bread for Farmhouse Breakfast Week

This is last year's wheat crop, which was green last January, almost ready to harvest in July, combined in August and then stored in the barn. 

Most of the wheat was sent to a central co-operative store where it is sold on for food production. We use some of the wheat as seed for the next crop that is now growing in the fields and I take a very small amount to use throughout the year.

So that we can have toast and marmalade for breakfast during Farmhouse Breakfast Week, I've been using wheat from last year's  harvest to make some bread.

First the wheat is put into the grain mill, which grinds it into flour and then the dough is made, left to prove and shaped into loaves.

The loaves are then baked in the oven and we'll eat the fresh bread with rabbit rillettes and then toast the rest for breakfast.
There are more ideas for farmhouse breakfast week at Life In Mud Spattered Boots.

Planting raspberries

pick your own hut summer 1994

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the 1980s and 1990s we grew soft fruit for Pick Your Own customers but when the Great Leighs by-pass was built through the middle of the fruit field we had to close. The fruit in the remaining part of the field was pulled out and replaced with grass paddocks for horses and we also planted a new area of Christmas trees for cutting and selling at Christmas time.

soaking the raspberry canes

 

planting the raspberry canes

But now we have an exciting new venture about to start at Slamseys. Part of the pig paddock has been sectioned off for fruit growing and this week the raspberry canes were planted. They don't look very much at the moment but watch this space ...

Farmhouse Breakfast Week

It's Farmhouse Breakfast Week. There's lots of information about it on the HGCA Shake Up Your Wake Up  website with breakfast ideas, nutritional advice and challenges. While you're shopping for breakfast, remember to look out for the Red Tractor logo because all Red Tractor labelled products can be traced back to the farms, which are committed to assuring food to high standards of food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection and the Union flag tells you that the product has been farmed and packed in the UK. During Farmhouse Breakfast Week, we're trying to have a different breakfast each day instead of the same old boring thing every day.

Arthur & Albert move house

Arthur and Albert, the Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs have now moved to their winter quarters. Over the last few weeks their field became muddier and muddier as they rooted around and when my feet stuck in the mud last week I knew it was time for action. So, we trotted them across into the pig pen where they have a warm, dry straw bed and can watch the comings and goings in the yard.