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TABLE OF CONTENTS... • The December Issue of Home Farmer has arrived... • Britain Wins the Marmalashes... • Eeksie Peeksie Mug Competition... • Christmas Crackers... • Congratulations to Gazegill Organic Farm... Our New Subscriprion Gift... Sign up today and save over £1.00 on every issue (on Direct Debit), getHome Farmer delivered straight to your door every month and get a choice of either River Cottage Every Day, The Herb & Flower Cookbook or Paul Hollywood's Breadas a FREE GIFT. To subscribe by Direct Debit and save 25% click here. To subscribe for 12 issues by card click here. The Home Farmer Resource Site... www.homefarmer.co.uk is rapidly becoming quite an extensive and wide-reaching resource for anyone seeking solutions to familiar problems, step-by-step 'how-to' instructions, recipes, news snippets, information and videos, and it's growing and growing all the time as we add lots more new features and items of topical interest. Visit www.homefarmer.co.uk to see just a brief cross-section of the many different fascinating things you will find on our website. 2014 Scottish Smallholder & Grower Festival... The Scottish Smallholder & Grower Festivalbrought together suppliers, experts and practitioners, with food, gardening, crafts and livestock all well represented, and animal numbers were also well up on last year. As usual there were talks, seminars and demonstrations on just about every aspect of practising the ‘good life’, and the event provided an opportunity for all to top up on essentials for the smallholding and garden.Rosemary Champion and the team put together the usual smooth operation and the event is now a permanent fixture on the smallholder’s and gardener’s calendar. Visit www.ssgf.uk to keep up to date with events. E.Coli to the Resue? I bet that's something you wern't expecting to read, but scientists are apparently using E.Coli to produce renewable propane and hope eventually to use this to complement then eventually replace  fossil fuels. This comes after scientists recently experimented with tobacco with the nicotime removed as a replacement for aviation fuel and students recently showed that much of the House of Commons could be lit and heated with the energy (wind power?) from sitting MPs (if they all turn up!). To read more click here. English Winter Fair... We shall be in Stafford at the Bingley Hall for theEnglish Winter Fair on Saturday and Sunday the 15th and 16th of November. It's very much a livestock event and was previously called National Primestock to reflect the focus on this. It's always been an impressive occasion for seeing much of the nation's livestock and the role it plays in the food we consume, and it's certainly an occasion well worth attending to see agriculture in this light - or just to mingle, have a good time and buy a few Christmas prezzies with a difference. The December Issue of Home Farmer has arrived... Our new December issue of Home Farmer comes with hints of the forthcoming festive season, but doesn't try to bowl you over with chores - just heaps of fun! A well-known magazine once boasted '400 ways to make Christmas simple!' We are a little more reasonable than that! Our festivities include building a lovely gingerbread house and making a colourful rag wreath that will decorate any festive home a treat. As for cooking, we have lots of delicious cracker recipes, either made with cheese or intended for cheese for those lovely after dinner moments on the big day - and, of course, yet more cheeses, with both Camembert and Blue Lancashire cheeses in kitchen production this month. So crack on - there's still enough time to get your own ready for Christmas! In addition we have our usual stalwarts: potting meat, cheeses and seafood as a means of preserving; building a Springwatch-style bird box with camera,; selecting seeds to plant for 2015; polytunnel first aid; pruning ornamentals; features on fudge and butter tablet, and much much more. I sometimes ask myself how we manage it in just 100 pages, but we seem to. See below for details of how to access all of these tips and ideas, and join the Home Farmer revolution for 2015 - the best New Year's resolution you could make! Or sign someone else up as a Christmas present that will last them a full twelve months; I'm sure they would be grateful. IF YOU CAN'T CLICK ON THE LINKS, GO TO THE TOP OF THIS LETTER AND CLICK TO VIEW THE WEB VERSION. To view the contents panel click here. To buy this issue click here. Subscribe from this month's magazine to SAVE £1 per issue and get a FREE BOOK. Click here to enjoy this great saving and claim your free book. Britain Wins the Marmalashes... The Marmalashes is a competition started by Russell Luckock in 2010 after Australia lost The Ashes in the international cricket test matches between England and Australia. It is now an important international part ofThe World’s Original Marmalade Awards held each year in Cumbria, with twelve pots of marmalade sent over to the UK to compete against eleven pots from Britain (the extra Australian pot being sent just in case one is broken in transit!). They are then judged (fairly!) by a panel of both Australian and English judges. So far Australia has won three times, but it was with great excitement that this year England won for the very first time. As a consequence, awards organiser, Jane Hasell-McCosh, travelled 10,529 miles across the globe and was absolutely delighted to be presented with the Marmalashes at their traditional resting place – the Buninyong Court House − where they are always to be kept safely under lock and key, regardless of who might win. Jane said that it was wonderful to be in Australia and to finally see the Marmalashes, describing her father as a keen cricket player who would certainly have understood the importance of it all. Look out for your entry form for the 2015 awards in the January issue next month, and join together with like-minded preservers to celebrate marmalade in all its glory! Eeksie Peeksie Mug Competition... Looking for an ideal gift for an avid tea drinker? Venetia fromEeksie Peeksie Ceramics in North East Scotland has donated a prize of four one-pint bone china mugs worth £35. To win, simply visit theEeksie Peeksie website to find out four of her Christmas designs, then email the details to ruth@homefarmer. co.uk. Please include ‘MUG COMP’ as the subject, and remember to include your full name and address along with your answer. Emails must be received by Monday the 3rd of November. Winners will be informed in early December when the competition in the magazine ends. The answers can be found atwww.eeksiepeeksieceramics.co.uk. Christmas Crackers... Here's a great cracker recipe from LizzieB, and just one from her article in this month's Home Farmer. As she says, by making your own crackers you don't end up with all the ones that no-one really wants that always serve to fill up the various selection boxes in the stores - you just get the ones you want to eat! KIBBLE AND RYE ROUNDS I was impressed to find a new flour mix on the shelves whilst walking around my local supermarket and wondered if it might be a great shortcut for making a nutty, seeded cracker, without having to buy all the separate ingredients. The crackers I made certainly beat the typical ready-made wholemeal seeded crackers that you can buy hands down, and they are certainly very economical to make. INGREDIENTS 250g seed and grain wholemeal flour 120ml water 60ml sunflower oil A pinch of salt METHOD 1 Preheat the oven to 200°C. 2 Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the middle, then slowly add the water and oil, stirring well to combine until a dough is formed. 3 Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 1–2 minutes until springy. Roll out the dough as thinly as possible (no thicker than 5mm) and cut into rounds – I used a 5cm diameter cutter, but you can make these any shape or size you wish. 4 Place the crackers onto a greased and lined baking tray and prick all over before placing in the oven. Cook for 10–12 minutes, then remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool down and crisp up. LizzieB also suggests making these crackers by adding 1 teaspoon of freshly ground peppercorns and 1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes to make what she calls her ‘spicy fire crackers’! To see more great cracker recipes; a range of traditional potting recipes for beef, seafood, mushrooms and cheese; two great cheese making recipes; and plans for a gingerbread house, (not to mention all our great non-cooking features!), check out our latest issue of Home Farmer by clicking here. Congratulations to Gazegill Organic Farm... Ian and Emma at Gazegill Organics, who we featured in the October issue of Home Farmer, were finalists at theBritish Farming Awards 2014, in the Diversification Innovator of the Year category. The farm was praised for its sales of raw and un-homogenised organic milk from the 60-strong Dairy Shorthorn herd, its direct and online sales of pork, lamb, beef, veal and mutton processed in the farm butchery, and the education facility and care farm, which takes in adults with learning difficulties on a day-visitor basis. These clients grow herbs and edible flowers which are offered for sale. The couple also have a phenomenal talent for communicating with the public on farming, hosting many free educational and school visits. As Ian and Emma put it: “Our farming ethos has always been to put in more than we take out.” Congratulations to all at Gazegill Organic Farm. To find out more about the farm click here.

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Rake the leaves into a nice pile, and as soon as your back is turned.........

Bramley Burgers with Apple Sauce

Yesterday for the apple day Toni made these burgers with apple sauce but used Rabbit, they were delicious!

Bramley Burgers with Apple Sauce 

Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

1 slice wholemeal bread, chopped
450g lean pork or turkey mince
1tbsp fresh sage, chopped
1tsp each dried oregano and dried thyme
1tbsp beaten egg
2 medium Bramley apples
A knob of butter
1tbsp each red wine vinegar and soft light brown sugar


1 Put the bread in a food processor or blender and whiz to make breadcrumbs.
2 Tip the breadcrumbs into a large bowl and add the pork, sage, dried herbs and
beaten egg. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cut one of the
apples in half and set the other half aside. Peel and core it, then grate it and add to
the bowl. Mix everything together well. Divide the mixture into four equal portions and
shape into burgers. Preheat the oven to 200ºC (180ºC fan oven) gas mark 6.
3 Peel and core the remaining apples, then chop and put in a pan with the butter,
vinegar and sugar. Add 50ml cold water and simmer over a low heat until the apple
has cooked down to a soft pulp.
4 Heat the oil in a pan and fry the burgers over a medium low heat for 3-4min each
side until golden. Transfer to a lipped baking sheet and cook for 10-15min until
cooked all the way through.

To serve…
Put each of the burgers in bun with a couple of lettuce leaves, sliced tomato and red
onion. Spoon the apple sauce on top and serve with potato wedges.

Source: http://www.bramleyapples.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/BramleyBurgerswithAppleSauce.pdf

Tractor Bumble

I was interested to read Donna's clandestine meeting with Peter Matheson and tractor Bumble. Then lo! And behold this evening I was sorting through some papers and found this.......

Country Smallholding

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countrysmallholding.com    IN FOCUS InFocus: Creating more woods The Woodland Trust is helping smallholders with a scheme to plant more trees Read more » InFocus: Check that electric fence Autumn and winter maintenance is important, says Meriel Younger ofwww.electricfencing.co.uk Read more » InFocus: Get ready for winter Experts at The Stables Workshop in Staffordshire offer advice Read more »    TRENDING Killing and butchering sheep Feeding the family with produce from the smallholding is the ultimate goal for many of us. Tim Tyne gives a guide to slaughtering and butchering your sheep Read more »    LATEST Building a cob oven A cob oven is a delightful and very useful addition to a smallholding. Debbie Kingsley, who runs courses on making them, shows you how Read more » Tim’s tips: Keeping it handy Tim Tyne is a career smallholder, offering advice on a range of topics. Read more » Tim’s tips: Be safe – be seen Tim Tyne is a career smallholder, offering advice on a range of topics. Here are some great tips from Tim as we move into the winter months. Read more »    COMPETITIONS WIN a carrier! Each worth £80. THREE to give away Read more »   SUBSCRIBE Country SmallholdingSubscription Offer » Buy a single issue of Country Smallholding » Order Today » Order Today » The English GardenSubscription Offer » Buy a single issue of The English Garden » Discover BritainSubscription Offer » Buy a single issue of Discover Britain» Home How To's Poultry Livestock Land Equipment In Focus Magazine Competitions Forum Breeders' Directory

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All the latest news from Rare Breeds Survival Trust

RARE BREEDS SURVIVAL TRUST  WE NEED YOUR HELP Any donation, no matter how small will help us fund essential conservation work. Please Help.  DONATE NOW Visit our website Follow us on Twitter  Like our Facebook Page  October 2014 New home for Government-owned Shetland cattle herd in Northern Ireland Since the 1990s, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) has carried out conservation grazing using specific breeds of livestock to manage its most important wildlife sites.  Hebridean, Shetland and Wiltshire Horn sheep, Exmoor and Konik ponies and Dexter and Shetland cattle made up the workforce of grazing animals whose browsing and grazing maintained grasslands and wetlands in good environmental condition. Earlier this year, RBST was made aware that the government-owned stock may be threatened with dispersal owing to budgetary cuts.  An exchange of correspondence between RBST and Agency staff suggested that not all of the livestock would be sold, and that breeding homes would be found for those that may be dispersed. However, in late August the Northern Ireland press carried the story that all the animals, with the exception of the Dexters, Konik and Exmoor ponies, would be sold at the RBST Rare Breeds Show and Sale at Gosford Forest Park, Markethill on the 6th September. A generous donation from an individual who wishes to remain anonymous allowed RBST to purchase some of the cattle to form a breeding group at An Carn,  RBST were able to buy nine cows and calves on the day, some of which were the original animals that had travelled from the Shetland Islands in 2008. The remaining Shetlands were sold to three private buyers, all of whom expressed an interest in breeding the animals pure, increasing the number of Shetland cattle herds in Northern Ireland to five. The nine cows and calves are now settled in their new home, and staff at An Carn are delighted to be breeding pedigree Shetland cattle in association with RBST locally and nationally.  They have offered the centre as a venue for local rare breeds events, and everyone is optimistic for the future of the Shetland breed in Northern Ireland, and very grateful for the kind and generous donation that made it all possible.    Wretton Frank Last year, RBST established a number of new agisted stock groups, including Leicester Longwool sheep, Dairy Shorthorn and Whitebred Shorthorn cattle. This year, the focus has moved to finding males to help strengthen these existing groups. To help the group of Norfolk Horn sheep at Easton and Otley College, our Field Officer for the South of England and Wales, Richard Broad purchased Wretton Frank at the Traditional and Native Breeds Show and Sale at Melton Mowbray on Saturday 13th September. To make sure the most suitable ram could be purchased, we used Grassroots' Kinship report to check the inbreeding level of all the males at the sale to the flocks at the college. The average IBC (Inbreeding Coefficient) for the breed at present is 0.0397, and luckily all the rams at the sale were less than half this figure. Therefore, we were able to choose from any ram without increasing the inbreeding levels. All the sheep were card graded by Tim Lugsden and Simon Dell, red cards were given to the best quality sheep, which included Wretton Frank. Wretton Frank was purchased for 520gns, the highest priced Norfolk Horn ram at the sale. We are extremely grateful to Paul Davis of Manx Rare Breeds, who donated all the money to purchase Frank.  Frank is now off to Easton and Otley College to run with the flock of ewes, so there will hopefully be lambs in 2015. It is also hoped that we will be able to collect semen from him later in the year for the RBST National Gene Bank.  Melton Mowbray Traditional and Native Breeds National Show and Sale Results  To see the results from this year's Show and Sale, follow this link The dates for next year will be 11th & 12th September 2015. Generous Donation for RBST Rob and Louise Furnace recently featured in Country Smallholding magazine, they have very generously donated the £120 they were paid for the article to RBST. All these stock purchases have been made possible because of extremely generous donations. If you want to help our work, you can make a donation here.                                                 Rob and Louise Furness presenting the cheque to RBST CEO Tom Beeston  Doonies buys new Oxford Down Ram RBST Approved  Conservation Farm Park have been able to buy a new Oxford Down ram following a very generous donation from one of their volunteers.                                                Graham and Debbie Lennox from Doonies Farm with their newly purchased Oxford Down ram RBST Young Shepherd Results The RBST Young Shepherd Final was held at The Royal County of Berkshire on Sunday 21st September 2014. The results were as follows: Junior (8-12 years old) 17 entries in total Elinor Cassie Naryce Anderson Douglas Cew Taylor Western Sam Sharp Imogen Crozier Freddie Squires Senior (13 to 16 years old) 17 entries in total Angus Dagger Sam Kacklin Robert Burrington Lewis Walton Victoria Wheeler Cameron Wainwright Bethany Fincham The overall champion was Angus Dagger with Elinor Cassie in reserve.  Well done to everyone who competed in this year's Young Shepherd competition. Keep an eye out for qualifying rounds at upcoming shows across the UK this autumn and 2015.  Upcoming Shows and Sales 28th Autumn Rare Breeds Show and Sale - York Auction Centre, 3rd-4th October 2014   Lonk Show and Sale at Clitheroe - Clitheroe Auction Centre, 6th October 2014 Featured Breed Shetland Cattle  Category 4 'At Risk' Between 450- 750 registered breeding cows in the UK        Shetland Cattle developed in the harsh environment of their native islands, where they were used as a triple-purpose breed, although their role as draught oxen and meat producers were subsidiary to their milk without which the Crofter and his family could not have survived. As the subsistence economy of the Islands improved, the need for the breed declined and by the 1950s there were fewer than 40 pure bred animals remaining. In the early 1900s, with improved transport links to Scotland, many cows were crossbred because of their efficiency of production and ability to rear a large valuable calf. Today the same ability makes them a useful suckler cow on poor land. Their adaptation to extensive systems of management also suits them for conservation grazing, and the breed also finds favour with Smallholders because of its hardiness and thrifty nature. The Shetland is fine-boned, short-legged and deep-bodied, with short fine horns. Cows stand 44 to 50 inches at the withers and weigh 300 to 500kg depending upon the conditions and quality of grazing. In 1910, the Breed Society accepted animals of all colours though black-and-white predominated. Today most animals are black-and-white, but some other colours have reappeared. To learn more about the breed, please follow this link. Photos by Ruth Dalton and A. Walter  2014 National Goose Survey                   Embden                                     Buff Back                 West of England                    Sebastopol  Numbers of pure bred geese kept in the UK in the 21st century is very low and has now been recognised by all the UK Waterfowl groups, RBST and DEFRA. Both DEFRA and RBST have compiled a list of 'Breeds at risk' which currently includes: Brecon Buff Embden Grey/Buff Back Pilgrim Sebastopol Shetland Toulouse West of England To ascertain a better estimate of these geese breeds in the UK, The Goose Club are conducting a survey. If you keep any of the breeds listed above, please follow this link and complete the survey.  Grazing Advice for Meadows  Did you know that hay meadow species diversity is increased when grazing and cutting are combined, rather than cutting alone?  Grazing animals can also take the place of a hay cut on sites where access is difficult or equipment is hard to obtain and native breeds of cattle, sheep or ponies can have a hugely beneficial effect on species richness. The Coronation Meadows project is able to offer advice and support on grazing through the Rare Breeds Survival Trust's Field Officers, Ruth Dalton (North) and Richard Broad (South) - this could take the form of a phone chat, site visit or even a training session.  If you're already carrying out grazing with native breeds and would be willing to host a farm walk with a discussion on the benefits of conservation grazing, please do contact Ruth or Richard. Ruth Dalton  E: ruth@rbst.org.uk  T: 01539 816223 Richard Broad E: r.broad@rbst.org.uk  T: 07772 007399

unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences  Rare Breeds Survival Trust Stoneleigh Park Nr Kenilworth Warks CV8 2LG Tel: 02476 696551 Email: enquiries@rbst.org.uk Registered Charity Number 269442