We have a Farmer’s Market in Halifax too, every Saturday morning. It takes place in an old (19th C) brewery building, which is very picturesque with narrow passages, rooms and courtyards of different sizes and at different levels, as in a medieval fortress. It took me years to remember how to get from one place to another without getting lost. Unfortunately, the place is bursting at the seams: in mid-morning it is extremely crowded, so they are building a modern replacement not too far away, which will be bigger and much more functional but won’t have the charm of the old one.
In the local supermarket it is possible to buy a Canadian cheese advertised as made of goat’s milk, but it is too fresh for my taste, with just a bare hint of a goat flavour.
AJP, that’s the one! I am amazed that they took pictures of all the locations. The pictures all have the same date but obviously they were taken at different times of the year and the day. It is different seeing the pictures and actually being there. When I go (never very early) the place is usually packed. Some of the vendors have been coming for years and years, which is very nice because you get to know them and look forward to seeing them. But there are always some changes. The new place is supposed to open some time this summer, and then the brewery which still owns the old building will take over the whole of it. But the regulars will all be very sad.
Our Farmers’ Markets are sometimes a bit lax on definitions. You see the coffee stall and wonder (yesterday the coffee man was missing; a notice said that Charles was absent because of “the stop on flights from Holland”). On the other hand, the ostrichburgers are very good and genuinely local. You do get good local cheese, honey, hams, pies, game, butchermeat, curries, fruit and veg, plus fish from Lowestoft, “cheddar” from Mull and a very fine Gorgonzola Dolce. The baking is often very good though Lord knows where the flour has come from. Anyway, there are lots of these markets around – different Saturdays, different towns or villages. There are even some that operate on the fifth Saturday of the month.
My mother’s family is from Essex, Cambridgeshire & Norfolk, so i spent a good deal of time there as a child. I love Newmarket sausages, I wonder if they still sell them. I once saw an owl on a perch at the market in Newmarket. Its head revolved 360 degrees, as they do, without falling off.
Contrary to popular myth, an owl cannot turn its head completely backwards. It can turn its head 135 degrees in either direction; it can thus look behind its own shoulders, with a total 270-degree field of view.
But surely this angular quantity varies from one species to another, and even within species. You may have seen a particularly limber individual.
Newmarket sausages: we incline to Musk’s rather than the also excellent Pouter’s. You can get them at Tesco, but if you buy them in Newmarket you can get them without preservatives. There are also gluten-free sausages, at least from Musk’s.
As for the flour, I was just pretending to wonder whether local bakery is made with local flour. Anyway, I’ll bet they’re not local raisins in the fruit scones. Did I say that the fruit scones yesterday were excellent? Oh happy sunny Saturday – thank God for Spring.
Here spring (and even summer) is alternating unpredictably with winter. A month ago, students were playing ball on the street in t-shirts and shorts. Today it is snowing!
Same here, m-l. Today there was sleet as we were driving through the mountains. I blame Iceland for this. At least there are lots of spring flowers out.
Today there was sleet as we were driving through the mountains. I blame Iceland for this.
I went to pick up my son at a scouts hike today. The sun was shining and I was going uphill, so I first took off my anorak and then rolled up my sleeves. On our way down there first came something ashlike from clear sky, then it stopped, but a few minutes later it started hailing. When we came to the car, it was dirty.
At the moment it’s pretty organised. They learnt to go for walks when they were young, we took them on leads. Now I just let them out of their enclosure by the goat house when I take the dogs for a walk, and they follow, usually in a line with the smallest one at the back. They’re particularly keen to come with us at the moment, because there isn’t much green stuff for them to eat yet near the house. There are no leaves on the trees, only buds and evergreens and they’re sick of evergreens (they’ve been eating them all winter). So they come and nibble buds and eat the leaves of the early spring flowers. They seem to enjoy the exercise too after having been cooped up inside all winter.
They won’t walk in front of me through the forest, it’s too scary; they will only walk behind me. Even so, every so often they will see something: a shadow or a movement or a strange profile, and they will freeze for a few seconds until they feel secure again and they can proceed. They have never really freaked out at anything; they are used to horses, cows, people, dogs and cars and tractors. I’m not sure what would make them run, short of a charging lion.
Later on they’ll get an enclosed pasture up the road where they can graze all day; but we have to wait another month or so, until there’s something for them to eat there.
If they’re going to “relocate” anyone it should be those bloody boat crews. Clip their oars down one side throwing them off balance when they display aggressive behaviour.
A Bad Guide
We went to a Farmers’ Market this morning. One stall had a notice saying that one of its cheeses was “Not too goaty”.
I think they mean “Not goaty enough”.
How great to have a Farmer’s Market, though. We don’t have them here. I bet they have good cheeses.
We have a Farmer’s Market in Halifax too, every Saturday morning. It takes place in an old (19th C) brewery building, which is very picturesque with narrow passages, rooms and courtyards of different sizes and at different levels, as in a medieval fortress. It took me years to remember how to get from one place to another without getting lost. Unfortunately, the place is bursting at the seams: in mid-morning it is extremely crowded, so they are building a modern replacement not too far away, which will be bigger and much more functional but won’t have the charm of the old one.
In the local supermarket it is possible to buy a Canadian cheese advertised as made of goat’s milk, but it is too fresh for my taste, with just a bare hint of a goat flavour.
What a shame they’re moving it, it sounds lovely.
You’ll have to get your own goats, m-l.
Halifax Farmers’ Market
Yes, you can actually see it here. I wish we had something like this.
AJP, that’s the one! I am amazed that they took pictures of all the locations. The pictures all have the same date but obviously they were taken at different times of the year and the day. It is different seeing the pictures and actually being there. When I go (never very early) the place is usually packed. Some of the vendors have been coming for years and years, which is very nice because you get to know them and look forward to seeing them. But there are always some changes. The new place is supposed to open some time this summer, and then the brewery which still owns the old building will take over the whole of it. But the regulars will all be very sad.
Our Farmers’ Markets are sometimes a bit lax on definitions. You see the coffee stall and wonder (yesterday the coffee man was missing; a notice said that Charles was absent because of “the stop on flights from Holland”). On the other hand, the ostrichburgers are very good and genuinely local. You do get good local cheese, honey, hams, pies, game, butchermeat, curries, fruit and veg, plus fish from Lowestoft, “cheddar” from Mull and a very fine Gorgonzola Dolce. The baking is often very good though Lord knows where the flour has come from. Anyway, there are lots of these markets around – different Saturdays, different towns or villages. There are even some that operate on the fifth Saturday of the month.
Lord knows where the flour has come from
Why do you say that, dearie?
My mother’s family is from Essex, Cambridgeshire & Norfolk, so i spent a good deal of time there as a child. I love Newmarket sausages, I wonder if they still sell them. I once saw an owl on a perch at the market in Newmarket. Its head revolved 360 degrees, as they do, without falling off.
Wiki says:
Contrary to popular myth, an owl cannot turn its head completely backwards. It can turn its head 135 degrees in either direction; it can thus look behind its own shoulders, with a total 270-degree field of view.
But surely this angular quantity varies from one species to another, and even within species. You may have seen a particularly limber individual.
Newmarket sausages: we incline to Musk’s rather than the also excellent Pouter’s. You can get them at Tesco, but if you buy them in Newmarket you can get them without preservatives. There are also gluten-free sausages, at least from Musk’s.
As for the flour, I was just pretending to wonder whether local bakery is made with local flour. Anyway, I’ll bet they’re not local raisins in the fruit scones. Did I say that the fruit scones yesterday were excellent? Oh happy sunny Saturday – thank God for Spring.
Here spring (and even summer) is alternating unpredictably with winter. A month ago, students were playing ball on the street in t-shirts and shorts. Today it is snowing!
Same here, m-l. Today there was sleet as we were driving through the mountains. I blame Iceland for this. At least there are lots of spring flowers out.
Today there was sleet as we were driving through the mountains. I blame Iceland for this.
I went to pick up my son at a scouts hike today. The sun was shining and I was going uphill, so I first took off my anorak and then rolled up my sleeves. On our way down there first came something ashlike from clear sky, then it stopped, but a few minutes later it started hailing. When we came to the car, it was dirty.
Yes, our car got a dirty windscreen from this.
Do the goats like to walk with you? Or do you tag along with the goats? Or is it less organized than that?
At the moment it’s pretty organised. They learnt to go for walks when they were young, we took them on leads. Now I just let them out of their enclosure by the goat house when I take the dogs for a walk, and they follow, usually in a line with the smallest one at the back. They’re particularly keen to come with us at the moment, because there isn’t much green stuff for them to eat yet near the house. There are no leaves on the trees, only buds and evergreens and they’re sick of evergreens (they’ve been eating them all winter). So they come and nibble buds and eat the leaves of the early spring flowers. They seem to enjoy the exercise too after having been cooped up inside all winter.
They won’t walk in front of me through the forest, it’s too scary; they will only walk behind me. Even so, every so often they will see something: a shadow or a movement or a strange profile, and they will freeze for a few seconds until they feel secure again and they can proceed. They have never really freaked out at anything; they are used to horses, cows, people, dogs and cars and tractors. I’m not sure what would make them run, short of a charging lion.
Later on they’ll get an enclosed pasture up the road where they can graze all day; but we have to wait another month or so, until there’s something for them to eat there.
I always start singing “Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go…” when I see the goat walks. They are so charming!
hat tip, Mark Wadsworth’s blog.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Strange-News/A-Marauding-Goat-Has-Gone-On-The-Rampage-In-Australia-Leaving-Three-People-In-Hospital/Article/201004315609791?f=rss
More naughtiness.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/8632369.stm
I’m not sure the Queen would know how to handle this swan situation, but Jeeves would.
“They are in a stable condition”
I love it when they say that.
If they’re going to “relocate” anyone it should be those bloody boat crews. Clip their oars down one side throwing them off balance when they display aggressive behaviour.