Well I hope summer is treating you all well, its treating us very well.

We are enjoying the fruits of our labour from the garden, we have had a huge array of strawberries, raspberries, red and black currants and gooseberries which we are making little Jars of pleasure with.

I think the best creation this year has to be Summer Berry Jam, made with strawberries, raspberries, red and black currants. We stirred it gently so as to keep the red currants whole, when one of those pops in your mouth it gives a lovely sharp tang! It seems to be popular we have made 50 jars and only have three left.

We have had a wonderful day selling the preserves at the Southminster and Bradwell shows, we have met some lovely people and we hope you have all enjoyed our preserves. The mustard is going well. Tomorrow we are adding Garlic Mustard, Peppered Mustard and Country Mustard to our four fantastic sellers we already have, Horse Radish Mustard, Hot Tomato Mustard, Chilli and Garlic Mustard  and Apple and Mint Mustard.

The animals are all enjoying the summer and being out in the sun. Tilly the cow looks like she is having triplets from all the grass she is eating!

Last weekend we butchered two pigs. We have acquired a couple of new customers and we hope they are all enjoying their pork.

We welcomed a group of House Martins to Furzedown last weekend,  it was a wet day and when Gareth and I were finishing the animals they were flying back and forth between the stables and cow barn, not quite as fast as bats but still very difficult to try and snap a shot! Whilst scanning the internet to find what the collective word for a group of House Martins is and failing I did notice Shakespeare referred to them as a guest of summer. You learn something new every day!

We also have some other visitors, HORNETS, they are everywhere four of them were dive bombing Patrick and I whilst trying to get in the car one day last week, I had to pull the car out the gates before strapping him in they were bad. Despite reading a tip for dealing with them that suggested hanging a bag of water with a coin above all doors, I can confirm this is a myth and doesn’t work.

The horses have had their feet trimmed and look very smart, the grass is running out and my days of mucking out are soon to return. However thanks to Father in law the stables are all fixed and they can now be shut in.

Dad and Maurice are due to go on their annual holiday to the Dorset Steam Fayre at the end of the month and will be exhibiting some of the rotevators. We do wind them up saying they are turning into enthusiastic rotevator spotters, they have even been making friends with other enthusiasts!

Well tomorrow I have the task of picking as many Cherry Plums as possible. Grandma and Grandad are looking after Patrick whilst I go to work picking.

I hope to blog with more updates soon.