Several groups came to visit the farm and dairy in July. On the 2nd

the Galdakao dance group organized an outing to Karrantza,

on the 6th several families staying in a holiday home in Matienzo

walked up to visit us

and on the 27th several families from Catalonia and Navarre came

to the farm.

Recipe of the month: Greens with cheese and bacon

This recipe uses some of the abundant green vegetables the

allotment gives us during the summer months. In the case

of the Swiss chard and spinach we use both the stems and the leaves.

10 Swiss chard leaves (with stalks)

300 g green beans

2 medium onions

200 g fresh spinach

400 g grated cheese (preferably mature cheese)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons plain flour

350 ml whole milk

5 rashers of bacon

Steam the Swiss chard, green beans and spinach

Finely dice the onions and fry until translucent. Fry the bacon in

a different pan until crispy. Remove any oil or fat, chop finely

and mix with the onion. Put in the bottom of an overproof dish

and cover with steamed vegetables.

Prepare a cheese sauce:

Heat the two tablespoons of olive oil in a sauce pan. Add flour

little by little, stirring continually until thickens into a paste.

Then add the milk a little by little and stirring continually until

obtaining a thick sauce. If lumps appear use a blender to

remove them. Finally add 2/3 of the grated cheese and stir until

it melts. Pour over the vegetables in the oven-proof dish and

then sprinkle the remaining grated cheese on top.

Place in an oven at 210 ºC about 15 minutos and then, if

necessary put under a grill for a few minutes to gratinate the

cheese.

Serve hot

Flower of the month. Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum)

Despite its name, buckwheat is not a species of cereal nor of any sort

of grass. It actually belongs to the knotweed family (Polygonaceae)

and is native to south-central China and Tibet. It is known as a “Pseudo-

cereal” because the high starch content of its seeds means it is often

used as if it were a cereal in cooking. It has been introduced in other

continents as a crop and has appeared in our allotment quite by chance.

As in June, the dairy cows were able to graze and we also gave them

dried alfalfa and peas, freshly mown grass and some feedstuff.

This toad appeared in a load of freshly mown grass and we took him

back to his field.

Once again the weather was quite varied with hot, dry days mixed with

cooler, cloudy and damp days. Thus, maximum temperatures reached

31,4 ºC, whilst dawn temperatures were only 13/15 ºC some mornings.

We collected 17 litres in the rain gauge, which doesn’t seem much but

bearing in mind the month of the year, was sufficient to keep the grass

growing in the fields and thus provided both grazing and freshly mown

grass for the dairy herd. Fortunately we had no hail storms in July.

In July we mowed more fields, managed to silage more grass and

collect rather old grass for bedding. Given the price of straw this

year, such older grass makes a good contribution to such bedding.

We also topped more fields and cleared brambles and ferns from

some slopes.

Five cows calved, giving us 7 bull and mixed dairy/beef calves. We

sold all of these animals on.