The meat vending machine
South of the village of Lealholm, and approximately a mile out of the village beside the meandering river Esk, sits Wild Slack Farm, home to the Foord family who have lived and farmed here for four generations. ‘My grandad started here in 1932’ says Martin Foord, sitting at the kitchen table of the farmhouse he shares with his wife Andrea, a retired head teacher. Alongside him is his son Aidan, who runs Lawnsgate Farm just across a field from the farmhouse. Martin and Aidan run the two farms together.
For many years Wild Slack was an established dairy farm until falling milk prices and the devastating foot and mouth epidemic led them to rethink their future. Diversification was the buzzword in those days and Wild Slack’s rural location, while still being close to Lealholm village, made it ideal for farm holidays.
Today, they accommodate campers and caravaners in the fields, a cosy yurt, a couple of pods, and an old game larder repurposed as a two-bedroom chalet with a hot tub. The cutely named, Crumbleclive is a 100-year-old, former gun room converted into a one-bedroom hideaway, set by Crunkly Ghyll above a gorge on the river Esk.
The holiday lets have become a valuable part of the business, but Wild Slack remains a working farm. On their shared 120 acres, Martin and Aidan rear grass-fed pedigree shorthorns, rare breed Sandy and Black pigs and 80 Scottish Blackface sheep.
Finding a route to market for top-quality meat (these are rare breed, slow growing animals) on a small family farm is notoriously difficult, faced with competition from big commercial farms and demanding supermarkets. The solution for the Foords, thanks to funding from the National Park, has been a meat vending machine.
Milk vending machines are popping up on dairy farms, but meat vending machines are only just emerging as a way for farmers to market their meat directly to the public. The shiny new machine at Wild Slack Farm is fully stocked with (frozen) steak, sausages, burgers, dry cured bacon, gammon, braising and roasting joints, with information on provenance and how to cook, with payment by card.
Campers and glampers can cross the field to stock up on steaks and burgers for their barbeque and it has become a local butcher for residents of Lealholm and the surrounds.
The holiday lets and the vending machine are key to the future of Wild Slack Farm. ‘We couldn’t survive from farming alone’ explains Martin. ‘Both our wives have worked outside farming’.
Between them, Martin and Aidan have generations of knowledge. They know their animals, their land and the landscape. The vending machine gives them a viable market for their meat, and buying direct from the farm allows customers to connect with the food they eat.