August 2004
Mum & White Foot get it together, airing cupboard turns incubator and we are "head hunted"On the last day of last month, Mum had her calf, White Foot... remember? Well, Mum would probably have rather bottle fed her baby. It took us several runs too and from the barn with some rather clumsy hands on guidance from us cack-handed humans before the two of them sorted it out, but sort it out they have and we are very happy. They can be seen in the fields of Vowley if you care to visit.
The Ixworths have settled in very nicely. It's good to hear the crowing of the cockerel again... makes this place sound like a farm! Contrary to our expectations, they are laying eggs! We don't have an incubator (yet) and Lorraine's mum suggested putting them in the airing cupboard, "that's what we did during the war". so we have a box of eggs in the airing cupboard and will see what happens. ETA of baby chicks is 10 September.
Thank goodness we got the hay in last month, 'cos those who have hay or wheat or second cut silage to collect around here are pulling their hair out. It's been so wet. We did find a fine weekend on which to wheel out the wheelbarrow BBQ and a fine afternoon of feasting it was, with friends and plenty of food and wine.
We were trying to get more organised this month. What we've noticed is that our business has been gradually growing over the last 6 months and that we are now running a bit faster than we'd like. This is mostly due to the fact that stuff to make our lives easy is not in place. With that in mind, Lorraine put together an awesome "to do" list. It's about 6 A4 pages long and now hangs on the side of our fridge in the kitchen. Be very careful if you visit... don't ask "is there anything I can do?" unless you REALLY mean it!
One day Lorraine was sweating over a hot stove, baking yet more pies, when the phone rang. It turned out to be one of Rick Stein's researchers. Her mum had met us at a local farmers market and Rick wanted to know if we'd be included in his Local Food Hero Directory. Don't know if it's on the web site yet, but you might find us there if you have a look... otherwise, when the next directory is printed, apparently we'll be included. Nice to know that he liked the sound of what we're up to.