I DON’T know whether they were actually the kind of thing he would wear, but several of Iain Green’s underpants were on display last week at the Morayshire Monitor Farm group meeting at his Corskie Farm, just outside Fochabers.

And, they weren’t just on the washing line. No, this was part of the not very PC-named #soilmyundies experiment which requires the burying of one’s smalls (cotton only please) in soils around the farm to test the biology of the topsoil.

Those used at Corskie were decidedly more reminiscent of what his father, Jimmy, would wear – ie common or garden cotton Y-fronts – as I would see Iain as more of a Tommy Hilfiger man. But hey ho, the experiment has shown that some undies were soiled more than others, depending on what part of the farm they were buried and should not really be indicative of any stress or excitement shown at harvest time!

(For more on this and a view of said undies, see page 22 of this week's edition of The Scottish Farmer).

The trophy incident

THERE WAS a moment of irony, last week, at the Scottish National Premier Meat Exhibition, held at Scotbeef’s abattoir in Bridge of Allan, that just as a Scottish rugby team was about to kick-off against the mighty All Blacks, there was a ‘trophy incident’ of sorts.

Not quite on the scale of the Calcutta Cup drop kick up Princess Street by another well-known farmer, this one involved a bit of dropsy from Alex Paul, Ballingall Mill, Glenrothes, as he did his victory salute with one of the main trophies at the event. Sadly, the base was not attached to the cup and there was an unfortunate clatter – which may or may not have dented said famous trophy!

Never mind, the audience laughed uproariously as it is not uncommon for the legendary Paul family joie de vivre to come to the fore at this event – usually it involves some kind of kissing of the lady presenter of the trophy. Luckily, this time, it was a man that was given that job!

A meeting of wallets

THERE MUST have been some sort of record broken last weekend at the Brig o’ Doon Hotel, just outside Ayr, during the wedding of our own Kelly Finlay – now Kelly Henaughen after her marriage to Kieran.

The record would have been in the bar takings, as wee Jock Finlay, from Blackcraig, Corsock, financed the bar for four hours at the wedding (must’ve been a good tup year!). But, forbye that, when Blackface sheep men meet Galloway breeders, there’s bound to be a meeting of bonhomie and wallets.

And so it proved. Not sure who won the ‘I’ll buy the next wan’ contest, but innocent bystanders (ie, me) seemed to have been caught up in it. Anyway, all her family, friends and colleagues wish Kelly all the very best as a Mrs!

Lamb on the menu

ST ANDREWS may be the home of golf but the famous Old Course Hotel is fast becoming the home of Scotch lamb.

Nine chefs from Fife met up with George Milne, development officer for NSA Scotland, on his farm where he highlighted the dedication, care and stocksmanship skills behind the production of top quality Scotch lamb and its PGI status, before Martin Hollis, executive chef at the hotel, later treated his fellow professionals and George to a sumptuous lamb lunch.

This comprised of a starter of lamb belly with black pudding and deep fried poached egg hollandaise; followed by a ‘trio of lamb’ main course consisting of a pave of Scotch lamb herd, a skewer of lamb offal pease pudding and braised lamb neck herb, plus crushed tatties, parsley veloute, grilled leeks and honeyed parsnips.

No wonder George seems to look as if he has shaken off an ailment which had taken quite a lot of weight off – glad to see he’s working hard at remedying that!

Later this month, chef Hollis will be joined by a host of top-ranking Scottish chefs for the Saviour St Andrews dinner and around 120 discerning guests on November 30, at the Old Course Hotel for another lamb nosh-up as part of St Andrew’s Day celebrations around the country.