Today DH and OC (Other Chap) culled the remaining Dinner Chickens. Six of them, again too many in one go - but we wanted to get it over with. One of the Girls had been injured by the cockerel treading on her. DH very tired and a bit glum.
He brought home all the feeders and drinkers so we could scrub and sterilise them ready for when the hopefully-hatchlings are big enough to move to their permanent home. There's a lot of work to do on the allotment; the ground needs rotovating, liming (to neutralise the poo), and reseeding; the chicken house needs emptying, scrubbing and disinfecting. We also we need to make some other changes to the Dinner Chickens house; there will be a lot less birds in one go from now on, so we need to divide it to make it easier for them to keep warm when its colder. We'll use the freed-up space to store the chicken feed etc, which means the current feed shelter can be used by the Dorkings to keep cool in the heat. If we get heat.
The geese are more subdued since 2 of them moved to a neighbouring allotment. Hope they perk up, it's not like them to be so meek.
Sometimes I think it would be easier to give up eating chicken. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when it comes to the birds we're raising from eggs!
Monday, 3 August 2009
Sunday, 2 August 2009
Balding babes
My Garden Girls have started their annual moult.
I noticed a few days ago that Lily was looing a little "oven ready" underneath so today, when I was giving each of them their Flubenvet-laced cucumber, I had a quick rummage to see what the situation was with each of them.
All bare in the same place. It's not wildly noticeable from above, and they are still laying. I'll need to put a note into next doors' eggs this week to let them know that (a) the Girls are going to look very unkempt and uncared for very soon, and (b) the eggs are likely to stop.
I put Lifeguard Tonic in their water as soon as I spotted Lily's situation and, now that I've confirmed theu're all at it, I'll introduce yoghurt with poultry spice and also some cat food (non chicken variety of course). Feathers are all protein, so they need extra protein in their diet.
Other possibles are tuna in water, and that's probably what we'll give the Dorkings. I need to check them over too to see what stage they are at,
I noticed a few days ago that Lily was looing a little "oven ready" underneath so today, when I was giving each of them their Flubenvet-laced cucumber, I had a quick rummage to see what the situation was with each of them.
All bare in the same place. It's not wildly noticeable from above, and they are still laying. I'll need to put a note into next doors' eggs this week to let them know that (a) the Girls are going to look very unkempt and uncared for very soon, and (b) the eggs are likely to stop.
I put Lifeguard Tonic in their water as soon as I spotted Lily's situation and, now that I've confirmed theu're all at it, I'll introduce yoghurt with poultry spice and also some cat food (non chicken variety of course). Feathers are all protein, so they need extra protein in their diet.
Other possibles are tuna in water, and that's probably what we'll give the Dorkings. I need to check them over too to see what stage they are at,
Friday, 31 July 2009
Unexpected death.
Went down to let out the Dinner Birds this morning, and one of them was dead in the coop.
Very sad, it was a bit of a shock to say the least. No signs of trauma, best guess is that she had a heart attack. It's strange how sad I am about it, as they were due to be culled on Monday anyway. I think it's because it's such a waste - as we don't know what the cause of death is, she won't be eaten.
On the positive side, she had a good - free range - life. Last night they were busy rooking for their mixed corn and eating tomatoes & courgettes.
Still sad.
Very sad, it was a bit of a shock to say the least. No signs of trauma, best guess is that she had a heart attack. It's strange how sad I am about it, as they were due to be culled on Monday anyway. I think it's because it's such a waste - as we don't know what the cause of death is, she won't be eaten.
On the positive side, she had a good - free range - life. Last night they were busy rooking for their mixed corn and eating tomatoes & courgettes.
Still sad.
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Eggs - two thirds of the way!
We candled the eggs in the Incubator last night, and were pleased to find that four of the Ixworth eggs and four of the Sasso have chicks in them. One of the Sassos looks a bit small, so it's a question mark really.
We took the 4 other eggs out, and destroyed them. If we'd waited much longer then they would have smelt vile....like rotten eggs.... but these weren't too bad.
Less than a week and the Ixworths should be starting to hatch!
We took the 4 other eggs out, and destroyed them. If we'd waited much longer then they would have smelt vile....like rotten eggs.... but these weren't too bad.
Less than a week and the Ixworths should be starting to hatch!
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Rubber dub dub
Our little next door neighbour, R (aged 8 and 11/12ths), came over the other day to see the Girls. He does it quite a lot, usually under the pretext of retrieving a ball or other missile that accidentally came over the fence.
He's a lovely chap, very inquisitive, and we always try to answer his many questions. This particular day he decided it was time he held a chicken (Daisy obliged), and he wanted to go inside their walk in run. Then he wanted to crawl into the "T" part of the walk in run, which is actually 3metres of Cube Run. I said no. He was in there before I'd finished the "n..".
He crawled along, and then told me it smelt. I explained that it wasn't surprising, as the flooring had got wet when I washed the Cube, and I hadn't taken the cover off to let the air get to it. I was a bit embarrassed.
Yesterday, I decided I'd better empty the flooring out, and I cursed my laziness for not moving the Cube properly to clean it. It had saved me a fair bit of time on the day, but it was now going to take me much longer to remove all the flooring and replace it. I looked at the flooring in the main run, and thought I might put that into the "t" piece, and put fresh stuff there.
I filled up the bags with the old stuff and sprinkled Stalosan (a poultry-safe, powdered, disinfectant. I piled the old stuff into the trailer, realising that the stuff from my last main run clear out was still there, and some stuff from the time before. A trip to the Tip was needed.
I stood and looked at the bare earth under the Cube Run, and decided that now would be a good time to try rubber chippings. The "T" piece is self contained, and stuff from there cannot get into the main run. I'd been thinking about Rubber Chippings for a while, I'd been considering using it for our Allotment Birds. This would be a good test run.
It was "on sale" at B&Q, but the nearest "in stock" place was 20 miles away. Alison, at Hook Farm is 28 miles away. In the end we decided to buy from Alison, so we had to take the trailer to the Tip to empty it, and then we Trailered off to Hook.
In fact, we didn't really need the trailer. We only bought 6 bags to cover the 3m2 in that part of the run. We got back quite late, went off to do the Allotment Birds, and it was too late by the time we got back.
So this morning, I've been out there spreading the chips. I decided not to put down weed matting first. Reason for this is that parts of the run are quite shallow, and I think the Girls would easily reach down to and tear the mesh. It's also contained on all sides by slabs, so it's not like it's going ot get kicked out and lost. So I decided to try without. Worst case, it doesn't work and we've wasted some chippings - but it'll be a good test.
Not sure I really like black chippings, but I'll get used to it. Looking forward to seeing how the Girls react.
He's a lovely chap, very inquisitive, and we always try to answer his many questions. This particular day he decided it was time he held a chicken (Daisy obliged), and he wanted to go inside their walk in run. Then he wanted to crawl into the "T" part of the walk in run, which is actually 3metres of Cube Run. I said no. He was in there before I'd finished the "n..".
He crawled along, and then told me it smelt. I explained that it wasn't surprising, as the flooring had got wet when I washed the Cube, and I hadn't taken the cover off to let the air get to it. I was a bit embarrassed.
Yesterday, I decided I'd better empty the flooring out, and I cursed my laziness for not moving the Cube properly to clean it. It had saved me a fair bit of time on the day, but it was now going to take me much longer to remove all the flooring and replace it. I looked at the flooring in the main run, and thought I might put that into the "t" piece, and put fresh stuff there.
I filled up the bags with the old stuff and sprinkled Stalosan (a poultry-safe, powdered, disinfectant. I piled the old stuff into the trailer, realising that the stuff from my last main run clear out was still there, and some stuff from the time before. A trip to the Tip was needed.
I stood and looked at the bare earth under the Cube Run, and decided that now would be a good time to try rubber chippings. The "T" piece is self contained, and stuff from there cannot get into the main run. I'd been thinking about Rubber Chippings for a while, I'd been considering using it for our Allotment Birds. This would be a good test run.
It was "on sale" at B&Q, but the nearest "in stock" place was 20 miles away. Alison, at Hook Farm is 28 miles away. In the end we decided to buy from Alison, so we had to take the trailer to the Tip to empty it, and then we Trailered off to Hook.
In fact, we didn't really need the trailer. We only bought 6 bags to cover the 3m2 in that part of the run. We got back quite late, went off to do the Allotment Birds, and it was too late by the time we got back.
So this morning, I've been out there spreading the chips. I decided not to put down weed matting first. Reason for this is that parts of the run are quite shallow, and I think the Girls would easily reach down to and tear the mesh. It's also contained on all sides by slabs, so it's not like it's going ot get kicked out and lost. So I decided to try without. Worst case, it doesn't work and we've wasted some chippings - but it'll be a good test.
Not sure I really like black chippings, but I'll get used to it. Looking forward to seeing how the Girls react.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Daisy's beak, again
It's been a week since we took Daisy to see Mr Cook, so today we took her back.
Her beak is still split, and has split further. Mr Cook did a diagram of an aeroplane wing to tell us what is done to repair cracks there, and he explained that it's not possible to do that with Daisy at the moment because it would go into her the sensitive part of her beak.
So, he clipped it back to the Quick (ew, and ow), and then applied surgical glue. We now have to wait until her beak has grown considerably before we can do anything more.
Poor little girl.
Her beak is still split, and has split further. Mr Cook did a diagram of an aeroplane wing to tell us what is done to repair cracks there, and he explained that it's not possible to do that with Daisy at the moment because it would go into her the sensitive part of her beak.
So, he clipped it back to the Quick (ew, and ow), and then applied surgical glue. We now have to wait until her beak has grown considerably before we can do anything more.
Poor little girl.
Monday, 27 July 2009
New flock installed!
The founders of our new flock of birds have been installed in their new home.
Yesterday we collected three Dorkings (or Dorking cross, they have yellow legs) from Sarah (thank you!). The two ladies are just 9 months old and are really pretty, very petite, and will continue to grow for the next year or so. The Boy is older, and is absolutely stunning.
Got the home last night and popped them straight into their new coop. Left them shut in while we fed the other birds, sectioned off some grass, organised feed bins etc, then let them out. They were at home straightaway, scratching about and exploring everywhere.
The Geese in the pen the other side were fascinated.
We went back down to make sure they had ound their way into the Coop, to find they had decided to roost on the very high fencing. Got them down, popped them in the coop, shut the pop hole.
This morning, we decided to clip a wing on each bird. They are very light little things and we can see they'll escape into next door's allotment, or into the other chicken pen, so it seems the best thing to do. They were very good while we did it.
A bit later, the Boy emerged, crowing, and all the Dinner Girls next door came rushing to the fence to see the new chap on the plot. They'd make mincemeat of him, they are huuuuuuge in comparison. There was a bit of a crowing competition between the new Boy and the Dinner Girls' cockerel. We're keeping an eye on how things progress - if there's trouble, the Dinner Cockerel will just have to go a bit sooner than we planned.
Their Newbies names are Captain Flint, Buffy and Willow; Other Chap refuses to call them by these names, so I expect they will have two names for some time. He immediately called the Girls Itchy and Scratchy, because they were so active in rooking around the moment they came out of the coop; the Boy he's been calling Mutley.
I don't really mind what they are called, as long as it's done with kindness. We want to make sure they get used to us as soon as possible, and that they learn to come when we rattle corn. As soon as they do that, we can let them out onto other grassy areas while we are at the Allotment. I'll post pics as soon as I've taken some.
Yesterday we collected three Dorkings (or Dorking cross, they have yellow legs) from Sarah (thank you!). The two ladies are just 9 months old and are really pretty, very petite, and will continue to grow for the next year or so. The Boy is older, and is absolutely stunning.
Got the home last night and popped them straight into their new coop. Left them shut in while we fed the other birds, sectioned off some grass, organised feed bins etc, then let them out. They were at home straightaway, scratching about and exploring everywhere.
The Geese in the pen the other side were fascinated.
We went back down to make sure they had ound their way into the Coop, to find they had decided to roost on the very high fencing. Got them down, popped them in the coop, shut the pop hole.
This morning, we decided to clip a wing on each bird. They are very light little things and we can see they'll escape into next door's allotment, or into the other chicken pen, so it seems the best thing to do. They were very good while we did it.
A bit later, the Boy emerged, crowing, and all the Dinner Girls next door came rushing to the fence to see the new chap on the plot. They'd make mincemeat of him, they are huuuuuuge in comparison. There was a bit of a crowing competition between the new Boy and the Dinner Girls' cockerel. We're keeping an eye on how things progress - if there's trouble, the Dinner Cockerel will just have to go a bit sooner than we planned.
Their Newbies names are Captain Flint, Buffy and Willow; Other Chap refuses to call them by these names, so I expect they will have two names for some time. He immediately called the Girls Itchy and Scratchy, because they were so active in rooking around the moment they came out of the coop; the Boy he's been calling Mutley.
I don't really mind what they are called, as long as it's done with kindness. We want to make sure they get used to us as soon as possible, and that they learn to come when we rattle corn. As soon as they do that, we can let them out onto other grassy areas while we are at the Allotment. I'll post pics as soon as I've taken some.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Dinner Chickens - the problem with giving them a decent length life
After our last cull a couple of weeks ago we were down to 11 chickens; 10 very large and happy Ross/Cobb girls and one large unidentified breed, who we had previously thought to be a hen but were having suspicions he was an underdeveloped cockerel. They have all bloomed and been displaying proper chickeny behaviour, such as dustbathing. They look wonderful.
In the intervening couple of weeks, more girls have come in to to lay. We've had to make them a nesting area in their shed, and there is usually a couple of eggs in there. I find this very sad. They've shown no inclination to be broody.
Yesterday DH and OC (other chap) culled four girls. The unidentified brown chicken is definitely a cockerel, he's developed all his tackle since we culled the other cockerel ("Lumpy") last time. We've decided to leave him to the end, as he's doing a good job of keeping the Girls in order.
Anyway, DH dressed three birds yesterday at OC's house. He brought the fourth bird home and we kept it in the salad box to be dressed today. He commented that it was much easier to dress the cockerels, as with the Hens there is now oviducts to deal with, nor partially formed eggs. I saw what he meant today. I thought there were cherry tomatoes in the entrails (I gave the girls lots of tomatoes and cucumber on Sunday night before they went to bed) but they were the eggs.
It's very sad. I sort of wish we'd culled them before they got to Laying age.
In the intervening couple of weeks, more girls have come in to to lay. We've had to make them a nesting area in their shed, and there is usually a couple of eggs in there. I find this very sad. They've shown no inclination to be broody.
Yesterday DH and OC (other chap) culled four girls. The unidentified brown chicken is definitely a cockerel, he's developed all his tackle since we culled the other cockerel ("Lumpy") last time. We've decided to leave him to the end, as he's doing a good job of keeping the Girls in order.
Anyway, DH dressed three birds yesterday at OC's house. He brought the fourth bird home and we kept it in the salad box to be dressed today. He commented that it was much easier to dress the cockerels, as with the Hens there is now oviducts to deal with, nor partially formed eggs. I saw what he meant today. I thought there were cherry tomatoes in the entrails (I gave the girls lots of tomatoes and cucumber on Sunday night before they went to bed) but they were the eggs.
It's very sad. I sort of wish we'd culled them before they got to Laying age.
Split beak
Daisy is a dirt magnet. She's an off-white Amber Star; she often dust bathes when her head is wet, and the compost/sand/woodash sticks to her making her look somewhat uncared for. I bathe her head from time to time when nature seems unable to get the clumps off.
I did this on Sunday, and noticed that her beak was split. Vertically - along its length. Bit scary. I hadn't noticed it before, but it was possible that I just hadn't seen it IYSWIM.
Looked up what to do, but the books didn't really talk about this sort of problem. I found a posting on the Practical Poultry forum where someone else had had this, and he had been advised to superglue it together.
Now, I can sort of see that this would be tempting. With a stretch of the imagination, I could see this possibly working in theory, but I don't see that it would work in practice. Even if the superglue didn't actually harm the bird (or the beak) long term, the application would be fraught with risks.
I took her to see the Vet instead.
He clipped her beak carefully, with nail clippers, but couldn't go all the way back. Bring her back in a week for another trim. In the meantime, she's going to find it difficult to be precise when pecking, so make sure all food containers are deep (no problem there, they already are). Also be aware that food can get lodged in the split and (a) make it worse and (b) rot and cause infection.
She's back out with her friends now, I'll see how she looks later.
I did this on Sunday, and noticed that her beak was split. Vertically - along its length. Bit scary. I hadn't noticed it before, but it was possible that I just hadn't seen it IYSWIM.
Looked up what to do, but the books didn't really talk about this sort of problem. I found a posting on the Practical Poultry forum where someone else had had this, and he had been advised to superglue it together.
Now, I can sort of see that this would be tempting. With a stretch of the imagination, I could see this possibly working in theory, but I don't see that it would work in practice. Even if the superglue didn't actually harm the bird (or the beak) long term, the application would be fraught with risks.
I took her to see the Vet instead.
He clipped her beak carefully, with nail clippers, but couldn't go all the way back. Bring her back in a week for another trim. In the meantime, she's going to find it difficult to be precise when pecking, so make sure all food containers are deep (no problem there, they already are). Also be aware that food can get lodged in the split and (a) make it worse and (b) rot and cause infection.
She's back out with her friends now, I'll see how she looks later.
Friday, 17 July 2009
Incubation Interruptus
We have 12 eggs in the Incubator at the moment. 19 days to go.
Power cut today, just for a short period of time. I hope it doesn't impact on the likely development of the eggs. I suppose it won't really. I mean, if they were under a Broody, she'd be getting up once a day for a comfort break....
.
Power cut today, just for a short period of time. I hope it doesn't impact on the likely development of the eggs. I suppose it won't really. I mean, if they were under a Broody, she'd be getting up once a day for a comfort break....
.
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Incubation, part 2
Well, things are moving along.
Our 6 Ixworth eggs arrived this morningand are sitting, pointy end down, recovering from their postal journey. I'm hoping for delivery of 6 Sasso eggs tomorrow.
My flytesofancy order arrived, bringing me some really cute, chick sized, feeders and a drinker, and some Sanitiser. The incubator has been running for a couple of days. and we'll be santising it this evening so that it then has time to warm up again before the eggs go in.
I'm trying not to get excited in case none of the eggs prove fertile. But it's tough.
Our 6 Ixworth eggs arrived this morningand are sitting, pointy end down, recovering from their postal journey. I'm hoping for delivery of 6 Sasso eggs tomorrow.
My flytesofancy order arrived, bringing me some really cute, chick sized, feeders and a drinker, and some Sanitiser. The incubator has been running for a couple of days. and we'll be santising it this evening so that it then has time to warm up again before the eggs go in.
I'm trying not to get excited in case none of the eggs prove fertile. But it's tough.
Monday, 13 July 2009
My brave (step)daughter
My lovely stepdaughter abseiled for charity on Saturday.
The participants abseiled from the top of the maternity block of their local hospital. She was brilliant, and we're very proud of her.
The participants abseiled from the top of the maternity block of their local hospital. She was brilliant, and we're very proud of her.
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Incubation
We've got an Incubator!
I bought an R-Com 20 from the really friendly people at P&T Poultry http://www.pandtpoultry.co.uk plus an infra red lamp and a candler.
We're going to start a flock of Dorkings, which we will use for eggs/flock creation (Girls) and Dinner (Boys). We'll probably try crosses with other breeds (eg Indian Game) later, but that's wa-a-a-a-y into the future.
It's going to be some time until any of them will be ready for Dinner, so we're also goign to be hatching 2 Dinner breeds, probably Sasso and Ixworth.
We were going to hire an Incy, but decided it would be as cost effective to buy one. If we decide that incubating isn't for us, we'll sell the equipment - and the loss will probably be less than the cost of hire IYSWIM.
I've been bookmarking suppliers of fertile eggs for a few weeks now. We just need to check the calendar to decide when we're going to start....
I bought an R-Com 20 from the really friendly people at P&T Poultry http://www.pandtpoultry.co.uk plus an infra red lamp and a candler.
We're going to start a flock of Dorkings, which we will use for eggs/flock creation (Girls) and Dinner (Boys). We'll probably try crosses with other breeds (eg Indian Game) later, but that's wa-a-a-a-y into the future.
It's going to be some time until any of them will be ready for Dinner, so we're also goign to be hatching 2 Dinner breeds, probably Sasso and Ixworth.
We were going to hire an Incy, but decided it would be as cost effective to buy one. If we decide that incubating isn't for us, we'll sell the equipment - and the loss will probably be less than the cost of hire IYSWIM.
I've been bookmarking suppliers of fertile eggs for a few weeks now. We just need to check the calendar to decide when we're going to start....
Saturday, 4 July 2009
Buttering up
Taking advantage of the cooler weather, I got the cream out of the fridge yesterday morning ready to turn into butter yesterday afternoon. I unexpectedly had to work until late yesterday evening, and it was only when I got up this morning that I saw 4 litres of double cream on the worktop.
It's not a good idea to make butter when its warm. It doesn't churn as readily, and so its keeping quality is impaired. Still, I couldn't face throwing away all that cream so I made it anyway.
I found some old fashioned jelly moulds in the back of a cupboard when clearing out stuff to sell on Ebay, and I thought I'd try them as butter moulds.
The cream did turn into butter today, only takes a few minutes in the food mixer, but it was a very soft and slippery end product. I didn't get out as much buttermilk as normal, so I know theres still some buttermilk in there despite me washing it in cold cold water. The jelly moulds full of butter are stacked in the fridge, along with several Lock 'n' Lock containers of butter. The L&L ones will go in the freezer as soon as the butter has hardened off.
I also made a litre and a half of Tayberry cordial today.
The Tayberry, Raspberry and Blackcurrant vodkas all need attention as well, but it's just too hot!
It's not a good idea to make butter when its warm. It doesn't churn as readily, and so its keeping quality is impaired. Still, I couldn't face throwing away all that cream so I made it anyway.
I found some old fashioned jelly moulds in the back of a cupboard when clearing out stuff to sell on Ebay, and I thought I'd try them as butter moulds.
The cream did turn into butter today, only takes a few minutes in the food mixer, but it was a very soft and slippery end product. I didn't get out as much buttermilk as normal, so I know theres still some buttermilk in there despite me washing it in cold cold water. The jelly moulds full of butter are stacked in the fridge, along with several Lock 'n' Lock containers of butter. The L&L ones will go in the freezer as soon as the butter has hardened off.
I also made a litre and a half of Tayberry cordial today.
The Tayberry, Raspberry and Blackcurrant vodkas all need attention as well, but it's just too hot!
Cherry busy
We have a sour-cherry tree in the garden. For the first few years of living here, we didn't do much with the cherry tree, the birds usually beat us to it. A few years ago, we tried the cherries but found they were acid cherries, and I didn't know what to do with them. Then the yield declined and we didn't bother.
The year before last I tried making cherry jam. It didn't end well. It was more like cherry rock. Last year, I tried again. Same thing. The tree was looking rather decrepit at this point, so we (by which I mean, of course, DH) did some drastic pruning.
This year we have had an abundance of cherries, beyond belief. I gave up sugar in my drinks a couple of years ago, and I find I can eat the sour cherries without wincing. Much. And we decided to Do Something With Them.
So. DH made some cherry wine. That was 5 pounds of cherries. The tree didn't look as if it had been harvested at all. So, I found a reciple for Cherry Melomel, which uses honey - I guess it's a kind of mead. That was 3 pounds of cherries.
The local yobs of the bird world, starlings, have been ravaging the tree and leaving cherry pits everywhere. The Girls have had cherries (but I stopped after they'd had two each, as I saw one of them swallowing a cherry whole).
And today we decided to make Cherry Cheese. That was another 3 pounds of cherries. It's taken forever. Hope it tastes ok!
And if only it was a sweet cherry, we wouldn't have all this trouble!
The year before last I tried making cherry jam. It didn't end well. It was more like cherry rock. Last year, I tried again. Same thing. The tree was looking rather decrepit at this point, so we (by which I mean, of course, DH) did some drastic pruning.
This year we have had an abundance of cherries, beyond belief. I gave up sugar in my drinks a couple of years ago, and I find I can eat the sour cherries without wincing. Much. And we decided to Do Something With Them.
So. DH made some cherry wine. That was 5 pounds of cherries. The tree didn't look as if it had been harvested at all. So, I found a reciple for Cherry Melomel, which uses honey - I guess it's a kind of mead. That was 3 pounds of cherries.
The local yobs of the bird world, starlings, have been ravaging the tree and leaving cherry pits everywhere. The Girls have had cherries (but I stopped after they'd had two each, as I saw one of them swallowing a cherry whole).
And today we decided to make Cherry Cheese. That was another 3 pounds of cherries. It's taken forever. Hope it tastes ok!
And if only it was a sweet cherry, we wouldn't have all this trouble!
Saturday, 27 June 2009
Hollyhocks!
Our collection of hollyhocks has grown over the years, and from now for the next few months they will dominate the back garden a bit.
I'm guessing that they breed with each other, as we now have Hollyhocks in an incredible spectrum of pink. Some years ago I started to collect the seed each year (and there is a lot of seed to collect), and dropped the seed of the best colours further afield in the garden. It takes two years to get a Hollyhock. One year after youve planted the seed you get a bit of growth but no flower, and the next year you get a flower. Maybe the plants are bi-ennial, which means it's actually even more amazing that we have so many.
Anyway. I did cheat a couple of years ago, and I bougtsome seed for a black Hollyhock. It's flowered this year!
Hmm... the reporoduction of colours here doesn't reflect the true range of colours of the Hollyhocks in real life...not the colours of them on my camera. Oh well.
I'm guessing that they breed with each other, as we now have Hollyhocks in an incredible spectrum of pink. Some years ago I started to collect the seed each year (and there is a lot of seed to collect), and dropped the seed of the best colours further afield in the garden. It takes two years to get a Hollyhock. One year after youve planted the seed you get a bit of growth but no flower, and the next year you get a flower. Maybe the plants are bi-ennial, which means it's actually even more amazing that we have so many.
Anyway. I did cheat a couple of years ago, and I bougtsome seed for a black Hollyhock. It's flowered this year!
Hmm... the reporoduction of colours here doesn't reflect the true range of colours of the Hollyhocks in real life...not the colours of them on my camera. Oh well.
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Combatting Mother Nature
Mother Nature is very unfair, sometimes.
We have two gorgeous cats, who occasionally bring home a mouse; sometimes, they bring home those creatures we euphemistically call "Big Mice", and we were relieved when we saw Washburn bringing one home from across the road (as it meant he hadn't caught it in our garden).
The other day, Washburn was playing with something in the garden; it was a little bird, too small to be a fledgling, so we thought it must have fallen out of the nest. DH dispatched it, as it was too young to survive.
A few days later, another one. Bit odd, we thought.
Yesterday, a third one. We realised that Wash must be getting them out of the nest himself. But how? Fortunately, perhaps, he gave us the answer himself. No sooner had we removed number thre from him than he ran off down the garden, and we heard the alarmed cries of the mother bird as Wash climbed straight up the apple tree.
He's a fantastic climber, has been since before he was allowed out. He used to climb our large potted plants when he was a baby; and the first day he went outside he ran out of the door and up the cherry tree. Anyway, I digress.
So, he climbed the apple tree, and then went along one very long branch which curved over and gave him access to another tree over the fence. It was very precarious, as the end of the branch was quite fragile, and he was swaying a lot trying to get ready for the jump to the other tree. Horrified at what he was about to do, I persuaded him to come back.
I called for DH, and showed him the branch that Wash was using, and suggested we take it out to stop his access. DH looked at me as though I had gone mad. It was a rather large branch. It was, effectively, quite a large part of the apple tree on that side. It was the apple tree whose fruit I really liked. There probably aren't any babies left, he reasoned. There probably are I, countered, why else would he be going back and why else would the mother be squwarking? He'll use the fence instead, DH countered; Well, he might do, but that's a lot more difficult for him.
In the end DH agreed to do it, but because it was quite a large job, we couldn't do it then and there as it was already mid evening. So, we'd hve to keep the cats shut in so they couldn't get any remaining babies.
What a palaver!
Cat flap blocked up (we can't just lock it, because Wash just barges through it, yes, even if its locked) with a special barricade, backed up by the chicken feed bin. Litter tray provided.
having fruitlessly tried to move the barricade, Wash escaped by climbing out of the open fan light on the living room window. It's hard to believe that he could reach, but he sort of jumped up and got his front paws hooked over, and then he heaved himself up. His backlegs were scabbling against the window but he wasn't getting any purchase from it, so in the end he did it with the strength in his feline forearms.
He was retrieved from the front garden, and ALL windows were shut tight. in case he tried ta suicide leap from an upstairs bedroom fanlight. Lots of scratching and running around, but we remained resolute.
Next morning, DH went out to attack the tree. Meanwhile. Wash wanted to go to the toilet and hates iusing the litter tray. He's a lovely little ginger boy, really fluffy, but he has this meow which is really high pitched and pathetic, the sort of noise a six week old kitten would make. He was mewing furiously. Running round the house, hurling himself at ou legs to get our attention, and getting really stressed.
We had a few callers (parcel deliveries, that sort of thing), and each time I had to shut Wash in the living room so that he couldn't slip past me.
In the end, he gave in and did his business in the litter tray. God, what a smell! Just in time, DH came in to announce that the tree was pruned, so we let Wash out. He was overjoyed! He ran out of the house, round the garden, and then just flopped over by a flowerbed and started washing himself.
It's funny. Most of the time he's not really bothered about being out. It was just the fact that he wasn't able to go out that made it the only thing he could think about.
I wish he'd have a go at some of the bigger birds. We're inundated with Pigeons (who are busy mating), and a really raucous gang of starlings.
We have two gorgeous cats, who occasionally bring home a mouse; sometimes, they bring home those creatures we euphemistically call "Big Mice", and we were relieved when we saw Washburn bringing one home from across the road (as it meant he hadn't caught it in our garden).
The other day, Washburn was playing with something in the garden; it was a little bird, too small to be a fledgling, so we thought it must have fallen out of the nest. DH dispatched it, as it was too young to survive.
A few days later, another one. Bit odd, we thought.
Yesterday, a third one. We realised that Wash must be getting them out of the nest himself. But how? Fortunately, perhaps, he gave us the answer himself. No sooner had we removed number thre from him than he ran off down the garden, and we heard the alarmed cries of the mother bird as Wash climbed straight up the apple tree.
He's a fantastic climber, has been since before he was allowed out. He used to climb our large potted plants when he was a baby; and the first day he went outside he ran out of the door and up the cherry tree. Anyway, I digress.
So, he climbed the apple tree, and then went along one very long branch which curved over and gave him access to another tree over the fence. It was very precarious, as the end of the branch was quite fragile, and he was swaying a lot trying to get ready for the jump to the other tree. Horrified at what he was about to do, I persuaded him to come back.
I called for DH, and showed him the branch that Wash was using, and suggested we take it out to stop his access. DH looked at me as though I had gone mad. It was a rather large branch. It was, effectively, quite a large part of the apple tree on that side. It was the apple tree whose fruit I really liked. There probably aren't any babies left, he reasoned. There probably are I, countered, why else would he be going back and why else would the mother be squwarking? He'll use the fence instead, DH countered; Well, he might do, but that's a lot more difficult for him.
In the end DH agreed to do it, but because it was quite a large job, we couldn't do it then and there as it was already mid evening. So, we'd hve to keep the cats shut in so they couldn't get any remaining babies.
What a palaver!
Cat flap blocked up (we can't just lock it, because Wash just barges through it, yes, even if its locked) with a special barricade, backed up by the chicken feed bin. Litter tray provided.
having fruitlessly tried to move the barricade, Wash escaped by climbing out of the open fan light on the living room window. It's hard to believe that he could reach, but he sort of jumped up and got his front paws hooked over, and then he heaved himself up. His backlegs were scabbling against the window but he wasn't getting any purchase from it, so in the end he did it with the strength in his feline forearms.
He was retrieved from the front garden, and ALL windows were shut tight. in case he tried ta suicide leap from an upstairs bedroom fanlight. Lots of scratching and running around, but we remained resolute.
Next morning, DH went out to attack the tree. Meanwhile. Wash wanted to go to the toilet and hates iusing the litter tray. He's a lovely little ginger boy, really fluffy, but he has this meow which is really high pitched and pathetic, the sort of noise a six week old kitten would make. He was mewing furiously. Running round the house, hurling himself at ou legs to get our attention, and getting really stressed.
We had a few callers (parcel deliveries, that sort of thing), and each time I had to shut Wash in the living room so that he couldn't slip past me.
In the end, he gave in and did his business in the litter tray. God, what a smell! Just in time, DH came in to announce that the tree was pruned, so we let Wash out. He was overjoyed! He ran out of the house, round the garden, and then just flopped over by a flowerbed and started washing himself.
It's funny. Most of the time he's not really bothered about being out. It was just the fact that he wasn't able to go out that made it the only thing he could think about.
I wish he'd have a go at some of the bigger birds. We're inundated with Pigeons (who are busy mating), and a really raucous gang of starlings.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Chicken number 2 dispatched
The Dinner Chickens were getting rather large. They were a breed designed to grow quickly and be culled young, but we wanted to give them a bit of a life first. That was the whole point in going down the route of raising our own.
Anyway. The remaining cockerels were getting rather large, and were starting to fight amongst themselves a bit, and chase the ladies. The Ladies weren't interested in being chased, or being caught for that matter, food and sunbathing were much more important to them.
So, we decided to cull the six remaining white cockerels. Lumpy, the brown cockerel, has a temporary stay of execution. He's bottom of the pecking order and (so far) has shown no interest in bossing anyone about. DH and OC (other chap) Did the Deed on Monday. We'd been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, for my Tripod Despatcher to arrive, but there had been some mix up somewhere along the line and it hadn't arrived. So they did all six by hand.
All 6 were plucked immediately, and 5 of them were dressed immediately. We had promised a bird to a few people, so that was 4 of them gone, and OC had the 5th. DH brought home number 6 and we put him in the fridge (in the salad box again) and left him there for 48 hours this time.
And DH has just finished dressing him and jointing him now. He's a huge thing (the dinner chicken, not DH), weighing in at over 6 pounds dressed weight. One breast weighs one and a half pounds, which is far too big..... we're having that one between us for dinner this evening, it's in the oven now.
Hope it tastes OK.
Oh, the Dispatcher has arrived. It's enormous! More about that later.
Anyway. The remaining cockerels were getting rather large, and were starting to fight amongst themselves a bit, and chase the ladies. The Ladies weren't interested in being chased, or being caught for that matter, food and sunbathing were much more important to them.
So, we decided to cull the six remaining white cockerels. Lumpy, the brown cockerel, has a temporary stay of execution. He's bottom of the pecking order and (so far) has shown no interest in bossing anyone about. DH and OC (other chap) Did the Deed on Monday. We'd been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, for my Tripod Despatcher to arrive, but there had been some mix up somewhere along the line and it hadn't arrived. So they did all six by hand.
All 6 were plucked immediately, and 5 of them were dressed immediately. We had promised a bird to a few people, so that was 4 of them gone, and OC had the 5th. DH brought home number 6 and we put him in the fridge (in the salad box again) and left him there for 48 hours this time.
And DH has just finished dressing him and jointing him now. He's a huge thing (the dinner chicken, not DH), weighing in at over 6 pounds dressed weight. One breast weighs one and a half pounds, which is far too big..... we're having that one between us for dinner this evening, it's in the oven now.
Hope it tastes OK.
Oh, the Dispatcher has arrived. It's enormous! More about that later.
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Vodka
The warm weather has produced a rush of ripe fruit. I've been picking loads, eating a lot of it or turning it into smoothies... and yesterday I started off 3 different flavours of Vodka.
I've got some Tayberry and some Raspberry vodka just started; these are fairly simple to do, and produce a very fruity flavoured vodka. I've also got some Blackcurrant Vodka on the go; this takes much longer, and will produce a kind of Vodka Liqueur. Very soft, very sweet, very delicate, with a hidden kick.
I sent some to my dad, and had to warn him that it packs a bit of a punch. He likes the taste, and seems to like how it makes him feel!
Still oodles more ripe fruit, and I'm just not in a jamming mood. Maybe I'll go for cordials next?
I've got some Tayberry and some Raspberry vodka just started; these are fairly simple to do, and produce a very fruity flavoured vodka. I've also got some Blackcurrant Vodka on the go; this takes much longer, and will produce a kind of Vodka Liqueur. Very soft, very sweet, very delicate, with a hidden kick.
I sent some to my dad, and had to warn him that it packs a bit of a punch. He likes the taste, and seems to like how it makes him feel!
Still oodles more ripe fruit, and I'm just not in a jamming mood. Maybe I'll go for cordials next?
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Golden wedding
It was my parents' Golden Wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago. I made them a cake, and I printed one of their wedding photos onto icing for the top. Came out quite well, even if I do say so myself.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Creatures of Habit
A lot of fuss this morning, with Lily calling and calling anf calling.
I went out to see what was what, and found that Jasmine was encsonced in one side of the nest box, and Lily wanted to go and lay. Normally what happens is that Jasmine starts crowing to complain that her privacy is being invaded, but for once she was sitting silently minding her own business. I couldn't understand why Lily didn't just go in the next door cubicle.
I tried encouraging her in, I tried tempting her in with corn - which was a mistake as she then forgot all about laying and just wanted the corn.
Fast forward half an hour or so, and both Lily and Jasmine were clucking like mad. Rushed out to see Lily in the run and no Jasmine. Checked the nestbox, Jasmine was still in the same place but had Lily's egg beside her! Presumably Lily wanted to lay in that nest box, and had just stood on Jasmine and laid her egg.
A bit later, I saw Daisy go in and, when I checked, she was in the next door cubicle to Jasmine who still hadn't laid.
Much later, and I saw that Delilah (she of the very fragile eggs) had disappeared. I checked the nestbox again and found Daisy and Jasmine as before, and this time Delilah had decided to get in the same nestbox as Daisy and was standing on top of her. I left them to it although I realised that, with the state of Delilalh's eggs lately, this would not end well.
Much, much later, everyone was crowing at once. I went outside and collected an egg from Jasmine, an egg from Daisy, and found Delilahs fragile offering crushed. I scooped it out: I hope none of the others tried it, as the one thing we don't need is our hens getting a taste for their own eggs.
Chickens!
I went out to see what was what, and found that Jasmine was encsonced in one side of the nest box, and Lily wanted to go and lay. Normally what happens is that Jasmine starts crowing to complain that her privacy is being invaded, but for once she was sitting silently minding her own business. I couldn't understand why Lily didn't just go in the next door cubicle.
I tried encouraging her in, I tried tempting her in with corn - which was a mistake as she then forgot all about laying and just wanted the corn.
Fast forward half an hour or so, and both Lily and Jasmine were clucking like mad. Rushed out to see Lily in the run and no Jasmine. Checked the nestbox, Jasmine was still in the same place but had Lily's egg beside her! Presumably Lily wanted to lay in that nest box, and had just stood on Jasmine and laid her egg.
A bit later, I saw Daisy go in and, when I checked, she was in the next door cubicle to Jasmine who still hadn't laid.
Much later, and I saw that Delilah (she of the very fragile eggs) had disappeared. I checked the nestbox again and found Daisy and Jasmine as before, and this time Delilah had decided to get in the same nestbox as Daisy and was standing on top of her. I left them to it although I realised that, with the state of Delilalh's eggs lately, this would not end well.
Much, much later, everyone was crowing at once. I went outside and collected an egg from Jasmine, an egg from Daisy, and found Delilahs fragile offering crushed. I scooped it out: I hope none of the others tried it, as the one thing we don't need is our hens getting a taste for their own eggs.
Chickens!
Saturday, 13 June 2009
Unprotected pruning
I've been a happy pruner since we moved toour current home some 12 years ago. I wear gloves if i'm tackling the spikey or treacherous plants, or if i'm pulling out nettles, but if i'm tackling the friendly plants I only wear gloves if I already had them on. IYSWIM.
On Friday, I decided to cut back one of our enormous shrubs. It had been gradually creeping forward (and backwards, and sideways, and upwards) and was now obscuring the chickens. It's a fairly placid natured shrub. No prickles, bit dense.
Afterwards, my finger hurt a bit. I thought i'd probably scratched it when pulling out some of the pruned branches. Later, my finger hurt quite a bit. Much later I couldn't move it and it had swollen up.
DH suggested i'd maybe strained it. "You didn't get any splinters did you?" he asked. "No". Then "Oh yes, I did". Flash of a memory, me pulling something out of my hand with my teeth, whilst still pruning, and spitting it on the ground. Couln't picture where on my hand it had been. Slathered finger with Savlin, covered it in lint, went to bed.
Rough night. Next morning, hand was purple and finger hurt non stop, whether I was trying to move it or not. Feeling a bit sheepish, I got DH to take me to the local Minor Injuries Unit (MIU)
Upshot, it's infected. Fingers taped up, arm in sling, on antibiotics. Felt a bit of a drama queen, then friend sent me this:
http://www.hamiltonadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-news/hamilton-news/2008/05/01/ex-nurse-dies-after-thorn-pricks-her-finger-51525-20849920/
Don't feel so silly for going to MIU now!
But I will make sure I wear gloves next time!
On Friday, I decided to cut back one of our enormous shrubs. It had been gradually creeping forward (and backwards, and sideways, and upwards) and was now obscuring the chickens. It's a fairly placid natured shrub. No prickles, bit dense.
Afterwards, my finger hurt a bit. I thought i'd probably scratched it when pulling out some of the pruned branches. Later, my finger hurt quite a bit. Much later I couldn't move it and it had swollen up.
DH suggested i'd maybe strained it. "You didn't get any splinters did you?" he asked. "No". Then "Oh yes, I did". Flash of a memory, me pulling something out of my hand with my teeth, whilst still pruning, and spitting it on the ground. Couln't picture where on my hand it had been. Slathered finger with Savlin, covered it in lint, went to bed.
Rough night. Next morning, hand was purple and finger hurt non stop, whether I was trying to move it or not. Feeling a bit sheepish, I got DH to take me to the local Minor Injuries Unit (MIU)
Upshot, it's infected. Fingers taped up, arm in sling, on antibiotics. Felt a bit of a drama queen, then friend sent me this:
http://www.hamiltonadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-news/hamilton-news/2008/05/01/ex-nurse-dies-after-thorn-pricks-her-finger-51525-20849920/
Don't feel so silly for going to MIU now!
But I will make sure I wear gloves next time!
Thursday, 11 June 2009
Ninja Chicken
Today was sunny, and I thought it was About Time that I did a full clean out of the hen pen. When the girls are out most of the time, and it's dry, I normally do this every 10-12 week (more often if they're confined or it's been very wet). I've been meaning to do it for a while, every time it's been good enough weather I've gone in and thought "THis isn't too bad, it'll easily last another week".
Enough procrastinating. I started work, cleaning out ALL the flooring, jet washing the perches (they look like new wood now), and so on. The Girls tend to dislike the disruption, and I'm sure they prefer their well used Aubiose/Hemcore to the fresh stuff, and they like to come and voice their opposition to being cleaned.
Today they were in a group on the narrow path which runs between the hen pen and the fruit cage. Something spooked them (me probably, shovelling poo laden Aubiose into a bag), and they all seemed to jump up at once. It's a very confined space out here, and Milly (she of the floppy comb) did this incredible sideways ninja kick, which just happened to hit the door to the fruit cage. Which just happened to swing open so she could get in. I rushed out of the hen pen to shut the fruit cage door to prevent anyone else getting in, and then I tried to get Milly out.
She wasn't having it. The bottom of the Fruit Cage is very interesting. Lots of bark and bugs. The fruit bushes are full of leaves, so it's lovely and cool. After 5 minutes of trying to tempt her out, I was on the verge of giving up and leaving her to it, when she did something unforgivable. She jumped up and helped herself to a ripening blackcurrant.
So, I came out of the fruit cage, collected some corn, and fed it to the others in a very nonchalant way. Milly took no notice. So I fed the others corn in a much more obvious, Milly-what-are-you-missing kind of way, and curiosity got the better of her. Hah.
But that's not all. Having got her out of the fruit cage, there were now 5 excited hens and me standing in a very narrow space. Daisy rushed passed me, and she jumped up and did a ninja kick and opened the swing gate which stops them getting right to the back of the garden. I was....I was...gobsmacked. So shocked that I just stared as she ran through the open gate followed by Lily and Jasmine.
Enough procrastinating. I started work, cleaning out ALL the flooring, jet washing the perches (they look like new wood now), and so on. The Girls tend to dislike the disruption, and I'm sure they prefer their well used Aubiose/Hemcore to the fresh stuff, and they like to come and voice their opposition to being cleaned.
Today they were in a group on the narrow path which runs between the hen pen and the fruit cage. Something spooked them (me probably, shovelling poo laden Aubiose into a bag), and they all seemed to jump up at once. It's a very confined space out here, and Milly (she of the floppy comb) did this incredible sideways ninja kick, which just happened to hit the door to the fruit cage. Which just happened to swing open so she could get in. I rushed out of the hen pen to shut the fruit cage door to prevent anyone else getting in, and then I tried to get Milly out.
She wasn't having it. The bottom of the Fruit Cage is very interesting. Lots of bark and bugs. The fruit bushes are full of leaves, so it's lovely and cool. After 5 minutes of trying to tempt her out, I was on the verge of giving up and leaving her to it, when she did something unforgivable. She jumped up and helped herself to a ripening blackcurrant.
So, I came out of the fruit cage, collected some corn, and fed it to the others in a very nonchalant way. Milly took no notice. So I fed the others corn in a much more obvious, Milly-what-are-you-missing kind of way, and curiosity got the better of her. Hah.
But that's not all. Having got her out of the fruit cage, there were now 5 excited hens and me standing in a very narrow space. Daisy rushed passed me, and she jumped up and did a ninja kick and opened the swing gate which stops them getting right to the back of the garden. I was....I was...gobsmacked. So shocked that I just stared as she ran through the open gate followed by Lily and Jasmine.
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Delicious
He was delicious.
Very, very tasty; full of chickeny flavour.
He was quite a large bird, just over 2.25kg. Although he works out quite expensive, it was still excellent value, as we're practiced at turning good chicken into Rubber Chicken. No, it doesn't mean it tastes rubbery, it means we can stre-e-e-tch it into several meals.
We had roast chicken tonight; we'll have one of the legs cold tomorrow;the other leg will be turned into either chicken pie or chicken curry; the remaining bits will make a risotto; and finally we'll make chicken stock (some of which will go in the risotto, the rest will be frozen for future use. So, excluding the stock, we'll have four meals for 2 people, 8 meals in total.
And we can always freeze the deboned pieces so we don't have to have chicken every day. Mind you, we haven't had chicken for ages, as we anticipated having a bit of a glut, so I expect a few chickeny days will be fine.
I did have to shut the french door in the kitchen so my Girls couldn't see what we were eating.
Very, very tasty; full of chickeny flavour.
He was quite a large bird, just over 2.25kg. Although he works out quite expensive, it was still excellent value, as we're practiced at turning good chicken into Rubber Chicken. No, it doesn't mean it tastes rubbery, it means we can stre-e-e-tch it into several meals.
We had roast chicken tonight; we'll have one of the legs cold tomorrow;the other leg will be turned into either chicken pie or chicken curry; the remaining bits will make a risotto; and finally we'll make chicken stock (some of which will go in the risotto, the rest will be frozen for future use. So, excluding the stock, we'll have four meals for 2 people, 8 meals in total.
And we can always freeze the deboned pieces so we don't have to have chicken every day. Mind you, we haven't had chicken for ages, as we anticipated having a bit of a glut, so I expect a few chickeny days will be fine.
I did have to shut the french door in the kitchen so my Girls couldn't see what we were eating.
The Deed has Been Done
Well, we slaughtered the first two Dinner Chickens.
DH and OC (other chap) did the deed on Monday morning. Not perfect timing really, it's better to do it in the evening while the birds are all dopey. But they managed to do it without stressing the birds, and the birds had not had the trauma of having food withdrawal (they went to bed after eating on Sunday, as normal).
They used a friend's plucking machine, which I wasn't very happy about. The plucking machine is really quick, but it doesn't pluck as thoroughly as by hand. That wasn't my real objection though. Given that they only culled two birds, it seemed a bit.... disrespectful... not to pluck by hand. Still, I wasn't going to be the one doing the plucking, so I shouldn't complain.
The question then arose about how quickly to dress the bird. The correct thing to do is to leave the bird for 3 days. We did this last time (when we went on a course to learn how to cull humanely), and the smell was a bit strong for us. But I read that you shouldn't gut straightaway, because the meat can be a bit tough if you do. So we decided to leave it 24 hours, and DH has just done it. He managed to do it very quickly and efficiently. OC gutted straightaway, so it will be interesting to compare results.
We're going to try roasting the bird, as that seems the best way of evaluating the flavour. I hope it's OK.
DH and OC (other chap) did the deed on Monday morning. Not perfect timing really, it's better to do it in the evening while the birds are all dopey. But they managed to do it without stressing the birds, and the birds had not had the trauma of having food withdrawal (they went to bed after eating on Sunday, as normal).
They used a friend's plucking machine, which I wasn't very happy about. The plucking machine is really quick, but it doesn't pluck as thoroughly as by hand. That wasn't my real objection though. Given that they only culled two birds, it seemed a bit.... disrespectful... not to pluck by hand. Still, I wasn't going to be the one doing the plucking, so I shouldn't complain.
The question then arose about how quickly to dress the bird. The correct thing to do is to leave the bird for 3 days. We did this last time (when we went on a course to learn how to cull humanely), and the smell was a bit strong for us. But I read that you shouldn't gut straightaway, because the meat can be a bit tough if you do. So we decided to leave it 24 hours, and DH has just done it. He managed to do it very quickly and efficiently. OC gutted straightaway, so it will be interesting to compare results.
We're going to try roasting the bird, as that seems the best way of evaluating the flavour. I hope it's OK.
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Cordially yours
Last year I tr
ied my hand at making cordials.
We have a lot of fruit, and I make jam, fruit leathers, dry it, preserve it blah blah, I've also made fruit vodkas, but up till then never ordinary cordial. They came out really well. I decided that I'd try Elderflower cordial, as I personally keep Bottlegreen in business. Somehow though I missed the Elderflower "season".
This year, I caught our elderflower in time, and managed to cnip enough large heads to make one batch. I followed Hugh's recipe (well, it seemed as good as any other), and I was surprised at how quick and easy it was, easier than blackcurrants anyway.
It doesn't taste like Bottlegreen's Elderflower cordial, but it is a really pleasant drink. I think I might have to go foraing for more Heads so that I can make "champagne"
ied my hand at making cordials.We have a lot of fruit, and I make jam, fruit leathers, dry it, preserve it blah blah, I've also made fruit vodkas, but up till then never ordinary cordial. They came out really well. I decided that I'd try Elderflower cordial, as I personally keep Bottlegreen in business. Somehow though I missed the Elderflower "season".
This year, I caught our elderflower in time, and managed to cnip enough large heads to make one batch. I followed Hugh's recipe (well, it seemed as good as any other), and I was surprised at how quick and easy it was, easier than blackcurrants anyway.
It doesn't taste like Bottlegreen's Elderflower cordial, but it is a really pleasant drink. I think I might have to go foraing for more Heads so that I can make "champagne"
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Yogging
I've given up buying Actimel/Yakult/Pro biotic tablets, and I've gone back to eating Natural Live Yoghurt (NLY) and Kefir. The easiest way I find to do this is to make a banana or strawberry (or whatever) smoothie each day.
I'm consuming vast quantities of NLY this way, and it's most cost effective to make my own. The only "special" equipment you need is a flask, preferably wide-mouthed otherwise it can be a bit hard to get the yoghurt out at the end. Check the capacity of your flask: my "one pint" flask is actually only 500ml, and that's useful to know when you're working out how much milk to use.
So. Put the milk on to boil. You need a bit less than the capacity of the flask. I use about 475ml. You need to boil it to sterilise it, so that the only thing that ends up growing is your yoghurt.
While that's boiling, boil some water and fill and seal the flask. This is to get the inside warm. If it's not, then when you put your final mixture in the flask, the cold walls of the flask will make it too cold to work.
Once the milk has boiled, take it off the heat and leave it too cool to body temperature. You can test this by putting a - clean - little finger in. If it's hot, it's too hot; if it's cool, it's too cold. I Try not to forget about it. If you're in a hurry, you can plunge the saucepan into a sink of cold water.
When it's at body temperature, you can add your other ingredients. I use 2 tablespoons of milk powder (makes the yogurt a but thicker), and 2 tablespoons of Natural Live Yoghurt. You can use yoghurt from an earlier batch; I find that after a while this ends up with a sourer yoghurt, which I don't always like. So, I use a really good quality NLY (My current starter of choice is Rachels's Live). It might seem odd buying yoghurt to make yoghurt, but you can get a number of pints of yoghutr ot of a carton of the bought stuff.
Stir or whisk these in. Empty the hot water from the flask, and put the Yoghurt into the flask. Screw the lid on and leave on the side for 12 -24 hours, or even longer. Sometimes the yoghurt is lumpy (although I've only had this happen once), in which case you just need to stir it briskly.
I've also done this successfully with a Greek Yoghurt (again, I use Rachel's) as a starter, but I find that it's best to use bought yoghurt each time as a starter.
If you don't use that much yoghurt, you can always decant the bought yoghurt into two tablespoon portions and freeze. Defrost overnight in the fridge to use as your own starter.
I'm consuming vast quantities of NLY this way, and it's most cost effective to make my own. The only "special" equipment you need is a flask, preferably wide-mouthed otherwise it can be a bit hard to get the yoghurt out at the end. Check the capacity of your flask: my "one pint" flask is actually only 500ml, and that's useful to know when you're working out how much milk to use.
So. Put the milk on to boil. You need a bit less than the capacity of the flask. I use about 475ml. You need to boil it to sterilise it, so that the only thing that ends up growing is your yoghurt.
While that's boiling, boil some water and fill and seal the flask. This is to get the inside warm. If it's not, then when you put your final mixture in the flask, the cold walls of the flask will make it too cold to work.
Once the milk has boiled, take it off the heat and leave it too cool to body temperature. You can test this by putting a - clean - little finger in. If it's hot, it's too hot; if it's cool, it's too cold. I Try not to forget about it. If you're in a hurry, you can plunge the saucepan into a sink of cold water.
When it's at body temperature, you can add your other ingredients. I use 2 tablespoons of milk powder (makes the yogurt a but thicker), and 2 tablespoons of Natural Live Yoghurt. You can use yoghurt from an earlier batch; I find that after a while this ends up with a sourer yoghurt, which I don't always like. So, I use a really good quality NLY (My current starter of choice is Rachels's Live). It might seem odd buying yoghurt to make yoghurt, but you can get a number of pints of yoghutr ot of a carton of the bought stuff.
Stir or whisk these in. Empty the hot water from the flask, and put the Yoghurt into the flask. Screw the lid on and leave on the side for 12 -24 hours, or even longer. Sometimes the yoghurt is lumpy (although I've only had this happen once), in which case you just need to stir it briskly.
I've also done this successfully with a Greek Yoghurt (again, I use Rachel's) as a starter, but I find that it's best to use bought yoghurt each time as a starter.
If you don't use that much yoghurt, you can always decant the bought yoghurt into two tablespoon portions and freeze. Defrost overnight in the fridge to use as your own starter.
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Goosing around
We have a five week old gosling coming to join our flock today.
There were meant to be three goslings, being raised for us by the same chap who raised the chickens for us, but the other two died. He's raising a couple more now who will join our gosling as soon as they are old enough.
To keep the Gosling company in the meantime, we've borrowed some ducks.
DH and OC have been busy for the last few weeks clearing the remainder of the allotment, fencing it (human/fox proofing), and extending the electric fence. The last couple of days have been spent digging out and installing a pond, and making a house for Goose.
I'm looking forward to meeting him/her later, and I'll take some pics if possible.
There were meant to be three goslings, being raised for us by the same chap who raised the chickens for us, but the other two died. He's raising a couple more now who will join our gosling as soon as they are old enough.
To keep the Gosling company in the meantime, we've borrowed some ducks.
DH and OC have been busy for the last few weeks clearing the remainder of the allotment, fencing it (human/fox proofing), and extending the electric fence. The last couple of days have been spent digging out and installing a pond, and making a house for Goose.
I'm looking forward to meeting him/her later, and I'll take some pics if possible.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Dinner chickens, four weeks on,
We've had the Dinners for four weeks now. We have two brown ones now, the other brown one died early on. The white birds are looking well, although their feathers are still a bit scrappy uder their wings.
It's now possible to sex the birds. Of the Whites, the males have redder combs and maybe thicker legs. Of the browns, we have one male and one female; the male is much bigger, has tree trunk legs, a quiffy tale. Sadly, he gets bullied by everyone, and spends a lot of time on his own. We make sure he gets fed.
DH and OC (other chap) are thinking they might keep the two brown ones, but I've said we should find out first what breed they are. I've posted on Practical Poultry forum, I hope that they turn out to be something we can keep and maybe breed from.
It's now possible to sex the birds. Of the Whites, the males have redder combs and maybe thicker legs. Of the browns, we have one male and one female; the male is much bigger, has tree trunk legs, a quiffy tale. Sadly, he gets bullied by everyone, and spends a lot of time on his own. We make sure he gets fed.
DH and OC (other chap) are thinking they might keep the two brown ones, but I've said we should find out first what breed they are. I've posted on Practical Poultry forum, I hope that they turn out to be something we can keep and maybe breed from.
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Pigeons
The Girls do not like pigeons. Actually, it's stronger than that.
They don't mind pigeons flying overhead - as long as they aren't too low, and don't stop. What they get agitated about is pigeons landing in any of the trees within sight/sound of the Girls. WHen this happens, the Girls get a little bit vocal.
When a pigeon - or pigeons - land in one of the trees in or next to the Girls run, the Girls go beserk.
When two pigeons land in one of those trees as part of their mating ritual, all hell breaks loose.
There had been a bit of squwarking going on today. Jasmine, of course. (I thought about seeing if our local rare breed petting farm might take her, but I couldn't face the thought of her being introduced to a lot of other birds. If she's rehomed it'll have to be to a back garden flock, or to someone who is intriducing other birds at the same time. Anyway, I digress).
I was frothing milk for coffee when there was teh most awful cacophony, and a lot of wing flapping. I dropped the milk and ran outside, thinking it was a fox. The Girls continued to screech, and all five of them were looking in the same direction, necks stretched to breaking point. I couldn't find anything, so I crossly told them to shut up, and turned round to walk back, Then the wing flapping got really loud, and I turned around expecting to see one of my Girls flying or something.
Instead, I saw the pigeons in the tree, mating. :rollseyes: (I must find the rolls eyes image).
The Girls were running around squwarking again, like...well....like headless chickens.
They don't mind pigeons flying overhead - as long as they aren't too low, and don't stop. What they get agitated about is pigeons landing in any of the trees within sight/sound of the Girls. WHen this happens, the Girls get a little bit vocal.
When a pigeon - or pigeons - land in one of the trees in or next to the Girls run, the Girls go beserk.
When two pigeons land in one of those trees as part of their mating ritual, all hell breaks loose.
There had been a bit of squwarking going on today. Jasmine, of course. (I thought about seeing if our local rare breed petting farm might take her, but I couldn't face the thought of her being introduced to a lot of other birds. If she's rehomed it'll have to be to a back garden flock, or to someone who is intriducing other birds at the same time. Anyway, I digress).
I was frothing milk for coffee when there was teh most awful cacophony, and a lot of wing flapping. I dropped the milk and ran outside, thinking it was a fox. The Girls continued to screech, and all five of them were looking in the same direction, necks stretched to breaking point. I couldn't find anything, so I crossly told them to shut up, and turned round to walk back, Then the wing flapping got really loud, and I turned around expecting to see one of my Girls flying or something.
Instead, I saw the pigeons in the tree, mating. :rollseyes: (I must find the rolls eyes image).
The Girls were running around squwarking again, like...well....like headless chickens.
Monday, 11 May 2009
What the cluck?
It started at 3.30 a.m. Not the chickens - one of the Cats.
I was woken by a plaintive mewing from outside. I leapt up and peered out of the window, but it was pitch black and I couldn't see anything. I pulled on my dressing gown and staggered downstairs, and I couldn't find the back door key.
We have a place for the back door key, which isn't in the back door lock. It wasn't there. DH joined me, and found the key by the breadmaker, and we were finally able to open the door. Washburn raced in. Couldn't see anything wrong, so we went back to bed.
5 minutes later, the cats started a fight on the landing. It wasn't the normal "chase me" fight, it was full on. Seconds later we had a growling cat under the bed, and a hissing spitting cat in the doorway. Light on, out of bed. I took the underbed cat, DH took the doorway cat. No sign of anything. Back to bed.
5am, Jasmine started crowing. Then Lily joined in. Ran downstairs, out into the garden, told them to shut up. Checked the nestbox, no eggs at all? Jasmine would NOT shut up.
Came in the house to find DH in the kitchen; he was Very Unhappy. Jasmine was still going on, so I went and got her and put her on the kitchen floor. She would NOT shut up.
Then we opened the window and could hear Lily whingeing as well. Not like her. So I scooped up Jasmine, who had thoughtfully left a little present, and put her back in the Run.
So what was it about? No idea. We did a tour looking for evidence of foxes or anything, but couldn't find anything.
Jasmine is on her last warning now.
I was woken by a plaintive mewing from outside. I leapt up and peered out of the window, but it was pitch black and I couldn't see anything. I pulled on my dressing gown and staggered downstairs, and I couldn't find the back door key.
We have a place for the back door key, which isn't in the back door lock. It wasn't there. DH joined me, and found the key by the breadmaker, and we were finally able to open the door. Washburn raced in. Couldn't see anything wrong, so we went back to bed.
5 minutes later, the cats started a fight on the landing. It wasn't the normal "chase me" fight, it was full on. Seconds later we had a growling cat under the bed, and a hissing spitting cat in the doorway. Light on, out of bed. I took the underbed cat, DH took the doorway cat. No sign of anything. Back to bed.
5am, Jasmine started crowing. Then Lily joined in. Ran downstairs, out into the garden, told them to shut up. Checked the nestbox, no eggs at all? Jasmine would NOT shut up.
Came in the house to find DH in the kitchen; he was Very Unhappy. Jasmine was still going on, so I went and got her and put her on the kitchen floor. She would NOT shut up.
Then we opened the window and could hear Lily whingeing as well. Not like her. So I scooped up Jasmine, who had thoughtfully left a little present, and put her back in the Run.
So what was it about? No idea. We did a tour looking for evidence of foxes or anything, but couldn't find anything.
Jasmine is on her last warning now.
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Monster Egg
Leelo has just laid a monster of an egg.She normally lays eggs at about 61g. Today there was a monster egg in the nestbox. Over 7cm tall (normally 5cm), it weighed in at 102g
Made my eyes water!
Saturday, 9 May 2009
Biscuits
I hardly ever buy biscuits. I'm not really a biscuit-y person, but I do find an open pack of biccies irresistable if I'm not feeling 100%. I make them, but only rarely, as home made biccies disappear too easily.
In Cornwall last week, the cottage owner left us a packet of Cornish Fairings, made by Furniss. It would have been rude to leave them, so I opened the packet....and they were absolutely wonderful. I bought a second packet later in the week and scoffed those as well.
I brough home a wide range of their biccies: Cornish Fairings, COrnish Gingerbread; Apple & Cinnamon; and some shortbread. I made up a hamper as a "thank you" to my next door neighbour for looking after the chooks, and I put a selection of the boxes in.
I kept a packet of Apple & Cinnamon, a packet of the Fairings, and two packets of the GIngerbread. The A&C weren't great. The flavour was lovely, but the texture was horrible; I even had to check the sell by date in case they were old stock. They weren't.
I ate the Fairings.
And then, tackling a work problem and needing to give myself a boost I resorted to trying the Gingerbread. I didn't have high expectations after the A&C... but they were wonderful. I mean, really, really good. I've now eaten the last biscuit out of the last packet (there were 3 of them), and I'd like to get some more.
I've found a couple of online suppliers. One is a cornish hamper company, who sells the biscuits at a reasonable price - but charges £15 for delivery (I think the food comes in a seagrass hamper); and another one which charges a more achievable £5, but has a very limited range. It would mean I'd have to buy twin packs, with one of the twins being shortbread. I don't mind shortbread, but I prefer to make my own if I'm going to have any at all.
Maybe it's for the best.
Oh, they do have recipes for their biccies on line, so I might try making some first.
In Cornwall last week, the cottage owner left us a packet of Cornish Fairings, made by Furniss. It would have been rude to leave them, so I opened the packet....and they were absolutely wonderful. I bought a second packet later in the week and scoffed those as well.
I brough home a wide range of their biccies: Cornish Fairings, COrnish Gingerbread; Apple & Cinnamon; and some shortbread. I made up a hamper as a "thank you" to my next door neighbour for looking after the chooks, and I put a selection of the boxes in.
I kept a packet of Apple & Cinnamon, a packet of the Fairings, and two packets of the GIngerbread. The A&C weren't great. The flavour was lovely, but the texture was horrible; I even had to check the sell by date in case they were old stock. They weren't.
I ate the Fairings.
And then, tackling a work problem and needing to give myself a boost I resorted to trying the Gingerbread. I didn't have high expectations after the A&C... but they were wonderful. I mean, really, really good. I've now eaten the last biscuit out of the last packet (there were 3 of them), and I'd like to get some more.
I've found a couple of online suppliers. One is a cornish hamper company, who sells the biscuits at a reasonable price - but charges £15 for delivery (I think the food comes in a seagrass hamper); and another one which charges a more achievable £5, but has a very limited range. It would mean I'd have to buy twin packs, with one of the twins being shortbread. I don't mind shortbread, but I prefer to make my own if I'm going to have any at all.
Maybe it's for the best.
Oh, they do have recipes for their biccies on line, so I might try making some first.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Dust Bunnies
We have solid floors throughout our downstairs, and most of upstairs. We also have two, very hairy, cats. This combination means we are very prone to dust bunnies, those little miniature bits of tumbleweed that lurk under the sofa, in corners, behind doors.
We have Raymondo the Roomba, who is very good at seeking them out, but as he can't fit in some spots, we have a few dust bunny sanctuaries.
Still. At least I know where my dust bunnies are. When you have carpet, all that Dust Bunny goodness is in the fibres. <>.
Thanks to JooJoo on the Omlet forum for finding this:
http://www.dustbunnies.com/dust_bunny_facts.htm
We have Raymondo the Roomba, who is very good at seeking them out, but as he can't fit in some spots, we have a few dust bunny sanctuaries.
Still. At least I know where my dust bunnies are. When you have carpet, all that Dust Bunny goodness is in the fibres. <
Thanks to JooJoo on the Omlet forum for finding this:
http://www.dustbunnies.com/dust_bunny_facts.htm
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Friday, Padstow
Excellent timing! Friday May 1st, Obby Oss day in Padstow. Couldn't miss that.
Hadn't realised that most of the restaurants would be closed and that the open eateries would be serving very fast food, but never mind.
Parked in the well organised Park & Ride (P&R), and got the bus into town. Walked down the hill, and found the Blue (Peace) Oss making it's one and only appearance at the Custom House. Excellent! Followed it for a while, and then decided to get a cup of tea. (Un?)Fortunately, we ran into the Red (Original) Oss, and had to wait for that procession to pass before we could continue.
Managed to find somewhere to get a freshly made bacon roll, and the heavens opened just as we left. Decided to head for Falmouth, and got the P&R back to the car. Very easy.
Maritime Museum was very interesting, very well done.
Hadn't realised that most of the restaurants would be closed and that the open eateries would be serving very fast food, but never mind.
Parked in the well organised Park & Ride (P&R), and got the bus into town. Walked down the hill, and found the Blue (Peace) Oss making it's one and only appearance at the Custom House. Excellent! Followed it for a while, and then decided to get a cup of tea. (Un?)Fortunately, we ran into the Red (Original) Oss, and had to wait for that procession to pass before we could continue.
Managed to find somewhere to get a freshly made bacon roll, and the heavens opened just as we left. Decided to head for Falmouth, and got the P&R back to the car. Very easy.
Maritime Museum was very interesting, very well done.
Thursday. Goonhilly.
So, Thursday dawned, and we were off to Goonhilly - to Futureworld.
We had a great tour around Arthur, the world's original Earth Satellite Dish, the design on which All Others Are Based. Sadly, he's been decommisioned now, but he's a grade 2 listed structure and he has to be kept in full working order. Many of the later satellite dishes (with similar Arthurian names) have been completely dismantled as BT has decided to move operations to Herefordshire.
Lots to see and do inside as well and, best of all, we had a turn on the Segways. We were really lucky that it was just my DH and I on our Segway tour, so we were able to learn to use them really quickly, and then we had a whizz on the Goonhilly site roads. The weather was too rubbish for us to be able to have a go at the second level assuault course, but it was fab nonethless.
Absolutely brilliant fun, and I'd love to have one if I could get one ata fraction of the £5k pricetag!
We had a great tour around Arthur, the world's original Earth Satellite Dish, the design on which All Others Are Based. Sadly, he's been decommisioned now, but he's a grade 2 listed structure and he has to be kept in full working order. Many of the later satellite dishes (with similar Arthurian names) have been completely dismantled as BT has decided to move operations to Herefordshire.
Lots to see and do inside as well and, best of all, we had a turn on the Segways. We were really lucky that it was just my DH and I on our Segway tour, so we were able to learn to use them really quickly, and then we had a whizz on the Goonhilly site roads. The weather was too rubbish for us to be able to have a go at the second level assuault course, but it was fab nonethless.
Absolutely brilliant fun, and I'd love to have one if I could get one ata fraction of the £5k pricetag!
Mothers Ruin!
On Wednesday, we went to Plymouth.
I know Plymouth isn't in Cornwall, but I was very interested in seeing the Plymouth Gin distillery. And the Beryl Cook gallery. And a few other things, but we ran out of time as we had to be back in Cornwall for a wine tour.
Anyway, Plymouth.
I hate gin. It has a very....oily... texture, smells vile, and tastes worse. DH hates it, along with Creme de Menthe, having got very badly drunk and subsequently very ill on a concoction of the two when he was a younger chap. So why would I want to go and taste Plymouth Gin?
Sad to say, it's because I saw Oz and James' programme about it. I was intrigued to discover that Plymouth Gin is different to London Gin, the latter is very heavily dependant on Juniper and the former on botanicals. Maybe I'd only ever tried London Gin? (Gordon's and Bombay Sapphire, to be precise).
The tour started with a potted history (very interesting), and then a tasting before we went to see the process. Plymouth Gin uses seven botanicals: Juniper, lemon peel, orange peel, cardammom, coriander, Anjelica and Orris root. Each one adds to the characteristic of the Gin, and you drink the Gin you can identify each element.
It was....okay. Actually, quite drinkable, especially with a high quality tonic water such as Fever Tree. And then we tried their Sloe Gin.
Now, I make my own fruit vodkas, and I've been very successful (and not very successful, if I'm honest). And this Sloe gin was out of this world.
I was interested to hear how they add their fruit, so I'll be trying that when I next make some tayberry or blackcurrant vodka. I might even try some Gin, using plain Plymouth as a base.
The tour was great, and included a free G&T in the cocktail bar as well. The restaurant looked good too, shame couldn't stay.
Wine tour that evening was also good fun, despite the pouring rain.
I know Plymouth isn't in Cornwall, but I was very interested in seeing the Plymouth Gin distillery. And the Beryl Cook gallery. And a few other things, but we ran out of time as we had to be back in Cornwall for a wine tour.
Anyway, Plymouth.
I hate gin. It has a very....oily... texture, smells vile, and tastes worse. DH hates it, along with Creme de Menthe, having got very badly drunk and subsequently very ill on a concoction of the two when he was a younger chap. So why would I want to go and taste Plymouth Gin?
Sad to say, it's because I saw Oz and James' programme about it. I was intrigued to discover that Plymouth Gin is different to London Gin, the latter is very heavily dependant on Juniper and the former on botanicals. Maybe I'd only ever tried London Gin? (Gordon's and Bombay Sapphire, to be precise).
The tour started with a potted history (very interesting), and then a tasting before we went to see the process. Plymouth Gin uses seven botanicals: Juniper, lemon peel, orange peel, cardammom, coriander, Anjelica and Orris root. Each one adds to the characteristic of the Gin, and you drink the Gin you can identify each element.
It was....okay. Actually, quite drinkable, especially with a high quality tonic water such as Fever Tree. And then we tried their Sloe Gin.
Now, I make my own fruit vodkas, and I've been very successful (and not very successful, if I'm honest). And this Sloe gin was out of this world.
I was interested to hear how they add their fruit, so I'll be trying that when I next make some tayberry or blackcurrant vodka. I might even try some Gin, using plain Plymouth as a base.
The tour was great, and included a free G&T in the cocktail bar as well. The restaurant looked good too, shame couldn't stay.
Wine tour that evening was also good fun, despite the pouring rain.
Poldark
I first started to read the Poldark series of books when I was 23 ish. We were on holiday in Herefordshire, and the cottage had a bookcase crammedw ith books. I started on the first novel, and by the end of the holiday I had read all of them. As soon as I came home, I bought my own set and started again.
There are very few books that I enjoy re-reading, and the Poldark saga is one of them...although I now stop before I get to the later books, as they go off at a bit of a tangent. I vaguely remembered seeing Poldark on TV as a child, and I got the videos and watched them too.
I thought they were a reasonable adaptation of the books, although there were a few things about the changes in the adaptations which really bugged me, such as Ross only marrying Demelza because she was pregnant (not true), the ending of series one, and so on. Still, with the restrictions of a TV series, on the whole they did a good job.
Many years later I got hold of Winston Graham's book about Cornwall and Poldark, and I was amused to read that the people of Cornwall didn't particularly like it, and weren't too happy when tourists came round looking for Poldark stuff.
I was sure that things would have changed by now, so I was expecting to see lots of Poldark stuff when we were on holiday. Nope.
Even in places where they had books about Cornwall - including fiction - there was nothing about Poldark. Such a shame, I can't be the only tourist interested in seeing where it was filmed, or what the real villages were?
We did find one reference to Poldark, and that was a tin mine. Ross Poldark's fortunes depended on tin and copper mining, and in the stories he had more than one mine. We had already decided we would like to see a tin mine, so it might as well be this one.
Except it was, of course, nothing to do with Poldark. In fact, the only references to Poldark were (a) the name of the mine; and (b) a promised exhibit of "Captain Poldark's Drawing Room" , which wasn't there. We couldn't work out if it had been there and had been removed, or whether it was going to be there but wasn't there yet. Oh, and this was the only place that had any of Winston Graham's books in the shop.
There were no other references to Poldark at all, which is a shame. They could have talked about the naming of the mines, the fortunes, the hold the smelting companies had; they could easily cross reference the books. But no.
Still, it was interesting enough. Some pumping engines outside, kept DH amused; and the mine tour was surprisingly good. We couldn't go all the way down as it was flooded at the bottom, but we got down about 140 feet. You can also post a letter or card at the bottom, in the UK's lowest postbox but, as they hadn't said anything about it at the top, no-one had brought anything to post. I made a suggestion that they could sell preprinted & stamped postcards where you bought your mine tour ticket, and people could post them when they came down.
Lots more to do, but we were a bit early in the season so some of the additional shops/attractions were closed.
There are very few books that I enjoy re-reading, and the Poldark saga is one of them...although I now stop before I get to the later books, as they go off at a bit of a tangent. I vaguely remembered seeing Poldark on TV as a child, and I got the videos and watched them too.
I thought they were a reasonable adaptation of the books, although there were a few things about the changes in the adaptations which really bugged me, such as Ross only marrying Demelza because she was pregnant (not true), the ending of series one, and so on. Still, with the restrictions of a TV series, on the whole they did a good job.
Many years later I got hold of Winston Graham's book about Cornwall and Poldark, and I was amused to read that the people of Cornwall didn't particularly like it, and weren't too happy when tourists came round looking for Poldark stuff.
I was sure that things would have changed by now, so I was expecting to see lots of Poldark stuff when we were on holiday. Nope.
Even in places where they had books about Cornwall - including fiction - there was nothing about Poldark. Such a shame, I can't be the only tourist interested in seeing where it was filmed, or what the real villages were?
We did find one reference to Poldark, and that was a tin mine. Ross Poldark's fortunes depended on tin and copper mining, and in the stories he had more than one mine. We had already decided we would like to see a tin mine, so it might as well be this one.
Except it was, of course, nothing to do with Poldark. In fact, the only references to Poldark were (a) the name of the mine; and (b) a promised exhibit of "Captain Poldark's Drawing Room" , which wasn't there. We couldn't work out if it had been there and had been removed, or whether it was going to be there but wasn't there yet. Oh, and this was the only place that had any of Winston Graham's books in the shop.
There were no other references to Poldark at all, which is a shame. They could have talked about the naming of the mines, the fortunes, the hold the smelting companies had; they could easily cross reference the books. But no.
Still, it was interesting enough. Some pumping engines outside, kept DH amused; and the mine tour was surprisingly good. We couldn't go all the way down as it was flooded at the bottom, but we got down about 140 feet. You can also post a letter or card at the bottom, in the UK's lowest postbox but, as they hadn't said anything about it at the top, no-one had brought anything to post. I made a suggestion that they could sell preprinted & stamped postcards where you bought your mine tour ticket, and people could post them when they came down.
Lots more to do, but we were a bit early in the season so some of the additional shops/attractions were closed.
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Eden
Monday dawned drizzly, but with the possibility of a bit of sun. The weather forecast for the whole week was abysmal, so we decided to take advantage of the possibly-only-good-day, and went to Heligan and Eden.Fabulous.
It rained a bit, but it was still great. We need to go back to Heligan to do some of the longer walks.
Eden was also wonderful. Most of the pics here are from Eden.
Fortitude
Day 2 of the holiday, Sunday, was a bit of a slow day. We were tired from the long journey, and the Grand Prix was on.
I did some window shopping in Falmouth while DH watched it and later, when there was a break in the rain, we went to Pontdennis Castle.
Fabulous views, and really interesting military history.
I did some window shopping in Falmouth while DH watched it and later, when there was a break in the rain, we went to Pontdennis Castle.
Fabulous views, and really interesting military history.
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Steaming
On holiday for a week in Cornwall. Had to leave very early, as today is "Trevithick Day" in Cambourne and, as DH is into that sort of thing, thought he might like to see it.
Got there in time, walked round all the steam related exhibits, and then lined the street to watch the parade. It's surprising how long it takes for that many slow rolling steam engines to go past.
Especially when it's raining.
I took a photo of each and every one, but I've just added a few here
Got there in time, walked round all the steam related exhibits, and then lined the street to watch the parade. It's surprising how long it takes for that many slow rolling steam engines to go past.
Especially when it's raining.
I took a photo of each and every one, but I've just added a few here
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Ox Cheeks
Had friends round for dinner last night and I had decided to try Ox Cheeks. I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to eat them but, I kept telling myself, it's just beef from a different bit of the cow. I don't eat Offal (well, except Haggis, which is liver-ish but well spiced, and I eat it with lots of mashed potato and mashed carrots & swede) because I don't like the smell or texture of Liver or Kidney , and I wasn't sure whether this fell into that category.
I used the recipe from the Donald Russell website. It was for four cheeks, but here I encountered my first query. The packs from Donald Russell each had two cheeks in, so four cheeks was 2 packs. Byt each pack was 800g of very lean meat - so this would mean 1.6kg for four....surely that couldn't be right?
On the DR website it stated that each 800g pack fed 2-3, so I used both packs. However, the quantities for the other ingredients listed didn't seem enough at all, so I increased them considerably.
The first step was searing the cheeks until they were caramelised. Now, I have a fantastic and enormous hob-to-oven pan, but I had to sear the cheeks in batches. And when they coloured, they went that sort of khaki colour that Liver goes. It did not bode well.
I absolutely detest liver. I remember being forced to eat it at school, and now even the smell of it makes me heave. I have tried it since - my DH and one of my best friends both adore liver and say that home made is nothing lie the school carp - but as soon as I bit into it...well, I've given up.
Followed the rest of the recipe, and everntually got the cheeks into the oven, where they had to cook for 2.5 hours. I checked them twice, and after the first checking (at one hour) they looked completely different and the sauce looked wonderfully unctuous.
They were fantastic! I can't believe it. Really tender, really delicious, texture was like any oher braised steak. We ate nearly all of it, it could have served 5 easily, 6 for small appetites.
So here's the recipe with my adaptations:
Ingredients
4 Ox cheeks (I used Donald Russell, 2 packs of 2 cheeks totalling 1.6kg)
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil
2 carrots, cut into small sticks
2 onions, sliced
2 stalks of celery, sliced fairly thin
200ml port
1.5 or 2 tins of chopped tomatoes (I saved the laf tin to use on Bruschetta)
About 1 litre of beef stock (I used a can of Waitrose Beef Consomme, plus 600ml beef stock)
150 to 200ml Balsamic vinegar (don't use the really cheap stuff)
3 large sprigs of rosemary
Method
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees (150 deg fan oven, Gas 3, or equivalent). Make sure the Ox CHeeks have come to room temperature, then pat them dry with kitchen towel. I had to cut some of the cheeks, as they had sort of flappy bits which meant it would be hard to brown all over. However, keep them as largish pieces, don't be tempted to cut them small as they will just disappear in the cooking process.
Heat about 2 tablespoons of the oil in a very large flameproof casserole, or hob-to-oven pan, until it's very hot. Sear the cheek pieces all over until tehy are brown and slightly caramelised. I had to do this in two batches, and I added some extra oil at the end. When done, remove to a plate. Don't worry about the mountain of meat in front of you. Some of it will disintegrate into the sauce anyway.
Add the onions, celert and carrots to the pan and cook at a lower heat for about 6 mins, turning them frequently. Towards the end of the time, turn the heat back up again. When they are done, pour in the port in one go, it will bubble rapidly and steam, and this will deglaze the pan. Turn the heat down, and let the liquid reduce until it's almost all gone.
Now add the remainder of the ingredients and stir, then put the cheeks back in the pan. Try and cover them with liquid as much as possible. Bring to the boil, and once it's simmering al over put the lid on, and transfer to the oven.
Cook in the oven for at least two hours, preferably 2 and a half. I checked the dish at 1 hour and 1 and a half hours in case the meat needed turning. (It needed a bit of adjustment at one hour, but it was fine when I did the second check).
We served it with mashed potatoes to soak up the lovely sauce, and roasted vegetables.
Leftover "gravy" can be saved and frozen and used as a rich beefy gravy for other meals.
Definitely one for my recipe book!
I used the recipe from the Donald Russell website. It was for four cheeks, but here I encountered my first query. The packs from Donald Russell each had two cheeks in, so four cheeks was 2 packs. Byt each pack was 800g of very lean meat - so this would mean 1.6kg for four....surely that couldn't be right?
On the DR website it stated that each 800g pack fed 2-3, so I used both packs. However, the quantities for the other ingredients listed didn't seem enough at all, so I increased them considerably.
The first step was searing the cheeks until they were caramelised. Now, I have a fantastic and enormous hob-to-oven pan, but I had to sear the cheeks in batches. And when they coloured, they went that sort of khaki colour that Liver goes. It did not bode well.
I absolutely detest liver. I remember being forced to eat it at school, and now even the smell of it makes me heave. I have tried it since - my DH and one of my best friends both adore liver and say that home made is nothing lie the school carp - but as soon as I bit into it...well, I've given up.
Followed the rest of the recipe, and everntually got the cheeks into the oven, where they had to cook for 2.5 hours. I checked them twice, and after the first checking (at one hour) they looked completely different and the sauce looked wonderfully unctuous.
They were fantastic! I can't believe it. Really tender, really delicious, texture was like any oher braised steak. We ate nearly all of it, it could have served 5 easily, 6 for small appetites.
So here's the recipe with my adaptations:
Ingredients
4 Ox cheeks (I used Donald Russell, 2 packs of 2 cheeks totalling 1.6kg)
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil
2 carrots, cut into small sticks
2 onions, sliced
2 stalks of celery, sliced fairly thin
200ml port
1.5 or 2 tins of chopped tomatoes (I saved the laf tin to use on Bruschetta)
About 1 litre of beef stock (I used a can of Waitrose Beef Consomme, plus 600ml beef stock)
150 to 200ml Balsamic vinegar (don't use the really cheap stuff)
3 large sprigs of rosemary
Method
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees (150 deg fan oven, Gas 3, or equivalent). Make sure the Ox CHeeks have come to room temperature, then pat them dry with kitchen towel. I had to cut some of the cheeks, as they had sort of flappy bits which meant it would be hard to brown all over. However, keep them as largish pieces, don't be tempted to cut them small as they will just disappear in the cooking process.
Heat about 2 tablespoons of the oil in a very large flameproof casserole, or hob-to-oven pan, until it's very hot. Sear the cheek pieces all over until tehy are brown and slightly caramelised. I had to do this in two batches, and I added some extra oil at the end. When done, remove to a plate. Don't worry about the mountain of meat in front of you. Some of it will disintegrate into the sauce anyway.
Add the onions, celert and carrots to the pan and cook at a lower heat for about 6 mins, turning them frequently. Towards the end of the time, turn the heat back up again. When they are done, pour in the port in one go, it will bubble rapidly and steam, and this will deglaze the pan. Turn the heat down, and let the liquid reduce until it's almost all gone.
Now add the remainder of the ingredients and stir, then put the cheeks back in the pan. Try and cover them with liquid as much as possible. Bring to the boil, and once it's simmering al over put the lid on, and transfer to the oven.
Cook in the oven for at least two hours, preferably 2 and a half. I checked the dish at 1 hour and 1 and a half hours in case the meat needed turning. (It needed a bit of adjustment at one hour, but it was fine when I did the second check).
We served it with mashed potatoes to soak up the lovely sauce, and roasted vegetables.
Leftover "gravy" can be saved and frozen and used as a rich beefy gravy for other meals.
Definitely one for my recipe book!
Friday, 17 April 2009
Table Birds have arrived
The table chicks have finally arrived!DH and his friend, who are doing this together,, have been very busy getting the allotment ready for them. First they had to clear the allotment, then fence it, then convert a shed to be the chooks home and sleeping quarters.
It's a lovely large shed, the photo doesn't do it justice. The chicks are in the far corners in the first pic.
They are only 7 or 8 weeks old and we haven't let them out to free range yet. We're doing this one change at a time, and the first big change was having tehm move into their new home. The next will be getting them on to Growers pellets.
Three of the birds are very different to the others, they are very brown, so they may turn out to not be table birds. The fact that three are different may be a problem, as it sets them apart and makes them easy to get attached to. I think I'm on the slippery slope as I found that of the six pics I took this morning, three of them are of the Oddballs!
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Spring
The garden has suddenly burst into life.
The grass has been mowed, twice; the area the Girls were on up to about a week ago has recovered magnificently, so I'll be moving their paddock back there tomorrow; the Cherry and Pear trees are both in magnificent blossom - haven't seen the Cherry look this glorious for years, so maybe last year's pruning has helped!
The bluebells are coming into flower as well. We lost a lot last year when we made our terraced area, but we seem to have a good number in other parts of the garden. I've been top dressing a lot of the flower beds, and I've also put a top dressing of home compost around the soft fruit bushes.
And the table chicks have arrived in their new home. More about them tomorrow, maybe.
The grass has been mowed, twice; the area the Girls were on up to about a week ago has recovered magnificently, so I'll be moving their paddock back there tomorrow; the Cherry and Pear trees are both in magnificent blossom - haven't seen the Cherry look this glorious for years, so maybe last year's pruning has helped!
The bluebells are coming into flower as well. We lost a lot last year when we made our terraced area, but we seem to have a good number in other parts of the garden. I've been top dressing a lot of the flower beds, and I've also put a top dressing of home compost around the soft fruit bushes.
And the table chicks have arrived in their new home. More about them tomorrow, maybe.
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Wedding cake (final)
The Wedding went really well. Bride looked radiant, groom looked handsome, venue was delighful.
Here are some pics of the cake.
Here are some pics of the cake.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Some days, it's more frustrating than fun
Jasmine has been getting to be a bit of a noisy nuisance.
She is a Welsummer, and started laying chocolate brown eggs very late - she was well over a year old. She's not the cleverest of chickens, but is very pretty.
A little while ago she developed a rather unusual call, more of a honking than anything, making her sound more like a goose than a chicken. It's been a bit irritating from time to time, but she only has honking fits every so often.
In common with many Girls, she also likes to announce The Arrival of The Egge. Her call on these occasions is very loud, and goes on for some time.
Today, she announced the Arrival of The Egge, very loudly, when in fact she hadn't actually laid. Twice. The third time, it wasn't funny any more as her foghorn voice went on and on. In fact, she had produced the Egg this time, but she just wouldn't shut up about it. She went on and on and on. And on and on. And on. And on. And on. I went out and shushed her. She stopped. Then when I was out of sight, she started again. Apparently from the beginning, rather than just picking up where she left off.
So I went out again. I tried spraying water near her each time she started. After a minute of silence I'd come in, only to have her start as soon as she saw me step in to the kitchen. This "game" went on for some time. In the end, in sheer frustration (because by this time she was making such a noise I thought the neigbours would surely be round to see what on earth was happening) that I caught her and brought her in the kitchen. In the kitchen, not a bok.
Then Daisy appeared at the window, which was something of a feat as the Girls are behind netting down the garden. I caught Daisy, and put her back behind the netting. I saw Lily trying to leap over the netting as I did so, but she wasn't able to get the thrust to get over.
I got back to the house, Jasmine was still very quiet, but was frantically pecking the window trying to get out. I went round to pick her up to release her, and saw two white chickeny faces peering in at me. This time Lily and Daisy together had got over the fence.
So. I put them back, and then I put Jasmine back out in the garden.
By the time I got back to the kitchen, Jasmine was honking again. At least she's stopped the Announcement, I suppose.
I need to talk to DH about this. If this keeps happening, I think Jasmine will need to be rehomed. Our neighbours mum may be moving in with them, and I don't want this to cause problems for them - or for our relationship with them.
Jasmine must consider herself "on notice", I think.
EDITED TO ADD:
I've just watched Daisy escape. She doesn't fly over the netting, she manged to find a bit where there was a weeny gap between the bottom of the netting and the ground - and she slowly limbo-ed under it.
Ha ha ha.
I've removed the gap now.
EDITED AGAIN TO ADD:
Poor Daisy is trying to find her limbo point, and there are now three chickens (Daisy, Milly, Lily) lined up trying to walk through the fencing. Bless 'em.
She is a Welsummer, and started laying chocolate brown eggs very late - she was well over a year old. She's not the cleverest of chickens, but is very pretty.
A little while ago she developed a rather unusual call, more of a honking than anything, making her sound more like a goose than a chicken. It's been a bit irritating from time to time, but she only has honking fits every so often.
In common with many Girls, she also likes to announce The Arrival of The Egge. Her call on these occasions is very loud, and goes on for some time.
Today, she announced the Arrival of The Egge, very loudly, when in fact she hadn't actually laid. Twice. The third time, it wasn't funny any more as her foghorn voice went on and on. In fact, she had produced the Egg this time, but she just wouldn't shut up about it. She went on and on and on. And on and on. And on. And on. And on. I went out and shushed her. She stopped. Then when I was out of sight, she started again. Apparently from the beginning, rather than just picking up where she left off.
So I went out again. I tried spraying water near her each time she started. After a minute of silence I'd come in, only to have her start as soon as she saw me step in to the kitchen. This "game" went on for some time. In the end, in sheer frustration (because by this time she was making such a noise I thought the neigbours would surely be round to see what on earth was happening) that I caught her and brought her in the kitchen. In the kitchen, not a bok.
Then Daisy appeared at the window, which was something of a feat as the Girls are behind netting down the garden. I caught Daisy, and put her back behind the netting. I saw Lily trying to leap over the netting as I did so, but she wasn't able to get the thrust to get over.
I got back to the house, Jasmine was still very quiet, but was frantically pecking the window trying to get out. I went round to pick her up to release her, and saw two white chickeny faces peering in at me. This time Lily and Daisy together had got over the fence.
So. I put them back, and then I put Jasmine back out in the garden.
By the time I got back to the kitchen, Jasmine was honking again. At least she's stopped the Announcement, I suppose.
I need to talk to DH about this. If this keeps happening, I think Jasmine will need to be rehomed. Our neighbours mum may be moving in with them, and I don't want this to cause problems for them - or for our relationship with them.
Jasmine must consider herself "on notice", I think.
EDITED TO ADD:
I've just watched Daisy escape. She doesn't fly over the netting, she manged to find a bit where there was a weeny gap between the bottom of the netting and the ground - and she slowly limbo-ed under it.
Ha ha ha.
I've removed the gap now.
EDITED AGAIN TO ADD:
Poor Daisy is trying to find her limbo point, and there are now three chickens (Daisy, Milly, Lily) lined up trying to walk through the fencing. Bless 'em.
Sunday, 29 March 2009
5 out of 5!
Yay! Daisy has laid her first egg!
It's absolutely gorgeous, a lovely mid brown shade. It weoghed in at 45g which is a good size for a first egg. I egg danced across the garden and rushed in to show DH.
Here's one from each...
It's absolutely gorgeous, a lovely mid brown shade. It weoghed in at 45g which is a good size for a first egg. I egg danced across the garden and rushed in to show DH.
Here's one from each...
Friday, 27 March 2009
Noisy girls!
The Girls have been getting up - and then complaining - earlier and earlier. Thank goodness for the upcoming clock change. Shutting them in didn't work, in fact it made it worse. Covering the front of the run worked for maybe one day, then it seemed to give Delilah more to moan about. Jasmine, who I think has Goose somewhere in her parentage, likes to pick up when Delilah needs a break.
It's reassuring to know that it's probably not as bad as it seems, because we are directly in line and above where the Girls like to stand.
I guess the final option will be to just give in and let them out to free range at silly o'clock, but that is a Big Risk because of the foxes.
We'll see.
It's reassuring to know that it's probably not as bad as it seems, because we are directly in line and above where the Girls like to stand.
I guess the final option will be to just give in and let them out to free range at silly o'clock, but that is a Big Risk because of the foxes.
We'll see.
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
On the cusp
Millie is going broody.
Every day for the past few days, she has spent ages in the nestbox. Each time I've gone to have a look, she's done that wonderful chicken growl that is meant to scare me away. Each time I've moved her, I've found her incubating eggs.
First day I caught her at it, she was incubating the two dummy eggs and her own. The dummy eggs (and hers of course) have been removed. Second day, she was incubating Jasmine's egg; third day, Delilah's and Lily's; today it was Delilah and Jasmine's. As with the other days, I hoiked her out and put her in the garden. As with other days, she then seemed to forget about being broody...until the next morning.
I'm thinking that if she slips into it fully this time I might just let her get on with it. I'm not sure how it will affect the other Girls though, I don't want them to end up laying their eggs in the garden. Hmmm. Have to see, I think.
Every day for the past few days, she has spent ages in the nestbox. Each time I've gone to have a look, she's done that wonderful chicken growl that is meant to scare me away. Each time I've moved her, I've found her incubating eggs.
First day I caught her at it, she was incubating the two dummy eggs and her own. The dummy eggs (and hers of course) have been removed. Second day, she was incubating Jasmine's egg; third day, Delilah's and Lily's; today it was Delilah and Jasmine's. As with the other days, I hoiked her out and put her in the garden. As with other days, she then seemed to forget about being broody...until the next morning.
I'm thinking that if she slips into it fully this time I might just let her get on with it. I'm not sure how it will affect the other Girls though, I don't want them to end up laying their eggs in the garden. Hmmm. Have to see, I think.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Solar water heating
At last, DH has had an opportunity to fit the solar panels for the water heating!
it's been some time now since the bits arrived, and since the special cylinder was fitted; with a few consecutive days of forecast good weather (and getting fed up of moving the frame every time we wanted to get to the cupboards in the study) DH was able to hire one of thos platform thingys so he could get on to the roof in safety.
It took a couple of days in total, which included building the platform, putting up the panel, connecting it to the pipes, testing it, fitting the tubes, testing it again, changing the settings, and then dismantling the platform.
It's been very efficient at heating the water during the day, needed some tweaking to get the settings right for overnight. We'll see what happens later today when the sun has gone down.
It doesn't look too awful on the roof, either, so that's a bonus.
it's been some time now since the bits arrived, and since the special cylinder was fitted; with a few consecutive days of forecast good weather (and getting fed up of moving the frame every time we wanted to get to the cupboards in the study) DH was able to hire one of thos platform thingys so he could get on to the roof in safety.
It took a couple of days in total, which included building the platform, putting up the panel, connecting it to the pipes, testing it, fitting the tubes, testing it again, changing the settings, and then dismantling the platform.
It's been very efficient at heating the water during the day, needed some tweaking to get the settings right for overnight. We'll see what happens later today when the sun has gone down.
It doesn't look too awful on the roof, either, so that's a bonus.
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Wedding Cake (again)
DsD, partner & 3 kids arrived late on Friday night, so that she and I could spend Saturday decorating her wedding cake. Poor cats did a runner, as they are used to (relative) calm.
Saturday morning, after a proteracted breakfast, we managed to get started, and spent ages trying different things on two cake dummies that I had bought specifically for that purpose.
Eventually, we had a good idea of what we were going to do, so we started icing the cakes. There was a bit of a problem with the top layer, which I can't explain here as we were doing something "clever". However, we fixed it.
We iced the cake and the board, and eventually got it all smoothed down. A bit of hand-slapping and smoothing, and the top and sides were smooth and shiny. I used some royal icing to pipe around the bottom to hide the join. We then decorated the top - I can't say much more here until after the wedding.
Then it was time to tackle the bottom layer.
This was huge; not only wre we icing the top and sides, we were also icing the board at the same time. We broke the huge mound of icing into several smaller pieces, and kneaded each one individually, then combined them into one huge pile.
I had shown my DsD the importance of rolling all the way across the icing in one go, without stopping. If you stop part way, you end up with a dent. When the circle was small it was fine, but as it got bigger she found she had to use her forearms as well, and eventually she ran out of arm.
We then had an enormour circle of icing to lift without breaking, and we had to get it onto the cake first time as the cake was now glazed with sherry. We did it. Smoothing it down was OK, and as soon as we had it smooth and hand-slapped, I piped around the join.
This was the easier layer to decorate as we were using some icing lilies and some small ribbons.
We finished off the boards with some ribbon, and then had a look at the two together. We're very pleased with them.
I'll post pics after the wedding.
Saturday morning, after a proteracted breakfast, we managed to get started, and spent ages trying different things on two cake dummies that I had bought specifically for that purpose.
Eventually, we had a good idea of what we were going to do, so we started icing the cakes. There was a bit of a problem with the top layer, which I can't explain here as we were doing something "clever". However, we fixed it.
We iced the cake and the board, and eventually got it all smoothed down. A bit of hand-slapping and smoothing, and the top and sides were smooth and shiny. I used some royal icing to pipe around the bottom to hide the join. We then decorated the top - I can't say much more here until after the wedding.
Then it was time to tackle the bottom layer.
This was huge; not only wre we icing the top and sides, we were also icing the board at the same time. We broke the huge mound of icing into several smaller pieces, and kneaded each one individually, then combined them into one huge pile.
I had shown my DsD the importance of rolling all the way across the icing in one go, without stopping. If you stop part way, you end up with a dent. When the circle was small it was fine, but as it got bigger she found she had to use her forearms as well, and eventually she ran out of arm.
We then had an enormour circle of icing to lift without breaking, and we had to get it onto the cake first time as the cake was now glazed with sherry. We did it. Smoothing it down was OK, and as soon as we had it smooth and hand-slapped, I piped around the join.
This was the easier layer to decorate as we were using some icing lilies and some small ribbons.
We finished off the boards with some ribbon, and then had a look at the two together. We're very pleased with them.
I'll post pics after the wedding.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
A present from Daisy
being the owner of Cats, I'm used to the little pressies they like to leave. Mice, usually; some whole, sometimes just the intestines, occasionally still alive.
This afternoon I was sitting in the kitchen with the door open as DH was erecting scaffolding (more about that later) and I couldn't actually get the door shut.
The Girls decided to come in and say hello, and were shooed out. And then Daisy hopped up the step with a dead mouse in her beak. She then dropped it on the mat, and just looked at me.
I think she wanted to do a swap for some mixed corn.
This afternoon I was sitting in the kitchen with the door open as DH was erecting scaffolding (more about that later) and I couldn't actually get the door shut.
The Girls decided to come in and say hello, and were shooed out. And then Daisy hopped up the step with a dead mouse in her beak. She then dropped it on the mat, and just looked at me.
I think she wanted to do a swap for some mixed corn.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)