The dust has settled on the festive season and it is time to reflect on the year just gone. As regular readers know, the weather always figures in my Farm Round Ups and the annual summary would not be complete without a quick overview. What a year of extremes it was in 2018. The winter […]
The nights are closing in fast – mornings too of course, but it is the nights I notice most because I have to go out to feed the pigs earlier and earlier – at worst, I’m going out at 3pm! But looking on the bright side, it is only 3 weeks until the shortest day […]
The days may be getting shorter and British Summer Time ended last week but so far so good – the Autumn weather has been behaving itself very well. After our year of weather extremes so far – the wettest winter, the Beast from the East plus the Heatwave Summer – I’m happy to report that […]
A glorious start to autumn, piglets galore, lots of visitors to the farm – it’s been a great month! The 10 lovely little Large Black piglets presented to us by Frosty at the end of August have proved to be a huge time drain, and many great photo opportunities. They grow so fast and are […]
What a great summer – yes, some extremes, but one to remember, mostly for the sunshine! The heat and sun have meant early crops for many, including some fabulous blackberries coming in our hedgerows and windfall apples arriving by the bucketload from friends and neighbours. The pigs LOVE them! The grass is finally growing again thanks […]
Another hot and sunny month – some good things about that, some not so good – this one is going to go into the record books. The haymaking went without a hitch – no rain showers threatening – definitely living up to the proverb of make hay while the sun shines. However, with no rain, […]
Phew – what a scorcher. Sorry to sound like a tabloid headline but REALLY hot this month with no end in sight. Much as everything was growing fantastically in May, it has now all pretty much ground to a halt – great sunshine, but everything needs a little rain to grow. Sorry to be unpopular, […]
An amazing turnaround on the weather front – May was one of the hottest on record and everything is growing so fast, you can almost see it! The spring mornings here on the farm are stunning – they have still been quite chilly with very heavy dew but once the sun starts to climb up […]
They work well together or apart! Robert’s BBQ Sauce (followed by Cool Coriander Sauce) Ingredients: (all measures dessert spoons) 15 dsp cider vinegar 10 dsp brown sugar 3 dsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce 2 dsp tomato ketchup 3 dsp tomato puree Whole head garlic, peeled and finely chopped Chilli sauce or finely chopped chilli, to taste Salt to […]
Phew – at last, winter seems to have left us! The Beast from the East was followed by a mini-heatwave – one week I was breaking ice on water troughs, the following week I was tipping bucket after bucket of water into wallows for the pigs to cool down. Fun Fact: pigs can’t sweat so […]