Village fete time of year..

It's that time of year when the countryside has weekend after weekend of 'the village fete'.
We had ours this Saturday at Michaelstow and my job this year was serving the teas - great as it's inside (in case it does rain and it does !) and you get first view of the mountains of great homemade food. Our table was brimming with homemade pasties, flans, apple pies, cakes, scones, all enticing beyond your dreams...and in aid of a good cause - our beautiful local church. One year a guest in our cottages braved the rain to attend but asked 'who all the food was for?' Well all that attend and it's well worth a visit - we love our food in Cornwall!
So after filling my own plate and pouring a cup of tea (great value at £2) I began 3hrs of tea pouring and making sure peoples plates were full enough - and at the end just the odd slice of cake left !
I never underestimate how much work the local ladies have put in to all the baking at any of these local events, put I really did when last night I embarked on my own pastie making and after 4hrs and 20plus pasties I was in need of a sit down.
You see I believe that Cornwall is a great food county both for the produce it has to offer and the home cooking skills, and if ever you were in doubt just visit a cornish household for dinner or indeed a village fete and you (and your tummy!) will be in no doubt whatsoever.....

Know your onions - potato blight

After being behind in our vegetable plot the weather has pushed us back even further. The one thing loving the weather (apart from the slugs) are our onions - sure to be rather on the large side this year from the lashings of rain.... The strawberries have been good (what's left to be turned into strawberry curd) but now they are getting waterlogged or slugged ! A young visitor, Jess, helped me put my tomato plants in the ground, which are growing but not very fast as they've had the rain but not enough sun, others in pots got waterlogged and went mouldy and my potatoes have now got blight which I'm trying to stop spreading to the tomatoes but it has ultimately affected the potato crop...and I can't plant out my winter crops for fear of them being slugged to nothing..

But it seems I'm not alone, in our Riverford box newsletter this week they to are fighting the weather and have potato blight and are behind with their winter planting. I hear on the news it will affect this years UK potato supply especially for organic growers. Potatoes are a hungry fertiliser crop and one that absorbs all that's added therefore making the organic option far more appealing...but obviously by choosing the organic route we succumb to more damage from disease and slugs !!

Roll on sunshine, I'm sure it's coming !!!

Meat with a conscience

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall first made us really think about it then followed Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsey and many others now I'm sure. And today 'meat with a conscience' is very much on our mind.

Today started with a 5.45am alarm as it was time to say goodbye to one of our cattle, something that we both don't take lightly. But what are the options - and we often consider them - to give up meat or be more aware of the livelihood of the animal when buying and eating ? Our countryside would not be the same without cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, we would not have the enjoyment of them being there and the fields would be in ruin. We are lucky here in that respect that we know our animals have had a good full life and been cared for to our best. But what it has made us think of the most is that we should appreciate that all lives really are of value and we should respect what is on our plate.

Some ways you can help

Our climate - rain, floods and now bright sunshine

Climate change is such a burning issue, and one that we believe to be important. Although Cornwall has had rain and Boscastle did get some flooding again we were not the hardest hit with the more Northern areas of England getting the worst of it in what they say is England's wettest June ever..... Our swallows were struggling yesterday to fly any higher than between the legs of the cattle, keeping below the wind and the rain.

Each year there is something else that is measured as being the worst/hottest/wettest so that must mean that our planet is changing. At Tredarrup we do try to make a difference, we are not perfect but we do as much as we can and there are so many things that we can all do to make a difference from recycling to using low energy bulbs to just letting nettles grow (within reason). Although the nettles sting (but there is always a dock leaf nearby!) there are many reasons to keep them, especially for the butterflies. The nettle supports more than 40 species of insect, including peacock, red admiral, small tortoiseshell and comma butterflies. Many nettle patches host over wintering aphids, which are an early food source for ladybirds, blue tits and other woodland birds. They are also good in the garden as a natural and free plant food.
For other ideas on how to do one thing for nature be inspired by the animals in the series Saving Planet Earth and get some tips from their website http://www.bbc.co.uk/savingplanetearth/

The approaching Summer Solstice

With summer about to officially begin the days are so long with it not getting dark here until well after 10pm. It's warm and all is growing at a rapid pace.....including the grass for the cows and what I have managed to plant in the vegetable patch. Every year I'm always behind I've never managed to be organised enough (or found the time) to have all my seeds on the go in February, but somehow most things catch up !!! And this year I have to be particularly careful what goes directly into the ground as the chickens like a good pick over - great for keeping back the slugs but not for new seedlings !!

Cornish strawberries, swallows and a sneaky chicken....

Hot sunshine and the planters are bursting with bright red ripe strawberries - sweet and ready to eat, with clotted cream of course or elderflower sorbet made from the thick blossom on our elder trees! This hot sunshine following on from the rain in May has been ideal for all things to grow and flourish.
Another beautiful Tredarrup sunset last night whilst the swallows were busy at work, catching insects on the wing and chattering. They have taken up home in Mill Barn's porch and in our sheds - we are sure they have already had some young.
Spot the chicken !!!! Squark, one of our little brown bantams has decided not to lay her eggs in the hen house, but in one of Stable Cottage's planters!!!

Fantastic clear blue skies

It's that time of year when everything has truly come alive.....days when you want to be outdoors and enjoying the Cornish countryside and coast. After some rain and now hot clear blue sky days the hedgerows are lush with pink campion, buttercups and daisies, the farmers are cutting silage (feed for cattle made from grass) and the birds are busy feeding their young.
Our cattle are enjoying the sunshine and the new grass in the field..and the chickens are enjoying a good dust bath in the shade....and there's work to be done in the vegetable patch!