Harvest Respite

With all these showers we are having (although it's still warm and the sun shines in between) the combine is having to rest for a few days.  We are 2/3 of the way through - just the wheat to finish and the spring barley still to do. 

The other evening there was an amazing rainbow over the house:

 And I could see where the pot of gold must be!

 Anyway, even with the combine on hold, there's always something to get on with and while George is out discing to prepare the fields for sowing, Jonathan has been reinforcing the fencing.

 

He had to do this because this morning they brought over a cow and calf - they can't go in with the others because the older calves kept pinching her milk which would mean her little one wouldn't get enough

Meanwhile I've been getting on with the gardening.  The greenhouse is fine, lots of toms

 and cucumbers on their way.

And I think everyone's getting loads of courgettes this year

I fried some of the flowers in Tempura batter the other day - as recommended by Alice who comes to the Medallion class - she'd had them in Italy.  I put a little Mozarella ball in each one too and they were delicious - I used the River Cottage recipe.

Bit of a disappointment on the bean front - when I looked at them this morning I wondered why one looked dead and thought it must have been knocked by the wind

But no - something had munched through the bottom of the stem

 

 

Still, we got some good potatoes

 

and there are going to be loads of raspberries.

Unfortunately I won't be changing my dried flowers in the kitchen this year.  Because of the wedding all the seedlings, and my sweet peas, went out too late, so my cut flower garden is a complete and utter disaster!

What a wasteland!!