Vista Alegre Baserria Month by month in the farm
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May 2019 PDF Print E-mail

What did we do in May?


16 members of the local community learnt how to make fine and soft

cheese in our dairy on the 14th and 21st of May, as part of a training

course. We wish them luck finding work in the future.







We received quite a few visits during May. On the 1st, six adults

and eight year old Irate from Castro visited.

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On the 3rd, in the morning a couple from Alcalá (Madrid) visited

the farm and dairy

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and in the afternoon a group from the Udaloste Help Centre

in Loiu came to see the farm and, particularly, the cows.

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On the 4th a 19 strong group of mature students from the Official

School of Languages in Irun (Gipuzkoa) came, fourteen undertaking

the visit in English and 5 in Basque.

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On the 8th we hosted a visit organized by a French School (Lycee)

from Zamudio (Bizkaia), although the visit was in Castillian, not

French) and lastly, on the 8th in the afternoon, a couple from

Asturias with a particular interest in livestock visited.



The first three days of May we took advantage of the sunny

weather to make silage with the grass we mowed at the end

of April. The grass was baled, taken to the storage area and

wrapped in plastic. The third week of May two more fields

were mown and the grass silaged.

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Apart from making silage we have been clearing field margins and

any patches of nettles or dock leaves that may have appeared,

spreading slurry and planting and tending the allotments.





What did the cows eat? The cows were able to graze most days

and even spent some nights outside. We also gave them freshly

mown grass and a little feedstuff.

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Recipe of the month: Yoghurt panna cotta

Ingredients:

For the panna cotta:

2 ½ gelatine leaves

175g full milk

175g double cream

100g castor sugar

350g natural yoghurt

For the apricots:

100g dried apricots, halved

50g demerara sugar

One cinnamon stick

The day before, mix the apricots with the sugar, cinnamon and 300ml

water, and leave to soak.

To make the panna cotta, soak the gelatine in cold water for 5 mins.

Meanwhile, heat the cream, milk and sugar together over a gentle heat,

stirring until the liquid is steaming but not boiling. Squeeze out the

gelatine, then stir into the hot liquid to melt. Pour through a sieve into

a bowl. Whisk in the yogurt, then pour into six ramekins. Chill for 3-4

hours or overnight.

The next day, simmer the apricot mix in a pan until the water is

reduced and the apricots are sticky and soft. If the apricots are

still firm, add another 300ml water and reduce again. Leave to cool

to room temperature.

To serve, place the apricots on the panna cotta in the ramekin


What was the weather like?

The weather alternated between hot, dry, sunny days and grey, cloudy

damp/wet days. On the sunny days mornings were predictably cool (even

as cold as 5.3ºC at dawn) whilst the temperature rose to over 24ºC at

midday several days. The temperature differences between dawn and

midday were far lower, ranging from only 10 to 15,1ºC one day. We

collected a total of 85 litres in the raingauge.


Flower of the month: Coomon or Persian Walnut (Juglans regia)
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Juglans regia is native to the region stretching from the Balkans

eastward to the Himalayas and southwest China. The largest forests

are in Kyrgystan, where trees occur in extensive, nearly pure, walnut

forests at 1,000–2,000 m (3000 to 7000 ft) altitude. The major use

for walnut trees are their nuts, although their wood is also consider-

ed to be very valuable and they have several medicinal uses. They

have no forage value.

Walnuts are late to grow leaves, typically not until more than halfway

through the spring. They secrete chemicals into the soil to prevent

competing vegetation from growing. Because of this, flowers or vege-

table gardens should not be planted close to them. The male and

female flowers are very different: male flowers are drooping yellow-

green catkins 5–10 cm long and the female flowers appear in clusters

of 2-5 (the flowers in the photo are female flowers). The female

flowers develop into a fruit with a green, fleshy outerskin and a brown,

wrinkled walnut inside. Walnuts are mainly wind pollinated.

The walnut's botanical name, Juglans, originates in Roman mythology.

According to an ancient myth, Jupiter, who was also known as Jove,

lived on walnuts when he lived on earth. Therefore Romans called wal-

nuts Jovis glans, meaning 'the glans of Jupiter.' The botanical name of

the English walnut, Juglans regia, means the 'royal nut of Jupiter'.



At the beginning of Spring, Leire Jauregi from the Department of

Conservation of Natural Resources of the Agricultural Research

Institute, Neiker, visited our farm to collect a sample of manure

from our heifers for a research project. In May, Leire was able to

confirm the aims of the project, which is now underway:

 

“An experiment using the ecotoxicological tool known as PICT

(Pollution-induced community tolerance) was used to evaluate

the tolerance of capacity of  microbial communities in the soil to

pollutants. The study material, manure from organically reared

heifers, was obtained from the Vista Alegre Farm. The manure will

be used as a fertilizer using the same amount as would be used in

farming. These soils will then be “polluted” with an antibiotic to

study the changes induced in microbial communities”.



During May we have seen many different insects including

the caterpillar of the Lackey moth (Malacosoma neustria)

which feeds on sloe (Prunus spinosa) and hawthorn (Cra-

taegus monogyna) leaves;

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the Brimstone moth (Opisthograptis luteolata),
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the white ermine moth (Spilosoma lubricipeda)
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and this beetle which have been unable to positively identify.
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We managed to catch this mole that was causing

havoc in the allotment.

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In Spring we often see small balls of tiny spiders

hanging from leafy vegetation.

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This delicate spider was on the dairy wall (outside!).
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Lastly, we disturbed this slow worm (Anguis fragilis)

one afternoon, which had been sunning itself on a

warm concrete path.

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Although it looks as if it has snowed, the photo is

really of abundant poplar seeds that blow around

in profusion at this time of year.

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A total of three cows calved in May. We are going to

pay particular attention to the development of the

calf born on the first of May, given that we managed

to locate a more rustic bull from a breed more closely

related in characteristics to the original Friesian breed

and we hope his descendents will be better adapted

to our farm conditions.

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As many cows are calving bull claves and few she-calves we

have bought a second heifer from the organic dairy farm

Bizkaigane (Errigoiti, Bizkaia).

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The day after we brought her to the farm she calved, giving us a

lovely heifer-calf.

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The quality of our milk

Parameter

Optimum result

Farm result

 

 

 

Fat content

>3,70

3,71

Protein

>3,10

3,30

Bacteriology

<100.000

16.000

Somatic cell count

c.150.000

206.000

Presence  / absence antibiotics

Absence

Absence


 
Schools


Special corner for schools: visit our special corner for schools for special information about our farm and the farm dairy. There are resource materials for teachers. In this corner you can find out how to arrange a class outing to our farm.



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