Recently all the calves born on the farm have been either bull calves

or heifer calves for beef. Although a good dairy heifer calf was born

in July we decided to buy a pregnante heifer for the first time in well

over thirty years to help maintain the herd. We bought the heifer from

another organic dairy farmer thus guaranteeing the organic status of

the dairy herd and our produce.

Forty eight 5-8 year olds from a summer camp in Sondika visited us on

the 5^th, on the 7^th a family from Gorliz, on the 24^th a family from Madrid

Zoe visited the farm with a questionnaire about how public money is and could be spent in farming, part of her thesis research.

The weather in July was suprisingly varied and despite several days with

high temperaturas these have in general been lower tan woould be expec-

ted in July. The thermometer reached a high of 29ºC once but was mainly

opnly reached the low twentiesduring the day. During the night it dropped

to even 16ºC on occasions. Similarly, despite the generally damp condi-

tions we only collected 48 litres of rain in the gauge. We had many misty

starts to the day.

The wet, damp conditions in Spring didn’t help work in the allotment. In

fact we had to sow our green beans twice as many of the first seeds

simply rotted away. This years’ very active field voles also helped them-

selves to seeds as they burrowed their way through part of the allotment.

However, in July we began to harvest beans

A member of the local wildlife community with which we share our

land is the cabbage white butterfly, and other butterflies. This year

the brassica cage is proving as efficient as ever protecting our Brussel

sprouts from hungry caterpillars and the degree of its efficiency can

be seen from the attacks of caterpillars on a few unprotected cauli-

flower plants.

Recipe of the month: Beetroot leaf borani

Borani is an apetizer from the Middle East which can be made with

different vegetables. The recipe we provide here uses beetroot which

are just ready for eating at this time or year, but other options are

spinach or eggplant. The typical recipe would use a mixture of spices

popular in the Middle East known as za’atar (sesame, fennel, oregano,

cummin and thyme).

Leaves and stalks of 7 beetroot plants

One clove of garlic, pureed

Zest and juice of a quarter of a leom

Olive oil to taste

2 big tablespoons of natural yogurt

Salt and pepper

Chopped nuts or za’atar

Remove the stalks and leaves from about 7 beetroot and wash. Cut

leaves and stalks into 1-2cm pieces. Wilt in a hot pan with some olive

oil for a minute and then remove from heat. Place in a serving dish or

platter and mix with garalic, lemon juice and zest, olive oil, yogurt

, salt and pepper adjusting the quantities of these to taste. Top with

chopped nuts or za’atar and serve with bread or toast.

What did the cows eat?

In order to counterbalance the high water content in our milk due to

the exceptionally damp conditions for the time of year, we have given

the cows slightly more forrage and less freshly mown grass.

Flower of the month: Common St. John’s wort (Hypericum

perforatum).

This species is native to the temperate areas of Europe and Asia. The

name comes from its traditional flowering and harvesting on St. John’s

Day, 24^th June. Hypericum is derived from the Greek words hyper “above”

and eikon “picture” in reference to the tradition of hanging plants over

religious icons in the home during St. John’s Day to ward off evil.

The plant can reproduce vegetatively (particularly when there are summer

rains, as is the case this year) and sexually (with seeds). St. John’s wort

seeds can persist for decades in the soil seed bank is their habitat is

disturbed and will take advantage of improved conditions to flourish

anew.

Due to its toxic properties the plant is not welcomed in pastures, but

has, alternatively, been widely used in traditional medicine. On the farm

we only find it along one or verges.

One summer job is topping those fields that have been grazed by our

animals. This can either imply “mowing” as in the case of the photo

below, and then removing the grass or proper topping in which case

the grass is finely cut and left to rot in the field. In both cases the

idea is to remove those plants such as nettles (Urtica dioica) or docks

(Rumex sp) or tussocks of grass the cows have ignored and thus pre-

vent the gradual colonization of unwanted plants and allow the desired

grass species to regenerate.

This sort of task is usually closely followed by birds of prey, particularly

on our farm, by red kites (Milvus milvus) that look for grass hoppers,

small mammals and snakes. In one of the pictures such a red kite is

visible in the sky to the left of the tractor.

This slow worm (Anguis fragilis) was in one of the compost heaps.