January 2006

Nigella Lawson - what a gal! Emily bought me her "Domestic Goddess" cookery book for Christmas and we have been playing in the most delicious way over the holiday... Moulten Baby Cakes (baked in muffin cases 'cos I don't have individual pudding basins), Almond Cake (made with marzipan - so easy and scrumptious), Rhubarb cake (ummmmm...) and the piece de resistance... Danish Pastries. My mother was staying with us at the time and upon seeing a tray of these rather professional looking bakes stated "they could have been bought from the shop"! (I think she meant it as a compliment). Anyway, riding high on that success, Emily proceeded to bake some for the farmers markets and we were somewhat surprised that they weren't snapped up. It may not be doing the waistline any good, but we enjoyed them!

Emily's kitchen contributions came to an abrupt halt when she was offered the opportunity to go and complete the skiing season as a chalet girl in France. I love it when my kids get to do something they want to do (Emily's been talking of travelling for a while now)... but it was hard to say goodbye to her and her expected return in April seems an age away.

The beginning of this month was frustrating. For some reason, many of the farmers markets were cancelled. I can't understand this as we were receiving phone calls and emails from customers wanting to buy and finding that their regular opportunity wasn't happening. We did some good business from the farm and by the end of the month, life was beginning to get back to "normal".

We always marvel at the beauty and grace of the animals in our care. The little calf born at Christmas (Eve... there's original!) was joined by another, who's arrival was announced loudly by Venus, the mum. He had a difficult birth and Mark stepped in with a couple of friends, to give a bit of a hand. All seemed well at first and we're used to the calves and mums figuring out the way of the world between them, but within a couple of days, things were not looking quite right. We hadn't seen him suckling (that's not especially unusual) and he didn't look all there (that is). We eventually persuaded Venus that we could milk her and give the milk to the calf, but he didn't seem able to suck and had a tendency to fall over with all 4 feet stuck out in front of him. Things kinda went from bad to worse, and in spite of our best homoeopathic and 24 hour a day attention, the little guy passed away on my birthday. We were dealt a double whammy when the fox got into the barn late one night and took all the baby Ixworth chickens. So, what's the point of carrying on? There are times when we can't answer that question.

No money in the bank, neighbours who don't like us, animals who misbehave or die, a fox who's working against us, too much work and not enough rest or time to enjoy what we're doing...

On the other hand...