Work on the farm carries on at its usual rhythm, with milking,

cleaning barns and muck and slurry spreading.

In October we also inspected the cows’ hooves, something done re-

gularly to make sure there are no wounds, stones or splinters that

could eventually cause limping.

After months of cows calving very few heifer calves and mainly bull

calves which we sell on, we now have a nice healthy number of heifer

calves to eventually replace older cows in the dairy herd. In October

yet another heifer calf was born .

We are still collecting vegetables in the allotment, at this time of

year particularly cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, leeks and the last

tomatoes and peppers.

Flower of the month. Lemon verbena (Aloysia citrodora)

Lemon verbena is native to South America and was brought to Europe

by the Spanish and Portuguese. It has many medicinal uses in South

America but is mainly planted as an ornamental in Europe or used in

cooking.  Its leaves are rich in an essential oil which contains citral which

gives it its distinctive smell and flavor.

Recipe of the month: Cannelloni with vegetables and ham

20 cannelloni

200g spinach

1 small onion or shallot

2 carrots

2 cloves of garlic

400 tomato sauce

10 slices of ham

100 g mature cheese, grated

400 ml whole milk

40g plain flour

Olive oil

Parsley

Nutmeg

Salt

Peel the garlic and onion, wash the carrots and finely. Gently poach in a

little olive oil. Add salt. Shred spinach and add to the other vegetables,

poaching gently. Add the flour and then slowly add the milk stirring con-

tinually. Add nutmeg and salt to taste. Let the bechamel cook for 7 minutes,

stirring continually.

Heat water in a large saucepan. Add salt and when it starts to boil add the

cannellones, cooking the time stated on the packet. Drain and place on a

clean tea towel. Then move to a clear work surface. Put half a slice of ham

on each cannelloni and then add béchamel to each. Roll up the cannelloni

and place on a baking tray.

Cover the cannelloni with tomato sauce and then grated cheese. Place in

the oven at 275ºC and heat until the cheese melts and turns brown. Just

before serving garnish with parsley

In October the weather was unusually sunny. Cloudless weather lead to

high midday temperatures, even over 20ºC and low dawn temperatures

of 6ºC, but also meant there were heavy dew falls that compensated the

unusually low amount of rain… we only collected 49 litres in the rain gauge.

As in September the cows were given grass silage, alfalfa, a little

feedstuff and were also able to graze a little.

When clearing a patch of  brambles, long grass and old sticks we found

this red stinkhorn (Clathus ruber), also known as the basket stinkhorn

or latticed stinkhorn. The inside surfaces of the stinkhorn are covered

in a mucus membrane which has a fetid smell that attracts flies and other

insects that help it spread its spores.

We do not only see the larger examples of the wildlife with which we

share our farmland. Whilst clearing the same spot in which we saw

the stinkhorn we also found this tiny, very well camouflaged toad,

This rather larger toad lives in a bit of old piping and we only see it

at dawn.

We spotted this slowworm (Anguis fragilis) at the start of the month

taking advantage of the last hot days.

Lastly, this very colourful beetle crossed one of the farm tracks.

Regarding COVID, the work team is now fully vaccinated, no one having

opted out of the jab. All our health measures are still in places… the use

of masks, gels and distancing. There has been a sudden rise in the number

of people wishing to visit the farm and dairy but we continue to turn requests

down considering that the situation is not yet stable or safe enough, parti-

cularly to let people visit the dairy.