farming and conservation

I haven’t done the sourdough experience. It looks a bit chancey for my limited baking skills.
A neighbour gave me a portion of friendship cake dough which had to be fed daily with flour. It survived, just. The cake was delicious.

 

A new rodent proof barn has made growing wheat for milling possible for the first time. Before now they couldn't keep the grain free from contamination so it all went for animal feed.
Now it can be stored at the standards required for human consumption.
It does mean it will have to be threshed after the harvest and not kept until the quieter and cooler winter months like we do with the thatching straw.

 

That's why the yields are lower for the old varieties. The wheat plant puts more energy into the longer stalks instead of producing more grain like the modern hybrids.

 

I haven't made sourdough either.
All the sourdough bakers were looking smug during the first lockdown though when dried yeast was hard to find in the shops.
I experimented with soda bread when bread flour was scarce because it doesn't need high gluten flour so I could use Paul's wheat but the price of buttermilk made it too expensive even with free flour. It was very easy and quick to make though.

 

Haven’t tried soda bread either. Could you just acidulate ordinary milk?

 

Is it like a metal silo?

 

Yes, vinegar or lemon juice can be used to sour the milk and activate the baking soda.
I was paying top price for unpasteurised buttermilk from a local farm because I could get it from their vending machine without coming into contact with any germ ridden people.
I expect it's half the price in the local supermarket. I paid two pounds a pint for it which made one large loaf.

 

No it's a metal barn with a concrete floor and rat proof walls.
Previously the wheat was kept in trailers in open barns so the rats had no trouble getting under the tarpaulin and ******** all over it.
Paul doesn't produce enough to be worth the cost of a silo. He has to keep all the different varieties separate too.
It'll still be kept in trailers or one ton bags but it will be in a secure barn now.

 

Farm cats falling down on the job?

 

We're a bit short of cats around here at the moment.

 

You need another red haired warrior.

 

I have been putting the word out that I want a kitten.
Boudica will be hard to replace though.

 

Not replace. Alternative.

 

I'm dog sitting at the moment.
A friendly lurcher (greyhound cross).
He's taking me for a lot of walks around the farm.

 

They can put in many miles!

 

He's ready to take me for another walk now.

 

I pulled the first watermelon and it is in the fridge. Will cut for test later. I usually pull a Mellon early ...just can't wait.

 

So, the threshing season is upon us.
None at the farm with our new drum yet but last Sunday was Brampton Plough Day.

No noisy old vintage tractor for us. Steam power was laid on.

A little steam ploughing after the threshing was finished.

Farmer Paul was a bit wary of this engine, last time it powered the threshing drum it ran too fast and broke a spring. Normally you put a smaller belt wheel on the drum for steam but this engine runs so fast we leave the larger tractor wheel on it to slow it down.
A few nice old vintage cars and trucks came out to play.
I particularly liked this WWII Humber truck.


A nice day out but bloody hot as you can see by the overexposed photos. I'm glad we were only doing one small cart for the demonstration. Less than a ton so we didn't have to work too hard...
...unlike a couple of days ago when Paul and I went along to help the thatcher Graham thresh his 4 acres worth of wheat.
Long straw wheat is so hard to get a hold of a lot of thatchers have to grow their own.
Steam power again, a Youngs ''portable engine'' from 1910 built in nearby Diss. The last of its kind still working. Fuelled with wood so a bit nicer smelling than the usual coal.

Portables don't move under their own power so they have to be manoeuvred into position with a tractor.
Very harsh light again so apologies for the photographic quality.


This was serious work, not just some jolly at the local plough day.
Three large carts with about 3 or 4 tons of straw and about the same amount of grain.
Graham treated us well though and there was a barrel of cold water full of an assortment of beers and ciders to go with our lunch of jacket potatoes cooked on the steam engine's fire box.
Ended up being a 10 hr day and I had aching muscles by the end of it.

 

I love old farm equipment.

 

Just picked up a cute little pest control officer today.
On the way back from visiting Sutton Hoo.
Ginger tom about 9 weeks old.
I think I'm going to name him after the Anglo-Saxon King who's burial mound at Sutton Hoo produced all the beautiful grave goods.
King Rædwald or Red' for short.

 

If you've got a good mouser, they can be a side supply for your local turtles... we used to do that when our super-mouser was bringing them home around a half-dozen a day from the neighbor's fields. We threw the little bodies in a Ziploc type bag, and once a week we gave them over to an organization that rescued snapping turtles.

It was a bit disturbing for friends when they went to get ice cubes in the freezer to say the least.

 

Unfortunately we don't have snapping turtles in Suffolk.
In fact there are no native turtles, terrapins or tortoises in the UK.

Any rodents Rædwald doesn't eat will be polished off by the crows.

 

Lovely!

 

Sounds like a very enjoyable day despite being hard yakka.(Australian for strenuous work)
All those lovely machines!