Going on Holiday?

Are we hell!  Actually we are getting ready to go to the BAS Nationals next weekend.  Since I am on the organising committee, I am off down to Telford on Thursday and Mike is following on with the alpacas on Friday morning.  The suitcase – Tesco’s best! – is packed full of show equipment, from microchip scanners to show coats to promotional material.  And of course, a National Show has to have a Gala Dinner – hence the high heels!  Have you got yours packed????!!!

Of course, our sales list has to be confirmed. but we were out this afternoon taking photos of the likely suspects.  Hermione definitely fancies herself as a bit of a star – and why not when you have produced Fallowfield Hester, who is a fabulous alpaca.

Supper this evening was Bill Granger’s Vietnamese Chicken Salad – really, really good!  I’d like to give you a little tip –  if you want to get as much juice out of limes and lemons as you can, roll them over your chopping board, pressing down hard, before you cut them in half and squeeze out the juice.  You would be amazed the difference it makes – particularly with limes.

A Fresh Start

Ok so I’ve had a tough few weeks, but life goes on and so I am starting off afresh with my blog and will be wittering on about all the things that fill my life here at Fallowfield – animals, gardening cooking, sewing and of course my family.

We've had such lovely spring-like days here recently that your spirits are easily raised just by walking round the garden and in amongst the alpacas.  Sadly we have had quite a lot of tree damage during the winter storms but this particularly fine specimen remains untouched.  I can't quite remember what species it is - something my mother gave me years ago.

Alpacas are all doing fine .  Admittedly we've only just weaned these crias.  Thought we should err on the side of caution this year as the grass has been so poor and some of the them didn’t seem to be putting on the weight they should have.  I just hope Livia and Ignatius are this relaxed when they are in the show ring at the Nationals in 10 days time!!  At least they are looking somewhat drier these days.

 If like me you enjoy eating and cooking good food, you will probably really enjoy Georgina Fuggle’s great blog which I have just discovered.   www.fuggleantics.blogspot.co.uk.  Great ideas and some super photos.  Talking of food, time for me to go and check what’s in my fridge and get creative, as I’m beginning to feel peckish!

What is that???!!!

I do feel like asking for answers on a postcard but since this is supposedly the digital age, I’ve thought better of it.

Given that most of you already realise that I am ever so slightly keen on cooking – hate the word “foodie” with a passion! – it will come as no surprise to learn that this is something that is delicious to eat and not one of those slightly dubious substances to be found in the dusty cupboards of science labs in the 1960’s and 70’s.  The very thought brings to mind my school chemistry lessons with Mother Gertrude.  Despite dear old Gertie’s best efforts I never could get to grips with chemistry.  Maybe she should have just told me that it was cookery by another name and I would have been fine!

Anyway for those of you who haven’t guessed, this is a jar of griddled aubergines in olive oil.   I’m just salivating at the thought of eating them with some home-baked ham or cured meats.  Ok I do realise that you can go and buy a jar of this in any supermarket – yes even in the north of England! – but believe you me it won’t taste the same.

So if you fancy having a go at making some then just buy a couple of aubergines and slice thinly and sprinkle with salt to draw out the liquid.  Leave for about half an hour, then rinse and pat dry.  Brush with olive oil and fry in a very hot griddle pan on both sides until coloured and well cooked. Meanwhile gently heat some olive oil and thyme leaves in a pan and add aubergine slices and a dash of white wine vinegar and bring to the boil.  Then leave to cool and decant into a sterilised Kilner jar, making sure that the aubergine slices are completely covered with the oil.  Store in the fridge and use within a month of opening.  How easy is that!

Bored or boring?

Bored or Boring?

Maybe it’s something to do with my age, but I was brought up to believe that only boring people could be bored. 

At the risk of deceased family members rolling in their graves, I must admit to being seriously bored right now.  So what you might ask is the problem?  The answer in one word is MUD!

Ok – if you see the girls coming for their breakfast, things don’t look too bad

...until you take a closer look!

I admit that this part of Northumberland has been luckier than many areas of the UK, but regardless of this (boring?) fact, I am sick and tired of the brown, sticky, claggy stuff that is everywhere – in particular around the alpaca field shelters and the alpacas themselves.  For the uninitiated, the word “claggy” is a Northumbrian dialect term for “sticky” – never say that I don’t do my utmost to educate the masses!

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Got out of bed with a bit of a spring in my step this morning - mentally not physically I have to say as I'm recovering from some physio a couple of days ago.  Perhaps it's simpler just to say that I was keen to crack on with a few jobs this morning.  So where to start...?

Show Entries. Yup it's a pretty scary thought but it's only just over 9 weeks until the BAS Nationals at Telford.  I suddenly realised that apart from having to actually complete the registrations,
we had to select the show team and then halter train the juniors.   This is a photo of Ignatius with Mum Isadora getting the once over by Mike.  Are we taking him to Telford....?

Next decision to be made - how many pigs shall we get this year.  We have been really, really pleased with the pork from our pigs.  And even if the pork had been rubbish - which it definitely wasn't - the pigs were huge fun.  We have decided to go with Oxford and Sandy blacks again this year, but it is just a question of how many to get.  Curing the pork proved to be an absolute doddle.  We have finished all of our bacon - it was just too good! We've now started using our pancetta which is pretty nice too.It goes jolly well with stir fried cabbage.  Yum, yum!

I had also been dithering over whether to launch into an attack on the dusting and hoovering.  Not Spring cleaning you understand.  Well it wouldn't be would it as a. it's patently not Spring yet and b. I hate Spring cleaning!  But as the sun was shining which is a pretty rare thing these days, I just went out for a bit of fresh air instead.  Hopefully this sunshine will have generated quite a bit of electricity today via our PV panels.

Guess what - the cleaning has to wait for another day!

The Party's over!

Yup the party is definitely over and the post Christmas clean up has begun.  As we've had the odd blowy day round here, there is even more clearing up to do than usual. 

Melania is looking particularly sheepish - sorry should that be camelidish??!! - but I don't really think she can be blamed for this wrecked fence.

Mike is feeling pretty smug as he is definitely ahead of the game in the clean up stakes - at least compared to the inside of the house.  Just look at his tidy barn.

 

Believe you me this all looks a lot tidier than it did last week!



Good Health!

Isn't Hester gorgeous?  I love her to bits and I'm really thrilled that she is now so healthy after a difficult time post weaning earlier this year.

 

 

 

Although being ever so slightly competitive - yes I admit it!! - and really loving the thrill of doing well in the show ring, what I want more than anything is to have healthy, contented alpacas in our paddocks.

On Boxing Day, I was enjoying a quiet day when I got a telephone call from one of our clients who thought that their alpacas might have eaten some poisonous plants in the rhododendron family.  The alpacas had managed to get into the garden and had eaten some Pieris. Although they were only ringing for advice, I quickly jumped into the car and went over to their place to help.

It is a pretty awful thing seeing alpacas suffering from plant poisoning.  They froth at the mouth, writhe around on the ground in obvious pain, loudly vocalise in a pitiful way and when things get really bad are unable to stand.

Obviously you must call the vet asap.  But what can you do before the vet arrives?  The answer is tea, tea and more tea.  And I don’t mean Earl Grey or any of the fancy fruit teas (if that is what you can call them!!).  No what you want is a good old strong builders’ brew.  And I mean strong!  Get a large pan on the hob with lots of teabags in and keep it simmering away.  Take a large syringe and administer the cooled tea in the form of a liquid drench.  In my experience, there is no such thing as too much tea in this situation.

On arrival, the vet administered injections of saline solution, steroids and vitamins.  In an ideal world, the alpacas would have been put on a drip, but unfortunately the vet on call on this occasion had little experience of alpacas and was unable to get a line in.

Thankfully the alpacas survived, although I was not confident that this would have been the outcome.

It’s easy to say that this would never happen to your own alpacas but it possibly could.  Gates can be left open, fences blown down. 

So, I wish you and your alpacas, a HEALTHY, Happy and Prosperous New Year.

God Bless you all!