Cheats never win!

This morning Wye Market had an 'apple' theme and there was a competition for the longest apple peel.  Pauline, our Market Manager, had provided apples and a strange peeling device (knives not allowed for health and safety reasons!) and shoppers and stallholders were invited to try their hand at creating the longest single peel.  Having checked with Pauline in advance that we were allowed to bring our own apples, I arrived with two very nice Howgate Wonders (obtained from a friendly local fruit farmer).  Here's a picture of Jane (Cheesemakers of Canterbury) showing off her nice pair:

As you see, HWs are somewhat larger than your average apple so we thought we had a fair chance at winning the competition. I was first into the ring and with my borrowed knife (thank you Enzo's Bakery) set about my HW.  The technique is to peel narrow but deep.

Absolute concentration!

However, I hit an obstacle and my peel broke off at 60cm.  Feeble!  Still, everyone watching enjoyed tasting the apple. 

So, then it was Jane's turn .... as her peel started to dangle precariously, she thought that it would be better to rest it on the ground to try and prevent breakage:

A good attempt at 107cm! 

The gauntlet was down ... This was war.  Round 2 ...  I managed 76cm with a normal size apple and Jane lost her peel around 60cm.  One all.  We decided to call it a day at that as we had a queue of customers waiting to be served cheese!

The official judge decided that stallholders should be placed in a separate category (presumably for cheating!) and the competition was eventually won by the last gentleman to take part. Sitting on a straw bale he diligently peeled the entire apple without a single break.  Respect is due ...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Daramac has been busy with his ladies.  Two of our milkers, Hebe and Margot, had a sleep-over with him last night and I have to say that he was looking a bit weary when I switched the barn lights on this morning!  He has also taken to scratching the top of his head on one of the metal pillars - this leaves him with a lovely red head as you can see ..

Daramac sired a lot of our kids last season - here are some of them when they were smaller ..