Yep. Buy a Retriever, it'll retrieve. Well, not exactly true with Lord Horsley, he'd rather chase a ball then run off with it rather than retrieve it in the old fashioned sense but Blaze is turning out to be an almighty retriever of things. Starting with the rural he has gracefully returned home with rabbits a plenty of late refusing to drop them even for a coveted biscuit. Cue 20 mins of dog negotiation required... Then, he has been retrieving apples off the tree and into his stomach and then his piece de resistance the other week was retrieving a pair of red, lacy ahem, 'underwear' (please. Any male readers can cull the embellishment of this vision - the reality is somewhat 'function' not 'fun.') Oh yes, retrieve them he did, from the washing basket (clean!) and to the front door whereby at the time I was signing for an amazon delivery.... Dear god, there are times when I could cheerfully castrate the dog by hand and this effort was by far the nearest he has come. Still, it'll save DH money as of course, I won't be ordering anything, ever again! Blinking dogs!
Sticking with the dogs, they are super fine and fit. Horsley continues to lose weight which has kept the pressure off his elbow dysplasia so he's really happy. Blaze and he rule the fields and they are best buds . There is something so delightful about watching a lab clear a 5 bar gate with ease, the sheer majesty of it, accurate, alert and graceful. Gives me almost the same feeling as when I'm close to a fence on a racecourse somewhere and a 17hh beast makes the most beautiful shape blending power, balance and beauty to absolutely ping a fence. Nothing ever comes close to those feelings so, needless to say, I'm a happy bunny now we're heading back into jumps season! All roads lead to Cheltenham in March, maybe even Punchestown afterwards too. Saturday morning cuppas', Racing Post, bets on, notes made in the notebook of 'horses to follow' and all the madness of 25 layers of tweed, exposed to the elements with the car sinking in a muddy car park somewhere in the back of beyond!
Our lambs all headed off to slaughter. It's been somewhat a harsh learning curve this year. You'd have thought the luscious summer would have meant bumper everything, but not true. The wet autumn, cold winter and harsh early spring meant that the grass didn't grow. Then it scorched and didn't grow and so finishing those lambs off naturally became a very hard job indeed. Given the same amount of growing time bar a week as those last year the lambs that went were disappointing in size. I thought they still looked small but a butcher (who wanted to buy some of them) advised us differently so off they went. Lesson learned - always stick by your gut instinct; clothes, men, farming. However, the meat, being absolute meat and little, if any fat is utterly supreme. The legs are unbelievably well formed and the meat succulent and tender. I cooked some kidney yesterday and, by god, it was good. A little like the pigs liver - when you feed your animals proper, natural food and invest that time in maintaining the land for richness and nutrients it certainly pays off. Proof is in things like the offal. Like the pigs liver, the lambs kidneys were clean, shiny and brimming with health. Even DD loved helping me prepare them, though not as much as she enjoyed devouring the pie!
Everything chickeny is muddy and yuck thanks to the recent wet weather. The poor girls have had it all to deal with of late - lost their man, lost one to 'broodiness and raising a flock' and now said broody is back, ruling the roost as before and still being super protective of the 3 chicks - Runty, Dusty and an unnamed. The clucking and squealing at dawn really has to be heard to be believed as they all jostle for position in the house along the perch. Floss (Mum) holds the key. When Roxy, Penny or Misty try to head to the nest box for egg laying Floss goes crazy at them as she presumes they're out for her chicks! Roll on the day Floss tires of looking after the brood and resumes egg laying and flock leading duty once more. Needless to say egg production temporarily stopped with all this unsettlement and upheaval. So with a scone or 12 and the lure of extra free range time around the garden offered the girls agreed new working conditions and this last week egg laying seems to have resumed! Politics! Think I'm going to start call them Ed, Nick and Dave from now on!
Have a great week everyone!
Mx
Weather: Wet! Cold (11 degrees) damp and dark. Generally miserable.
Scouse in the South
Monday, 11 November 2013
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
We Plough The Fields And Scatter.
And so, our little mini home harvest has begun. Not on the scale to concern Duchy Estates or suchlike but significant in its own small way. Not that I like that Gregg Wallace much (contribution to value of my TV licence fee somewhat nil in my opinion.) but the programme Harvest was something different, relevant to us all and supporting of what the backbone of this country is - farming. I found it refreshing and whereby I don't have an army of 80 employees picking apples we did share the same feeling of fruit success after the diabolical previous year. We have one ancient apple tree (our planted orchard hopefully will fruit next year) that when having a good year just produces divinely sweet, juicy apples. The crop is so plentiful I plan to take some into DDs class to enjoy as the 'snack' fruit produced by an outside company usually deals in soft carrots, rock hard tiny pears or squidgy tomatoes. May as well share, after all only so many crumbles, pies, sauces etc can you make in limited time especially when you have enough tomatoes to feed most of the county! Chillis too - hot little so and so's as I found out when tasting one...stupid thing to do, sticking a piece of chilli on your tongue! Still, lesson learned and I banked the gallons of water consumed as good detox fodder.
So it's all pick, make and bake but hugely satisfying. The lambs go next week and the piggery is recovering well. Depending on the winter we get pigs may be able to move in April time. Floss too is doing well. Chicks are 9 weeks old now and in the big girls pen with Misty, Roxy and Penny. 2 chicks have gone, being obvious cockerels so 4 chicks remain. One of those we think might be a boy but reasonably sure the other 3 are pullets. 'Runty' survived despite being born last, smallest, left outside one night and being squashed by the extending run. One of the grey ones too survived being retrieved by Blaze early in her life. Tough little girls - they'll do well. Unlike Jack... we had to get rid of regrettably as we had no space or purpose for him. He continued to grow and even with back protection was damaging our girls. With Floss out raising her chicks the other 3 became so stressed egg production and feathers dropped. Tough management decisions ensued. That's what all this is about really. Utter respect for Mother Nature but management of everything from feed costs to land rotation and livestock.
The dogs remain well. Horsley is entering his annual SAD syndrome season so most nights he chooses not to be a family lounge dog and sulks on husband bed treating us to a snoring crescendo every so often. Blaze needs treatment for a licking addiction but is settling into home life well. He's super out on the fields, bouncing like a stag and jumping gates with pinpoint accuracy. As he's never been used to inside life it's taken him longer to know what to "do." We've spent a lot of time reassuring him that it's ok to relax and sleep of an evening and no, you don't have to retrieve things to me constantly. As sweet as it is, socks, tea towels, slippers, apples, eggs (which stay intact) and the classic baby wood pigeon are not appropriate! Still deciding whether to keep him entire (beautifully bred) or castrate him as H is (bit too fond of holding hand/arm etc with teeth - gentle but massively antisocial!) We'll see. He's 2 in November so by Xmas we should know where we are.
Must dash, will update again soon. If you get a chance to, make sure you sample some of this years harvest. Buy British and buy fresh - taste the hard work of our farmers up and down the country. To quote a well known supermarket you really can 'taste the difference.'
Have a great week
xx
Weather:
So it's all pick, make and bake but hugely satisfying. The lambs go next week and the piggery is recovering well. Depending on the winter we get pigs may be able to move in April time. Floss too is doing well. Chicks are 9 weeks old now and in the big girls pen with Misty, Roxy and Penny. 2 chicks have gone, being obvious cockerels so 4 chicks remain. One of those we think might be a boy but reasonably sure the other 3 are pullets. 'Runty' survived despite being born last, smallest, left outside one night and being squashed by the extending run. One of the grey ones too survived being retrieved by Blaze early in her life. Tough little girls - they'll do well. Unlike Jack... we had to get rid of regrettably as we had no space or purpose for him. He continued to grow and even with back protection was damaging our girls. With Floss out raising her chicks the other 3 became so stressed egg production and feathers dropped. Tough management decisions ensued. That's what all this is about really. Utter respect for Mother Nature but management of everything from feed costs to land rotation and livestock.
The dogs remain well. Horsley is entering his annual SAD syndrome season so most nights he chooses not to be a family lounge dog and sulks on husband bed treating us to a snoring crescendo every so often. Blaze needs treatment for a licking addiction but is settling into home life well. He's super out on the fields, bouncing like a stag and jumping gates with pinpoint accuracy. As he's never been used to inside life it's taken him longer to know what to "do." We've spent a lot of time reassuring him that it's ok to relax and sleep of an evening and no, you don't have to retrieve things to me constantly. As sweet as it is, socks, tea towels, slippers, apples, eggs (which stay intact) and the classic baby wood pigeon are not appropriate! Still deciding whether to keep him entire (beautifully bred) or castrate him as H is (bit too fond of holding hand/arm etc with teeth - gentle but massively antisocial!) We'll see. He's 2 in November so by Xmas we should know where we are.
Must dash, will update again soon. If you get a chance to, make sure you sample some of this years harvest. Buy British and buy fresh - taste the hard work of our farmers up and down the country. To quote a well known supermarket you really can 'taste the difference.'
Have a great week
xx
Weather:
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