24 January 2013
Summertime is
busy on the farm. Actually, I think all
the seasons are busy on the farm but the last few days have been spectacularly
so. One of the goats became ill and
required much veterinary attention, and sadly another died. The milking goats require milking (we’re only
milking every second day in order that we don’t drown in the glorious
stuff). The hay was cut on a dry day,
baled on a dry day, and while we desperately need the rain, was put in the barn
on an annoyingly damp day. We only made
159 bales this year compared with 572 last year – that’s about 27% if you want
to know – but it is indicative of the difference in the summers. We’re almost in drought mode here, even after
today’s sprinkle, just enough to be a nuisance, and not enough to do any real
good. However, now that the hay is in,
it can rain in earnest, and give the garden a decent soaking. While we were loading the hay onto the truck
I decided that I should check Little Miss Gentle, one of our Jersey cows. She and Devonshire have both been looking as
though they are ready to give birth twins or triplets at least for some
time. Little Miss Gentle did not come running to
greet me as she usually does so I wandered over to find the dearest little perfect
bull calf, carefully hidden in the long grass.
Well done Gen!
We have to be
careful that all the animals get enough water, though the hens don’t seem to be
suffering with the heat. After a late
night shift the hens are now more than happy in their new abode. In fact they are so happy that they have
invited an eleventh hen (from the other flock) to move into their digs and we
are now getting on average 14 eggs a day.
Along with eating courgettes at every meal, we have been eating rather a
large number of eggs. The dogs are
loving them too – not sure I like Oscar’s new look – he really does have egg on
his face most of the time. I looked out
this old favourite recently in order to use a few more eggs.
Scotch eggs
You will need as
many eggs as people that you intend to serve.
To serve 6
people, you will need:
6 eggs
6 skinned sausages
or a packet of sausage meat
½ cup of flour
seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups of dried breadcrumbs
(Panko are good)
Oil for frying
To hard-boil the
eggs, place them in cold water to cover in a pot. Bring to the boil and then turn off the
heat. Set the timer for 9 minutes. At this stage they will be hard-boiled but
still moistish in the centre. Shell the
eggs and rinse carefully to remove any bits of shell.
Roll each egg in
the seasoned flour, and then, working with wet hands mould the sausage meat to
cover the egg. Roll each meat covered
egg in the breadcrumbs.
Heat enough oil
to deep fry the balls, but only do a couple at a time. Cook for about 4 minutes and then turn the
balls and fry for a few minutes longer.
Drain the cooked balls on paper towel and keep them warm in a low oven
while you cook the remainder.
You can serve
them with tomato sauce for a family meal that the children will enjoy or you
can dress them up a little. Make a
jazzed up mayonnaise with a little curry powder or a little mustard - serve the
eggs with a sprig of fresh thyme, and a dollop of mayonnaise on the side, or in
a small ramekin for each person.
I also served our
scotch eggs with a fresh cucumber salsa
¼ cup fruity
vinegar (we use our own Boysenberry Vinegar but any will do)
¼ cup of white
sugar
A large red
chilli (finally we have managed to grow these this summer)
½ a cucumber, Lebanese
or Telegraph, diced finely.
A pinch of salt
Purists would
halve the cucumber and remove the seeds, but ours are so fresh and perfect that
we don’t.
Heat the vinegar,
sugar, chopped and deseeded chilli and salt in a small pot, bring to the boil and simmer until the mixture
reduces a little and is just a little thicker than it was. Cool.
Drizzle over the diced cucumber (mix it through lightly) and serve.
