|| Scrapbook April 2025

The oilseed rape is in full bloom but the children are sadly too tall - and too cool! - to play hide and seek in yellow jackets as it comes into vibrant flower (scroll down for a throwback).

|| On our farm... 

The deer are delighted to be enjoying the fresh, lush grass now coming through the ground with the spring weather, after a winter of 'takeaways' - aka silage, the grass cut and baled during the summer, and barley grains delivered to the gate. It's lovely seeing the glen burst back into green and the birdsong is prolific. 

This warm, dry spell has been such a contrast to getting crops into the ground last year. All the sowing of this season's crops was complete by 17th March this year - and sowing only started last year on 18th April. That's a good month of difference to growth! There's no such thing as a happy farmer though, and now he needs the rain to help get the spring-sown crops underway. At the moment, it's just hoping their roots can get deep enough to find some of the moisture in the soil lower down as it's bone-dry on top. This oilseed rape was sown in the autumn and will soon lose its yellow bloom replaced by long pods full of black seeds that are crushed for oil. If you look closely you can just start to see them changing. 

|| & other stories...

Our favourite cookbook of the month is Meliz Berg's Dinner Tonight

Our mouths are watering at the menu from The Cheesery's exciting new venture, ATE

And asparagus season is underway at Denhead Farms