The Cottage Smallholder

Daisy Beatyl drinking from the large bowl of water in the kitchen is one of the most soothing sounds. This is my Mum’s miniature Daschund. She is on the very largest end of miniature. In fact she seems to be a proper sized Daschund to me. She also has very large, soft eyes.

The only small part of DB is her lack of spite. When crossed, the Min Pins can spend a day in their igloo beds with the blinds down. Daisy Beatyl is always forgiving, wanting to join in, loving being petted and returning the compliment in a Daisy Beatlyish sort of way. The Numero Uno response is to run her teeth along my hand gently and then rush into a whirling dervish display. It is such a shame that she has never visited Turkey.

She has now retired to the cottage, and despite having no pension, is having a ball. She does not have the individual attention that she had at my mum’s house but she gets to sample everything that we cook. She can dig up the lawn hunting for groundhogs (I suspect that this is her quest as they are very large holes. She must have overheard us discussing the problems that our American friends are grappling with). Groundhogs do not strut about our gardens here in England. This is lucky as we get very wound up about moles, and these are tiny compared to a lumbering groundhog on a mission.

Daisy Beatyl has a mission too. This is to encourage us to develop more original recipes. She may have her eye on her share of a future book deal but I reckon that this Daschund is brighter than that. She always perks up when one of us announces,
“Let’s try making xxxx.” She knows that this means there will be loads of delicious disasters that we indulgently share with the canines.

Hours later, Daisy B is on patrol.
“This is a brilliant start.”
She is twisting through our feet
“A little more ginger?”
“Maybe. How about coriander? What sort of soy sauce did you use?”
“The stuff that you picked up last week.”
“The dogs are licking the plates. They are loving it.”

I tried cooking Chinese food for the first time tonight.

If you are feeling a bit disappointed with your new dish, offer a home to a Daschund. They love human food. Their enthusiasm spurs you on.