There’s that lovely feeling of waking to a new dawn that comes as the winter loosens its grip on the earth.  This winter was so long and hard - a proper winter - and held everything back so long, the spring explodes all at once.  My mother’s beautiful garden is achingly gorgeous, dripping with blossom.  The countryside at every view, round every corner is quieter but still wonderful, more greens than you can imagine, new leaves and flowers unfolding in dizzying succession.  We saw 14 fallow hinds in the orchard, heavy in calf - their calves come in April, and they hide up in the undergrowth while their mothers graze. Birds have that ‘too busy to stop’ look, nesting material in their beaks, making new or repairing old nests.  Bumble bees wake up from their hiding places, buzzing noisily if you disturb them  -  I picked up four on my clothes when I sat down on a heathery bank to enjoy the sun.

CROPS  -  The warmer weather comes, and the wheat plants make up lost time, growth stages telescoped.  Leaves pinched with cold spread, feed roots, grow more leaves.  The frost has left a lovely frost tilth, and we make seed beds easily with minimal cultivation.  Our spring crops this year are maize, to feed the cows, and spring barley for grain and straw.  At the moment barley straw is as valuable as grain - everyone (including us) has run out of bedding and feeding straw over the long winter.  It’s good, though to have a clear out, and get the barns clean right to the back.  Our spring crops follow on after our winter fallow that has kept the farmland birds overwinter.

GRASS & COWS  -  In April we pass ‘magic day’ when suddenly the grass growth equals the amount the cows are eating.  Before that, the cows are out, eating more and more, leaving less and less and there is always a drama of ‘will there be enough’.  Suddenly, magically, unbelievably, we tip over into grass building up in front of the cows.  The cows have been eager to come in and get a feed inside at milking time, the herd surging to the gate when you come to get them.  Now they look up and unwillingly drag themselves away from that delicious mouthful of grass you’re disturbing them from, and snatch extra mouthfuls as they amble along.

HEIFERS  -  The older heifers are out, and the parish is now populated with cattle in the valley and on the hill.  I feel it makes a landscape to see cattle grazing.  We’ve got four age groups, one from each of two years that it takes a calf to become a milking cow, from the two herds, the spring calvers and the autumn calvers.  We’ll keep the youngest calves, born this spring, in till next month.  They are very happy in the open fronted former pig buildings, where they can have outside when they want it, but can shelter from wind and rain when they need to, but even they start to sniff the sweet grass they have not yet eaten and are keen to be out.

CHEESE  -  The milk from the cows is building up fast, and we are making three vats a day, four when we make goat’s cheese.  That’s a lot of making, and a lot of cheese in moulds - the last three days’ make - and a lot of new cheese to take to the store and then turn every week.  The milk from good grass has a beautiful balance, making a balanced cheese much easier to make. 

MITE  -  We are still struggling with cheese mite, and we have fewer people from the cheese dairy to brush and vacuum cheese.  We are trying blowing the mite off with compressed air, and catching the dust up with a dust extractor borrowed from our co-operative grain store, Devon Grain.  We are hoping this will make this part of the job easier, but only time will tell.

RECIPE  -  Another recipe from the Grove Inn, King’s Nympton,  Apple pie with Quicke’s Traditional Cheddar Cheese Crust, serves 8

For the pastry:
8 oz plain flour
4 oz butter, softened
3 oz quickes’ cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
3 tablespoons cold water

For the filling:
2 lb bramley apples
2 lb cox’s apples
1 level tbsp fine semolina
3 oz caster sugar
12 whole cloves
1 egg, beaten (to glaze)

Sift the flour, then rub the butter into the flour until it reaches the crumbly stage, add the Quicke’s Cheddar and enough of the water to make a soft dough that leaves the bowl clean. 

Turn the dough out onto a smooth surface, and knead lightly with the fingertips, then wrap it in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile peel, quarter and core the apples and cut into thin slices straight into a bowl. 

Next take a little under half of the pastry and roll out very thinly to approximately 12” diameter to line the base and sides of a 9” rimmed metal pie dish, approx 1¼” deep.  Trim the edges and set aside the unused pastry for trimming.  Scatter the semolina over the base of the pastry, then pile in the apple slices, building up the layers and scattering over the sugar and cloves as you go.  press and pack the apples tightly.

Roll out the remaining pastry very thinly to about 16” in diameter to make the lid.  Brush the rim of the pastry base with a little beaten egg and lift the lid over the top.  Press the edges together to get a good seal all around, then trim with a knife.  Gather up all the trimmings and re-roll them to make shapes to decorate the lid.  Make a small hole in the centre of the pie to allow the steam to escape.  brush the pie with beaten egg and place in the oven on a high shelf for approximately 10 minutes at 220ºC/gas mark 7, then reduce the temperature to 190ºC/gas mark 5 for a further 45 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve warm, with custard or clotted cream.

MARY QUICKE