Red Sky at night

The end of September has it seems brought us autumn but with it we have had dry, sunny crisp days, the type when Cornwall looks so good, all is lush, the sun is shinning but the seasonal change is coming. The fruit on the hedgerows has almost gone, the birds have had their fill, the blackberries left are past their best and the sloes drying out even before the frost. Last night was the most fantastic red sky which has brought with it a beautiful sunny Sunday as we see out September and look forward to October.........

Know your onions - the vegetable patch and summer

July and August were so busy, with both Mill Barn and Stable cottage full with visitors that our blog entries have become non existent - our apologies....

So with a lot of rain followed by late sun the vegetable patch was not very productive - the onions loved it, the root vegetables and the salad - that could hold on against the slug onslaught ! But the blight once under control did reduce our potato crop and although the tomatoes looked like they had survived and we may have got green tomato chutney at least, they have now turned black with the disease... not a good year for gardeners and all that grow their own have said the same but then next year is another year..

One unexpected addition to the vegetable patch was that of our bantam Squark. She disappeared one night, appearing during the day briefly then one Sunday afternoon I discovered her amongst a patch of nettles sitting on 10 eggs.....followed not long after by 3 chicks that all took to roaming free and scratching about amongst my new plantings - great for slug control but not for young seedlings. Then followed a chick from mother hen so we now have them all pottering around together, and learning to fly after leaving the security of the vegetable patch !

With the coming of Autumn we noticed a different quiet today - our swallows have left us for another year to start their journey back to Africa - but they'll be back, as they always are.

Looking after the animals

All animals need looking after and our days at Tredarrup start with walking the Molly dog, letting the chickens out, filling the bird feeders and checking the cattle - that they're all OK and at the moment whilst the field is separated for our winter feed to grow that they have not managed to get across to where the grass is greener, and longer!
Friday was a big cattle day (in the driving rain!). All cattle when kept over 30 months (max months for meat stock with some exceptions) the horn on their feet grows so they need their nails cut and filed - a pedicure with a difference. Our cows are put into a crush that holds them still put on their side and the pedicure begins - but not with the same amount of pleasure us humans experience I don't think! Then our young bull calves - one had the pinch so he's now a steer (all men wince!) the other - bully boy- we are keeping as a young bull so he had to be de-horned and have his nose pierced for a nice bull nose ring.
After it all the cattle were very pleased to go back into the field and we peeled off the layers of wet and muddy clothes and boots and enjoyed a cuppa.

Raspberry or strawberry muffins...

Coming to the end of our soft fruit, thanks to the rain...decided to try some new ways to use up what is left....so an evening of baking (beats the rubbish on TV!) raspberry muffins, strawberry muffins and strawberry curd! The curd is delicious like strawberry syrup and the muffins I did try and be a bit more wholesome and used wholemeal flour and they are not too sweet. Think I'll be trying both recipes with the blackberries later in the year.. And just when I sit down to a couple with cup of coffee I see on the Internet daily headlines the government thinking of introducing a 'fat tax' will have to keep up with all the Tredarrup jobs to make sure doesn't happen to us!

*Just in case as link not always working - Becky's Raspberry Muffins Recipe
A raspberry muffins breakfast recipe http://bandb.about.com/od/breadrecipes/r/rasp_muffins.htm

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