More apples

A resident of Marley Hill, the next village up the road from us, let us gather in all their remaining windfall apples earlier this week. Some were in poor shape but we gathered them as well. They make good food for the goats. We have one more orchard to check out for windfall apples. If there is a good crop, it will keep the goats happy over the winter.

Lasagne

I have to confess that not everything that went into this veggie lasagne was produced by us. The ricotta cheese certainly was!

Apple cheesecake

We have loads of ricotta cheese and apples to use up. An apple cheesecake recipe made a small dent in the food mountain.

Baked trout

We have a number of trout in our various freezers so recently we decided to use one for dinner. Baked trout with roast potatoes. Very nice! The skin and bones went into a bag and were put in back into the freezer. We will add more to the bag as and when we have more trout for dinner. When we have enough the scraps will be boiled up to make fish stock.

Broody duck

Only once before have we had a broody duck and she abandoned the eggs after just a couple of days. Now, in November, we have found a batch of 8 duck eggs in a nest. One of our Aylesbury ducks is brooding them. I very much doubt anything will come of the eggs given this is November but we have decided to let her continue brooding.

Sick Pinkie

On Friday, Pinkie will ill. I found her in the morning unwilling to get up. She had been vomiting and was not interested in eating any food. I decided to call the vet who checked her over in the afternoon. It seems she had eaten something toxic, though what, we don't know. She was given an antibiotic and vitamin injection.

I'm pleased to say she recovered by the end of the day when she happily ate handfuls of carrots.

Goat in a coat

The weather may be wet but it is cold enough at night to put Pinkie into her coat. The other 3 goats sleep huddled up together so they don't need clothing. Pinkie sleeps in the same shed but still on her own. She is also a bit boney as she is still milking. So far, she has avoided losing the coat in muddy puddles which she was quite adept at doing last winter.