Newsletter w/c 12th March 2012

It’s been another busy week at Cobbinshaw. I eventually got around to organizing the materials and equipment to do another temporary pot-hole filling exercise on our farm road. With myself on shovel and a team of 8 to 13 yr olds on various other tasks, we managed to make our section of the road a bit more car-friendly. I’ve spent a few hundred pounds on springs and suspension problems over the Winter, so my poor wee van will be loving the drive out in the morning now. We finished off the job on Saturday morning and created a wee parking area with the left-overs, up at the house. After a quick tidy-up, it was back inside to help Lynda get the house ready for some friends who we’d invited to watch the rugby – another dire result for the beleaguered Scots – and then dinner.

Sunday morning was spent, nursing a slight hangover, on dry-stane dyking. A couple of sycamores which had seeded themselves 20 years ago had grown in girth to a point where they’d knocked down a dyke into the garden of the holiday let. Dyking is a job I really enjoy, but it does take a lot of time to do correctly. So, by lunchtime, Finn came into the garden to see how I was getting on and was a bit disappointed with my progress as he could only see one row of stones. What he didn’t know was that the field side of the dyke was a couple of feet lower then the garden side. It looked more impressive from my side. After lunch it was off to our friends, Anne and Charles for a bit of herbaceous splitting. Anne’s cut flower borders were badly in need of cutting back and splitting the plants. We, on the other hand have a big new garden with nothing in it and are always on the look-out for donations. So, in return for our labour, we could get as many off-cuts as we wanted. We spent 2 or 3 hours hacking into the big tussocks of herbaceous plant roots and re-planting and weeding the borders. Anne gave us dinner and then we ended up getting home after 9pm so the boys were straight to bed. I don’t think I’ve ever had a heavier weekend of work in my life. I think I was asleep before the boys were.

It’s Cup-Final weekend with Killie playing Celtic at Hampden park. We will have to be playing a bit better than we have in the past few weeks if we’re going to beat Celtic, but it’s great to be involved in another Final. Finn’s going to miss it, as he’s away on a school trip to Dalguise, but Keir and Lynda are coming to enjoy the day with me and we’re meeting my Mum and Dad and Brian and his family there. Hopefully we’ll be singing ‘Paper Roses’ at full-time.

This is a list of the vegetables included in the standard bags this week. Substitutions may occur.

Potato Solanum tuberosum. We’re onto our own new potatoes now. The variety is Valor. They are very easy to prepare when they’re as fresh as this and really only need a wash and a scrub. Potatoes are the only commonly available source of B3 and Iodine. Excellent source of Vitamin C and also Vitamin B6, Potassium and fibre.

Onion Allium cepa. Used in stews, pasta dishes, soups. Source of Vitamins A and C, Iron, Calcium and Potassium .

Carrot Daucus carota Carrots are eaten fresh in salads or cooked in just about any way you like. They are an excellent source of Vitamin A and also contain significant amounts of Vitamins B, C, D, E and K. and Potassium.

Pepper Capsicum sp. (1 head) Good source of vitamin C. Wash the pepper, then slice off the top. Scoop out the seeds and membranes. Can be eaten cooked or fresh in various dishes including pasta sauces, pizza, salads. Peppers can also be stuffed with various fillings.

Chard Chard is great nutritionally. It contains Vitamins A, C, B2 and B6, folic acid, iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, phytochemicals and protein. Most of you will get one giant leaf, but it will cook into curries and other dishes. To cook it, treat it much the same way as spinach for the leaf and like celery for the stem,although the flavour is quite different Immerse the chard in a large bowl of cold clean water, lift them out and repeat the process with fresh water, two or three times more. Chard has a high water content , so it is sufficient to cook it only with the water adhering to the leaves from the last rinsing. Sprinkle lightly with salt, cover with a lid and cook gently for 7 – 10 minutes until soft. Drain the chard thoroughly, squeezing out as much water as possible with a potato masher.

Parsnip Pastinaca sativa This sweet root vegetable was eaten by our ancestors in the way that potatoes are eaten today. Prepare the roots for cooking by cutting off the tops and the tapering root. Peel the parsnips thinly and cut lengthways into thick slices. Parsnips may be boiled in lightly salted water for 20-25 minutes, depending on the size or method of preparation, or they may be steamed in butter and a little white stock or white wine. Boiled parsnips can be serves tossed in butter and the cress, or Mornay sauce. They can also be roasted. Parboil them for 5 minutes and then roast for 30-40 minutes in the oven.

White Cabbage Brassica oleracea Capitata Group..(1 head) Excellent source of Vitamins B6 and C and also a source of potassium and fibre and phytochemicals. To cook, cut into quarters, cut out the hard core shred and wash under running cold water, then boil or steam for 7-10 minutes. This recipe is quite close to the traditional bubble and squeak:- Prepare the cabbage as above and put in a pan of lightly salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain thoroughly. Remove the rind and gristle from 6oz ( 175g) of bacon, chop crossways into narrow strips and put in a heavy based pan. Fry the bacon until crisp, and the fat begin to run then add a finely chopped onion and cook until soft. Add the drained cabbage, stirring continuously until well coated. Season to taste with salt, pepper and cook through.

Newsletter w/c 5th March 2012

The boys keep us very busy at weekends nowadays. We had friends over to stay on Friday night and ended up sitting up chatting til the early hours. So when the alarm went off at 7am, we felt we’d only just shut our eyes. Finn and Keir play pipes and drum respectively for a band that was having a fund-raising performance on Princess St in Edinburgh and we had to get them in to town by 10am. We made it with time to spare and the band played really well considering their fingers must have been almost numb with the cold wind. There is nothing like the sound of a pipe band. We went for a quick lunch then headed to the zoo for an hour before heading home. Sunday morning and we were up before 8am again as we were off the Melrose for a rugby tournament. Melrose are a great club and were perfect hosts. None of the Biggar teams managed to get through to the final stages but everyone seems to have had a good time which is the main thing for the youngsters. We stopped off in Peebles on the way back, after a wander around Melrose, and watched the Ireland France match while having a bite to eat in the County Inn. Then it was home to prepare for work for this week. I’m worn out.

On the farm I’m managing to get a lot of small jobs out of the way, however, the big jobs seem to get sidelined and put back. I’m determined to get the pot-holed road sorted out this week and I still have seeds to sow and a poly-tunnel to cover, gates to hang and a collapsed dry-stane dyke to re-build. To cap it all, the grass has started growing and is going to need maintenance soon too. There just aren’t enough hours in the day!

This is a list of the vegetables included in the standard bags this week. Substitutions may occur.

Potato Solanum tuberosum. We’re onto our own new potatoes now. The variety is Valor. They are very easy to prepare when they’re as fresh as this and really only need a wash and a scrub. Potatoes are the only commonly available source of B3 and Iodine. Excellent source of Vitamin C and also Vitamin B6, Potassium and fibre.

Onion Allium cepa. Used in stews, pasta dishes, soups. Source of Vitamins A and C, Iron, Calcium and Potassium .

Carrot Daucus carota Carrots are eaten fresh in salads or cooked in just about any way you like. They are an excellent source of Vitamin A and also contain significant amounts of Vitamins B, C, D, E and K. and Potassium.

Kale Brassica oleracea Acephala Group.. Some of the kale is still on its stalk so remove it before preparing. Kale is an excellent source of Vitamins A and C and also a source of potassium, copper, calcium, fibre and phytochemicals. To cook, strip the leaves off of the tough midrib, then shred and wash in cold, running water. Then steam for 10 minutes and serve with melted butter and season with pepper or ground cloves. You can make Colcannon by draining the kale after boiling then setting it aside. Take a finely chopped onion and put it in a pan with 150ml of milk. Bring it to the boil then remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Blend about 375g of mashed potatoes with the finely chopped kale, then heat through gently, adding as much of the milk and onion mixture as it will absorb to give the consistency of creamed potatoes. Put in a serving dish, make a depression in the centre and pour in some melted butter.

Broccoli Brassica oleracea Italica Group (1 head) Excellent source of Vitamin C, folic acid and phytochemicals and good for Vitamn.B6. Also contains Vitamins A, B2, B6 and phosphorus, fibre, calcium and iron. It is best eaten raw or quickly blanched in boiling , lightly salted water. Broccoli is also good in stir-fries as it has a lovely crunch to it if you don’t cook it for too long.

Leek Allium porrum Excellent source of Vitamin C. Particularly used to give soups a lovely creamy texture. As leeks grow they tend to lock soil into their leaf axils, so be sure to rinse them well after slicing them up. A nice idea for cooking leeks is to sweat finely sliced leeks in butter for 5 minutes, pour in a glass of red wine and simmer until reduced. Season and serve as an accompaniment to grilled fish or roast meat.

Beetroot Beta vulgaris Contains Vitamin C folic acid and potassium. Can be cooked in various ways, but don’t peel the beet until you’ve boiled it as this stops it ‘bleeding’. My recipe for you this week completely disregards this, so have a pair of rubber gloves and newspaper handy. I’m going to tell you how to make Super Boost Juice – Put on the rubber gloves, spread out a newspaper and peel your beetroot and cut it into chunks. Take 4 apples and quarter and core them. Take 4 carrots and trim and peel them. Take 1cm/1 inch of fresh ginger and peel it. This is easily done by scraping the skin off with the side of a teaspoon. Process all the ingredients through a juicer. Stir and serve immediately, adding ice if desired.