First outing of the year

Spring has arrived, and with it the assorted out of town events we like to take in.  

First on the agenda was an early visit to Sarah Raven's garden at Perch Hill, East Sussex.  They usuaully hold a couple of open days later in the year, but this year there are more, including an early spring one for bulbs.

Sadly, the weather has meant that plants such as Narcissi have been held back, and Sarah Raven's was really quiet, but because the garden was so far behind, entrance was free.   However, plants that should have passed their peak, such as Snowdrops, Winter Aconites and of course Hellebores were still in full bloom, and the vegetable garden still had hardy winter vegetables such as Kale and assorted hardy Oriental salad leaves (Mustard & Mizuna) and Radiccio in the ground.

Visiting a great garden in the off season may not seem exciting, but seeing the "bare bones" is a very rewarding exercise.  You get to see the layout, the soil and its additions uncovered.  You also see how shrubs are pruned and trained, and the various structures used to support plants at their fullest.  We did this on an early visit to Hyde Hall some years back.  I'm not a fan of fancy roses, but seeing the structures in place to carry the rambling roses along the rope lined pergolas was interesting all the same.

Not much in the way of food stalls unfortunately (and no cheese stall at all), but Judges Bakery were there. Treated myself to macaroons and brownies, plus a sourdough loaf.  Sadly when I got home, I discovered the loaf I'd bought was riddled with sesame, so I'll have to give it away. Sesame is a known allergen, causing serious, potentially fatal, reactions.  Why do people contaminate perfectly good foods with dangerous ingredients?

Afterwards we drove through the Sussex countryside to Middle Farm, a working dairy farm with an "open farm", farm shop and The English Cider & Perry (plus mead & country wines) centre shop alongside, on the A27 near Newhaven. We had a look round the barns, meeting a donkey foal, angora goat kids, various farm cats and assorted poultry, including Frizzle bantams and low flying peacocks.

We watched the farm's herd of Jersey cows being milked (love watching this - it reminds me of childhood holidays in Powys when I helped the farmer and his family in the milking parlour), then went to meet some of the latest additions to the herd. I was wearing my green suede jacket, which caught their eye, and I was on the receiving end of the calves' prehensile tongues.  I can't help it if I look like a tasty bale of hay!

After looking round the farm, I bought seven different Sussex cheeses in the farm shop, then sampled several and bought one each of single variety cider & perry.

As we left the Cider & Perry centre part of the farm, the clouds finally burst, and once the worst had passed, made our way home.

Cheese of the week - pt 2 - Gorwydd Caerphilly

St David's Day tomorrow, so I'll be handing round the Welsh Cakes at the office.  Have already treated myself to some fine cheese.

The commercially produced version of Caerphilly is similar to the many other British "white" cheese - Lancashire, Cheshire and Wensleydale, but Gorwydd Caerphilly is a proper traditional farmhouse version of the cheese.  As it ages it becomes creamier in texture and deeper cream in colour.  The flavour is more intense as well.  Sorely tempted to put together a potato, leek and bacon bake for tomorrow night and embellish it with cubes of Caerphilly - if there's any left!

Cheese of the week - Montboissie

As can be ascertained from my previous post, I am more than partial to cheese - proper cheese, cheese with flavour, texture and character to set it apart from the flaccid yellow slabs of "mild Cheddar" that are the most pungent the uninformed or lily-livered can stretch to.

I'm not saying I'm a cheese snob - I regularly buy Seriously Strong or Colliers' Cheddar, but I do like to have something a little unusual among the five or so cheeses in the fridge at any given time.

Howard passed by a touring French market on Friday, and bought a selection for me.  The stall holder was mildly amused that for once he had a British customer whose response to each product sampled was "Have you got anything stronger?"

Eventually he came away with four fine treats - a lovely dry flavoured but creamy textured Chevre, a slab of Morbier, another mountain region classic, Tomme de Savoie, but a particularly aged one, not so much farmhouse mature, more essence of derelict barn!

There was one final cheese, one that was new to me - Montboissie.  It's a semi-soft rinded cheese, a relative of Morbier,  but without the ash layer in the middle.  It has a sweet pungency, with a slight sharp kick - really does melt in the mouth.  Ideal on a slab of slightly warm proper bread.

As it is probably only made on a small scale, I can't promise you'll be able to find some to try.  But if you do, get a slab and enjoy it!

A Day in Town

I haven't posted for some time - slight technical difficulties, but from here on in I'll try to be more efficient.

Had a lovely day in town yesterday, but feeling slightly creaky from all the walking.

We got off the tube at Westminster, crossed the bridge and walked along the embankment to the museum. Much easier than fighting through the crowds to get the right bus for such a short journey.

The Grow Your Own exhibition at the Garden Museum was great. It started with Manor Garden Allotments (lost to the Olympics), then went in more or less chronological order - the 1908 act, World War 1, Land Settlement Act (something I want to learn more about - suspect if it was still going many of us would be signed up), World War II, post war decline and the reversion of allotments to beings a male preserve, the Self-Sufficiency movement of the 1970's (not just John Seymour, and including a few exhibits I have copies of), The Good Life tv series, Lawrence Hills, Lady Balfour and organics, the resurgence in demand for allotments and grow your own as a "fashion statement". There was a notice board for comments, and we read some very funny ones from a school party.

An excellent exhibition - informative and inspiring without being heavy & dry. I would have liked to see more detail in some areas, but that may be because I collect and use Dig For Victory and Self Sufficiency literature. For a newcomer or less avid reader on the subject, there was plenty to explore.

We had lunch in the museum cafe - mushroom and chestnut stroganoff with side salads - split pea & Jerusalem artichoke, roasted aubergine & fennel, herby couscous with pumpkin seeds and green salad from the museum garden. Delicious, wholesome & filling - many places would have charged as much for the individual salads as we paid for the whole plate. Sadly, we were too full to research the home made cakes on offer, but they looked very naughty.

I had all the books on offer in the museum shop directly related to the exhibition, but treated myself to a book on earth sheltered greenhouses. When I was at college for my organics course, we had to do a presentation on a Permaculture plot design. I did my group's design & presentation almost single-handed with their blessing, and an earth sheltered greenhouse was one of my key features. At last I have more than one Mother Earth News article to learn from.

After the exhibition, we caught the bus to Trafalgar Square. Our intention had been to finally catch to 1960's photography show at the National Portrait Gallery, but they were only selling time slotted tickets, and the slots being sold when we arrived were for 6pm. The queue was long, and we were told we were very likely to be alloted a slot for the Sunday by the time we were served. At 3pm on a Saturday afternoon that seemed ridiculous, so we left and caught another bus towards Oxford Street.

The bus we caught stopped almost next to John Lewis, so we didn't have to fight through the crowds. Went down to the kitchenware department, on the lookout for jam jars. All sold out - have to order online. Then up to the haberdashery department as I needed dark blue cotton to mend a pair of jeans. Also splashed out on a Cath Kidston sewing wallet. Very middle class, playing at practical, but every time I use my current mending kit, I keep dropping the contents on the floor. This wallet will at least keep stuff in place.

A quick dasj along the back streets to Selfridges and the food hall, to treat myself to some exotic cheese (Gjetost) and some cupcakes for supper.

By now our feet were aching, and it was time to think about shutting the hens in for the night, so I splashed out on a cab to Kings Cross and thr train home.

Lovely day - it was good to be a tourist in my home town for a change, but couldn't manage it every week.

Let's talk about the girls

It's been just over a week since the hens arrived, and in some ways the changes have been subtle, but very definite.

I think because we've done so much reading and preparation, we knew the commitment
in terms of time, of setting a routine and so forth. The hen house & run is secure and sturdy, but the garden fence and gate have been strengthened. We both get out of bed before 6.30am to clean and fill feeders and drinkers, put them in the run and let the birds out.

Saturday morning clean bedding day is no longer just about throwing the sheets in the washing machine - it also means fresh bedding for the birds, scrubbing their sleeping quarters and another bagload of composting material.

We need to do a little more organising indoors, but for the meantime, a bag of hen grit makes a very good doorstop.

By the second night, they had all learnt to put themselves to bed at dusk, but for the near future it means no nights on the town and certainly no weekends away. So no Hereford Food Festival this year, but we've got plenty we can do nearer to home. I suspect that come the time of the Welsh Smallholders Show next May, we'll have plenty of volunteers to look after them (they'll be laying by then, so will pay their way).

Anyway, last Sunday, we drove down to Perfect Poultry in Surrey (just of Junction 3 of the M3, to be precise) to collect the birds I'd reserved. In spite of all the places I'd visited, all the research I'd done, I had never handled a hen. But when I was handed the first of them - the Barnevelder, it was even more special. All the pets I had as a child had been presents, and the many cats that have shared my space over the years have all invited themselves in. This was the first ever animal that I had bought for myself, that I had total responsibility for.

The hen was placed in a box for transit, and was joined by a Light Sussex. A White Leghorn and a Lavender Araucana were placed in a second box and we loaded the van, placing the boxes so that there was least chance of them moving.

As it was a hot afternoon, we set off straight home, taking the motorway route. Once we arrived home, I filled a drinker so they had fresh water, and put a generous handful of mealworms & corn on an untreated sleeper offcut (hereafter known as the Treats Table). We took them out of the boxes one by one, and placed them in the house. After a short while, we opened to pophole into the run, and one by one they negotiated the ramp and headed towards the corn. We watched them for a while, then left them to get used to their new surroundings.

Come sunset, only the Barnevelder had worked out that she had to go back up the ramp to bed. The other three huddled together in the far corner of the run, and Howard had to get on his hands and knees to fish them out for me to place them inside on the perch. We worried that this would be a routine we would need to follow for a while, but by the next evening, all four made their way in by the proper route. Within a couple of days they were going to bed regardless of whether or not they'd had an evening treat. Corn is their favourite treat, but as it's basically hen sweets, I restrict it to a small handfull every few days. The other treat they love is far more healthy - broccoli. Hens need greenery, and brassicas are a good source of calcium, as vital for hens as for us.

Even in the week they've been here, they have matured. Gigliola, the Leghorn, is now always first up and about in the morning. Her comb has grown and is changing from pale pink to red. Whether we'll get any eggs from her before Spring I'm not sure, but she's strutting about the run in a very confident manner. Dusty, the Light Sussex, is as solid and uncomplicated as would be expected of her breed. But she's always the first to any food. Jerney, the Barnevelder, is the most quiet & placid of the quartet. She lost some tail feathers before she came to us, but that aside, she's a fine looking, very strong and solid bird. (For that reason, a nightmare to catch - those claws do damage!).

I must admit that Rita, the Araucana, is my favourite, just. She doesn't have the standard red comb - instead she has a crest - a small bouffant of grey feathers. She cranes her neck to look at the outside world, and sometimes turns her head. owl like, 180 degrees. If you open the door to do some daytime maintainance (such as when the water drinker tray has had a load of wood shavings kicked into it), she's the first to the gap. She's always second to food, but being smaller and more agile, often takes it from under Dusty's beak. She is also usually the last in at night, and the last to settle.

This Sunday we had a slight scare. Smudger, the local semi feral tom cat (his human owner's children are totally feral, so you can't blame him), paid a visit. He was prowling round the run, clearing undressing the hens and wrapping them in foil with his eyes. (This is the same cat that snuck into the kitchen a couple of Christmases ago and we caught straddling the oven ready duck!). We saw him off, with the help of a full watering can, and sealed up his entry/escape route. On checking the hens, we noticed that three had bloodied beaks. It appears that in trying to see him off, they'd tried to stick their heads through the wire and scraped the skin at the top of the beak/base of the comb. We couldn't get hold of Jerney to treat her, but the scratch is healing nicely. Gigliola was easy to handle, and we dabbed some purple Gentian Violet antiseptic spray on the scratch. We caught & treated Rita as well, and with the splash of purple on her crest, she has a temporary blue rinse - very fetching!

All things being equal.....

Waylaid by an 18 hour bug, so stuck at home today (the work colleague I phoned in sick to was ill with the same thing most of yesterday, so at least I know it's a bug and I don't need to decant the fridge).

Not being able to stray too far from the house allowed me some quiet time alone, to sort through papers and fill a bag for recycling. I don't care if it's slower and less efficient, a hand cranked paper shredder is more satisfying.

Our blessed council (or rather the ego otherwise known as Councillor Terry Neville) have decided to once again revise our refuse collection routine. Most houses will be given a wheelie bin, but as we don't have sufficient "frontage", we will be allocated two sacks each for refuse and recycling. Many households are up in arms, complaining that two bags for rubbish are nowhere near enough, whereas we're wondering the same about recycling bags. We struggle to fill one rubbish bag a week, so there may well be a black market earning opportunity here. With the hens due to arrive next week, a great deal of our paper and card recycling will be put to use as a base for their bedding, and as the worms in the wormery are still alive, despite recent neglect (due to things being put in the way for the duration of the raised bed construction), they'll be getting more of the very little food waste we have each week. Be interesting to see how many spare bags we have come year end.

Yes - the chickens are ordered and we'll be collecting them by this time next week. I'm going for reliable but hardy traditional breeds, each laying eggs with a different coloured shell, and will be naming them after singers from their country of origin - the Sussex will be named Dusty, the Barnevelder will be Jerney, the Leghorn Gigliola (suspect that will be shortened in time) and the exotic South American Araucana will be named Rita. On the day we collect, if there's a Wyandotte or Rhode Island Red hen ready to go, I may well be tempted. But this raises a major dilemma - do I name it in honour of Doris Troy , Minnie Ripperton or Evie Sands?

With today being the Autumnal Equinox, from here on in for the next six months, the nights will be longer than the days. This will give the hens chance to settle in and strengthen up before they start laying regularly in the Spring.

My unintentional absence from work has allowed me to take in the last day of Summer - to quietly observe and contemplate. Autumn has come early this year, with many trees already turning in colour. The view from the desk at home, once past the rooftops of the next street, is still mainly a patchwork of green, but golds and bronzes have been added to the pallet over the past three weeks or so. Many of the shrubs I pass by are loaded with berries, including the blackthorn on the approach to the bus stop - must get some sloe picking done, the budget gin awaits!

This turn in the year for me marks the start of the new gardening year. The first 2010 seed catalogue arrived on Saturday (Tamar Organics beating Thompson & Morgan for once). As the hours of daylight decrease in comparison to darkness, the physicality of garden work increases. We've still got digging and clearing to do at the allotment. We were under no illusion that we could tame the wilderness in one year, but even so, the robustness of Couch Grass and Bramble roots is frustrating. We need to rework the Forest Garden bed. Much as I like blackberries, I don't take kindly to them smothering all my other fruit!

Over the past few weeks, we've also been refurbishing the allotment shed, boarding the inside to keep the draughts out, and painting the boarding light blue to reflect more light. Next project is to fix the windows before the worst of the Winter winds. Over the Summer, I bought a 25 litre plastic jerry can. So we now have an albeit limited water supply on tap. Saves dragging a five litre refill over every week - we can now wait until we hire a van and fill the bottle at home.

I've already started off the first garlic for next year, planting 20 cloves of Early Purple garlic in modules at home, ready to plant out once the last of the potatoes are lifted at the allotment. Though it's been a slightly disappointing harvest overall, we'll still have enough potatoes to see us through the next few months. Going to try a different variety of yellow onion next year. I'm not sure why, but this year's crop have been exceedingly strong. Not only do you have to have all doors and windows open when preparing them, even two extractor fans on full blast can't stop your eyes from streaming!

Not harvest exactly, but recent building work opposite our house has proved fruitful.
We now have three clean, intact builders' bags (cubic metre sized) rescued from the skip, ready to be filled with Autumn leaves, council compost and wood chippings at the allotment, and will be useful while we move and rebuild the compost bins. I'm hoping they'll let me have first refusal on the decking offcuts piling up as I write. I have visions of assorted planters and mini raised beds dotted around the back garden, with happy hens scratching and pecking the ground between.

The increased hours of darkness allow me an excuse to overindulge my reading habit. I've got plenty of books I want to study in full, or reacquaint myself with in preparation for the next growing season. Aside of Forest Garden / Permaculture titles, some 1940's Dig For Victory books have been republished recently. More often than not, it's original books from that era that I refer to first, and whilst the originals may be too delicate or precious to carry with me while commuting, a modern facsimile would be perfect distraction for an hour or so twice a day. Much easier to carry than the Earth Care Manual or Complete Book of Self Sufficiency too. Couldn't manage to carry those AND a notebook!

Next year will be a better year - we'll work to make it that way.

The Decision has been made…..

We’re getting some hens.

This has been a long time coming, and a step I didn’t originally expect to be able to take until we moved out of London, but we have the right amount of space and a secure enough back garden to make the next key step in taking responsibility for the food we eat.

It’s been talked about ever since we moved here, and we have the OK from the landlord, the council and our neighbours both sides. Now we are both working again, we can afford to buy all the things needed for the set-up – decent housing, feeders, drinkers, treatments, grits and so forth.

Once all the kit is in place, we can get the birds. I’ve put a lot of thought into this, and will be getting pure breed birds as opposed to the modern commercial hybrids, which are so often recommended. Part of my decision can be explained by the words that precede hybrid – modern, as in little or no history to them, and commercial, as in produced on a large scale by one company, with volume as opposed to quality as the target.

I’d much rather have birds with years of careful breeding behind them, that lay reasonably well over a few years, rather than pay for a copyrighted cross that lays high volumes for a year or so then keels over and needs replacing.

I’d like to get breeds that each lay a different coloured egg, so I can tell whose laying and how often, and if needs be, which hens appear to have problems. They won’t start laying eggs immediately, as I’ll be buying “Point of Lay” – hens that are just reaching maturity and ready to start laying, plus they will need to be settled in their new surroundings first of all.

Yes, there’s plenty to learn, but I know I can get support if needed and hopefully will be able to pass on the knowledge I gain.

And make exceedingly good cakes.