CHRISTMAS CHEER

Seasons greetings to all you bloggers!!! Apologies yet again that I have not blogged for so long but we have just finished our last show for 2007 and I can now breathe and get down to farming again.

This is a wintery scene from 2006 but you can see that we do get a little snow here in South Wales. In fact the thick frost outside certainly is doing a good imitation this cold December morning.

Having been away for most of the last two months selling at various shows i.e. BBC Good Food Show, Royal Welsh Winter Fair, Shubgborough etc we have had little time to do any normal things, so yesterday was a quick dash to the shops for nearly all our christmas shopping. I have never really been a shopping sort of gal, my concentration level for toys and clothes is not the best and even mucking the stables out comes an extremely close second! But Mike and I managed to pull it off, just! It is so difficult having not watched telly much whilst away and the children's Santa letters being very generalistic - I mean what is a red thing that goes on land and sea? Four year olds aren't the best at explaining clearly so Santa settled for the more traditional Thomasy approach! Well Sodor had a harbour and trains and some of those are red!

The eight year old was even harder. Amy has stopped playing with toys as such (except for her brothers of course) and is thinking about being more of a young lady. Santa was not keen on the mobile phone mind - being quite old fashioned we believe we should wait quite a bit longer! The laptop again we decided to go for a more junior model and build up to the full monty at a later date (preferably a couple of years).

Don't you have difficulty explaining to a four year old that they can't have the same things as their eight year old sister? We are still battling with the TV in the bedroom and the digital camera from Amy's last birthday, Josh just won't understand that he has to wait until he is a little bit bigger - although I have to admit he's right he is more technically minded and can work the DVD player better than her. Whoever made up this "reason with the children", what happened to the simple "No you can't" that my parents used to say. The trouble is when the children'ts arguements are actually quite good but you still know that they are children all the same and do we really want them growing up too fast? I know I don't!

Anyway I'd better go and get yesterdays spoils out of the car and into the warmth of the house whilst the children are still at school and hide them away so Santa & Santa's helper can wrap them up one evening over a glass (or three) of mulled wine. (You didn't think I was going to wrap them on my own did you!

Back to milking for the next three weeks from tomorrow so I will let you know how I get on and how rusty I have become!

Seasons greettings to all

Food Festival Season

A day in the office after a weekend at Llangollen Food Festival. A good show was held by all and an appearance by the "Hairy Bikers" what a laugh those two guys are! I shall be watching their TV show in future and of course reading their books - they were signing their new book on India, Morroco and Belgium which looked mouth-wateringly appealing, I must say.

Today I have been trying to catch up with paperwork and telephone calls. With the chocolate launch getting nearer things are busy tieing up loose ends so to speak. Of course originally this should have been in the summer but with the breakdown of new equipment time has gone on and with Christmas looming we will now have to launch with a slightly smaller range than had been envisaged. Still we had tasters out at Llangollen and we had a big thumbs up on our clown lollipops.

I must say a big Hello to Sally-anne who is working hard at Wharfe Valley Farms in Collingham near Wetherby. They make the most delightful cold pressed rapeseed oil that I am totally hooked on. It is so good for you as it is high in Omega 3 and is absolutely delicious especially with those yorkshire puds and roasts! I can't wait to visit again soon - I managed two visits in August/September and hopefully will be going again in November!

We have two big festivals coming up this weekend, Cowbridge and Conwy so my husband and I will be at opposite ends of Wales yet again. I am going to Conwy which I love with its fantastic Castle on the coast and great company as my friend Alison (who is a brilliant chocolatier) lives in the town. Both Festivals are full of amazing artisan foods so do try and join us. We are busy making fudge as we nearly sold out this weekend and in the background are steadily making the chocolate. Will blog again soon.

Busy Times Ahead!!!

I must start by apologising for not blogging for so long! We have been at shows non stop since I last wrote. I think I was a bit too motivated and was booking every spare moment!!!

Well here we are on a warm autumn evening, the sun is going down and still shining. The forecast is for a good few days which is great as we will be taking the caravan on the road once again this time up to north Wales to Llangollen food festival. The food circuit is busying itself with preparations now underway for Christmas.

We have been very busy since my last blogging with our new goats milk chocolate about to launch, the girls are beavering away practicing their new skills. It is always exciting with the build up to a launch and also the test weeks before when we take the products out to shows for public opinions. So far the opinions have exceeded our expectations and we also have pre-orders from a lot of our deli's!

We also have been at trade shows with the Speciality Fine Food Show in September and the Restaurant Show just last week. Both have brought us new business so watch the stockist page in the next few days as it is being up dated.

We have a busy schedule between now and christmas with shows like BBC Good Food Show at Birmingham and London to name but a few - do have a look on our calendar for more info.

Keep in touch and let me know your thoughts.

Loraine

SUMMERS HERE AGAIN!!!!!!

Well I can't believe the weather this evening, with a good gale blustering outside and heavy rain I feel for all my friends on the food circuit who have braved the Pembrokeshire Show, the forecast is no better for tomorrow I'm afraid guys.

Early start today with a milk delivery for our cheese but it wasn't too bad with two of us emptying the tank and then re-loading the tank the other end - unfortunately our trailer tank with pump isn't ready yet so it has to be done by hand in 10litre buckets!

We had a lovely WIRE lunch meeting today at the Black Ox at Abergwili. so nice to catch up and find out what everyone has been up to and new members too! WIRE is Women in Rural Enterprise for all those who have never heard of us before. It is a UK wide group of like minded women from all sorts of different businesses - that's what makes it so interesting and with networking we can either utilise each other for business purposes or use each other as sound boards for ideas, problems and the like. We meet once a month and I find it so useful especially when you work from home sometimes you need to stimulate yourself and networking certainly helps me. If you're interested in finding out more about your local networking groups then have a look at http://www.wireuk.org/ even if you have only an idea and haven't started your business yet then WIRE can help! Each month our group organises different talks etc on topics that we as a group have requested.

Well I have come back from the meeting and felt really motivated and so booked more shows to do between now and Christmas and I have a list of people to contact tomorrow for different things. Whats a bit of rain!

NEW BRITISH GOAT SOCIETY MEMBER

The 'can't beat them then join them' photos of one of our cats, Megan has found a new sleep place. I thought it was a one off but she has been out and come straight back in to her new bed! I will write to the British Goat Society and put her forward for membership! I wonder whether they have had a cat member before?

Friday didn't end so well with Quo, one of our goats, getting colic/bloat. This is a very painful condition and can be fatal if not treated quickly. It means that she had eaten either too much of something in the field or something that didn't agree with her. Her stomach had swollen dramatically and she was in a lot of pain. The vet was called and we treated her with an anti-inflammatory injection and waited rather than piecing the gut which we might have had to do later if she got worse. The only problem with the latter course of action is that it can cause peritonitus which can also prove fatal. We were lucky, we had caught it early enough and slowly over the next 36 hours, and with a further injection, her very swollen stomach started to go down.

Well the weekend continued to be busy with Wiktor taking a well earned rest, Mike and I milked the goats in the morning and then went on to a Riverside Festival in Carmarthen Town which was being held on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately Saturday was very quiet, I left Mike at 3.00 pm and wondered back to milk the goats (we are milking 166 at the moment so it takes a while) and check Quo. Mike was thoroughly bored in the afternoon and was chatting to our friends Brian and Marylou from Cowpots Icecream - this is ice cream to die for, all made from Jersey cows milk and cream and beautiful flavours, my favourite is blueberry and white chocolate - yummy yummy. When we arrived to set up Brian offered me a coca cola float. Wow I haven't had one of the those since my childhood and boy was it good. It was just as well I was milking otherwise they would have sold out to me and Mike would have had to get a truck to take me home!!! Sunday was a repeat of Saturday (including the coca cola float!) except Mike did the afternoon milking and I carried on at the festival but during the raft race in the afternoon it started to get a little busier - you win some you loose some - but heh I also had my blueberry and white chocolate ice cream about 6.00 pm so that was even better!!!

Today I have been organising the builders who are about to finish the side panels on the goat building and then hopefully doors and internal fixings. We are also re-vamping our brochure so I have been speaking to Chris who is our designer and am really pleased with the progress. I have also quite a few loose ends I am trying to tie up in the office (which looks like a bombs hit it) and I will have to do some filing Yucckkk! Oh and by the way WE BALED ON SATURDAY!!!!!! Hip Hip Hooray! Just the one field, now we pray for good weather so we can drop and work the other three fields - not tomorrow it is going to rain, its also Mikes birthday, Happy Birthday Mike! I won't mention how old he is but he's caught up with me again! bye for now...

Hay Hoe To The Sunshine

I have just come back from viewing our fields with Colin Jones our forage contractor, we call him Colin the Tractor as we also have a Colin Jones who is our hay merchant we call him Colin the Straw and then we also have another Colin (not Jones) who is one of our builders, yes, you've got it, Colin the Builder, well it makes life easier round here. Colin the Tractor also mends tractors and agricultural machinery in his spare time so I am sure he will be a frequent visitor to our blog!

We think we may be able to save our hay to make a rough hay as it has been a scorcher today but just as I write this there is a big black rain cloud hovering over the field (I would rather see Winnie the Pooh hanging on to his balloon). I am going to have to phone in to BBC Radio Wales and have a moan at Derek the Weatherman - it isn't meant to rain until Saturday!!!

If we have some more good weather next week Colin the Tractor reckons we may drop our three remaining fields and 'go for it' so to speak. It has been a real worry this year for all us farmers. We were hoping to have had three cuts during this summer and we are struggling to have one, only two fields will have been cut twice. What with that and the price going up for all our concentrates for the goats this is going to be a tough old year. Great, selling shows down and feed prices up and all because of the weather. But I musn't complain at least we haven't been flooded.

We made fudge today. Micheala came in and beavered away to make Plain, Chocolate, Chocolate Mint and Rum and Raisin, yum yum!! Well I have to try each batch to check that the graining is correct - quality control - if it isn't we have to start again.

Oh! I must tell you a funny thing that happened yesterday. Aneta took the quad bike to round up some of the milking goats for Wiktor (pronounced Victor) for afternoon milking. To save her time later she then decided to leave the quad bike in the field whilst she got on feeding milk to some of our baby kids. Well, the rest of the milking goats had a whale of a time as you can imagine. What was this object left in the field? Can we all have a go? Hey, is it good to eat? And yes, when Aneta came back she couldn't start the quad bike because they had chewed all the wires! The Quad Bike has today been collected by the garage so as to be re-wired!!!! Poor Aneta was mortified but I don't think she'll do that again, well I hope not!

I put a picture of Monty up today as I mentioned him in my last pennings. Isn't he beautiful? Well I think so. He has been eating stinging nettles all day with his friend Merlin and when I saw the pair of them just now their bottom lips were all floppy from the stings (that always happens) but they'll be fine in the morning - until they do it again.

Well I am off to check the forecast again. I was hopeing that we may be able to leave the hay for one more day before bailing but I will have to see. Keep smiling...

Loraine

FOOT AND MOUTH

I start my blog at such a sad time. Having moved from Surrey 5 years ago and having been saved from Foot and Mouth there in 2001, I can't believe that I leave my friends there to face such an awful time. Our hearts go out to all those who are sufferring and waiting in Surrey and we, along with all the farming community, are hoping that this goes as quickly as it came. What a summer! First the floods and then this...

We have had a bad week all in all. We cut hay last week and then just as we were about to finish rowing up (putting the hay into lines ready to bale - for those non farming friends) on Friday, the heavens opened and it has rained on and off every day since. This afternoon the rain has just stopped and I am writing this in the conservatory with the sun hitting my back, a sauna springs to mind!

The goats are out sunning themselves in the fields even my Monty (I wrote a children's story about Monty). Monty is the castrated male that the children talked me into keeping and the one that is always getting himself into trouble, bless him! He knows his name and he loves a cuddle and before I am asked, no, he doesn't smell!!!! It is only the entire males that smell and then only about now when they spray themselves to attract the females. So it is us women who love our men with a nice fragance that cause the problem! By March the smell will subside and we are back to normal for a few months.

We have many different characters amongst the goats and I will try and introduce you to them during my blogs. But for now I sign off to meet our architect to view our Food Processing Site that we are building here on the farm.