Best in Show

Last week our dog Lily won Best in Show at a local pet show.  Yesterday she also won a Third Prize for Novelty Class, Child Handler.  Springy was her handler and it always amazes me how good Springy is with animals.  I hope that this will somehow be a passion that she takes into her adulthood.  I'm hopeful in many ways that her future career will involve animals and psychology, perhaps as a trainer for the police or for dog charities.  We were informed yesterday by some dog obedience teachers that Springy is a natural and that was a really good reinforcement.  University is a long way off but I'm hoping that animal sciences - zoology or biological sciences will be subjects that she wishes to study.  At the same time, I'm trying to be careful not to live my own dreams through her.

Springy's cursive writing has improved considerably this summer.  I sent her for a couple of tutorials with a tutor who is a school teacher.  However, it was Springy telling me, "Mummy, do you know why my writing improved? ... because I decided!"

We had a lovely day today.  It was sunny and warm. We went to an outdoor place for a walk and took two of Springy's friends along.  They were telling scary stories to each other (Halloween seems to be early!).  We found walnuts, beech mast and hazelnuts on our walk.   There were some adorable pigs in the woods - a mummy and 5 piglets.  She was a Tamworth - so they were all a beautiful bronze colour.  I always imagine that the reason there are legends of golden pigs is because in the sun, their bristles glint away.  I am so glad to be vegetarian:  they were skipping and running about and when we threw some beech mast in for them they ran away to their mother.  They were adorable babies and to think of them as sausages makes me so sad.

Michaelmas Story

The Story of the Harvest Loaf.

Once there was a fair and beautiful land. The people were happy and busy and their faces shone as they worked and the whole land glowed with a bright light. But a time came when darkness fell upon the land, for through its valleys writhed a mighty dragon, foaming and lashing its tail. It was not long before he laid everything to waste and disappeared to his cave, leaving the country barren and frozen hard with ice. All the people were frozen too. Now the Archangel Michael looked down from the heavens to this sad and frozen land, and his heart was full of compassion for its people. He stretched forth his right hand, plucked a handful of stars from the heavens and flung them down to the earth. With his left hand he gathered sungold from the sky and sent that, too, on a journey to the earth. When the stars reached the earth they became lumps of iron, and entered deep into the earth. When the sungold reached the earth the ice was melted and men once more felt the blood warming their limbs. Then the people began to work. The farmers ploughed the lands and sowed seeds. The iron in the earth gave strength to the crop as it grew, and soon the grain was ripening on tall, straight stems. When autumn came Archangel Michael spoke to the farmers. “Harvest the good grain, grind it into flour. Mix a dough and knead it well. Bake it in the oven. Place it in the middle of your table and share it with family and friends. For this will be the harvest loaf: each slice that is cut in friendship will warm your hearts and each slice that is eaten will give strength and power to overcome the dragon” This the farmers did, and when the Harvest Loaf was placed on the table, they sang this song:

“Earth who gives to us this food
Sun and stars who made it good
Dearest Earth and Stars and Sun
We will remember what you have done”

(adapted from a Waldorf story - unknown author)

Chocolate and Beetroot Cake

2 cups SR flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 cup cocoa 2 tsp grated orange rind 1/4 cup orange juice 2 eggs 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 cup cooked grated beetroot 200g chocolate chips

Scrub clean and steam the beetroot. Leave to cool and then grate both skin as well as flesh. Mix SR flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa and set aside (dry mix). Beat  eggs and sugar together until fluffy. Add the oil, orange peel, juice and beetroot. Beat well. Stir in the dry ingredients, just enough to blend.  Gently stir in the chocolate chips. Turn into a prepared cake tin and bake at 180 degrees C for 40-45 minutes until done. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out to cool. Dust with icing sugar or ice with chocolate icing. Butternut Bake 1 medium size butternut squash 250ml single cream grated cheese (cheddar works well) yoghurt (optional) sprinkle of nutmeg Peel, seed and chop butternut rings into quarters (keep seeds aside to roast in salt and olive oil) Place squash in an ovenproof dish. Pour over the cream or  a 50/50 mix of cream and yoghurt. Sprinkle with nutmeg and cover with grated cheese. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 45 min or until butternut is cooked through and cheese has melted. Fruit Cake Ingredients 250g chopped dates 300ml water 85g plain flour 85g wholemeal flour 3tsp baking powder 1tsp ground mixed spice 50g ground almonds 500g dried mixed fruit 80ml orange juice Method 1. Boil up dates with water and then cool. 2. Sieve dry ingredients together - the flours, baking powder and mixed spice. 3. Add almonds, dried fruit, date mixture and juice. 4. Mix well. 5. Pour into greased baking tin and bake for 45 mins at 170 deg C. Christmas Ring Ingredients 50g butter 2Tbsp olive oil 1 large red onion, chopped 1 large leek, trimmed and finely chopped 4 cloves garlic, crushed 500g cooked, peeled chestnuts 225g fresh cranberries 140g millet flakes or bread crumbs 15g fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped 2Tbsp fresh thyme 2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary 3 medium eggs, beaten 550g Bramley apples, peeled, cored and grated (300g grated weight) 100g soft goats cheese (optional) Method 1. Line a 2-pint ring mould with baking parchment and brush with oil. Preheat oven. 2. Heat half the butter and 1Tbsp oil in a large frying pan; gently fry the onion; leeks and garlic until softened. Place the chestnuts in a food processor until most is finely chopped, but a few large pieces remain. 3. Transfer onion mixture to a mixing bowl. Return the pan to the heat and melt remaining butter and oil. Add the chestnuts and cook for 5 min until lightly browned. 4. Tip the chestnuts into the mixing bowl and stir in almost all the cranberries (saving some for decoration); the bread crumbs, parsley, thyme, rosemary, eggs, grated apple and plenty of seasoning. Mix well. Spoon half the mixture into the prepared mould, pressing it down with the back of a spoon. Dot with pieces of cheese, then cover with remaining mixture. 5. Bake for 40-45 min until lightly browned. Allow cooling in tin for 5 min. Loosen edges with a round bladed knife and turning out onto an oiled baking sheet. Discard baking parchment. 6. The ring can be refrigerated for up to 36 hours before its final baking. 7. On the day, preheat oven to 200°C. Bake for 40-45min. Remove from oven and slide onto a serving plate.

Fun Pet Show today

From downstairs comes the sound of the hairdryer. Two bold adventurers have sought to bathe the beast and take her to a pet show this afternoon.  Martha our guineapig won First Prize for the guineapig category (out of 4 piggies so not really a proper competition). Lily won first prize for dogs (albeit there were only 2 dogs there) and Lily with Springy won Best in Show for the array of tricks such as sit, down, wash face, bless you (Lily sneezes), stand and beg. There were loads of very cute animals there including some very sweet hamsters and an adorable baby rabbit.

 Lily spent most of the time being very disinterested apart from when someone came to pat her, at which point she did her tummy thing. She didn't notice the cats which is just as well as she's scared of them.

 9th September 2011 - Tawny owl outside window - one of the best sounds of early autumn. :)

 

Frost Giants

This morning Springy was working on spellings (with pre-fixes and suffixes) and also she had a story by Reg Down on the lifecycle of salmon. Lots of play inbetween and then this afternoon we had a restful story time with Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman. In all a satisfying day but the weather has most certainly changed. There is a definite feel of autumn about. The tractors have started ploughing up the fields; their chugging down the roads is comforting and yet a reminder that the evenings are drawing in and that the freedom of summer light is fast disappearing. The leaves on the cherry tree out the front look drooped and are about halfway to being fully tinged. The Michaelmas daisies are opening and in the sky there are grey to lavender clouds and a line of red to the west. It's apple season and the swallows were not about today. The sun has definitely passed from the brightness of Leo into the hands of the maiden.

http://www.tiptoes-lightly.net/storage/stories/the-salmon%27s-tale.pdf

23rd August 2011:  

Young Embroider's Guild was great. They did wet felting and then used pre-felts to sew on to the main piece. Springy did a sheep scene. Some of the ideas were so creative - the 2 pieces turned into handbags, the vase of flowers, flowers, poppy field, the autumn pears, the fish...

 18th August 2011:  

Springy just conducted an experiment. She cut a plastic drinks bottle up (with Daddy's help) and placed chicken grit in the funnel (which was the top half of bottle). Her hypothesis was that if she placed dirty, muddy water in the filter, the grit would either help filter the water or not filter the water

I love it when she comes up with spontaneous things. I did have to ask her not to drink it though (ick).

 

August 2011 so far...

Today we went blackberry picking, got some local apples and plums and then had a birthday lunch. Washing is out, hens are out, piggies are out and the 2 'baby piggy' hamsters are fast asleep and so is C.

The baby piggy hamsters are in fact just hamsters.  We're hamster sitting at the moment.

This morning I woke up to breakfast in bed (our little hen eggs scrambled and toast) and a hanging basket of flowers outside. C also got me a Motorhead t-shirt for my birthday. You're never too old to rock n' roll.

On Wednesday we went to our local outdoor museum. Springy and her friend had a great time doing skip rope jumps, playing jacks and talking through tin can telephones.  They also had a great time with soapwort and a bucket of water. I'm hoping to grow some. I also found out that the ground elder that I haven't poisoned (my garden is organic) is edible. I just thought it was animal fodder but the Romans used to have it as salad. If only a Roman legion would march through I could get them to eat it all.

Today we returned our Viking hoard to the museum.

I've been reading up a bit on some of the 'Viking' tax systems, especially under the Christian transfer, which resulted in some raids occurring on other villages/places. Basically you were told your tax bill by some official ruling author...ities which you couldn't pay, you then, in order to save your own village, had to go off and raid somewhere else to get the payment and you needed extra to build a church too. It had nothing to do with Christianity but some bright sparks realised that it was a very effective way of lining their own coffers.