Scotch Pancakes or Drop Scones

Last Tuesday was Pancake Day otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday when we are supposed to eat pancakes in preparation for the Lent fast. Whether you observe such traditions or not, any excuse to eat pancakes of any variety is always welcome.

I learned to make pancakes from my grandmother and my Mum - scotch pancakes and potato scones always seemed to be made at the same time and leftovers fried up for breakfast with egg and bacon. There is something really delicious about the sweetness of the pancake with the saltiness of the bacon.

After making pancakes this year, I received a request for the recipe so here it is. My grandmother worked in spoonsful, pinches and handsful - some of her recipes don't even have that amount of detail but I have worked out the recipe in grams for the modern cook. She used a griddle on the stove but I recently acquired a fantastic crepe pan with non stick surface and thermostatic control from Lidl which takes the guess work out of getting the temperature just right.

Makes about 25 Pancakes

250g plain flour
40g caster sugar
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 heaped teaspoon cream of tartar
pinch of salt

20g melted butter
30g (a dessertspoon) of golden syrup
I large egg
300 ml milk

Sieve the dry ingredients into a bowl. Whisk the egg and milk together in a jug and add the butter and golden syrup. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the liquid gradually, stirring in the flour until you have a thick batter.

Heat a griddle, thick bottomed or electric frying pan, or an electric crepe maker. Oil the surface lightly and drop spoonsful from the point of the spoon onto the hot surface.

Do a test pancake first to check the temperature. If it is correct, the pancakes should cook in about one and a half minutes per side. The pancake is ready for turning when the bubbles rise to the surface and start to burst. Flip it over and cook the second side for the same time.

Cool the pancakes on a cooling tray with a clean tea towel above and below.

Serve with butter and homemade jam, golden syrup, honey or whatever you like. Enjoy.

Beekeeping at Seafield - Again

In 2009 I wrote about our first foray into beekeeping or rather, bee watching. The winter of 2009/10 proved to be exceptionally cold and when it became warm enough to inspect the hives, we discovered that the two colonies had not made it through to the spring. We hadn't really learned much about beekeeping so had no idea why they perished or what we could have done about it. We were not totally put off but getting new bees didn't seem to be easy.

In 2012 we had the opportunity of buying a nucleus of bees from a friend who lives nearby. We spent a fortune on the accoutrements of beekeeping - a couple of hives, another suit, smokers, frames, foundation - the list goes on.

We collected the bees - five frames of worker bees, stores, brood and a queen bee and transported them to their new apiary - in a sunny spot well away from the house and cottages. A fence was constructed to keep badgers and deer away from the hives although we hadn't thought about the pine marten which shredded the insulation under the hives in its attempt to get at the bees and their honey.

We headed off to Colonsay to attend a weekend course with Andrew Abrahams, a hugely knowledgeable beekeeper and champion of the native black bees. A huge amount of information was on hand, we may even have manage to absorb some of it.

Within a few days of our return we faced our first challenge - our bees had swarmed. Our inexperience meant we had failed to give the bees enough room and hadn't noticed the formation of queen cells, a certain sign of the preparation to swarm. The swarm was captured and placed in a new hive but again our inexperience showed and a failure to place a queen excluder on the bottom of the hive, allowed the colony to continue its determined mission to find a new home. If we had kept the queen captive, the colony would not have left.

A friend came and removed frames with queen cells to another hive, leaving another two frames with queen cells in the original hive. This seemed drastic with depleted numbers but it did the trick. Another small swarm appeared which we manage to catch - this time keeping them captive. We reduced the queen cells to one in each hive and waited. And waited. And waited. After a period of time determined by several bee books, we inspected the hives to find no sign of queens or eggs or brood. Despondency. So we waited some more and amazingly discovered that we had three queens, all mated and all producing new bees. Elation. It was fortunate that our bees knew what they were doing and our ignorance wasn't a problem for them. A yellow dot was applied to identify her as a 2012 queen.

This is the point at which we might have expected to be harvesting the fruits of our bees' labours. The long queenless gap and the slow build up of the colonies meant that not a drop of honey was to be seen apart from the meagre stores we left them with.

Our previous winter experience was a cause for anxiety as we headed into the colder months. We fed them, put in insulated dummy boards and carpet in the roof and crossed our fingers. The winter wasn't particularly cold but the spring was a long time coming so we were not able to inspect our bees properly until nearly the end of April. Our smallest colony had perished. Two and a half frames of bees was marginal for getting through the winter but we couldn't bring ourselves to kill one of our queens and amalgamate the two smaller colonies. Fortunately our two stronger (but still quite small) colonies made it and spent the summer building up their numbers and building wax comb for egg laying and honey and pollen storage.

A course in Moray with Tony Harris on queen rearing, gave us confidence to have a go at producing new queens using 'mini nucs' - tiny polytyrene hives which by some magic, produce mated, laying queens far more quickly than in a conventional hive. We persuaded the bees to produce new queen cells by doing an 'arificial swarm' removing the queen and flying bees to another hive, leaving the workers queenless and ready to raise new queens. The queen cells when nearly ready to emerge were put into the mini nucs with a couple of cups full of bees. We also left a queen cell in the hive so had three chances of new queens. In the event, only one queen was produced in one of the mini nucs. The second queen cell was 'torn down' by the workers and we don't know what happened to the one in the hive. We tried again later to persuade the bees to produce queen cells but it wasn't successful - maybe it was too late in the season.

Now here we are going into winter again. This time with three colonies of similar size, one lovely new queen and two queens which have now done two seasons so will need to be replaced in 2014. They have been fed with sugar syrup, wrapped up warmly and left with good quantities of honey. There are no signs of varroa or other disease (although it is by no means certain that we would spot them all). Slabs of Ambrosia fondant have been put in the hives and we have constructed wooden hive cosies to give them some additional protection from the rain, wind and cold.

They are still flying on good days, adding ivy pollen and nectar to the stores. And best of all, we were able to harvest some of the precious liquid gold - 20 jars of honey which must have cost about £100 each.

The fingers are once again firmly crossed for their winter survival. We may not be about to get rich from honey production but we have learned a lot and just hope that we get a chance to benefit from our experience in 2014. Thanks bees for all the lessons, the honey, and the entertainment and for a whole new way of gardening and observing. See you next year.

Seafield Farmhouse - Available for Holidays

A year ago while on holiday in our campervan on a storm bound Hebridean island we thought about how little space we needed and decided to spend the winter preparing to move out of our house so that we could let it during the summer months. With all the children having flown the nest, it is a large space for two of us and we are rarely indoors during the summer. We arrived home to the discovery that we had a double booking and so some very understanding visitors were the first to sample staying in Seafield Farmhouse after our rather hasty preparations.




A year on and the house is almost prepared for public consumption. We were nearly ready when our visitors in Byre Cottage needed to extend their stay for a fortnight and it is amazing what you can achieve with two day's notice. Needless to say, the winter had been spent on the sofa, close to the woodburner rather than performing admirable feats of de-cluttering. Letting Seafield Farmhouse is not a new concept. Granny and Grandpa Livingston sent the children to relatives in the summer so that the house could be let to families who came up for six weeks at a time. We have a copy of a delightful diary kept by the daughter of one such family who stayed here in 1928 for whom Granny cooked 'monstrously good suppers'. In the 21st century, the accommodation will be strictly self catering!



We are not sure of the exact age of the house. It has been described as 150 years old for at least the last 40 years. It was built as part of the Poltalloch Estate and sold to the Forestry Commission in the 1930's. Grandpa Neil Livingston arrived from the Isle of Luing at the beginning of the last century when Seafield was a sheep farm. The Forestry Commission planted the hill with sitka spruce and Seafield became a sixty acre smallholding comprising mainly of rock and bog. His son Jimmy Livingston took over the farm and also worked full time for the Forestry, operating a winch. In time, his son, my husband, James Livingston came home to look after the place and was also employed by the Forestry Commission. As a tenant, James was able to buy Seafield in the late 1980's and could then diversify into holiday lets, sawmilling and firewood processing. He has recently taken early retirement and so we hope to be able to continue to improve the facilties we provide so that many more people can share the stunning place we are fortunate to be able to live in. That's when James isn't fishing of course.



On the ground floor, the house has a large, 30 ft long conservatory which we added in 1997. This is the main living and dining area and has a woodburning stove. Off the conservatory is a large kitchen with units made by a local craftsman with reclaimed timbers from redundant Crinan Canal lock gates. It has a dishwasher and dual fuel cooker with gas hob and electric oven. There is a combination microwave and large fridge plus the usual small appliances.



Off the kitchen is a utility room with washer and freezer which is accessible from the kitchen but also has a separate exterior door. We need access to this space from time to time as it houses our freezer and a large oven which I need to use occasionally - but we will be as unobtrusive as possible.



The hallway which has a small cloakroom, leads to a family suite of double bedroom with adjacent twin bedroom and ensuite facilities.




Upstairs, there is a large double bedroom with king sized bed and a bathroom with bath and shower. The second bedroom is not available for letting as it is in need of complete refurbishment and will be used for storage of all the things we don't know what to do with.




Central Heating and hot water are from the log fired boiler and there is a woodburner in the conservatory. During warmer weather, the boiler is off and heating and hot water are provided by electricity - mostly generated by the photo voltaic panels.




Seafield Farmhouse is available for holidays during June, July and August. We may extend into September if all goes well. Sorry, no pets and no smoking. Children are welcome. With Byre and Stable Cottages just next door, there is plenty of scope for larger family groups who want to spend time together while enjoying their own space.

To check availability, please go to www.seafieldfarmcottages.co.uk and check the search availability button, email info@seafieldfarmcottages.co.uk or phone 01546 850274

Rhubarb & Cinnamon Cake

Gone are the days when I spent hours during the summer months slaving over a hot oven to fulfill cake and pudding orders for my visitors.  However, there is still always cake of some sort to welcome you on arrival.  This one has proved popular and I have had several requests for the recipe.  The version pictured is apple and rhubarb because, thanks to John and Zoe, I have lots of apples to use.

This can be made with any fruit you like - it is especially good with plums.  The rhubarb version is the one I make most because rhubarb grows well in my garden and people who claim they are not too keen on rhubarb, think that this is pretty good.  You could try cherries, peaches, gooseberries or pears too.

Base

2.5 ounces of Soft Margarine or butter

4 ounces of white or wholemeal self raising flour

1 ounce of white or brown sugar

0.5 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 large egg

Topping

Enough fruit to cover the base generously

Crumble

3 ounces of sugar 

1 ounce of flour

0.5 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 ounce soft margarine or butter

Method

Put all the base ingredients in a food processor and whizz to make a soft dough.  If you don't have a food processor you'll have to do it the hard way.

Grease and Line 7" square tin or dish (I don't bother to line a ceramic dish).

Put the base dough in the tin and top with fruit, peeled, chopped, sliced or stoned depending on what you are using.

Put the crumble ingredients in the food processor (don't bother to wash the blade or bowl after making the base - the ingredients are more or less the same) and pulse until it looks like crumble.  Sprinkle over fruit.

Bake in oven Gas 4, 180C (conventional oven - adjust for fan oven) for about 50 minutes.

Double up the ingredients.  Use a 9" baking dish or tin and cook for an hour.  It freezes well.

Serve warm or cold with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.  Eat and enjoy