Lessons from the Farm

What I learned while living on a horse farm.......

1) Olive oil "costs the Earth and isn't good to cook with because it taints everything." (According to Maureen the "lady of the house" even though she had about 6 bottles of various kinds and I used it secretly and she praised my cooking every day :)

2) Table Salt is "no good and will make your food go off." (also according to Maureen who was quite a character)

3) Baby horses sometimes need help coming out and it is a wonderful but very messy experience.

4) Don't wear flip flops around horses because they step on your feet sometimes.

5) Chuckies are really chickens and a "chuckhouse" is the chicken coop (this caused a lot of confusion between us because she wanted me to prepare the chuck for dinner and I am seeing a chicken, mince and squid in the fridge and not knowing what the chuck is)

6) "Colonial Goose" has nothing to do with a goose or fowl in any form (it is lamb stuffed and rolled up like a roast and put on the grill and let me tell you they have found a zillion ways to do lamb here. I would sound like Bubba from Forest Gump if I said all the ways. Curried lamb, lamb sausages, lamb meatballs.......)

7) Don't ever turn your back on a feisty horse looking for attention because you might be bitten in the bum ( the horse I named Johnny because I thought he was the Johnny Depp of the male horses, femmy but really handsome, did this on a number of occasions!)

8) Farm life is great for a little while but eventually starts feeling a bit like a nunnery! Move on after two weeks!