Once again, the local Food Bank had a special end of the year drive for

donations, which are currently of particular importance due to the

harsher economic conditions caused by COVID. The Food Bank collected

milk from our dairy on 14^th December.

Recipe of the month: Date, cheese and bacon wraps

500 g bacon rashers, each cut in half

500 g pitted dates

100 g cheese… blue preferably but any cheese can be used.

Preheat oven to 190 ºC. Slice dates in half, and open them up. Pinch off

pieces of blue cheese or add bits of grated cheese, and place them into

the center of the dates. Close the dates and wrap a half-slice of bacon

around the outside. Secure each one with a toothpick. Arrange in a baking

dish or on a baking sheet with sides to catch any grease. Bake for 30 to 40

minutes in the preheated oven or until the bacon is crisp. Turn dates over

after the first 20 minutes for even cooking.

Flower of the month. Spotted dead nettle (Lamium maculatum)

There are severalspecies of Lamium that are native to Europe and

parts of Asia and that are quite similar. We think this particular one

is spotted dead-nettle. It is of little forage value but provides a nice

splash of colour in December.

It continued to rain during the first 11 days of December and we collected

a further 361 litres in the rain gauge. We also had hail and snow up in the

hills and our first frosts.

We then had a spell of drier, sunny and cloudy weather with southerly

winds and unusually high midday temperatures, upto 19,1ºC in fact.

The month ended with more rain which meant the monthly total was

371 litres. In fact, the total precipitation of just November and December

equalled 48% of the yearly total of 1779. This total in itself is unusually

high, thr usual anual rainfall for the farm being between 1100 and 1300

litres.

Just after dawn on the 13^th we spotted this funnel cloud. It dissipated

without touching the ground.

The milkers were once again given grass silage, alfalfa and a little

feedstuff but did not graze outside, whilst the heifers and dry cows

were able to graze during the drier part of the month.

For the festive season (and because it can be quite cold) each member

of the Vista Alegre Baserria work team now has a special woolly hat,

made with wool from the endangered local Karrantza “Mutur Beltz” or

“black face” sheep by a local couple who are trying to keep the breed going.