I am sitting on a tree stump, soaking up the sun on the first day of spring. There is a woodpecker hammering away at a tree in the woods below me, the coconutty smell of gorse rolling down the hill behind me and the birds are loudly exalting the returning warmth of the sun. God it feels good!
I imagine you’ve come here from my Instagram, a platform I love and owe much. But lately I’ve been craving a new space, playful and uninhibited, with room for written seasonal recipes and longer form content around food, farming and nature . So welcome to The Farm Diaries, a written, audio and visual diary, with thoughts on all things food and the wider world of nature, that is so entwined with the way we eat.
The core will be a weekly seasonal recipe, simple cooking, made with love, that you can easily replicate at home. If you’ve enjoyed watching recipe videos on my Instagram but wanted them written up to cook at home, this is the place. And I’m going to start with a few of the big hitters, lamb mince Shakshuka, chorizo, leek and potato stew, courgette, ricotta and basil tart, a few variations of sardine pasta. And then we’ll just see where the year takes us. Around each weekly recipe will be a diary-like space for all sorts of exciting things: updates from the farm, lambing stories, goat escapes, bottle feeding and veg growing. I see space for nature writing, audio clips of birdsong, and thoughts on the changes I’d love to see in the world of food and farming. I look forward to sharing my favourite songs, books and cooking equipment. Smallholder tips and advice on growing at home whether that be on a kitchen windowsill, balcony or in the garden. Expect guest recipes from some of my favourite cooks, like my partner Ellie Hix, who’s food is some of the best I’ve ever eaten. And lastly, we’re just in the process of moving house, so some interior design queries that I’d love your help on, paint colours, veg patch planning, meadow restoration and habitat building.
There is of course a paid element to Substack and the support of paying subscribers is what gives me the room and time for proper in depth writing and recipe testing. If you’ve been a long time follower, for the price of a cup of coffee you will be massively supporting me and what I do. In return, expect the best of me, and the most intimate window into this little corner of the world I inhabit with delicious seasonal recipes too. If you were a fan of my book The Farm Table, this is a space I think you will love.
To begin…
We have had a relatively easy winter on the farm. It’s been cold, stormy and the weather brutal at times, we’ve lost a lot of trees which is devastating, but it’s been dry and that makes life so much easier. It’s incredible the misery living in perpetual mud brings, and I’m glad that's not been the case this winter. Last November (breeding season), I decided not to put any Billies in with the nanny goats and take a year off to scale down my goats, instead going bigger on Hebridean sheep which we breed for hogget. I added 15 more breeding ewes into the flock and now we have 43 due to Lamb at the beginning of April, which should mean around 60-70 lambs as they tend to have twins 50% of the time. But, of course, nature had other plans and just my luck on Christmas Eve a pair of twin goats was born… and then for the next 2 weeks, they just kept popping out. 14 kids born in the freezing cold, out of season and unplanned. An escaped Billy back in August, must have jumped the fence and done the deed. Not ideal. Heat lamps, hot water bottles and drying off wet kids against my chest at 2am in the morning on new years eve. What a start to the year. In spite of this they have of course been an absolute joy, there is no animal more playful, curious and idyllic than a kid goat. But the weather has been hard on them and the nannies, even in a warm bedded barn being fed every day with an endless supply of hay. We lost 2 kids, one mother died and Ibis, who had twins, lost milk from one side of her udders. So we are bottle-feeding two kids goats, Wren and Penguin, 4 times a day.
As we approach Spring, the grass is just beginning to grow and the weather is warming at last. The birds are singing louder, sap rising and buds on the trees. Catkins swing from banks of hazel, wild garlic is just beginning to shoot and the wild daffodils are flowering in the woods and meadows. The returning warmth of Spring is the most glorious feeling after the tough months of winter. It has started with a dry sunny spell that is heavenly, but I’m sure we have some gritty weather to come. My haystack is nearly empty and I’ve had to borrow a few trailer loads of hay from our kind neighbours. The sheep are looking round and slowing down high up on the hill. I’ve been rotating them around the farm all winter giving them what little grass has been growing but even that is beginning to run out. This is a funny little hungry gap.
The weather has me thinking of the growing season to come in the garden and I am about to order my seeds for the year, always later than intended, distracted by my animals who come first. I am a reluctant gardener, I love the produce and results, but I’m not so great at the diligent dedication it takes. Preferring the wilder more instinctual aspects of animal husbandry and I find the characterful individuality of my animals deeply rewarding and profound. This year my plan is to grow a lot of a few favourite things, rather than a little of everything. I want to be self-sufficient in the veg that I love and those things that taste particularly good when homegrown. And these few weeks before Lambing are a great time to get planting before chaos begins. I’ll discuss my seed order and garden plan when I get to it!
This week's recipe is for a Portuguese inspired chicken stew. It feels like the kind of thing your granny would make if you were ill. Unbelievably nourishing and comforting to eat, with textures and flavours that delight the body and soul. It’s also incredibly easy to make, which I love, and yields a big old pot that should last you for days. I have become obsessed with this coriander and garlic paste that the Portuguese use so much in their cooking. Stirred through soups, on grilled meat, with veg… it is epic. This is a big hearty chicken stew with fennel, lemon, bay and celery, thickened with rice and chickpeas and finished with this magical coriander paste. It uses a whole boiled chicken, the meat stripped from the bones, then the bones back into the pot to make a delicious broth. You then fry off some veg with herbs and spices, add the broth, thicken it with rice and chickpeas, then finish with the chicken and a really generous amount of the coriander paste with lots of lemon. It’s one of my favourite things I’ve made in a while, and will 100% be in my next book, but a sneak preview here as a special treat for the first of you to arrive. Much love, enjoy and happy cooking. Thank you for joining this new venture! Your support means the world and those of you who’ve already become paid subscribers… you warm my heart, thank you!
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