A sharp dig in the ribs

Do you know that  feeling as you just begin to wake up in the morning half awake half asleep,warm, snug and just aware that the day is beginning, the question arises shall I get up or shall I have another five minutes cocooned under the duvet. I was in the said blissful state the other morning when I received the 'sharp dig in the ribs' Edward's starting his tractor Valerie said and in a flash I was up and dressed and unsure if I was coming or going.

Now there is no missing a Latvian tractor starting up as it sounds just like a motorcycle with no exhaust very loud and harsh, yep Edward was on the move and he was going to lift our potatoes  Now!!!!!!

Potato picker  Valerie

It was 8.00am, a gorgeous morning clear blue sky fresh and crisp with the promise of a warm day to come,and so it started, only ten 40 metre rows to pick this year it wont take that long

I'm reduced to my knees

How wrong can you be we finished at 4 o'clock,warn out but happy that the job was done and just as the first spots of rain began to fall. The crop? well we finished up with about 400lb of spuds and at 25 cents per kilo well worth the time and effort.

Cranes heading south for the winter

                                                                              There is a definite change in the temperatures these mornings, making the duvet even more tempting, but the signs are there,the storks have gone,one day they are here the next they are gone just like that, we see the cranes high up flying south to warmer climes. While the swallows and house martins start to gather on the power lines and house roofs,warming themselves and getting ready for there long journey

It' nice to see the great tits back

But as we see these summer visitors leaving a whole host of different birds take there place, blue and great tits, nuthatches,woodpeckers,jays and magpies come to take there place.

Distrutive little beggars arn't they

It was a surprise to us when we took Lilija for a walk yesterday to find that the beavers which live in the river had left their mark on one of the trees almost over night they have stripped the bark off of quite a large tree on the opposite bank and are making inroads in the trunk

One nights work

We were in a local market the other week and saw two beavers for sale in a cage, they are considered good eating here by some folk so guess these were destined for the pot.They are extremely destructive animals as we often see the damage they can do,all they need is a ditch and a bit of water with a few trees growing by the side and away they go beaver
heaven!!!

On the way back from the river we took a look at our apple crop and decided that it was time to pick some,  we wrapped some and have stored some under the bed in the spare room, and tried our hand at making apple juice with the rest, With all the fresh fruit we have one of the first things we bought was a juice extractor, Big Big mistake, and in our view a waste of money, to make delicious apple juice we found that if you half fill a preserving pan with chopped apples, top it up with 4litres of water ,and bring to the boil slowly, simmer for 15  mins strain through muslin twice and you have the best apple juice ever, and you can add  sugar to taste.

   We  have been very adventurous in the Stelpe kitchen this week,  apart from the apple juice we have made fresh cod fish cakes with  a Jamaican  twist, and even as I write this the house is filled with the smell of a Holiday fruit cake,   But you will have to wait till next week to find out what is in it and what it taste's like.