Wellington went to the abattoir

 It was sad to see him go. He was a sweet cow, but we can’t keep the males or all the females. 

On the left here (with weaning ring). Dorne on the right will go next year.

We spent a lot of time getting him used to being caught so we could get him in the trailer. We had to get to the abattoir before the crack of dawn and we almost didn’t catch him because they were all very suspicious about this crack of dawn visit! Stressful!,

But all’s well that ends well (not for Welly I guess)

This is how to fit a cow in a small car…

Bone from a much bigger cow gifted by the abattoir to Poppy

Delicious! Best beef ever (well equal best with our other cows)

Visit from Cousin Rory

 Lots of fun and food and beer!

Mincemeat Recipe

240g suet

240g bramley apple grated

120g candied peel

120g marmalade

240g raisins

240g currents

300g brown sugar

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Juice of 2 lemons

Zest of 1 lemon

220ml brandy or whisky

Mix everything together in a bowl and leave overnight.

Put in to sealed jars 

Keeps for months, gets better with time (presumably up to a point!)

Honey Flapjack recipe

 225g butter

90g honey

75g sugar

350g rolled oats

Melt the butter, sugar and honey on a low heat

Add the oats.

Put in to a dish approx 30cm x 15cm and flatten it in with the back of a spoon.

Cook at180°C (160°C in a fan oven) for15 mins until golden brown. Hotter oven will give crispier flapjack…

Happy Birthday Doug!

We did normal things. I worked, we took the car to the garage and collected it, we got some sheepskins back from the abattoir and Doug footled the bees some (mainly involves killing hornets at this time of year though we still have a little honey to harvest).

We had crispy duck and pancakes with champagne for dinner. Yum!

Happy Birthday Doug!

4 out of 5 ducks…

Unbelievable!

It seems that the first batch of runner ducks I hatched, 4 out of the 5 are male. 

So 1 female. Hopefully a few more females in the 7 that hatched about 6 weeks after them. Hard to tell yet…

The males and females look identical when young, and even when mature there are only small differences. The males tend to get more green, the females have a deeper quackier quack and the most distinctive, the males get a little curl on their tail - but even that is pretty small…

Poppy is bossy!

 Open the curtain now minion!

That’s better!

It’s nice that she comes and keeps me company. You can see Doug slaving away outside in the background…