Vegetables:
38 oz potatoes
9 oz Brussels sprouts
11.5 oz chard
16 oz celery
16.5 oz kohl rabi
Total: 91 oz, or 5 lb 11 oz
Note: I
weigh all my vegetables after preparation: peeling, trimming, etc.
Does not include some fresh herbs which were too small a quantity to
weigh, i.e. less than 0.5 oz.
Fruit:
No fruit harvested this month
Eggs:
Total: 18 eggs from 10 hens and 2 ducks (another rescue hen died this month)
Total feed bought: 2 bags layers pellets (40 kg), 1 bag mixed corn (20 kg)
Preserves:
6 medium jars dried carrots (shop bought)
Homebrew:
4 L cider vinegar still fermenting
(from wild harvested apples)
07 January 2020
24 December 2019
Christmas break 2019
It's that time of year already? I'm ready for it. I'm going to sleep in every day for the next two weeks, until I have to get back up for school and my part time job. Well, I might get up a little early tomorrow if the son does (he's now nine).
I'll be back here on 7 January, with food totals for December, and then following on with food totals for 2019. Maybe I'll even have a few photos (but don't hold your breath).
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I'll be back here on 7 January, with food totals for December, and then following on with food totals for 2019. Maybe I'll even have a few photos (but don't hold your breath).
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
17 December 2019
General update before Christmas break
Well, I'm not doing much out there, as my middle is growing ever bigger (I now have three months before my due date). But here's what's happening garden-wise:
The husband has been diligently sheet mulching the allotment, section by section: cardboard topped with a thick layer of partly composted stable bedding (horse manure and straw). The garlic he and the son planted earlier in autumn is growing strongly there, as are the red cabbages and sprouting broccoli, though none are ready for harvest. He says the Brussels sprouts are looking big enough to eat though--just in time for Christmas.
The chickens and ducks are all penned together in a fairly large yard next to the coop, and we have been adding a new straw bale to the yard every 2-3 weeks; it gets muddy/pooey quickly with 15 chickens and 4 ducks. The ducks are still the lowest in the pecking order, despite being the biggest; they have a small bath which the chickens deny them the use of by using the edges as a perch. Oh well. Not a single egg laid yet between all 17 female birds out there in the month of December. Hopefully the young hens hatched at the end of July will start laying their first eggs soon, but it might not be until the new year.
The vegetable patch is mostly bare now, with just a few celery rows and some very sparse chard left. Though the runner bean pods left for seed are still not fully dry, I think it's time I pulled them up and let them mature under cover. Might be a job for the husband though. He's been talking about clearing out the chicken coop to spread on the veg patch: now's the time to do that I think.
We've had some regular light frosts over the past few weeks, and one or two hard ones. No snow (yet) thankfully, and though there's been some heavy rain we've also had some good sun. I'm looking forward to the solstice this week and hopefully a bit more light during the day after a few more weeks.
The husband has been diligently sheet mulching the allotment, section by section: cardboard topped with a thick layer of partly composted stable bedding (horse manure and straw). The garlic he and the son planted earlier in autumn is growing strongly there, as are the red cabbages and sprouting broccoli, though none are ready for harvest. He says the Brussels sprouts are looking big enough to eat though--just in time for Christmas.
The chickens and ducks are all penned together in a fairly large yard next to the coop, and we have been adding a new straw bale to the yard every 2-3 weeks; it gets muddy/pooey quickly with 15 chickens and 4 ducks. The ducks are still the lowest in the pecking order, despite being the biggest; they have a small bath which the chickens deny them the use of by using the edges as a perch. Oh well. Not a single egg laid yet between all 17 female birds out there in the month of December. Hopefully the young hens hatched at the end of July will start laying their first eggs soon, but it might not be until the new year.
The vegetable patch is mostly bare now, with just a few celery rows and some very sparse chard left. Though the runner bean pods left for seed are still not fully dry, I think it's time I pulled them up and let them mature under cover. Might be a job for the husband though. He's been talking about clearing out the chicken coop to spread on the veg patch: now's the time to do that I think.
We've had some regular light frosts over the past few weeks, and one or two hard ones. No snow (yet) thankfully, and though there's been some heavy rain we've also had some good sun. I'm looking forward to the solstice this week and hopefully a bit more light during the day after a few more weeks.
10 December 2019
Garden food for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners
We hosted some friends and their children for Thanksgiving this year, serving four adults and three children in total. What came from the garden?
Last year I was still in the midst of the Vegetable Challenge during Thanksgiving so we petitioned our friends that we would provide the turkey and they would supply the vegetables. We had the same bargain this year, despite not being within the Challenge. However, we still served:
Mashed potatoes
Pumpkin pie
Braised chard and celery with garlic and shopbought leek
Homemade gravy using cockerel stock
Homebrewed cider
I was able to use our own eggs in the homegrown pumpkin pie for 2018, but our hens all stopped laying after the second week of November this year, so it was shopbought eggs. The gravy was very tasty though, with the stock I'd made from November's fried cockerel bones, along with extra celery and garlic for flavor.
As for Christmas dinner, we're only feeding ourselves and fresh garden veg is looking pretty slim now. No matter how small they are, we'll eat the Brussels sprouts at the allotment, and there is some more cockerel stock in the freezer for gravy.
My other homegrown offerings are fruitcake and stollen bread, both using my own grown dried fruits and almonds, but sadly not our own eggs.
And last Christmas I bravely put away 2018's Christmas pudding, the one (of two) which I made with our own currants, cider and eggs last year--it's been ageing in the cupboard with the help of some rum and an airtight container and I'm happy to report it's still good! I opened it up, had a sniff and a tiny taste, and rewrapped with a bit more rum to carry it over the last few weeks to Christmas.
I might be making another two of these: one for 2020, and the other for 2021, though I don't have any homegrown currants left: instead I'll use dried figs and plums.
Last year I was still in the midst of the Vegetable Challenge during Thanksgiving so we petitioned our friends that we would provide the turkey and they would supply the vegetables. We had the same bargain this year, despite not being within the Challenge. However, we still served:
Mashed potatoes
Pumpkin pie
Braised chard and celery with garlic and shopbought leek
Homemade gravy using cockerel stock
Homebrewed cider
I was able to use our own eggs in the homegrown pumpkin pie for 2018, but our hens all stopped laying after the second week of November this year, so it was shopbought eggs. The gravy was very tasty though, with the stock I'd made from November's fried cockerel bones, along with extra celery and garlic for flavor.
As for Christmas dinner, we're only feeding ourselves and fresh garden veg is looking pretty slim now. No matter how small they are, we'll eat the Brussels sprouts at the allotment, and there is some more cockerel stock in the freezer for gravy.
My other homegrown offerings are fruitcake and stollen bread, both using my own grown dried fruits and almonds, but sadly not our own eggs.
And last Christmas I bravely put away 2018's Christmas pudding, the one (of two) which I made with our own currants, cider and eggs last year--it's been ageing in the cupboard with the help of some rum and an airtight container and I'm happy to report it's still good! I opened it up, had a sniff and a tiny taste, and rewrapped with a bit more rum to carry it over the last few weeks to Christmas.
I might be making another two of these: one for 2020, and the other for 2021, though I don't have any homegrown currants left: instead I'll use dried figs and plums.
03 December 2019
Food Totals, November 2019
Vegetables:
111.5 oz potatoes
144.5 oz pumpkins
5.5 oz celery
17.5 oz chard
Total: 278.5 oz, or 17 lb 6.5 oz
Note: I weigh all my vegetables after preparation: peeling, trimming, etc. Does not include some fresh herbs which were too small a quantity to weigh, i.e. less than 0.5 oz.
Fruit:
No fruit harvested this month
Eggs:
Total: 7 eggs from 11 hens and 2 ducks (one rescue hen died this month)
Total feed bought: 2 bags layers pellets (40 kg), 1 bag mixed corn (20 kg)
Preserves:
4 medium jars mixed berry jam from own frozen berries (blackcurrant, redcurrant, raspberry)
10 medium jars dried apple chips (from wild harvested apples)
Homebrew:
6 L cider vinegar bottled up (from wild harvested apples)
4 L cider vinegar still fermenting
111.5 oz potatoes
144.5 oz pumpkins
5.5 oz celery
17.5 oz chard
Total: 278.5 oz, or 17 lb 6.5 oz
Note: I weigh all my vegetables after preparation: peeling, trimming, etc. Does not include some fresh herbs which were too small a quantity to weigh, i.e. less than 0.5 oz.
Fruit:
No fruit harvested this month
Eggs:
Total: 7 eggs from 11 hens and 2 ducks (one rescue hen died this month)
Total feed bought: 2 bags layers pellets (40 kg), 1 bag mixed corn (20 kg)
Preserves:
4 medium jars mixed berry jam from own frozen berries (blackcurrant, redcurrant, raspberry)
10 medium jars dried apple chips (from wild harvested apples)
Homebrew:
6 L cider vinegar bottled up (from wild harvested apples)
4 L cider vinegar still fermenting
26 November 2019
Muddy
The last couple of autumns/winters here have been relatively dry. A bit of rain, but enough clear spells to keep the ground fairly dry for the most part. So far this has been a wet month, more like what I've been used to. There has been some bad flooding near us, but we are thankfully on the side of a hill and not very close to any rivers.
But the lawn is very sad right now, having been scalped by our numerous fowl it looks like small individual blades of (short) grass in a sea of mud. I'm not letting those birds back on it for the foreseeable future. People are not allowed to walk on it either: we put down some boards from the patio to one of the chicken yard gates (the other gate has stepping stones already).
And the chicken yard is also sad now, with about a third of it just a mud bath--and let's be honest, most of that mud isn't actual mud: we all know what it really is. Three weeks ago we put down 3/4 of a straw bale which kept their feet clean-ish for two weeks. They had to go an extra week on the not-mud while we searched for a new bale (our old feed shop has closed down), but we've got one and they have enjoyed tearing the it apart and spreading it around. One chicken in particular needs straw as mud forms clumps on her feathery toes.
The husband went to do some more sheet mulching at the allotment and says he was just sinking in. I definitely want soft soil there, but I don't want him bringing it all home on his boots! Our plot is on a slight downward slope, but the ones across from us are lower and face a slope going back up, which means they're prone to standing water; at least we're not that muddy (luckily they're not either right now).
But the lawn is very sad right now, having been scalped by our numerous fowl it looks like small individual blades of (short) grass in a sea of mud. I'm not letting those birds back on it for the foreseeable future. People are not allowed to walk on it either: we put down some boards from the patio to one of the chicken yard gates (the other gate has stepping stones already).
And the chicken yard is also sad now, with about a third of it just a mud bath--and let's be honest, most of that mud isn't actual mud: we all know what it really is. Three weeks ago we put down 3/4 of a straw bale which kept their feet clean-ish for two weeks. They had to go an extra week on the not-mud while we searched for a new bale (our old feed shop has closed down), but we've got one and they have enjoyed tearing the it apart and spreading it around. One chicken in particular needs straw as mud forms clumps on her feathery toes.
The husband went to do some more sheet mulching at the allotment and says he was just sinking in. I definitely want soft soil there, but I don't want him bringing it all home on his boots! Our plot is on a slight downward slope, but the ones across from us are lower and face a slope going back up, which means they're prone to standing water; at least we're not that muddy (luckily they're not either right now).
19 November 2019
Chicken tonight
Well, at the weekend we killed two of our young cockerels; both are plucked, dressed and in the fridge. We'll do the other three this coming weekend.
It's kind of a big job for us still, though we're getting better at it. I guess part of it is the anticipation (or is it dread)--it's an emotional job. But it also requires at least a full hour from start to finish; the kill generally takes less than a minute but plucking takes ages.
Regardless, I've been saying for weeks that I'm looking forward to fried chicken. I think we all are. We'll eat one this week and freeze the other, and probably freeze the coming three until after the Thanksgiving* leftovers are gone.
*Chicken for Thanksgiving? It was suggested but rejected. Last year's Australorp/Orpington cockerels could have passed for small turkeys; these guys are much smaller. We'll still make them into celebratory meals though, and will use every last bit (we buried their heads and intestines, but everything else will be cooked, including feet in the stockpot).
It's kind of a big job for us still, though we're getting better at it. I guess part of it is the anticipation (or is it dread)--it's an emotional job. But it also requires at least a full hour from start to finish; the kill generally takes less than a minute but plucking takes ages.
Regardless, I've been saying for weeks that I'm looking forward to fried chicken. I think we all are. We'll eat one this week and freeze the other, and probably freeze the coming three until after the Thanksgiving* leftovers are gone.
*Chicken for Thanksgiving? It was suggested but rejected. Last year's Australorp/Orpington cockerels could have passed for small turkeys; these guys are much smaller. We'll still make them into celebratory meals though, and will use every last bit (we buried their heads and intestines, but everything else will be cooked, including feet in the stockpot).
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