We had some friends round for dinner and they brought us some wonderful
fruits (and vegies) of their labour!
Yum!
Showing posts with label Harvest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harvest. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Chicken Tractor Update
I've posted before here about our chicken tractor and how fabulous it is, and it is. But there are also a couple of design flaws.
The first (and biggest in my opinion) is that the nesting box is on top of the roosts. You can see it in the picture in the above link. Now, not being all that knowledgeble in chicken husbandry even I knew that this was not the way things should be. Chickens like to roost in the highest possible place which means that all 6 of ours girls cram into the nesting box, jostling for a comfy place to sleep. This means that they generally are laying on the floor of the tractor, usually under the nesting box. This leads to design flaw #2.
Design flaw #2 is that when the girls lay on the floor they can't be reached from the top opening (over the nesting box) so the only way to get them is to crawl through the teeny tiny door, dodging the hanging water and feeder, and reaching through the roosts to get it. This is nigh-on impossible when in the last stages of pregnancy!!! Luckily I've got children to do the leg work for me, but this brings it's own problems. Elliot is good at manouvering through the cage and climbing through the roosts, but doesn't like getting the poo on him, and was completely freaked out when one egg had a really big bit of poo and muck on it. Archie on the other hand doesn't mind the poo, but is not so good at the manouvering and him going in usually ends up with him falling, tripping and doing other such clutzy things that mean he comes out covered in poo, straw, kitchen scraps and chicken food.
We certainly do things the hard way in our house!
The first (and biggest in my opinion) is that the nesting box is on top of the roosts. You can see it in the picture in the above link. Now, not being all that knowledgeble in chicken husbandry even I knew that this was not the way things should be. Chickens like to roost in the highest possible place which means that all 6 of ours girls cram into the nesting box, jostling for a comfy place to sleep. This means that they generally are laying on the floor of the tractor, usually under the nesting box. This leads to design flaw #2.
Design flaw #2 is that when the girls lay on the floor they can't be reached from the top opening (over the nesting box) so the only way to get them is to crawl through the teeny tiny door, dodging the hanging water and feeder, and reaching through the roosts to get it. This is nigh-on impossible when in the last stages of pregnancy!!! Luckily I've got children to do the leg work for me, but this brings it's own problems. Elliot is good at manouvering through the cage and climbing through the roosts, but doesn't like getting the poo on him, and was completely freaked out when one egg had a really big bit of poo and muck on it. Archie on the other hand doesn't mind the poo, but is not so good at the manouvering and him going in usually ends up with him falling, tripping and doing other such clutzy things that mean he comes out covered in poo, straw, kitchen scraps and chicken food.
We certainly do things the hard way in our house!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
A Pitiful Garden Update
Since we made the decision to put the house on the market and move the garden has been neglected to say the least. Actually neglected doesn't even describe what has happened to the huge area we once had planted with heaps of edibles, some successful, some not.
We planted out two gardens using the chickens to prepare the soil for us and then our moving news came. We have kept tending those two areas (one with a mixed planting, one with potatoes) and the rest of the area has been mown and is regressing back to lawn.
I can't begin to explain how sad I feel when I look out and realise that all that potential is gone. I look through the seed box and wonder if there is any point starting a new planting when we could be gone soon. But what if we're not? But what if we are? Argh!!! The unknowns are killing me, so I'm being lazy and not bothering.
In the meantime, we're trying to save the last of the tomatoes from some pesky nocturnal animal that picks them just as they are starting to ripen, then nibbles them and leaves them around the yard for the dogs to play with.
Green tomato chutney anyone?
We planted out two gardens using the chickens to prepare the soil for us and then our moving news came. We have kept tending those two areas (one with a mixed planting, one with potatoes) and the rest of the area has been mown and is regressing back to lawn.
I can't begin to explain how sad I feel when I look out and realise that all that potential is gone. I look through the seed box and wonder if there is any point starting a new planting when we could be gone soon. But what if we're not? But what if we are? Argh!!! The unknowns are killing me, so I'm being lazy and not bothering.
In the meantime, we're trying to save the last of the tomatoes from some pesky nocturnal animal that picks them just as they are starting to ripen, then nibbles them and leaves them around the yard for the dogs to play with.
Green tomato chutney anyone?
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Basil Pesto
100g basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
75g pine nuts
75g finely grated parmesan cheese
200ml olive oil
Process basil, garlic and nuts until finely chopped.
Add cheese and with motor running add oil through liquid spout.
Add cheese and with motor running add oil through liquid spout.
Homegrown basil and homegrown garlic. So easy and so yummy with pasta!
This made a thick, dip-like pesto. To make it more saucey simple add more olive oil. This quantity made plenty for our dinner and lots more for the freezer.
Monday, September 13, 2010
A Neglected Harvest
Over the weekend we went back to the old house to collect the (second) last trailer load of stuff from the garden and shed, swing set, old mower, compost bins and the like. While we were there I thought I'd better check out the dregs of our Autumn garden and see what was going on. We really neglected the gardens once we'd signed the contract on the new house, we simply spent all of our spare time packing and planning the new garden!
The broad bean bushes were doing really well, though not too many pods. There was one big one that El and I ate raw (yum!) and a couple of others and that was about it. We got three purple (Dragon) carrots and three orange ones, but they're a bit corkscrew like. Still edible and not bad considering we watered sporadically and didn't bother thinning them as they grew. Two pumpkins were just sitting in the garden after the vines had died back! And then there were the potatoes!
Holy smokes! They are amazing! We dug up over 8kg of Desiree potatoes! Again, they were very neglected so we were surprised at the yeild. I hilled them up once and then couldn't be bothered and like the rest of the garden to say they were watered every now and then is being kind. They basically survived on the rain we've had over winter. The plants never actually flowered, but they had all died back. Who knows how much we'd have dug up if we'd actually looked after them?
Holy smokes! They are amazing! We dug up over 8kg of Desiree potatoes! Again, they were very neglected so we were surprised at the yeild. I hilled them up once and then couldn't be bothered and like the rest of the garden to say they were watered every now and then is being kind. They basically survived on the rain we've had over winter. The plants never actually flowered, but they had all died back. Who knows how much we'd have dug up if we'd actually looked after them?
Some of the potatoes were enormous!
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