Mission Marmalade

It's a noisy time of year with the cows queuing up at the gate waiting to go out with every sunbeam that appears.  Whilst they're bellowing their indignation at every human, car, bird or dog that passes, Hannah is on a marmalade mission in the kitchen.  Batch two of this year's marmalade - and she's still going!

With a house filled with the delicious smell of Seville oranges, we've entered the annual "no adopting of Peruvian bears found at railway stations" season.  A sad time for Colchester station's orphan bear population.

But we don't need a bear!  They might be quieter than the cows, but we've got our own little Paddington here on the farm (albeit from Dorset not Peru, wearing a sou'wester and willing to eat anything from clothes pegs to ancient rabbit).  Fearless cattle dog Humbug is prepared to work in any weather (but not mud - really useful on a farm) and was found yesterday with his head inside a cow's mouth.  Who needs a dentist?

Whilst buying him a sou'wester may have jinxed rain for the spring, he has at least stopped shivering in the farmyard.  Off now to feed (guaranteed to quieten down the cows) and test Dad's photography skills with a picture of me and a cow.  It's day two and we're yet to get a picture in which I'm not standing gormlessly in a barn with my eyes closed, the cow and I are both still, I'm not being attacked by a cow - forgotten dog treats in pockets lead to mass attack, or worse still, a picture in which I look like I actually like cows.  But it's all part of the celebration of ...

This year's Great British Beef Week runs from 23rd - 20th April and this year butchers, supermarkets and retailers taking part will be raising money for Help for Heroes.

So bring on St Georges Day and a celebration of Great British Beef!  For more information, and the chance to win £500, head to www.greatbritishbeef.co.uk

Wake up!

It's 6:05 and it's breakfast time!  Why?  Well, a)  because it's Farmhouse Breakfast Week! and b) because without breakfast, life is very grim indeed.

And so to make sure you "shake up your wake up", our shelves are stocked with jams, jellys and marmalades, and the hens are powering through and laying eggs for you in these cold, dark days.  To mark the occasion, I've also expanded my flock with some lovely Columbian Blacktails to make sure you can go to work on an egg.

This week, I'm lucky enough to be in Dorset and I'm shaking up my wake up with fresh unpasteurised milk on my cereal.  My favourite!  I'm the last one up - Stuart is milking and Helen has just arrived at the Stanley's for a routine (vet, not dance - even with breakfast, it's far too early to bust a move), so before I tuck in to breakfast (and drink the bulk tank dry) all that remains is to wish you an equally happy week of breakfasting.

For inspiration, scrumptious recipes and to take the Breakfast Week Challenge with Melinda Messenger, head to the Shake Up Your Wake Up website.

Never mind the Red Coats...

..the mincemeat is coming!!

Hitting the shelves today.

Trust me, you really don't want to miss out!

Blackberry Ice-Cream

Verity requested. Hannah has spoken. The late sun has led to a resurgence of blackberries in the hedgerows.  I was once told "never pick blackberries after October 1st because the Devil's peed on them".  Ignore this, seek out some blackberries and get churning.  Can't find blackberries?  You can always buy fresh or frozen.  Just make sure they're British!

BLACKBERRY ICE-CREAM 

To make with fresh berries:

1lb blackberries, 5 oz sugar, 1/4 pint water, 1/2 pint double cream

To make with frozen berries:

1lb blackberries frozen with sugar OR 1/2 pint blackberry puree, 2 oz sugar, 1/4 pint water, 1/2 pint double cream

Puree the blackberries and strain through a nylon sieve.  Boil the sugar and water together for 3 minutes and leave to cool. Whip the cream lightly. Stir the syrup into the fruit puree and fold into the cream.

Turn into basin and freeze for 1 to 2 hours, until the mixture has reached a mushy state. Take out of freezer, beat well and pour into waxed containers and replace in the freezer.

To serve: Remove from freezer 1 hour before serving and leave in the refrigerator.

And hey presto, there you have it! In the modern land of the ice-cream maker, most/all of this will be done for you.  But all our ice-cream is made by hand.  Follow a similar fruit-based recipe in the machine's recipe book and you'll be away.

Hannah would like to thank the unbeatable freezer knowledge of Helge Rubenstein and Sheila Bush for this recipe.

(PS This totally counts as one of your 5-a-day...)

You're simply the best!

Happy British Food Fortnight!Humbug and I were up early to put up signs and roll in dead fox (I just can't help myself). Look out for celebrations near you and see the links section to find out where to buy and eat British food!

Happy shopping and happy eating!

Dairy dreams and the USSR...

Back to Essex after a dairy bonanza of a weekend. Kicking off with trimming the feet of Longmoor's finest bull, Max. Humbug proved an excellent lure to get the bull into the foot crush, better than the heifer we ran through first - unfortunately, Max has lost his mojo. I am 98% certain he is actually a bison and not Aberdeen Angus. I am a great naturalist, so the fact I have never actually seen a bison in the flesh should not put you off believing my description.

As we (more I) went dairy mad on the farm, there was unfortunately not as much cheese as expected at a festival of cheese. But still, an excellent selection including Dorset Blue Vinney and Woolsery Cheese.

We love Blue Vinney. Congratulations to my brother-in-law for standing his ground against some vicious elbows and jostling, and rifling through the stand as though he were at a jumble sale, emerging with a monster piece of Blue Vinney. We didn't know he had it in him, but such is the effect of this cheese.

By far and away the best new cheese(s), (unanimously agreed by our panel of four esteemed experts), the entire Woolsery range. Not only the best cheese, but the best goat's cheese, and two of our panel went into this claiming not to like "anything from a goat". So, a fromage revolution unleashed.

Guest expert for our tasting, the man in the "USSR Tour of the West Country" sweatshirt and army combats. Respect.

For now, I've dragged myself away from the beautiful dairy cattle and it's back to Essex and a search for sexed Ayrshire semen to restart the "dairy" part of "Lower Dairy Farm". Top contender right now, Haresfoot Elegant - the name alone screams sophistication, and we've got a lot of that at Lower Dairy Farm.

Our beef cattle are "liquorice allsorts" - predominantly Hereford-Angus with a little experimental or accidental influence. One semen rep had run out of Angus straws when he visited, so persuaded Dad that an Australian Murray Grey was an Angus equivalent. Not knowing anything about this breed, it is always reassuring when you Google it and come up with lots of references to what little psychos they are. Sorry, did I say little, I meant huge, hulking, one of the largest bulls of all cattle breeds, beasts. Fortunately, ours (Murray - because you cannot always come up with an imaginative name) was a massive, but lovely bear of a bullock who I genuinely miss but was also some seriously excellent steak.

The beef herd which today produces such delicious meat was something of an afterthought. In fact, I learnt recently that we only have beef cattle today because when they stopped milking in the 80s, my grandparents were worried they would not have enough to do. Whilst this has worked out beneficially for us, learning this whilst nursing bruises from a particularly extended handling session, my response was not particularly polite.

But, they are lovely cows. For more information and pictures, see the Livestock page of the blog. You can also click onto our website where we're building a gallery of our herd of photogenic stars.

Previously on Lower Dairy Farm...

...harvest, piglets, puppies and poultry.

Yep, harvest is done (bar that unintentional "conservation area" at the top that needs baling). So here's a quick recap of what's been going on...

Between the rainy days, we completed our harvest and Dad's baling marathon means we've got enough fodder for the winter. This year saw Lower Dairy Farm's first Bale Census - a hi-tech compilation method involving a post-it note on the fridge.

Hundreds of bales = lots of bale hauling from around the village. It's my first year hauling bales on the road (thank you patient drivers, shame on you impatient idiots) and I enlisted the help of Lower Dairy Farm's newest member, Humbug the dog on his first tractor adventure. I like to haul bales in style, as you can see from the picture below.

It's safety first on the farm, and when tying bales on it really helps to use all your weight and I like to harness the power of the dog pulling on the end of the rope...provided Humbug the highly trained puppy gives the rope back... Tying on provides great amusement for those watching, particularly on a windy day when flinging the rope accurately over a loaded trailer is nigh on impossible. Apparently it's "really funny" to watch when the rope flies back over and hits you in the face before the dog runs off with it. I really have no future as a team roper, but for now, I'll blame the driving wind. Turn the trailer round? What a waste of fuel.

Anyhow, with all bales back at HQ and counted, it's time to get stuck into everyday chores. The cows are out on pasture, and we're about to head into our next block of calvings. This will coincide with (fingers crossed) duckling hatching - far less stressful than calving!

August saw the first pigs on the farm for over 50 years. Dad has a faint memory of Grandad keeping pigs in the same place we are today. Our two are Gloucester Old Spot x Tamworth, so should make for good pork and bacon.

What with the piglets, calves and puppy arriving within one month, we've had lots of visitors. I am now positive that the pigs have a better diet than I do as the people of Nayland and Little Horkesley bring them surplus veg from their gardens. It really does take a village, and you know you've reached a new low when you consider rescuing a cabbage from a pig pen.

This week has been particularly insane, finishing harvest, hauling, chicken windproofing (the excitement knows no bounds), sorting the house out etc, the puppy (I'm not reknowned for my enthusiasm and boy does he require a lot), selling a ton of books through Amazon, being pimped out at the farm gate (yep, I would make a good Bathsheba, stop encouraging the men over 60 Dad) and an unkept promise that I would actually get round to weighing the pigs - piglet catching requires fast acceleration, great hand-eye co-ordination and the ability to think fast...none of which I am blessed with! Oh and the PhD - yesterday was the first night I've had a chance to look at anything properly for a month. So of course, I am simultaneously searching for books on pig husbandry, setting up the blog and researching poultry drinkers online. It's quite a search history!

No. 1

Welcome to the Lower Dairy Farm blog! Lower Dairy Farm is a small mixed farm on the Essex-Suffolk border. We are incredibly lucky to live in a very beautiful spot in the Stour Valley. On the farm, we have our herd of Hereford-Angus cows, and currently two piglets - with more arriving in the future. We grow sugar beet and barley for animal feed and to sell.

Our traditional farm shop sells all our produce from the farmgate. Alongside the delicious meat, we sell eggs from my flock of chickens, seasonal produce, ice-creams and a vast range of jams, marmalades, jellies and chutneys produced by my mother. You'll learn a lot more about all of these from the blog, but as we're in the early stages, why not check out our web page for further info Lower Dairy Farm Shop