summer bedding & other plants

So far so good, is today's motto. Perhaps l should 'touch wood' just to make sure? It's a bit like walking uphill through treacle at the moment, you're almost at the top then you start slipping about a bit.

Today's batch of ice cream was strawberry sensation, which is really a bog standard strawberry ice cream, with added beetroot colour to make it a pale pink. Yes you have read correctly, beetroot. When we started out our strawberry was au naturelle, it looked really very unappetising, a greyish pink in fact, so we had to add a natural colour to make it more acceptable to the general public. Personally l don't do strawberry ice cream, but a lot of people do. We do a 'little moo' for kids & little girls, usually wearing pink, always ask for pink ice cream, with pink sauce & a pink umbrella!

We've had another warm day, that makes 2 on the trot, can't last surely? This weather brings more customers, so the past couple of days have been busy, again mostly the 'grey brigade' presumably going out & about before the holiday rush. Loads of new visitors as well which is always good news and most taking advantage of the weather by sitting outdoors.

l have raised herb beds surrounding the terrace area which is interspersed with a few choice pot plants. l don't really do hanging baskets or bedding plants, the only concession is the old stone trough which l have just planted up with brightly coloured red & hot pink [well that's what the labels say] pelagoniums, petunias & trailing pelagoniums, there is another but l've forgotten what it is. Last year l got completely behind on the outside bit, but this year l seem to have a bit more time & have finally got round to rehouse the pot bound plants into new, bigger homes. Because this area is a sun trap my specimen plants are Mediterranean species, the new pot on the block for this year is an oleander, red, very toxic! l like it!

of chocolate & falcons....

The first bird was up & singing extremely loudly at 3.48 this morning. It sounded as though it was right outside the window? It was promptly joined by all the others trying to out sing each other. By 4.20 they had gone back to sleep & everything was quiet once more. Peace & harmony returned but my sleep pattern disturbed.

Once day time proper, so to speak, began things seemed to go a tadge bumpy for most of the morning. The shop answerphone died very badly yesterday so needed replacing pronto, the new one, [care of amazon & next day delivery], arrived, so that involved setting it up, programming it with all the phone numbers, answerphone message & other such geeky stuff. Then when the phone did ring everyone fought to answer the pesky thing. Telephones l find annoying at the best of times, they always seem to ring at the most inopportune times, with questions like' do you have any vacancies for this weekend?' ' NO' or 'are you open today?'...'er - yes'.

Other visitors this morning came in the form of our local regional food group lady who filled us in on all the relevant info for this weekend's food festival. We are being sited next to the exit from the food theatre, so if l have a moment spare[huh fat chance] l just might be able to sneak under the tarpaulin if no one is looking! They are expecting 13,000 visitors. Help, that's going to mean one hell of a lot of scooping folks, I'll have a right arm like Popeye! I'm doing the Sunday stint by the way. Harry, hubby & geo are on the Monday rota.

You'll be pleased to hear that the chocolate ice cream has all been made, all 300ltrs of the lovely stuff. Harry even managed to show a group of CIEH Advance Food Hygiene students [suitably kitted up in whites & natty blue hairnets] the intricacies of ice cream manufacture. This morning they were making 120ml pots & this afternoon it was the 4ltr napolis.

Today, finely it has felt something more akin to summer, blue sky AND warmer temperatures, this brought with it groups of pensioners out for an afternoon drive who just happen to pass here for a cup of tea, loo stop & off course an ice cream, we even had the minibus from the Special Needs Centre who are regulars.

The final details of the Hawk Walk have now been sorted out & put into place with a visit from Hawk Man this evening. He's going to bring 4 birds & conduct the walk with Arthur the eagle owl. The chap is more than happy to organise the event himself & is as l blog surveying the area for points of interest with his Lanner falcon. Exciting or what. l saw Jemima Parry Jones fly one at the Game Fair years ago, boy did that bird motor!

so far so good..

My Monday 'to do' list has now been completed & all the boxes ticked in the correct order. All the big orders for this week have now been sent in, just breads & cheeses for Friday. It's a case of making an 'educated' guess as to how much stuff you'll actually need. Things for example like fruit purees we tend to treble this time of year so as to ensure we have plenty stock piled in case there is a shortage later on. Talking about flavours, we had a very nice lady from France contact us today concerning vanillas from Madagascar. Well to cut the story to the main point, she is sending over a selection, some with pods others without. Should be interesting.

We do 2 vanilla, the royal bourbon which we call 'traditional vanilla' because, well it is. [Brian Turner liked that one] & a Mexican which has egg & vanilla pods, which we call 'creamee dreamee' vanilla. It tastes more like a creme anglaise & is very different from the trad van. Most elderly men go for the trad van. They stand & look at the display freezer, umming & arrhhing then plump for the vanilla. Never fails & if they really can't make their mind up at all[has been known] l just point out the trad van. Sooo much easier.

Hubby has got the first pasteurisation done today so Harry & Masoud will be making 400 ltrs chocolate ice cream all day tomorrow. We use a Belgian chocolate to which we add chocolate fudge brownie pieces. It has got to be the most mess-making ice cream ever. EVERYTHING gets covered in chocolate paste, it sticks like glue. We have a large industrial sized stick blender that whooshes the paste into the mix, this is a seriously big boys sized mixer, not for the faint hearted!

We have had to withdraw from attending the inaugural Hull Farmers market this Friday as, well, we have basically too much on this weekend with ice cream orders coming in for the weekend & getting ready for the 3 events over the bank holiday weekend. It's a shame & l wish them well, but you can only spread yourself so thin so to speak.

What else, ah yes. The Bird Man is still intending to come to do the Nature Walks with Hawk on Sunday. The plan is to park his birds beneath the trees alongside barn & then to take groups of visitors along the countryside stewardship path down to the sea, pointing out the various flora & fauna that just might be of interest. How successful it will be l have absolutely no idea, but l have requested that he organise the event & that the prices he charges per head are paid direct to him. Should be good, though this time he wont be able to do a flying display this time as the rally field is in use.

On a closing note, Gordon is moulting like mad at the moment. He's a traditional labrador with a double coat, fine 'down' next to his skin then black hair as the outer layer. Twice a year Gordon suffers from the 'grand moult', great clumps of hair standing out in tufts, wherever he goes, he leaves large skeins of fluff n hair. The veranda is constantly full of the stuff. On 'walkies' trips it's a case of giving him a good rub all over to release the clumps, with great drifts off the stuff dancing around in the wind. I'm sure he'll feel much cooler when the hair is all out & l can imagine that all the nesting birds have got marvelously lined nests care of Gordon!

one very busy week ahead.....

This week we are going to have to go up into hyper drive on the ice cream production side. Harry has a batch of bourbon vanilla to get made this morning starting at 9. He is as l type still sending up the Zzzzzs. Oh to be a teenager again. We are planning to pasteurise 5 times this week in an effort not to run out of the stuff over the bank holiday & half term. l should add just to throw a spanner in the works, there's round bale silage to make for the heifers. The main cut of clamped silage is now in & put away for the winter.

l don't feel quite as apprehensive as Easter. Yes it was very busy but with Whit l think people come for a week's R & R & are more relaxed in their attitude? We've done a long 'to do' list for the coming week with the only major hick-up being that the local schools in this area do a 'Rock Challenge' competition so we are missing a few of our star players so to speak! This has left us a wee bit short of staff for Castle Howard on the Sunday & the County YFC Rally on Saturday. Not to worry though, l've roped sister-in-law in to do some scooping & along with 'little ed' who is no longer little ed; we should be fine........ Looking at the task list l think we must be mad, it certainly ain't any easier than farming & you have to smile at all times!

Looking out of the office window the sun is still shinning so it looks as though we'll be busy today, yesterday was as well surprisingly, especially as it was football cup thingy. The tardis, as we call the ice cream wagon, is booked in for the RDA ride at Sledemere House today. They should have a good day & be well supported. Oh what fun - never a dull moment here!

Ah, he's up. l hear the shower's on so he's organised.

**My computer crashed whilst writing this & l have had to reset some of the settings.**

Vintage cars & other tail backs.....

l was only thinking to myself as l drove back from Bridlington this afternoon, that the traffic now seems to be continuous. There are a few good straight bits where you used to be able to put your foot down and break the speed limit, not anymore, you can barely make 45 mph. Where are these people coming from? Day trippers from Leeds or Hull perhaps, coming to partake in the bracing sea air & dine out on fish & chips? Commuters returning from a hard day at work? l guess probably a bit of both. Tourists or day trippers you can usually spot as they drive extremely s-l-o-w-l-y & forgo the use of indicators & breaks, plus the fact the driver is 9 time out of 10 an elderly chap whose wife is more than likely giving him an ear full. What is really awful, & a sign that 'The Season' is upon us is when you have to wait for the traffic to clear before pulling out of the drive onto the road. Merde

Oh for the quiet roads of yesteryear! That now leads my train of thought on to the Hull - Scarborough vintage car run which passes us sometime tomorrow morning. To me a car is a car. It ether goes fast or is not worth bothering about. The males in my family are what you could politely call petrol heads! My father is into anything that runs on an internal combustion engine whilst Hubby is Jag mad, & Harry? He's moved from steam trains to, can you guess? Cars! l suppose l ought to be pleased that none of them are sports buffs, that surely has got to be even worse. Sure l enjoy tennis, horse trials, dressage & sailing but cricket - yuk... football even yuckier [spelling?].

Lucy-Piglet was not feeling her normal bumptious self this morning. l don't know if it was because Gordon got the rabbit first, & being 'Top Dog' her nose was pushed out of joint or she had eaten something disagreeable. She put her self to bed with a labradorian flourish & removed to budge for a good few hours. l am pleased to announce there was not a lot wrong with her as she has partaken in her normal evening swim as usual. Incidentally the beach was wonderful this evening, the sea was flat - no sign of the harbour porpoise though - one solitary fisherman whom Gordon had to go and talk to, just in case he had a little something for him to nibble you understand! Who needs a psychiatrist when you have a beach at the bottom of your fields?

mine's a large scotch please!

Living out in the sticks, sometimes l get really bemused by journalists from the smoke going on about this or that, blowing stories way out of proportion to reality. Take today for example, most important news for country dwellers is closures of Post Offices, what do we get big time? prince harry not going to Iraq because it's too dangerous.

Every radio, TV & newspaper is screaming out about Harry. Why? Surely if he goes out to Iraq he will be endangering all his comrades who will be victims of any 10 bit suicide junkie for miles around. So what IS the big deal? Royalty have fought & died on battle fields but Iraq is a different war scenario as here the enemy seems intent on killing themselves & everyone else nearby. In this case PH is different ,he becomes a valid high profile target along with anyone with him. Can you imagine the headline if Harry went & he & his regiment were hit by waves of suicide bombers? How many parents would be losing sons & daughters needlessly. l personally think Mr Blair should volunteer to take Prince Harry's place on the front line.

So post office closures might seem a wee bit boring to the hysterical tabloids, but our village has l shop with post office. If it closes, those villagers who don't drive will have to walk the 3 miles to the next village, wait for a bus that may or may not come or beg a lift. This government seems to forget that the green bit between towns actually houses a great many people who rely on village Post Offices & their cars because to get to anywhere you have to drive, why? Because there are no pavements to walk along or buses / trains to catch or cycle lanes to ride along.

Oh, l'm being opinionated today. Must be lack of sunshine, just grey blanket cloud everywhere. My tolerance levels must be at their lowest at the moment, anything can get me going when l'm like this. You just feel that living in the north & in rural England that this is the land that politicians have forgotten.

We have the crisis in UK agriculture, l received an email the other week from the NFU stating in black & white how much dairy farmers are loosing on every litre of milk sold. Does anybody care? No. 5 years ago there were 25 good sized dairy farms in this area now there are 3. This area of east Yorkshire held the largest pig population in the UK now there are a few large contract pig business's. OK so why is agriculture different from say..coal mining, car manufacture, ship building? because we need to feed ourselves and to reduce the food miles piled on by shipping / air freighting the stuff from all 4 corners of the globe.

Robert Wiseman's profits you'll be pleased to note are up as are Sainsburys, Tesco et al.

Can l apologies for the rant, hopefully by tomorrow l will be a bit more calmer.

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Oh dear, it's raining again. l guess you could say that l was somewhat over enthusiastic by putting up the sun umbrellas this morning, but one does live in hope. Probably just as well that Becki rang in sick this morning with migraine as it wouldn't have been that nice for a day off now would it.

The article in one of the local monthly publications is bringing in loads of new customers as well as new wholesale inquiries which means hubby is being kept busy & out of mischief. Today he is delivering to Bridlington then on to Scarborough. Oh the joy of being self employed!

The site map, tickets & other riveting info-stuff for the Ryedale Food Fesitval arrived this morning. There are 2 other ice cream people exhibiting as well so a little competition here? These shows are usually great fun as we do 'swaps' with other producers, things like beer, bread, cakes, sausages - provided you can get away from the stand that is. The first year we attended, the stand next to us had, well, a rather small extremely angry woman who proceed to commander all our tables & move each item we brought in. She even attacked Harry with a wheel barrow. The organisers only just managed to calm her down before the Rt Hon S Howard did his inspection. For the next few days we & all the other exhibitors were having a double entendre conversation over her head. Lets hope she's not here this year......

Today we had a very happy camper who waylaid me 1st thing to thank me profusely for the wonderful site. She had done a whole list of the wildlife seen during the weeks stay. Deer, rabbits, owls, foxes, swifts etc etc. It was a tadge funny as she had left her false teeth out! l tried my dammed hardest not to grin. Very difficult too l might add!

l don't know about other business, but from about 9.00 we get a splait of calls from India to discuss telephones mobile or otherwise. l am awful, to me it's like open season on 'straight to the point or jugular'. When asked today about my BT account l explained that l had no wish to change as 2 tin cans & a piece of string worked brilliantly......