monday, everything is OK.................

As monday draws to a close, the school summer holidays are in full swing, the press have dropped the f & m story from headline news whilst we, the guardians of the land & providers of good, wholesome food wait in limbo, no man's land waiting for the slaughter of the beasts to begin or the all clear siren to sound. My husband has aged in these past few days. We have to remain positive. The containment plans must work, we cannot face another 2001.

On the farm side, we must be seen to be taking adequate precautions in the area of bio-security. We are lucky that the main milking herd is no longer here, which means no every other day milk collection by tanker. We were extremely lucky that by friday night the batch of heifers due to calve in the next 3 weeks had been returned to the other farm. That was a really good peace of luck & timing. The 3 month old heifers are now out at grass so their barn stands empty, again this is a bio-security measure keeping the public away from direct contact with livestock. This has brought tears of dismay from our younger guests who had feared the worst as the barn has viewing areas for visitors & the mini cows are a great favourite. It is so funny hearing grown adults doing 'moo' impersonations at totally uninterested livestock!

On a final note, and l must say, a totally flippant one, myself and a group of other country bloggers found ourselves named & shamed in an article penned by Times journalist Kate Muir. The article, which l have to say, was not entirely accurate, brought this household great amusement during the weekend so much so that l have been presented with a very tight hat just in case.....................................