A-Day

We are very excited at Ochre HQ today, as D Day has finally arrived - renamed A Day, as our shiny new(reconditioned) Aga has arrived. From the lovely folks at Aga Twyford, it is the ultimate in recycling, and it looks as good as new. It does make you wonder why you'd pay for a brand new one. I've chosen a classic white model, as it is the best backdrop for the Ochre And Ocre textiles, when we do our next brochure shoot in our own kitchen. I suspect I won't get away with putting it through as a business expense, unfortunately!!

I grew up with a version of an Aga, (A Cleopatra oil range), and have many happy childhood memories; Helping to make Welsh cakes on the top, my mums kitchen filling with the smell of baking. Sitting with my back to it, when it got really cold. Slow cooked stews bubbling away. Woolly hats warming on the top before going out in the snow.  My then boyfriend(now husband) had the shock of his life, when he came to stay the first time, sat down for a farmhouse breakfast, and the door of the warming oven swung open, followed by a loud Baaaa and a small lamb fell out. (No, we weren't cooking the lamb! They are a great reviver).  So I know how they are more than just a cooker, but a very central part of family life.
I have already started scanning websites looking for recipes, and have started to stockpile some ideas. If any of you out there are Aga fans I would love it if you could share your favourite recipes. What to make the first time??? It has to be Welsh cakes..yum!

Friday Feeling

Even though I work from home, and often work through the weekend, I still get that Friday feeling. I'm not sure why - it must be ingrained after years of working in an office.
Friday's in London used to be quite special, as often there were informal get togethers in bars and pubs as you waited for your train home. In summer when it was hot people would spill out onto the pavement. Living in a rural location now, I still like to kick back and chill out, even with a 3 month old - so we were very excited when a rather gorgeous Gastro pub opened up on our doorstep. Now as much as we want to keep it to ourselves, I suppose it's in our interest to share it!  The Inn at Welland. In a lovely setting, decorated with soft muted greys, and BTC lighting, the food is pretty good too! Fortunately they welcome tiddlers, and with lots of outside seating you can make the most of the weather, and enjoy a smog free drink! Happy Friday everyone!

Routine

One thing I am discovering with a young baby and working is that you have to be a lot more flexible. I am quite a creature of habit and in my pre baby days I loved to start my day with a walk or bike ride in the Malverns, before spending the day working on Ochre And Ocre . Now my day seems to be snatched moments of work interspersed with feeding and changing. My phone answer service is certainly getting more business, as holding a baby, and a phone leaves no hands free to write. So I tend to have to call customers back during nap times.
My other baby; the house build / renovation also takes large chunks of time. Builders are also creatures of habit; they like to have their tea breaks at set times, and I've learnt if I'm not there ready with their brews, they walk muddy booted into the house to make their own. Not to mention the constant questions throughout the day, as to what thickness of ply they should use, where I want a pipe positioned - I do feel like I'm blagging it a lot of the time. The end is nearly in sight, as the doors are being fitted this week, and plastering this weekend, I'm busy dreaming up all kinds of meals we can have once I have the use of a hob and oven again!
With all this going on something had to give, and it's been our garden. We have inherited a beautiful garden, or rather it has the potential to be beautiful if it were tended. I am the first to admit I'm not a gardener, I like to look at the finished piece, but I can't tell a weed from a flower. So it was after much soul searching we took the decision to employ a man who can. It feels rather bourgeois, to have a "gardener", but my need to sleep means there are no free hours in the day at all.

He came for the first time last week; and such is the scale of the task he asked me where I'd like him to start; I vaguely waved at an area, not knowing quite what the plants were and suggested he start there. I hope it won't be like using a mechanic - once they know you know nothing all kinds of problems ensue! I am still responsible for the veg patch and greenhouse - which is currently going great guns, and I'd welcome any recipes that use cucumbers, but don't need a cooker!

Monica's Unite!

Image via WikipediaHands up all you Monica's out there - there are a lot of you I know, sometimes closet Monica's, some who are very much out there! For those of you wondering what I'm talking about, Monica is a character of the US sitcom Friends, who likes to clean, some say even finds it therapeutic. I have to admit to having Monica like leanings, which is why I am finding it really hard at the moment. With the arrival of Baby Ochre I was willing to let standards slip slightly - but with builders, plumbers and plasterers in every room of the house bar one, I feel like I am coming out in a rash due to the need to hoover and polish. We are now hopefully on countdown, signalled by the plasterers being here, but unfortunately with plastering comes that fine white dust that hovers in the air and settles everywhere, white footprints up and down the stairs, plus the odd bit of old render which has been pulled off the wall, dragged through the house and dropped down the stairs.
Everyday I think, "maybe I'll get the hoover out this morning, whilst the baby sleeps", then by mid day I've given up, slumping into despair at the state of the house. I'm also a Barefoot Monica, normally I wander around the house barefoot, bliss after wearing heels in my previous life. But a few well placed splinters, and bits of cement have soon put paid to that; instead of my bohemian feet, they are more slumdog. I know, I know it will be worth it in the end - but it seems to never come at the moment!
If you are a Monica, and feel the need, the need to clean, you will be more than welcome to help when we are done!

Visitors

We have had lots of visitors to Ochre And Ocre HQ recently; as well as the numerous well wishers for Baby Ochre, there have been some of the winged variety.
We were surprised to come across a swarm of bees that had decided to make their home in the end of a roll of fencing wire in our orchard. Fortunately we have a friendly local beekeeper, who came to investigate. It turns out the bees were probably from one of the pollinating hives on a nearby field of oil seed rape. Unfortunately the Queen Bee was no where in sight, and without their queen the swarm was slowly dying, and there was nothing that could be done to help them. The bees were tipped onto the grass and as the beekeeper rather quaintly put it, they could go back into the life cycle as bird feed. Later on that evening the orchard was filled with 100's of little songbirds eating up the bees.
Apologies for the poor image but Baby Ochre and I were advised to stay well back whilst the bee keeper investigated.

Also recently arrived are our own mini flock of sheep and lambs; whose main employment is to eat the grass in the orchard, thus saving time mowing. (We are very keen for any time saving schemes at the moment!). The lambs are at an age when they are just starting to play independently from their mums, and have spent the first few days roaming their new home, checking out all the places to hide and jump off!

With all the sun and rain we are having at the moment everything seems to be growing very quickly - Baby Ochre is nearly out of his newborn sleepsuits, and our veg plot is quickly filling up with radishes and lettuce. If only our new kitchen extension would grow so quickly!

Baby Ochre

I think I have a fairly good excuse for not updating my blog for nearly a month - we were somewhat taken by surprise by the early arrival of Baby Ochre. 4 weeks early, and weighing in at a light 5lb 8oz, our daily routine has been slightly disrupted.

Fortunately he sleeps most of the day, unfortunately not much at night time. So although I have peace to sort things out in the office, make calls and pack orders during the daytime, lack of sleep is making it hard to concentrate, and stay awake!
I know the common advice given is to sleep during the day, but unfortunately it wasn't just us who were caught out by the early arrivals, the builders were still in full demolishing mode, so during the day jack hammers, steel saws and cement mixers whirl. Whilst Baby Ochre seems blissfully unaware, and snores away softly, I cannot sleep through the noise. So instead I blurringly try to continue with my daily jobs, inbetween feeding, nappy changing, and making countless cups of tea for the builders.
Once again our lovely customers have been very understanding, and patiently leaving phone messages with the answer service, so that I can call them back when I have a free hand, (I quickly realised I couldn't hold the phone, baby and write at the same time!). I also had to time the calls in between the power tools, so I could at least hear the customer at the other end of the line!
I know when it's all done it will be fab - I'm hoping it will be ready in time for an Autumn photoshoot with the lovely Miss Spivey, so we can shoot the new ranges for our Spring brochure. In the meantime I am getting quite adept at cooking on a single ring camping stove, and typing one handed as Baby Ochre snores softly in the crook of my arm.

Spring babies

Spring has well and truly sprung in the Malverns -  we currently have the cutest pair of baby rabbits living under our store. They race up and down the drive, nibbling the weeds, and generally looking cute. I know if they appeared near my newly planted veg patch I wouldn't be quite so keen on them.
The lambs are also roaming the common. We had a bunch hanging around our gate last night - they've got to that age where they are more confident and cheeky; racing each other up and down the hills, and trying their luck at getting into our garden!

There are lots of baby calves too, all gangly legs, and completely fearless when it comes to road sense! Once again my daily trip to the Post Office has become a game of chicken. They tend to wait until you are almost driving past them, before making a bolt across the road.
Even the pigeons are at it -there was a very cute pair necking on the fence last night.
We are also on our own countdown for Baby Ochre, suddenly it's no longer a distant date, but a fast approaching reality! But sitting in my office, looking out at the blossom on the trees, and the Malvern hills, it's a pretty cool place for a baby to be brought up.