A great day at the Bowes Show

 

Yesterday (Saturday 9th September) we headed to the Bowes Agricultural Show. It is the show we do every year and we enter the baking and preserve making competitions. This year we had 16 entries. Last year was a bit disappointing, winning just a small number of 2nds and 3rds. The disappointment however was put behind us and we were hopeful of getting a first prize. We ended up with 4 firsts, 4 seconds and 2 thirds. Our best result yet at the Bowes Show.

Getting the fuel ready

 

We still have lots of Christmas trees to chop up ready for the coming winter when they will be burnt on our woodfired stove to heat the house. They are very dry now but we have made a start by stripping off the twigs and branches. Once that is done, we will chop up the trunks and put them into our log shed.

Making hay while the sun shines

 

After the washout of the summer, in which it rained nearly every day in July and August, we are now experiencing something of a heatwave. We have, according to the weather forecast, 7 days of dry weather. At last! We have been able to get in Martin, who cut and baled the hay last year, to do the same again this week. He was on the hayfield today turning the hay. Job should be done by the weekend. I can relax! A big weight off my shoulders as we will have a good supply of hay for the winter.

Getting ready for the Bowes Agricultural Show

We will be going to the Bowes Agricultural Show on Saturday so this week we are busy preparing our entries for the various competitions. Today I am boiling up pork cheek and heart and the meat will then go into a pork pie. Also today, I will be bottling 3 different fruit liqueurs and making raspberry jam.

New stile

 

We have, at last, built the new stile where the public path across our farm crosses from field 2 to field 3. Having installed livestock fencing around the whole of field 2, the location of the stile was the only gap left in the perimeter of the field. Not any more. As soon as the stile was completed, we moved all our texel sheep onto field 2. It's 5 acres so there is plenty of space for the animals. Field 1 is to be left fallow at least until next year, now that we have taken off the sheep. They have been there for 3 years so field 1 can do with a bit of time to recover.

Pickling cucumbers

 

I was given some cucumbers recently by my friends Heather and Neil. Once I had my fill of cucumber sandwiches, I turned what was left into a pickle. I sweetened the vinegar and I added mustard seeds, celery seeds and a splash of turmeric. Two chopped onions were included. 4 jars were made. It will be left for a week to mature. If you make this yourself, sprinkle the chopped cucumbers and onions with salt and leave it to stand overnight. Rinse off the salt before adding the vinegar.

Stuck in the fence

 

This little bad boy was repeatedly getting his head caught in the livestock fencing around the nannies paddock. Last year we lined the livestock fencing with chicken wire to avoid this happening but this little critter found the recently developed holes in it and we kept having to help him out. We have now lined the livestock fencing with a further layer of chicken wire. Problem solved - for now!