Compassion in world farming

Yummy shortbread!

Or as Jamie Oliver says 'The best shortbread in the world'

I Made some lovely shortbread for my 5 year old daughter, as she's mad on it, I've never made any before and of all the recipe books I own, I couldn't find out how to make it. So anyway, I googled it and came up with a Jamie Oliver recipe which tastes fab, considering I don't even like shortbread, so here it is.....
Cream 250g unsalted butter and 125g Caster sugar together, then add 250g plain flour and 125g of cornflour. Mix lightly. Press into a 22cm square tin and prick with a fork. It should be about 2cm thick, mine was about 5cm! Bake in the oven (150c) for 50 minutes. While warm sprinkle with caster sugar. Cut into fingers. Yummy!

Been a busy week....

Took this lovely photo walking the dogs late this afternoon, beautiful clear sky and the temperature has been -4 all day, so the frost and ice hasn't melted.



The highlight for us this week has to be welcoming into our home this gorgeous ginger cat called Brian, he is the most lovable sweetheart and makes the whole house vibrate with his purrs.......he is a very happy cat & we have all fallen in love with him.

My Muscovey duck eggs are now in the incubator, day 6 today, they have to be in for 35, I will candle them tonight and see how many fertile ones there are, I don't think there will be many, it's the wrong time of year, the boys don't perform too well when the days are so short. Just like the girls, they don't lay that many eggs.

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Lovely new apple trees

Today 3 lovely apple trees arrived from Suttons that I ordered a couple of months ago. My lovely husband is always away when I need him.......also didn't think how damn cold it would be when I had to dig these trees in.....So I have been struggling to dig a big enough hole, struggling because the ground is full of boulders and rocks and the more I dig, the more big stones I pull out. At times I was wondering if I was about to uncover the old foundations of an outbuilding, but no just the worst ground possible to plant trees in! I only managed one hole because it started getting dark. But one tree is planted in the middle now and stake is in place with a tie. Had alot of trouble banging in the stake as I just kept hitting rocks. The other two trees will have to wait with bags around their roots until tomorrow in the shed.

The Girls were filling up all the bird feeders with peanuts while I was digging and the dogs were up in the woods keeping themselves busy digging holes and running around.

I will be moving my little chick run around tomorrow as well, I have conveniently placed the run where I will be making raised beds for all the veggies next year, so the chicks clear it for me, because it is an overgrown mess at the moment, but they are loving all the long grass and bugs, just have to move it every week so I cover the large area.

Yesterdays surprise snowfall made me realise that I want to start blogging my life, here in rural Aberdeenshire and share the mud, snow and endless chicken poo.........

How lucky are we, at 7.30am yesterday, to hear our two youngest daughters squeals of delight, on lifting the blind to see the first freshly laid snow of the winter. The excitement is overwhelming for them. I barely managed to get them dressed and eat their breakfast before they were out with hats,scarfs and gloves on lying in the snow doing their 'snow angels'.
My lovely husband was getting logs and coal together to get the fire going as it had simmered down during the night, and the house was freezing.
We've only been in this house since June this year, its needing alot of work including getting radiators put in. We do have heating, just not much to go around.
I have a beautiful old Aga being re enameled and can't wait to get it installed in my kitchen, it's solid fuel so hopefully will save abit on the oil tank. Whether I can cook on it is another matter of course, but I can't wait to try....

In addition to my lovely husband and 4 girls, I have 17 hens, Cream legbars, Marans and silkies, 15 incubated myself and two wyandotte bantams that I got at a rare breed poultry show. I have 12 Muscovy duck eggs that should be here soon to put in my incubator. Really looking forward to seeing how I get on with them as I've only done hen eggs.
I would really love to rescue some battery hens, makes my heart ache when I think about them, but its not so easy up here in Scotland, but I will keep asking people, I'm sure someone will know something.