Rosie's calf / Crovect / Great Tapestry / 1st spuds / Pie
Posted: Friday 14 July, 2017
Monday 3rd July
Beautiful morning. Up at 4am, wondering if Rosie was calving. She wasn’t. Consequently felt a bit zombie-like.
Lots of strawberries – best crop ever. And a good crop of gooseberries too. Raspberries are poorer – but they were supposed to be replanted this year and that didn’t quite happen.
The freezer is getting full, even though we’re eating lightly cooked strawberries with yogurt every day for breakfast. Delicious.
Tuesday 4th July
The plan to apply Crovect to all the sheep today was scuppered by a persistent drizzle.
Did more Festival stuff – this is a busy few weeks, completing various aspects of the programme.
Dan wrapped Cheddar for maturing - it's the first time he's used the traditional method of wrapping with cheese cloth and lard.
Cloth and lard wrapped Cheddar.
Dan and I had dinner at a pop-up restaurant in Falkland – it was market research as we are thinking about doing something similar here with a local, homegrown theme.
Wednesday 5th July
Absolutely glorious today.
Got the Crovect on the sheep. Picked more strawberries.
Thursday 6th July
Drove down to Clackmannanshire today to have lunch with some friends and to see the Great Tapestry of Scotland, which is on display in Alloa.
Thoroughly enjoyed myself – Tapestry well worth a visit, both from the point of view of the design and needlework and from the history aspect. There were 140 of the 160 panels on show, but only half of those in the main display.
Definitely want to see the whole thing once it’s located in its permanent home on the Borders.
Friday 7th July
Rosie calved today. Lovely heifer calf, big and feisty, black and white.
Rosie not so keen on showing her off so we’ll wait for the hormones to settle.
Dan and Paul took the chainsaw to Ravensby to clear a fallen tree and collect the firewood.
Chainsaw work at Ravensby.
Saturday 8th July
Had an Intro to Smallholding course today. Small group but really nice folk.
For lunch we lifted our first potatoes of the season - some Anya and some small Desiree, which were both delicious.
First Anya spuds of the year.
Lovely weather too, except a bit windy.
Sunday 9th July
Drizzly and then proper rain.
Rosie’s calf is still without a name. We thought Pixie, but she’s not a Pixie. I like Gizmo, because she’s wild and leading her mum a merry dance, but Dan says no.
More cheddar. And paneer.
I found a Delia recipe for Rhubarb and orange meringue pie, so made it for dinner.
Rhubard and orange meringue pie.
It was lovely – and looked lovely too.
