Breakfast at Fallowfield

Woke up to a covering of snow this morning but it was such a beautiful sunny day that it made you feel good to be alive and living in such a beautiful part of the country.  I think all of our animals felt the same way.

We have still got the main herd of alpacas "in bye" - close to the house for those of you who are not familiar with the Northumbrian dialect!

 

 

The girls got very excited when Mike took them their breakfast – you always know which ones are going to be the first to push their heads into the bucket.

 

Even Tiger Puss, our farm cat (who really wants to be a house cat!) was enjoying the sun.

 

My Norfolk Terrier, Scrumpy, is in season and was determined to be a little tart with Sammy, Mike’s gorgeous cocker spaniel.

 

 Made some good soup and bread for lunch today - Wholemeal spelt bread and curried parsnip and celeriac soup.  I cannot understand why French people only feed parsnips to their animals as I think they are delicious.  The soup recipe was adapted from a Waitrose recipe.  Basically I diced onion, carrot, celery, parsnips and celeriac and sweated these off in some olive oil before adding 3 teaspoons of medium curry powder and covered with vegetable stock.  I then added some finely chopped ruby chard and some crème fraiche.  I know I’m supposed to be on a diet but I really couldn’t resist the crème fraiche!  Homemade soup like this ticks all the boxes for us in the winter – delicious, healthy and cheap.  A no-brainer really.

I would love to get more soup recipes – please send them in!

The only less cheerful thing that happened at Fallowfield today is that one of our yearling alpacas, Phyllida, has developed an abcess on her jaw.  She is the sweetest girl, so gentle and with a beautiful fleece.  However, we have successfully treated these jaw abcesses before so we are determined to keep a  positive outlook.