Ardeley only had 170 acres but everything was right in terms of animal welfare and sustainability. I learned to take care of turkeys and process them and I stayed for three years. I then went to uni but it wasn’t for me. I’m academic but there wasn’t enough practical time. I was between jobs and living in Ireland when I saw the South Ormsby job advertised.
