Yes, it's time to celebrate the not so humble horseradish!

Hannah really has taken one for the team in making this for you. Us delightful children very kindly bought her some "onion goggles" for Christmas to help, but let me tell you, anyone entering the kitchen when grating is in progress leaves a lachrymose mess. In fact, it is sometimes essential to tag team the production to allow those afflicted to temporarily recover. But away from the production, made to a Victorian recipe preserved in a little vinegar, it is delicious! And of course, grown on (and on the verge of taking over) the farm! It is available ready-grated in jars (milder), or as an entire root for those brave enough...

In other tear-jerking news, I've just returned from loading the pigs. I was genuinely sorry to see them go until one decided to bite me. In their last few weeks, we've given them a slap-up diet of turnips, swede, cabbage, chard and many other vegetables from Humbug's and my scrumping missions to the former kitchen garden at the Anchor Inn - Humbug pictured here looking bored in a turnip patch. The biting therefore seemed a little mean, however, we think their outdoor lifestyle and a diet full of vegetables, whatever they were rooting up so insistently, not to mention the acorns and garden produce from the good folk of the village will make for delicious pork.

For us, it's not just delicious pork, they have cleared a largely unusable field of scrub that can now recover to grassland. Good for the cows and massively saving our muscles! I shall miss their squealing and squabbling and hope to replace them soon and maybe even have piglets born on the farm...Sadly, the next lot will be away from the roadside - they proved quite a draw and definitely played up for the crowds! The next site earmarked for clearance is Bethlehem, the site of a little wooden hut in a copse, with a spectacular view of the valley. Only the best for our Horkesley Porkers...!