Back from our first trip to the beautiful Orkney islands and straight into the summer term, I have to admit to feeling somewhat shell-shocked.
It’s always good to get back into a proper routine again – and I know Nick is more relaxed when he is back on terra farma – but I think we were all starting to get used to the more relaxed Orcadian way of life.
After a slightly queasy start to our ferry crossing on the impressive Hamnavoe from Scrabster, we arrived in the fishing port of Stromness with its winding cobbled streets full of independent shops and galleries. It was glorious sunshine and our cottage was a stone’s throw from the sea.
We even managed to do one cultural thing every day (no mean feat with a toddler and a seven-year-old in tow), including Skara Brae, Brough of Birsay and the Italian Chapel, as well as pottering on the many deserted beaches.
We also made almost daily visits to the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness thanks to its fantastic programme of Easter crafts activities for kids.
Our warm feeling for Stromness was stoked by the fact that our friends, Becky and Mark, lived just along the street from the cottage we’d rented and were tireless with their advice on what to do and where best to go with the girls.
We spent a lovely and lively early evening with them in their charming house above the bookshop, in the glow of the wood burning stove, bellies full of mussels, fish pie and Orkney cheese and ale (just the grownups), we could easily imagine living as locals.
Alas, we had to return to the mainland where the farming calendar rolls on at Rootfield as elsewhere, although Nick is late with sowing this year on account of the prolonged wintry weather.
We noticed lambing had already started in Orkney, while Daisy noticed the sunshine-yellow daffodils in full bloom everywhere we went.
With a slight rise in temperatures this past week then, the ground has been prepared so Nick can sow his spring barley.
Lambing has only just begun over at Nick’s father’s sheep holding this week too, while my good friend Gwen, at nearby Conan Mains, has also started their lambing.
I feel sorry for the wee lambies as the wind in this beautiful but blustery part of the world can be bitter and there’s still snow on the Ben today.
Nick says he won’t put the cows out to pasture until the beginning of May because there still isn’t sufficient grass to sustain them.
At any rate, he has yet to set up his paddocks to maximise the grazing platform, as discussed in another column.
In production, a new-to-us bulk tank has been fitted in the production unit which will transform processing and help Rosie and the team to upscale for the coming summer season.
Before, the raw milk had to be manually carried through from the main milk tank in 60 litre churns and poured into a batch pasteuriser.
Although it’s only next door, clearly this is a physically demanding and time-consuming task. It also restricts production to 60 litre batches.
The new bulk tank holds up to 1,000 litres of pasteurised milk which has been pumped directly through a pipe from the main milk tank via a pasteuriser.
With new trade inquiries coming in ever more frequently, it is reassuring to know we now have the capacity to increase production according to demand. In fact, we even had an inquiry during the Easter holidays from a London business called Mac and Wild.
It began as a “Scottish street food sensation” serving up wild game from the Highlands to “London’s everyday people”.
That was seven years ago – now they boast several swanky eateries across the capital serving a seasonal menu of top notch Scottish and Highland produce.
And they want our ice-cream.Naturally we are hugely flattered but are unsure of logistics, volume and pricing.
It was never our intention to go national – to be perfectly honest, our business growth has always been somewhat organic, although when we started out we always thought we would be a small artisan company making and selling our produce locally.
Speaking of our organic growth, I have finally been persuaded into the 21st century after my university friend, Eve – she of the fabulous Highland Food Fling blog – carried out a social media audit on our business as part of setting up a second brilliant business, zippysocial.com.
Clearly spotting a gap in the market, she offers social media management for companies as well as training courses on how to manage your own social media.
I have opted for the latter and as Eve is a friend, I’m hoping she will be patient with her luddite pal who prefers print to portals and CDs to Spotify.
Eve’s eye-opening audit of our social media platforms has shown us just how little we are doing to capitalise on the many marketing opportunities now available to us via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and our own website which, along with the rest of the marketing, has been sadly neglected in favour of the girls for the past, ahem, few years. So I’ve asked mum to watch Mollie while Eve puts me through my social media paces, but to be perfectly honest she would be as well joining us – Mollie that is – since she already operates my iPad and Daisy’s Kindle better than I can.
NEXT MONTH: Royal wedding fever
Rootfield Farm is on the Black Isle, 10 miles north of Inverness, where Jo lives with husband Nick, a fourth-generation dairy farmer, their daughters Daisy and Mollie, and 150 cows.