Silage is upon us
Posted: Monday, 11 June 2007 |
Look at all that lush green grass...
We are gearing up for the latest edition of All The Farmers Bring In Their Silage and All The Wives Feed Them. I've hit silage season every time I visited Orkney and now I'm here to stay - for all of the future silage seasons! Erlend is outside raking the mown silage grass so that it spreads out and dries in this fabulous hot sunshine. Meanwhile I'm trying to tidy up the kitchen. I've organized a menu of fresh light foods for the silage men as they make the rounds over to our farm: bacon, cheese and tomato sandwhiches, fresh salad, garden pea soup and home-grown rubarb crumble. Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm!
It's sooo funny: as soon as ONE farmer starts to cut a silage field the rest of the farmers get freaked out and start mowing away. There's an unspoken competition between the farmers as to who gets theirs in first. (They also mind who starts and who finishes calving first etc) and there is a silent competition between the wives as to who throws out a good meal for the guys as they migrate from farm to farm and bring in the grass.
Orcadians are like cows and sheep: they won't eat something that they haven't seen before. Instead they stare at it with suspicion and politely pick at it - and then flee at the first chance. I didn't know this when I first came to Orkney. I lost the Silage Meal Game the first year because I served a mountain of potato salad - something these Orcadians don't often see. To top it off they eat like birds - whereas American farmers would have inhaled that mountain of potato salad and asked for seconds!
I lost the game the second year because my gravy turned SOLID. (I still haven't caught the knack of making gravy...) Erlend said to make mince - the guys would recognise that! So I set about frying up a couple bags of what we call "hamburger" back home. I tried to make a gravy and it turned into a brick right there as I stirred it! I had to call Erlend's cousin Marina to come and save me since I had no idea what on earth "mince" consisted of. She brought a tub of brown powder and made a brown sauce that went with the mince and I discarded my "gravy" and tried to act natural when the guys came in for dinner and Marina snuck out the other door.
I lost the game last year because I served up corn bread and no one here eats corn bread! Corn-based stuff is sooooo American and I LOVE the stuff! I thought, man - hard working farmers would LOVE nice hot steamy corn bread fresh from the oven and slathered with butter!!! They'll be drooling as soon as they come in the door and take a whiff of the air! Yeah they would: in America! The Orcadians stared at it nervously and nibbled it down with polite smiles. I was slightly baffled when several of the men thought that the corn bread was for pudding (desert) and they put ice cream and other deserty things on it. But hey, at least they ate it!! I wanted to hide under a rock though - my pasta dish had been a rubbery watery wreck and the corn bread went over like a lead balloon.
This year I have to be careful to organize the salad in a Scottish Friendly fashion - folks in the Land o' Haggis eat their salads in a different way then we Americans do. I don't want to send the silage crew screaming in terror as they flee across the fields...
Meanwhile as I cook and the men pack the silage pit the cows watch from the fields as their winter's worth of grub is piled high to ferment in the pits. They know what it is - they eat it every year. It's so uncomplicated feeding the cows!!
Ok...back to organizing the kitchen so I can cook a huge meal, sit a crowd and serve up the food without going mad!
Comments
well - you don't give them mince - apparently - I got a row for giving the sheep shearers mince cos they couldn't bend afterwards! you give them lots tea, lots homebakes, soup, something wi tatties - usually stew - and serve dumplings or pastry. And make sure thatit is ready on time - half an hour before needed, and does not ruin by being kept hot for an hour. and remember they eat and drink like there's no tomorrow! And you've only just got cleared up fae one sitting when in they come for the next!
scallowawife from in the cookery book
I would like to point out, however, that Erlend WAS brave enough to try try Bertie Botts Everyflavor Beans when I came for a visit...even the earwax and earthworm ones. *grin* Miss and love you guys!
Willow/Becky from Las Vegas, Baby!!!
Okay, is silage like a long grass? I've been reading it in your posts and havent figured it out yet! What type of grass would it compare to here in the old U.S?
Mrs. Tracy from USA...South Carolina
What does it mean, the silage goes into a pit and ferments? That sounds more like making beer?
Shauna from North Tejas
It's just like us Norwegians. We eat what we have eaten before. But lambmeat and tatties is always a winner.
Dag from Norway
why must it be a competition? Here in my village,farmers get together and talkthings over-which vine is going to picked first(apart from the obvious-which type of grape do we start with-always the same anyway!) but at last there is nothing like ""i'm first,my wife cooks better) etc! its community spirit,which i thought still existed in scotland
carol from ???
I think my cat has packed up and moved to Orkney. Yours is the double of him. He is currently getting harrassed but crows and magpies who are being territorial!
alix from west midlands
What is silage? Good grief: talking about being cut off from the land!! silage is to cows what sauerkraut is to Germans (usw), kimchee to Koreans etc., etc. Of course, I am not comparing the digestive system of Germans and Koreans to that of cows ...
mjc from NM,USA
Pupils liked the cat picture.
Fetlar School from Fetlar
What's a Scottish Friendly Salad? (I feel like Basil Fawlty when asked for a Waldorf Salad). Come to think of it, what's an American Salad?
Muness from Fetlar
Excuse me for my ignorance. I do not live on a farm. We do not own cattle and up til now, I was never curious enough to want to know the name of grass. So, if you dont feel the need to answer my question, that is fine, but that is no reason to be sarcastic. I've always believed that if you dont know, ask.
Mrs Tracy from USA
Erlend was brave enough to try Becky's Terrifying Jelly Beans of Doom because he had several months of my home cooking under his belt hehehe ok, Silage is fermented grass. It has to ferment so that it doesn't rot or mold through the winter - we keep the cattle housed for 7 lonnnnnng months and thus we build up a winter's worth of food for them during the summer. As for the "competition" between farmers and farm wives, it's just friendly fun. With all of the hard back-breaking work going on it lightens things up a bit. And the Scottish style of salad differs from Americans in that Americans mix all of the salad up into one bowl and slap dressing on it and mix it again and viola! A mixed up salad that we stab with our forks and stuff in our mouths. The Scots like tohave each individual veg spread out around the plate and pick each individual bite up with their fork from each pile: lettuce, tomato, cucumber... and dip it into the salad dressing before stuffing in mouth. They also like to have wee piles of pasta salads, some beetroot and also cold meats. Which reminds me: I need to go attack the leftover chicken carcass so I can get some cold meat piled up before I arrange an Orcadian-friendly salad!!!
Michelle Therese from Moooo!
Maybe it's a mis-spelling of salaud? Something to do with insurance....
Flying Cat from a linguistic coil
I love the smell of silage! Mmmm. This is weird, apparently. Thanks for this blog, Moo, I laughed a lot!
Stromness Dragon from in between gadding about
Ah, reminds me of my salad days. Those days were not spent farming though: hunting would be more like it.
mjc from NM,USA
Mrs. Tracy I wasn't being sarcastic. I'm sorry if I failed to answer your question. We've been busy today with the harvest and I left a comment but if I missed your question here's the answer: Silage is fermented grass. All you do is pile it up, cover it and it ferments.
Michelle Therese from Things Go Moo in the Night...
Mrs Tracy - chill! If you look over mjc's past comments (of which there are MANY), you will see that sarcasm features frequently. Most of us are used to it, and occasionaly even find it mildly amusing. Keep up the IB viewing and maybe will too. (And remember, if you find mjc's comments too much, you can always find light relief in Thewhitesettler's blogs.)
Ruthodanort from Unst
well Michelle Therese I think your american food sounds great and the orcadian men a miserable lot of old bodachs (I've probably mis-spelt that) I have only had the opportunity of corn bread once and loved it any chance of the recipe please... lighten up Mrs Tracy, mjc is only having abit of fun......he can take it as well as give it,
island threads from lewis
If salad defines our lineage then I must surely come from the USof A. And for these last years I had been labouring under the illusion I was Orcadian! (ish)
Ruthodanort from Unst
Oh hang on there, TGMITN! My parental units ALWAYS make the chuck-it-all-in-a-bowl kind of salad and add dressing et bingo! The kind of Scottish Salad you describe is the 1970s version.....which still pertains in the Highlands&Islands! And maybe always will. *sigh* ....no doubt complete with finely sliced boiled egg done on the special boiled egg slicer (which doubles up as a mini harp, if you're really boooored). It's nice to see Mrs T not appreciating a fellow American's ironic humour...I hope mjc has not been malignly influencd by his anglophilia!
Flying Cat from a salaud bowl
A few nettles, a bit of carageen and some clover flowers for colour drizzled with a bit of Duckhams 20/50 was always good enough for us whether on the silage or out in the peats. On the subjects of lettuce and salad, I believe there is a recent remake of 'Salad Days', the film shot on Benbecula or Uist - they renamed it 'The Rocket Post'
calumannabel from Finger on the pulse as ever
Ruthodanort: I am glad you are amused (albeit mildly). I did not mean to upset Mrs. Tracy: I unwittingly let rip an unfortunate streak of "intellectual" snobbishness. Mrs. Tracy may not know about silage but doubtless she knows more than I do about many other things. For those wanting pabulum and "groveling" [to use a term found on Ruthodanort's last posting], however, there are other commentators who will satisfy.
mjc from NM,USA
Yours truly guilty of anglophilia, FC? Weeeell, up to a point your Honor. Probably in the same proportion as my well-watered francophobia.
mjc from NM,USA
Yours truly guilty of anglophilia, FC? Weeeell, up to a point your Honor. Probably in the same proportion as my well-watered francophobia.
mjc from NM,USA
And if salad defines lineage (salad as destiny), as Ruthodanort suggests, then some of us are really in a pickle.
mjc from NM,USA
To MJC, thank you for the apology. I have to remember that had we been side by side, I would have SEEN that you've had a bad day...sigh, such is the life in blogland! No hard feelings at all! When I've been on this blog and gotten to "know" the frequent commentors, I'll be able to "read" you all more correctly! Have a blessed day.
Mrs Tracy from USA
Mrs. Tracy, I would have expected more generosity from a fellow American! How about a blessed WEEK, for crying out loud? Really, what I may well need is more of a honeyed dressing on my salad, and much less of that non-balsamic vinegar ...
mjc from NM,USA
You are SO right! How stingy of me. ROFLOL...in my best southern voice... honey, ya'll have a REAL blessed week, ya hear!! Hows THAT for honey ;o)
Mrs Tracy from USA
*bleh*
Flying Cat from gang green
gang green, eh FC? You ARE funny. Have the bipeds used tasted their Lapsang yet. I don't know much (shucks, I don't know anything) about tea growing, but I always thought it was pretty much pesticide free. So, why pay extra for "organic"? Reminds me of the joke about an ad for arsenic free coffee (or was it guga?). When the producer/seller was asked to defend the ad.(as there had not been any report of arsenic in that product) he argued that he was telling the truth, and that if his competitors' product were equally free, then they should state it!!
mjc from NM,USA
Only one of 'em actually drinkd the stuff and I'll leave you to guess which, mjc, but the kind present of organic tarry tea came from a cub in chavland in the Deep South and she's very keen on not eating adulterated products, including factory farmed creatures. And insecticided tea.
Flying Cat from gone to pot
So...I traded my quiet cabin in the Alaskan woods for the howling winds of Orkney and life on a farm. 
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