With the grape vines pruned last month, we turned our attention to annual maintenance jobs - some painting down at our award winning holiday cottage www.fulbeckgardenscottage.com, with son Tom and fellow worker, Ben erecting a new post and rail fence around our "wildlife" garden down at the cottage and vineyard all ready for a wedding being held there this September.

Farm tracks have been mended after the winter weather wear and tear and machinery has been serviced.  The cows are almost ready to calve, so Tom and Laura have been getting some earlier nights before they begin their 3 month stint of night shifts regularly checking the cattle sheds and helping any mother needing intervention.  Do you know, there is something very special about "new life" whether it is the birth of a new animal on the farm, or seeing seeds you have planted germinate, prosper and fill a field with a good healthy crop ready for that special harvest time!  After all these years, the excitement and passion of it all never wains!

The same enjoyment comes from seeing our children grow from tiny little people into confident and competent young adults.  My greatest pride comes from all three of my children and their partners being great home cooks!  All these young people have been brought up around farming and so familiar with the changing seasons and the produce available in each month.  Firstly watching and learning from us mums cook delicious home cooked meals, then later developing their own recipes and styles.  This month's picture shows a char sui pork dish with home made vegetable egg fried rice that our youngest son Jim (19) made (using some pork loin from one of our pigs).  He raided my "Spice Cupboard" in the kitchen and marinated the pork overnight.  What a treat we had for tea the following day.  

Thank goodness I let my children in the kitchen when they were younger!  They didn't always clean up their pots when experimenting with recipes- but now older and more responsible - they have turned out to be amazing cooks (tidy too!) - so I will be featuring more of their recipes in future!