The summer is racing by with so very little spare time to write (or do anything really). Even though our farm is small, at only 20 acres, we are still utterly dependant on the weather, and this year has been a cracker. Hot, cold, wet, dry, calm, windy, and sometimes that is all in one day. Unusually for January, the grass is still growing and the stock just can't keep up. We took 570 bales of hay off a very small part of the farm (about 6 and a half acres). We did not manage to get it all stacked before it rained the day after it was cut, so I guess we'll have lots of compost this year. I intend to place some neatly on some of the gardens not currently in use, and leave them there for a year to create a ready to plant garden next Spring. I did this with pea straw last year to create the rhubarb garden this year. We also have all the wool from shearing the sheep earlier this week to mulch round some of the trees – the daggy stuff Is particularly yummy to plants and trees.
The first lot of apricots are now finished (helped on their way by a little to-rag of a visitor and his mum who insisted on picking some, for free, despite my words) but they were lovely to eat and so easy to put in the freezer for jam making later in the year.
As it has been and will be again, BBQ weather, I've been looking for ways to make the ham steaks or the lamb chops a little different.
For this recipe, as you are going to chop the fruit anyway, you can use the good bits cut off wind falls or those affected by Brown Rot (or in our case, Galloping Brown Rot).
A couple of handfuls of apricots
2T brown sugar
2T Boysenberry vinegar
2t Chunky mustard
2t Soy sauce
1T olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Chop all the fruit (if it is not already in small pieces) and place it in a bowl with the sugar and the vinegar (Martinborough Manner makes Boysenberry Vinegar), cover with plastic film and leave in the fridge for a couple of days.
On the evening of your BBQ, put the apricots in a roasting pan, or other ovenproof dish and roast at 175 ◦ C until the fruit is cooked – watch it carefully as it won't take too long. Add the mustard, the soy sauce, the olive oil and season to taste with the pepper. If you are short of time, spread the marinade on the steaks or chops and cook straight away. However, if you have the time (and the forethought to have done this in the morning) spread the marinade on the meat and leave it covered in the fridge for a few hours. Then cook and enjoy. Any leftover marinade can be served alongside the meat as a dressing – add a little more vinegar, sugar, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
A few shots of the summer follow!
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| In the beginning there was grass |
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| Where's my lunch gone? |
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| Building stage 1 of the new bunny palace |
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| Mother bunny and some of her babies |
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| Magnificent rhubarb |
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| Red Cabbage |
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| Broccoflower |
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| Curly Kale |
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| Good enough to eat, our own hand milled goat's milk rose soap |
