Dear Friends and Customers,

After a difficult summer, we are now enjoying a dry and sunny autumn which has at least allowed the ground to dry out a bit for the pigs. I don’t think they mind the mud too much but it certainly makes life difficult for the poor swineherd feeding them. It can be very difficult to remain upright surrounded by hungry pigs (not known for their patience and politeness) when the wellies are slowly sinking into the mud!

I am beginning to see why farmers are well known for complaining all the time and I am in danger of joining them, it really is very difficult when the weather is against you. We lost a small field of hay which was beginning to dry nicely until we had 27 consecutive days of rain; needless to say it was not much good after that. For a while it looked as though the straw (which we collect straight off the field from a nearby farm) would be in doubt but thankfully we had one good dry day in late August and with a lot of work, it was baled, collected and stacked within one day and our animals now have bedding for the winter.

But its certainly not all doom and gloom and when the sun shines (and even when it doesn’t), there is nowhere I would rather be and anyway, a return to banking looks particularly unattractive at the moment!

Fingers crossed for a continuing dry autumn and a mild winter.

MEAT SALES

The beef is coming! A heifer is booked in for mid November so after the meat has been properly hung it will be ready around mid December. If you would like some, please let me know as soon as possible because demand is likely to be heavy! In the meantime, we have more pork sausage, chops and joints, bacon and gammon ready for delivery on Friday 31 October – just in time for Hallowe’en or fireworks parties so don’t wait to be asked, phone or email with the orders!

The Jambon de Pâques and Pork Rillette have proved to be popular and we will try to develop some more ideas, at the moment there is a trial batch of chorizo maturing in the pantry – we’ll let you know if it works.

PIGS AND COWS

The pigs continue to thrive and breed regularly, all I need to do is to try to manage the time intervals between litters better to even out the production but it’s getting better. The smaller piglets are delightful and one can easily waste hours watching them playing. Bod (the dog) continues to be fascinated by them too, especially the youngest ones which are usually in a pen close to the house for their first few weeks. More calves were born in August as Vagabond the bull continues to prove his worth, so much easier and more reliable than artificial insemination ever was! The cows are still out in the fields at the moment but we will have to think about bringing them in soon as grass growth has practically stopped and the ground gets wetter.                                                                                          

HORSE AND DOG

Its not all work and daughter Emily, Ellie her horse and Bod had a very successful summer! Numerous horse and dog shows and plenty of rosettes. Ellie’s speciality seems to be “Best family horse”, and Ellie seems very content to be bathed, polished and plaited for hours on end in order to parade around a field provided she is not asked to canter too much or heaven forbid, to jump too high!

                                Emily and Ellie with rosettes                                                                                 Bod and Florence