Bottte Feeding Matilda the Lamb

Matilda's mum only has half a working udder so we're bottle feeding Matilda twice a day at Watermill Cottages smallholding and teaching her to eat lamb food... She comes running and bouncing when you call her name... why does bottle feeding a lamb make everyone so happy!

Teaching Matilda to eat solids is not easy - she is easily distracted and likes to jump for joy... the Belted Galloways, last year's calves, are not impressed...  Matilda was born in mid-February, she's thriving we're happy to report.  She's in the sheep shed at the moment but shall soon be in the field next to the kitchen garden, behind Barleycorn Cottage, where there's plenty of fresh grass for a growing lamb and her mum.

   

 

      

Dartmouth Food Festival 25-27 October 2013

 oh yes! From Friday 25 October to Sunday 27th October a feast by the tidal Dart in Dartmouth, its restaurants and yacht clubs.
 
Food stalls, cookery demos, dining events showcasing the best that the Dartmouth area and south west can offer, including with renowned Dartmouth chef Mitch Tonks
 
 

Here are some of the highlights -  the full festival programme has all the juicy detail.

Eat Your Words 
A Series of In-Conversations with Food and Cookery Writers at Dartmouth Yacht Club on the South

How do you explain to a reader what a tender, juicy leg of lamb tastes like, or describe the aroma of a crisp, dry glass of Riesling? How do you use words to communicate such sensory experiences?

 

Food and wine are some of the most difficult subjects to write about, but have also produced some of our richest writing.  Listen to renowned food and cookery writers and experts in their fields chat about why food writing matters, why we all love to read it, and what we really write about when we write about food

Drinks Tastings and Seminars featuring local wines, beers and ciders

Workshops with Manna from Devon cookery school  how to dress a crab, cook a perfect steak, decorate cupcakes and more


Stay at Watermill Cottages, enjoy the food fest and press apples with us on Sunday afternoon (27th October), we've hired the huge oak apple press from Orchardlink - fresh-pressed apple juice straight from the press.

We're generating our own electricity now the water turbine is live!

The Turbine Shed

Well, we've overcome floods, high water and manufacturing delays and at last our new replacement water turbine is generating power at Watermill Cottages.

We're generating enough power to run our house and Barleycorn Cottage which has an 'Everhot' Aga-style electric range designed to run on self-generated power.  Excess power is exported to the grid - a 'Wattson' meter shows us how much power we're generating and whether it's being used here or exported.  We're trying to use as much as we can on site as it's more economic.

The old mill leat which used to channel water to the long-gone waterwheel now channels water to the forbay from where it is fed by pipes to the turbine.  It is so lovely to see the water flowing along the leat and trout making the most of a new shady place to swim.  And to hear the conversation, it is a real chatter, as it runs over the old leat stones.

To stroll from Crownwheel Cottage over the plank bridge and along the short track between the leat and the stream through the woods is a delight to the senses - deciduous woods, water gurgling, wildflowers, and dappled sunlight.  The bench by the weir, made from a fallen tree pulled from the stream, offers a place to rest and nourish your spirit, it is so relaxing there.


So once again, the old mill is in production, not corn but electricity.  A few steps closer to being self-sufficient and living more sustainably, harvesting the power of what flows naturally. 

Power to the people, as John says!