The weekend’s pottering

Posted by louisa on Monday 17 January 2011 in meta | 10 comments

Some of the things we’ve done this weekend:

• Started crocheting a new blanket – I got some “kool kotton” yarn a few months ago and think it’ll make a lovely blanket. I’m doing a granny stripe, about 5ft long — not sure I’ll have the patience to make it 5ft square (it takes nearly half an hour to do each stripe!) but if I get it to about 3ft wide, it’ll be perfect for using on the sofa. (I’ve already doubled the stripe count since I took this picture.)
• Took two boxes of books and misc stuff to the charity shop – they’ve been sat in the dumping ground on the landing for about three months. Would be nice to get that space decluttered and usable!
• Chopped down a sycamore tree – we planned to cut it down about six weeks ago when it lost the last of its leaves but weather & illness stopped us. It’s now cleared the way for an apple tree.
• Bought two blackcurrant bushes – for some reason blackcurrants have been popping up in conversations recently and I felt inspired to buy them. I’ve realised I left a few decorative shrubs in the garden last year – they can come out and be replaced with fruit bushes like these. I’m also tempted by some raspberry canes – it’s definitely going to be the year of fruit this year (or more accurately, fruit year minus one, since things will need time to get bedded in).
• Sorted out my seed box – cor, I’ve apparently got high hopes for this year! Lots o’ seeds! I’m going to try to be realistic about my space/workload – I’ll give away some seeds now and probably some seedlings too, depending on how germination goes. Some stuff needs to be started in January – so I guess I’ll do that next weekend, weather permitting.
• Restocked our spice cupboard after a trip to Pakeezah – been running low on a few things – should be good for a few months now and at a fraction of the cost if we’d bought them at one of the big three supermarkets.
• I was at a drama rehearsal until 10:30pm on Friday and John cooked spare ribs for when I finally got home – they were pretty good and we’ve got some ideas on how to make them perfect. Every now and then I get severe cravings for good ribs and up til now, they’ve been one thing we can’t really cook at home – will be good to crack them!
• Had Kheer for the first time yesterday – sweet, creamy rice pudding with cardamom and pistachios, and John thought some rose water too. Yum! Will have that again – and will see if I can work out a recipe as well.
• Finally caught up on the sleep I’ve missed out on over the last fortnight – woo!
• Got overly proud at finding 5 eggs in the nest box yesterday morning – either Lime is back laying again after her moult (unlikely at the moment) or both of the new batch Black Rocks are laying now. We’ve had 4 eggs a day for the last few days, so going up to 5 was a thrill. Just Buff – who will lay white eggs – to debut now.

Aside from that and some other good eating, it was a lazy one. Was good though :)

Chickens playing out in the garden

Posted by louisa on Thursday 13 January 2011 in chickens | 0 comments

Since it is a nice (if windy) day and Lily-dog was distracted in the top part of the garden barking at the bin men (they’re stealing our rubbish, woof woof woof!), I decided to let some of the chickens play out in the garden this morning. (Because the garden is pretty open at the moment, and there is invariably a dog running around, this doesn’t happen much.)

Mauve, Blue and slowly refeathering Lime – three of the original ISA Browns – were the first batch out – enjoying the good pickings of the raised bed next to the coop, including a rather succulent and long worm! (Photos of Mauve, Blue then Lime & Blue)

Chicken egg shells more fragile in winter?

Posted by louisa on Wednesday 24 November 2010 in chickens | 1 comment

Just a passing observation – both yesterday and today, when I’ve collected the eggs from the girls, I’ve managed to crack one of the shells on the way back up to the house.

I’m not sure what happened yesterday but today, the crack happened when two eggs bumped into each other – not too heavily, just a little jostling-together-in-my-pouch bump. I’m sure they will have bumped together that heavily all year but it’s only now that we’re seeing cracking. The shells aren’t soft and squishy; they’re hard shell but just seem a little more fragile than normal.

Anyone else seeing anything similar?

I don’t think it’s a calcium deficiency per se as they’re getting good quantities of balanced layers pellets, have access to plenty of shell in the grit store, and have also had “poultry spice” mineral supplement in their food this week.

I know human bodies need Vitamin D to help absorb calcium – so maybe it’s the same for them and the short days are reducing their uptake.

It’s not a big problem – in fact, Lily will be very happy about it because she’ll get it if we don’t think we’ll use it today – just an observation. Would love to hear other chickeneers thoughts on this…

Spicy pickled eggs recipe

Posted by louisa on Thursday 18 November 2010 in cooking, preserving, recipes | 5 comments

Keen to preserve some of the summer glut of eggs and add to the super-spicy items in our store cupboard (we never have enough!), I’ve pickled a few lots of eggs over the last few months.

We finally cracked open the spicy batch earlier this week – yum! Between the tart vinegar and the spices, they’re really quite strongly flavoured – but good. We had them with bread & cheese, instead of a chutney, and they were perfect for adding a bit of bite to the proceedings.

(Apologies for the not great photo – the full jar looked ace but then we ate half of them!)

Have you made this? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Simple spicy smoked mackerel kedgeree recipe

Posted by louisa on Thursday 7 October 2010 in cooking, recipes | 4 comments

We had some reduced-to-clear smoked mackerel in the freezer so I decided to make some kedgeree for a quick but tasty dinner on Monday evening.

It’s a bit buttery, pretty spicy and quite, quite fishy – basically yum on a plate. And it’s easy to make too.