We went to three fairs in June: The first, held in Aizarnazabal, a

small village in Gipuzkoa, is held for farmers from all the Basque

provinces.

On June 2nd we went to a fair in Alonsotegi, Bizkaia, and on

June15th to a small market in Karrantza. We also presented

our produce to visitors in the local spa in Karrantza on two

occasions.

This month we have spotted more butterflies than last month, but not

as many as we normally would at this time of year, no doubt due to the

unusual weather we are having. This moth spent several days and nights

resting on a window at the dairy. As with many other moths and

butterflies we have not been able to positively identify this one, so if

anyone can help us we would be grateful.

On the other hand we have been able to identify this one as the Small

Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Clossiana selene), although we also be grateful

if someone would like to confirm this.

The weather has been as unusal as in previous months, with spells of

cold, grey, rainy weather and spells of sunny weather, although the

temperature did not go up as much as it usually does in June. We

usually have around 30 litres of rain in June, this being one of the

driest months of the year, but this June we collected over 100 litres

of rain in the rain gauge.

Obviously, bearing in mind the weather we have had, the cows could not

graze outside very often and we have had to carry on feeding them alfalfa

and some feedstuff.

The weather has also complicated hay-making and even making silage.

However, we did manage to do two lots of each taking advantage of

the drier weather we had now and again.

Many other farms in the Valley also took advantage of the drier weather

to make hay and silage and Karrantza became even more of a mosaic

with fields varying in colour from green, to yellow and brown.

Hay making is a good moment to spot snakes. This particular one, a Seoane viper, was sunning itself on some mown grass drying in the sun. This viper is not as aggressive as others, but it's bite is equally dangerous. We haven't seen many snakes this year, most probably due to the weather being colder than normal.

On June 11th, a couple from Aragon interested in setting up a small

dairy herd and dairy came to visit. We wish Maria and Pau luck for the future.

This catchfly (we are still consulting botanists to find out which one it is)

can be found in quite big clumps along the verges of some of the tracks

around Matienzo, although not in many places on the farm. As with other

catchflies the stem of this species is slightly sticky, hence the name

"catchfly", although the plant is not insectivorous as it does not absorb

trapped insects. Some sources suggest that the sticky stem is to prevent

insects crawling up to the flowers' nectar.

According to some recipe books scones are a "centuries-old" tea-time treat throughout England, although they are traditionally made with milk and not yogurt. There are many variations of this recipe, for example, cheese can be used instead of sugar to make savoury scones.

For 20 scones:

360g self-raising flour

90g butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

250g natural yogurt

Preheat the oven to 220ºC. Place flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and

rub in butter until the mixture ressembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the

beaten egg and the yogurt to the dry ingredients, mixing quicky with a

knife. Turn onto a floured board and knead several times. Roll out the

dough to about 2cm thick and using a 4cm cutter, cut into squares or

rounds. Place on  lightly greased baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes

or until lightly golden on top. When cooled, scones can be served with

cream and/or jam, for example.