State of the flock, October 2020

A few Brussels sprouts, Oct 2020

I had expected a certain rescue hen to die over summer, as she was looking tired and sad, but she perked up after a treatment of Verm-X, an herbal remedy for parasites.  She's with all the rest of her nine friends at the allotment, hard at work making us compost from all the grass clumps and weeds I've been digging up and chucking in.  Still a lot more to dig up--but the chickens will be there all winter, unless something untoward happens.  I'm actually planning on bringing them home next summer in order to grow stuff in their yard at the allotment.  Pumpkins and squashes maybe?

At home we are down to three quackers.  One of the females was found dead last week, in unexplained circumstances.  She may have met with an accident;  maybe she had an internal problem or maybe she just wore out, like many of our rescue chickens do.  I believe that the high production breeds just don't live too long because it takes so much out of them to keep laying so many eggs--perhaps this is the same for ducks.

As it is, the two drakes have been kind of agitated since they lost their friend (the other duck doesn't seem so bothered).  It's hard to tell with ducks, but it does seem like they miss her and are searching for her.  Maybe just a coincidence. 

Egg production in total is around 4-5 eggs a day now, from eleven female birds.

Keeping the dehydrator fired up

Runner beans and apple slices, Oct 2020

My first dehydrator met with a terrible accident involving a stand mixer and a water jug.  There were no witnesses and tragically the dehydrator perished in the event.  It was such a useful appliance that the husband went out and bought a new one within a few weeks, pictured above.  Like its predecessor, it has gone through some heavy bouts of drying (followed by prolonged periods of quiet).  This past week it's been churning through three sacks of apples given to us by a neighbor.  I'm finally working on the third sack now.

Saved the nicest for eating, Oct 2020

I peel and halve the apples and core with a melon baller;  then I run the halves over my small mandoline to make thin, uniform slices.  That's all:  they go straight onto the drying trays from there.  The son and husband occasionally help out with the preparation--the son is pretty good at peeling (he's ten).

My dehydrator holds slices from 10 apples at once, although when two trays have become partly dry I combine them and put two more apples on the freed up tray;  I also rotate the trays every hour or so and the slices will dry in around six or eight hours.  It works out I can generally dry 16 or more apples in a day this way.

Also dehydrated recently: runner beans.  These I chop and then blanch in boiling water for about four minutes;  after draining they go straight onto a tray.  About a pound of pods fits on one tray, and they take at least a day and a half to dry.  Similar treatment for cabbage leaves, though they dry much more quickly:  maybe six hours tops.

Some almonds, some to come

Not every almond, Oct 2020

 My almond tree, like the grape vine climbing it, is getting away from me!  It's been producing 100-150 almonds a year for the last few years, and this year looks to be similar--only quite a few are now out of reach.  The husband and son went out and picked a sackful with a ladder;  the husband even climbed onto the garage roof.  

However, some almonds still remain.  We may still get some yet once they fall--if we find them, that is.  The tree is tucked away in a corner we don't visit very often this time of year, though the husband has made it slightly easier to access by putting down a little patio there, next to the newly enlarged duck pond.

New patio next to the duck pond (almond tree trunk at the very back), Sep 2020

Sowing and (hopefully) growing in autumn

Radicchio seedlings, Sep 2020

 I've since planted out some of my late summer seedlings, including radicchio, kale, pak choi and iceberg lettuce.  Some have gone in at the allotment, some at home.  To be honest, I'm not too confident about their chances--particularly at the allotment, with the slugs and pigeons there.  The ones here at home have been in long enough to have grown a little, so maybe they're established enough to withstand the slugs (no pigeon pressure here, thankfully).  I hope.

The husband has put in the new garlic crop, using the biggest heads saved from our harvest earlier this summer;  it's all at the allotment.  As the heads weren't very big or plentiful this year, he's on assignment to buy a few more from the shop for planting out, too.  I anticipate we will run out of our own garlic this winter unless we really ration it.

Still growing in seed trays:  spring cabbages.  Still to sow:  peas (got a few volunteer seedlings already), cauliflowers, broad beans.