On August 9^th a family from Catalunya and then a family from Valencia

visited the farm and dairy.

On the 13^th a family came from Barakaldo, 12 year old Alazne being

very interested in cattle in general and hoping to make a career as

a vet. After visiting our farm to see the dairy herd they then went

to see the neighbour’s beef cattle.

On the 24^th a mixed group from the Basque Country, Extremadura and

Castilla & León visited the farm and dairy,

and, lastly, on the  25^th Martha and her father from England.

Flower of the month: Hemp agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum).

This species, also known as holy rope and raspberries and cream,

native to Europe. It attracts numerous insects including butterflies

such as the Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) and the Red Admiral

(Vanessa atalanta). The first part of its common name “hemp” comes

from the resemblance of its leaves to Hemp although it is not related.

The plant has no forage value

And we spotted this orange and black caterpillar in some short grass

(possibly a Fox moth caterpillar?, Macrothylacia rubi?).

Recipe of the month: Basic drop cookies

75g butter

75g organic cane sugar

1 egg, beaten

225g plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

3 tbs milk

½ tsp vanilla essence

75g dried fruit

25g chopped nuts

Heat the oven to 180ºC. Cream the butter and sugar and then add the

beaten egg. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the

creamed mixture, alternating with milk and vanilla essence. Not all the

milk may be needed as the mixture must not be too soft. Drop teaspoons

of the mixture on to a greased baking tray leaving room for the biscuits

to spread. Bake for 6-10 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.

Optionally: add 75g dried fruit and 25g chopped nuts for a fruit and nut

cookie. Or add 1 tsp ground cinnamon for a cinnamon-flavoured biscuit.

A succession of bright, dry, sunny days and cool grey days followed

each other during August. Despite the temperature reaching 33ºC

one day, in general the north winds kept the temperatures in the low

twenties during the sunnier days, whilst morning temperatures dipped

to only 14ºC. The greyer days were not very rainy, and we only

collected 29 litres of rain in our gauge.

In August we made a last few bales of silage (and beforehand, as per

usual, checked over the farm machinery). We had wanted to make hay

but once again we didn’t have the right weather when the grass was

ready for making hay.We also cleared field boundaries and spread slurry.

What did the cows eat?

The cows could only graze a little given the lack of good grazing this

time of the year, so we gave them plenty of forage and some feedstuff.

Three cows calved in August, two heifer calves and a bull calf.

At the beginning of August we lifted all the potatoes and during the

month finished picking the green beans (although there may be a few

more as green beans tend to flower for a second time), continued

enjoying home grown tomatoes and started picking roasting peppers.