An unexpected arrival

• By Natalie Pitfield

When you live on a lifestyle block, you’re well aware that planning can be tricky. My friends have come to expect that when we make plans, they may receive a message saying that a water line has burst, a tree has fallen, or an animal is sick or injured, and I won’t be able to make it.

We’ve had more unexpected and curly situations than I can count, but the one that created the most surprise was when one of our heifers suddenly calved.

We have cattle to keep the grass down. We buy them as calves, rear them for a few years then send them off to the next farm and get new calves. We got some yearling heifers nine months earlier. One of them was quite small and very pretty, white and beige. She was shy and never seemed to gain quite as much weight as the others.

Then we got the shock of our lives when moving them one day, and she had a calf at her heel!

Given we hadn’t known or remotely expected that she could be pregnant, it was a huge fright.

Because we felt it was something akin to an immaculate conception, we named the cow Mary and her calf Jessie.

People who rear calves will be laughing, but if you’ve never done it before (and never expected to), it’s a bit daunting. We knew nothing and felt ignorant. I rang the vet and got some info. They were super helpful. This was way out of my wheelhouse.

But we made sure the afterbirth detached, and things looked clean. We checked that Jessie was feeding okay. We separated them from the other cows. And waited and hoped.

I’m calling Jessie our bonus cow. She was an extremely unexpected gift. And she’s just beautiful.

RECIPE: Danish rye bread

Ingredients

3tsp dried yeast
1 ½ cups warm water
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp oil
1 ½ tsp salt
2 cups high-grade flour
1 ½ cups rye meal/flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp instant coffee granules
1 tsp caraway seeds

Method

1. Measure the first five ingredients into a large bowl with a cup of high-grade flour and mix thoroughly. Cover and leave to stand in a warm place for 15 minutes.
2. Stir in remaining flour, rye meal, cocoa powder, instant coffee and caraway seeds. Add extra flour or water to make a dough just firm enough to knead. I find I usually need an extra half cup of flour and add some more rye.
3. Knead with the dough hook or an electric mixer or by hand on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes, adding extra flour if necessary, until the dough forms a soft ball which springs back when pressed lightly.
4. Oil a large bowl and place dough in ball, turning a few times in the oil. Cover with cling wrap and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes.
5. Knead the dough lightly before turning out onto a lightly floured surface. To make a round loaf shape the dough into a ball and flatten slightly with your hand. Tuck edges underneath but leave top smooth and it should form an even round when baked.
6. Place round in a 23cm round spring form pan to help keep its shape. Dust with flour. Leave for an hour until doubled in size. Note that you can make a rectangular loaf in a bread pan if preferred.
7. Bake at 200 °C for about 30 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

My Dad is Danish, so rye bread was always a staple in our house. It’s absolutely delicious with smoked salmon, liverwurst or scrambled egg. Rye meal is the whole grain version, and rye flour is a suitable substitute. I get mine at Bin Inn. Caraway seeds add a slight aniseed flavour but can be omitted if preferred.