Without wanting to fixate on the weather…we still have snow.
While we can now leave the farm, the main road that reaches the drive is still under three feet of snow. Yes, we’ve had some milder weather but that snow is really clinging on in there.
Life is relatively back to normal on the farm, the cows are enjoying a deep layer of straw which we spread out once the main load of snow in the shed had melted – and the drive is clear (when the postman finally returned we had a healthy pile of post).
When the snow started to melt, after almost a week of living in a white landscape, it really made me look differently at the landscape on and around the farm.
The greens were greener and the browns much browner. The sky, when blue, was almost dazzling. For days we’d been subjected to a white out, where the colour of the sky and land was only broken by the trees on the horizon.
As well as the countryside coming back to life, we witnessed new-borns on our neighbouring farm. Kids and lambs were being born at quite a rate as the sheep and goats gave birth in harsher conditions than normal.
The melting landscape also highlighted the produce we still had growing in the vegetable garden. The very fact that beetroot, leeks and celery had survived under the snow for days meant they re-gained my attention and I’ve turned to making what I can from them.
It began with leek and cannellini bean soup – it was so green it automatically made me feel more healthy with every spoonful – and moved to roast beetroot soup, which left it’s mark across the kitchen surfaces and my hands (as well as the walls).
A lot of baking happened last week too, when you’re snowed in, nothing quite beats homemade treats.
A few weeks ago I started sowing veg seeds for this year’s crop and already have tomatoes, broad beans and herbs on the go – as well as a range of flowers.
The rhubarb, which has been under cloches all winter, has been treated to an extra wad of straw this week and is coming on a treat. It won’t be long until we can have sumptuous puddings, tart desserts and rhubarb-flavoured gin…
