It's been a while since I last put finger to keyboard. Calving has ground to a near halt and we are now looking towards the first lambs of the season. The snowdrops have arrived along with the hope of a faint sign of spring, a daffodil or even a dry day would do. Today has been heavy sleet - all day! It was laying white for a while when I was out at the ewe's. I felt guilty moving them from their shelter to check that they were still OK and none had achieved their goal in life through the night.

Over the winter I have been doing a spot of beating at the local shoots, along with my new dog Holly, a GSP (German Short Haired Pointer) who has done very well for a year old pup. Had a lot of fun and the odd sociable occasion thrown in, against the grain but had to be done. Almost had my fill of Stilton and Port, but as this week see's the last shoot of the season next door, I will have to oblige once again and do my bit to minimise any waste.

Christmas seems a long time ago now, as with any other livestock farm it was just another day with a good lunch, very traditional fare cooked to perfection in the Aga as always. Turkey and trimmings with sporadic help from the growing family. Our eldest is taking a great interest in cooking, and decided to try and reproduce a recipe she had seen on one of the many pre-christmas celebrity chef soaked offerings that now fill the telly in mid December. Parsnips roasted in maple syrup. The were lovely so look out Nigella, Lauren has you in her sights.

Still as busy with my Pentalk work (http://www.pentalk.org) the evenings. Another of our successes has been our little blog. This week we have John Perkin, an organic farmer and now inspector for the Soil Association. We recently had a very interesting lady take the chair for a week, she was a rancher from Montana, very hands on. She was having terrible trouble with wolves after they had been re-itroduced to the near by Yellowstone Park. This was very timely as the debate was raging at the time to do the same in Scotland. A very interesting read.

February starts with me judging my first bull sale, at Perth no less. I am looking forward to this, the British Blues are not the strongest of breeds in Scotland which is dominated by Charolais, Limousin and of course Angus, but they always command the attention of those who take time to see what the breed is all about.

After this we are getting into Point-to-Point territory. I used to do a little riding in these events, but was not very competitive here, probably because I was too competitive. Strategy went out of the window and it was flat out to the finishing line. Sorry to say I rarely got round unscathed but both me and the horse of choice survived to live another day.

Just.

Until next time,

Steve