Still gathering in the Harvest

 It has been a bumper year for fruit and vegetables,  so the house has had a lingering smell of vinegar over the last few weeks. Cucumbers ..there are only so many ways to eat cucumbers. I have not let any go to waste as made them into bread and butter pickle and not a piece of bread in sight. How it got its name as it is said it is so good to eat you only need bread and butter with it . We like it with cold meat or pork pie. It also went down very well with some Scotch eggs I made .They are easy to make and I think fry better when they are coated with semolina rather than bread crumbs and seem to hold to the sausage meat better. You may like to give it a try. .Also another tip about sausage meat is to make your own with minced pork . Just add some bread crumbs,herbs and an egg to bind it together. Works out it doubles in volume and so makes it a cheaper way to make your Scotch eggs,

Now I am into the hedgerows collecting rosehips, brambles and elderberries .I am concentrating more on picking rosehips as they have a higher value of Vitamin C in and at least don't stain your hands like elderberries. 

This morning Jack said when he was out with the dogs it was trying to snow. Do we really need it yet . It is certainly log fire weather now .

 I am busy saving any paper,  as in the Spring I am hoping to run courses for 6 people here. "A 6 friends get together" and will talk more about it in later postings  . But in the Spring looking to put together courses for you . The idea is to have one party of 6 people who are old school friends , relations - 3 generation parties  or just 6 friends wanting to get away and spend a few days together in a safe environment . We live in a dark sky area and what we take for granted is not what others have. So to enjoy eating a meal under the stars what better way to finish your day off. 

My website is going to be updated shortly and will then reveal all these new and exciting programme of stays that we hope may be of interest to you . And there will be always something you can take home with you too .

So now back to the pickling kitchen .

Not my last post but as Lockdown is easing

 All the way through lockdown I have been writing a post every night .
I felt I owned it to everyone to read them and enjoyed them to keep going. Some of my day are very much the same, eat, sleep and work or maybe sleep ...I love to sleep, so contact me up to 12.30 past midnight I am rarely in bed by then but when I don't have guests in I  sleep in . I sometimes don't even feel the urgency at 7.30am when someone rings to pick up the phone . It would be Jack's mate who wants some advice about his sheep or Jacks cousin Stuart who I am sure rings up at some unearthly hour to wind me up.  I plan to have a code if my Dad wants me. So the secret is out ,when I have been invited to do webinars and zoom meetings early doors you know why I dont accept the offer. Susan Briggs' zoom meetings I really look forward to.  I try to make them all as she has worked so hard during the lockdown to keep us all going I try not to miss those. So even if she did them at 6am I would crawl out of bed to listen in.

As you probably know I do a lot on social media and always trying to help other businesses and also during lockdown other than the telephone it has been a great way to keep in touch with people.

I set out with great intentions at the beginning of all this lockdown to get certain jobs done. One thing I really want to do is to finish a book I have been writing for some time, so this is why I am going to write random blogs probably once or twice a week. Forgive me, but by the time I write a blog, double check the spelling and still get words wrong. Find photos from my jumbled up photo library, it is nearing 12 midnight when I get these posts up ..often taking me around an hour.

Again we have had rain today, which as well as refreshing things has made the weeds wake up too so I really must spend some time before our little jungle becomes an even bigger one. It was 10.30 pm when I came indoors from the garden this evening  and it is twilight I love these Summer nights. There is some bonus to living in the Northern Hemisphere .

I will leave you this evening with some photos of what Nicholas has got going on at the farm. He runs Wass Grange Hatchery and here are some of today chicks that have hatched out . So I will retreat to my "hatchery" and bring you news again before too long.

Stay safe, dear people. Stay strong and remember we only one chance to get it right. So try to stay at home  and look after yourselves. Dont take any notice of other people if they want to venture out and be silly bs that is their choice. I would like to think we will all still be here tucking into our Christmas dinners and moaning about the sprouts.

If you know of anyone who wants any eggs hatching or chicks Wass Grange Hatchery has a facebook page and all contact details are on there.



 

Friday ... and appreciating what we are surrounded by

Lockdown for us is watching nature carry on undisturbed and we know we are lucky. I have to write and tell you  about this little blackbird. As much as I dont like blackbirds when they have robbed me of fruit in the garden.  The nursery rhythm of 4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie , doesn't sound like a bad idea on these days. .But this little character doesn't just sing from the roof top he sings from the highest point which is on the top of the  chimney pot.  He sings from morning till night.  Here you see him getting ready for bed as his song isn't quite a trill. He is obviously tired and looking to going to his bed .The second little snip shows him flying off to bed. He preens and prunes between his trills and has a look around. You could actually sit in the garden for ages just listening to him and how he is part of a choir that all have their own parts to play. Or even sit in the shade in the porch by the front door and watch the other birds and their activities around the garden. One lady has noted 32 species of birds in 24 hours. There is the green woodpecker which very rarely comes before May and likes to have the length of the drive as his own race track. Were as the black and white woodpecker is a visitor to the garden most days through out the year. bringing a splash and dash of red with him .  We have seen the swallows, they can a few weeks ago and I worry this cold snap will be detrimental to the breeding pattern with the lack of tiny insects they feed on and catch while in flight.  Unfortunately we haven't heard the cuckoo near the house. I always think this makes Summer but it has been heard  a field away.
The Live Cam is back on, but not always on to the bird table now as it in the winter ,but over the countryside so you can enjoy the scenery even though we cant be open yet to guests . You can find this on the right hand side on the home page of www.carrhousefarm.co.uk