We have some golden days before the equinoctial storms start tearing the leaves off the trees.  Each sunny day feels so special, each clear and glorious sunrise and sunset so cherished, no longer one of the endless expected gorgeous days of summer, but maybe one of the last days before autumn sets in.  The last of the African-bound birds go, they have their parliaments, flutter and twitter together, then you notice they’re gone.  I heard a family of buzzards in the wood, noisily calling to each other all afternoon, it sounded like mum was telling them to get a life of their own and the teenagers were all complaining bitterly.

OVER-WINTER STUBBLES  -  We leave some of the stubbles overwinter, with chaff and the more withered seeds that slipped through the combine harvester’s sieve on the ground, food for insects and in turn, food for birds.  The shed seed germinates, creating a source of food and shelter all winter long.  The hedgerows are dripping with fruit, rowan, blackberry, sloe, spindle, holly, hips and haws this year, and that creates a good spread of food for wildlife.

CROPS   -  All the corn, straw and silages are in the barn and in the clamp, all tucked up and ready for winter.  In the fields we are tilling for next year’s wheat, we break any compacted pan in the soil with some deep tines, then shallow plough and press the soil to both make it friable and avoid too much moisture loss, then cultivate and drill the seed, and roll the soil back over.  Then we (and the rooks) watch as the lines of seeds come up, at first a shimmer of bright green over the soil, like shot silk. You can’t help but admire the rooks, you see them putting their heads on one side, looking down the rows, working out where the next wheat seed is buried, now particularly sweet as it has germinated.

GRASS  -  The cows are out grazing the autumn flush of grass which is re-invigorated now its attention is off flowering and seedtime.  The soil is still warm, the days warmish, the nights not too cold, and the clover at its most leafy.  How well it lasts through the winter depends on how long its stolons are, the long straggling stems that run along the ground.  If they are long and we can keep them in good shape through the winter, they will get into action next year, bringing nitrogen out of the air to feed themselves and the plants around them, so we will need to use a minimum of fossil fuel fertilizer but still grow lots of grass.

CALVES  -  The spring born calves look a picture, well, gleaming, even getting a little plump.  We did absolutely everything we could think of to have them healthy after around 5 years of less healthy calves.  Now we have to unravel what worked and what was make-work. I think we’ll keep them housed for less long, it was a lot of extra work and they started getting the sort of complaints they get from being inside too long, but we’ll carry on with milk while they are out.  It’s a big relief to have calves as they should be.  It took really telling the truth to ourselves that we weren’t doing as good a job as we liked to think.

COWS  -  The autumn calved cows are milking well, but we are feeding them some of the wetter wheat we harvested in August.  That means they are eating less grass, we need to get the balance right so they give the right amount of good composition milk for the cheese, but they still graze effectively.  The spring calved cows are still milking well, we start checking the leanest cows to dry them off a little early (most will go dry in November &  December) so they can restore themselves before calving again in February.  Their milk starts getting very rich at this end of lactation, and we need to watch that the cheese doesn’t race away and get too moist and lacking complexity in flavour. 

CHEESE  -  That said, some of the more moist cheese from last year are developing well, adding complexity as they lose the moisture through their cloths with age.  One advantage of the mite, they do aid that process, although bringing with it more internal mould, which again adds to the complex flavours.  Mite levels are lower with all of the work we’ve done, but we know we’ve got more damage to the cheese than we’d like, before we move onto less damaged cheese towards Christmas. 

VAL’S PRIZES   -  Our wonderful Cheese Consultant, Val Bines, has retired (I do ring her quite often for advice).  We are mindful she is gone, and keep reminding ourselves of how she would have dealt with things, our inner Val loud and clear.  Her invention, our Hard Goats Cheese, has just won 3 Gold Stars in the Great Taste Awards and Reserve Champion in the Frome Show, we also won Gold with the Hard Goats, 8kg Extra Mature and Oak Smoked plus a Bronze for the Unpasteurised Cheddar in the Taste of the West Awards.  What a fabulous swansong for a cheese star.
 
STOP PRESS  -  BRITISH CHEESE AWARDS

Quickes Traditional Hard Goats Cheese                      Best Goat Cheese
Quickes Traditional Mild Cheddar                                  Best Cheddar
Quickes Traditional Hard Goats Cheese                               Gold
Quickes Traditional Mild Cheddar                                        Gold
Quickes Traditional Cheddar with Herbs                               Gold
Quickes Traditional Unpasteurised Cheddar                        Bronze
Quickes Traditional Oak Smoked Cheddar                          Bronze
Quickes Traditional Vintage Cheddar (Export)                      Silver
Quickes Traditional Mature Cheddar (Export)                      Bonze
Quickes Traditional Unpasteurised Cheddar (Export)           Bronze
  
RECIPE  -  It’s autumn, there are a lots of runner beans doing their sprouting in front of your eyes before the frost, and it’s time to make my favourite pickle to have with bread and cheese.   My Mum always used to make it, but this is Linda Leach from our farm shop’s recipe. 

2lb Beans
4 Large Onions
1½lb Demera Sugar
1½ tablespoons Mustard Powder
1½ tablespoons Cornflour  
1½ tablespoons Turmeric
1 pint Vinegar
(optional 1 teaspoon Cayene Pepper)

Cut beans and onions in 1 cm chucks and cook in salted water until tender.  Strain well to get all the water out.  Put in pan with vinegar and sugar and boil for 15 minutes.  Mix cornflour, mustard and spices and add to pan.  Boil for a further 10 minutes.  Place in jars while still hot.

MARY QUICKE