The chairman of the Berkshire Pig Breeders Club, Viki Mills, phoned me today to see if I’d “volunteer” myself for a new role.
The club would like me to be its Scottish representative, acting as a point of contact for all enquiries about the breed in Scotland, working to publicise the breed, and generally promoting the club.
It shouldn’t be too onerous as I already do those things to some extent anyway but I appreciate the club recognising my habit of telling everyone who’ll listen just how good the Berkshire pig is.
Besides, I’ve argued for a while that the BPBR—and the British Pig Association—should be a little less England-centric so I’ve been hoist with my own petard.
We’ve had a small flock of ewes and their lambs staying with us for the past month to help our neighbour who had more sheep than his land could take this year.
The sheep were supposed to have been shorn a few weeks ago, but the constant wet weather meant the fleeces were constantly wet. Until today.
The sun came out early this morning, so our neighbour was on the phone to the shearer and to us to get things moving. read more…
Daphne, a Berkshire gilt, is due to farrow for the first time towards the end of the week. We brought her down to the byre yesterday to get her settled in but, unlike the older sows, she’s not finding it all easy to walk. The sows may become ponderous as farrowing approaches but they’ve managed to work out the best way of getting around with a huge belly. Daphne, on the other hand, totters, staggers, bumps and thumps her way around. read more…
We don’t always eat traditional English and Scottish foods, despite what my blog posts appear to indicate.
No, sometimes we indulge ourselves with dishes from further afield.
Tonight, I looked to India for inspiration, coming up with fish curry for the Other Half and chicken and red lentil curry for the boys and I. read more…
