I have recently discovered the joy that is channel 4 on demand. I’m not a huge TV fan, but there have been some really interesting programmes on recently, but alas all have been on channel 4. Being in Wales, and not part of the digital TV age, and refusing on principle to get Sky, we are stuck with S4C. This means that we can watch all the welsh-medium programmes that we like, but get only a very select few channel 4 programmes, and only a few interesting ones that are generally shown at riddiculous times of the night. But, today I finally managed to watch the first episode of ‘Hugh’s Chicken Run’. I know this was just the build up to the horrors that are to come in the next episodes (this evening’s viewing), but I was really horrified by some of the things that it showed…..

 I am prone to sentimentality when it comes to animals, and am quite sure that having my own chickens has influenced my attitude towards the programme, for which I am very glad. The more people know about the food they eat and they way it has been raised the better. The head in the sand attitude is just not an excuse, and fair enough, some people can’t afford to buy free range or organic chickens (the last one I bought cost £11, but it did feed 4 of us well for sunday, Steve and I for dinner on the monday, and then became a soup – rather good value I think). But, there is a simple solution – don’t eat as much! Why do we feel that we have a right to eat what we want when we want it with no regard to the way the animal has been produced. My dad told me that when he was young a chicken for sunday dinner was a luxury, something to look forward to. How have we got so far away from that situation in 50 years?

I am a big supporter of what Hugh and others are trying to do, and really hope that it opens people’s eyes to what our supermarket driven society is becoming. When will more people start to think for themselves, realise that the way we live at the moment is not sustainable, and make decisions about how they can help change things?

I do not, and will not buy two for £5 chickens. If we can’t afford free range then we eat something else!

Rant over…! I’m off to watch the next two episodes whilst eating fresh pasta made with eggs from my ladies, and consider my next project…..giving some battery hens a new home.

I was stood in the field this afternoon with the chickens while they had thier daily run around and all I could hear was birdsong. It was fantastic. All around the field the birds seemed to be getting warmed up for spring, horray! Its been such a miserable wet winter that we’ve had so few chances to actually do anything in the garden or the field, but little things like birdsong make me feel optimistic that warmer (hopefully drier) days are on thier way.

Despite the almost constant rain over the last couple of months which has turned much of the field into a quagmire (lovely heavy welsh clay!), we have managed to do a few projects in the field – the main one being building a large enclosure for the chickens so they can free-range (under supervision) without getting on the veg patch or into the polytunnel. Unfortunately, they can’t be completely free range as we are on high fox alert at the moment, a massive dog fox having been seen snooping around the field several times. A couple of smaller foxes were also in the adjacent field earlier in the week, so we are having to be vigilant about when we let the ladies out. We considered building a completely fox proof run (for all of about 2 minutes) but even a 6-foot high fence, or electric netting wont stop a really determined fox. Whereas, hopefully the very strong wire and huge weight (two of us have trouble lifting it) of the ark will stop them being able to get at the chickens easily. Fingers crossed. So, we let them out whenever we are in the field, and they have a good hour’s run around a day, or more on the weekends.

 Elsewhere in the field the main task of the last couple of weeks has been the great muck-spread. Our local handyman/builder/generally nice chap took the tractor up to the big dung heap and filled a trailor for us, so I’ve been wheelbarrowing it around the field, spreading it liberally in the hope of giving the soil a bit more oomph this year. The no dig area is getting some proper attention, with a thick layer of dung being spread over last years straw, and a fresh layer of straw to cover it, hopefully it will be a haven for squashes, kales and sweetcorn.

In the polytunnel things are looking up after a rather disappointing crop of raddichio and winter salad – its just done nothing; a result, I think, of lack of manure. So, out they come and in goes loads of manure! And the early potato crop (away from the manure), some early cauliflowers and rocket.

In the veg patch the last of the leeks are still standing, the kale is just about hanging on and the spinach is starting to recover from the bashing it took at the beak of the chickens. The garlic I planted in november is coming along well, and I think we will have enough garlic to sink a ship – its a good thing I use garlic in pretty much everything I cook! I bought a ‘garlic lovers pack’ from the Garlic Farm, which contained 6 different kinds of garlic, including elephant garlic, which produces massive bulbs for roasting. I’ve put a couple of rows of early peas and broad beans in, in the hope that they don’t rot before they germinate, but I am on hand to try again in a couple of weeks if nothing happens.

Generally, I’m feeling pretty optimistic about this year. Particularly the fact that I am currently only working 3 days a week and so will have enough time to devote to the field to do it properly this year. We’ll see how things pan out this year, and maybe next year I’ll be allowed some pigs……hehehe!!

My poor little very beloved pussy cat has died. He passed away on monday night in my arms after his cancer spread to his brain. He’d been deteriorating for a week or so, and had been getting very confused about why he couldn’t do things, and frustrated. But, he had a good day on monday and came to the field with me, eyed the chickens suspiciously from a distance, tried stalking a herd of bullocks that are now in an adjacent field, and chased falling leaves. But then, after a big bowlful of chicken and a snooze on his favourite newspaper he started fitting which was incredibly distressing to watch and was clearly distressing for him. We rushed him to the vets but unfortunately there was nothing they could do for him and so we had to make the horrible decision of having him put down.

He was such an incredible cat, with a great personality and very affectionate despite his penchant for rodent murdering! He was 13 years and 2 months, and fortunately for 13 years and 1 month of his life he had been active and happy and able to do all the things he loved to do: eat (particularly things he shouldn’t – even on saturday night he tried to eat our curry!); catch voles and rabbits in the garden (and once even a mole!); eat the things he had caught (with the exception of the mole which fought back!); help us with our work by sitting on the keyboard, on bits of paper we were reading and even on pile of sharp flint that I had been analysing; lie in the most inconvenient places possible, his favourites being the kitchen doorway and the second step down from the top of the stairs; lie on my knee; mooch for food whenever I was cooking and all the other things that made up his daily routine of Harvey fun.

I’d had him since he was 4 weeks old and so tiny he could comfortably sit on the palm of my hand. He was very much my cat, and was incredibly loyal, and would often follow me up to the field or around the garden. He was the most well-travelled cat I’ve ever known, living with me in Cardiff, Salisbury, London, Warminster, Caithness, Edinburgh and finally here at Cwm Cottage.

In every place he made sure that the local wildlife knew who was boss, and would immediately want to go outside and survey his new territory as soon as we arrived at our new home. The wildlife here at Cwm Cottage can breathe easy again, although we have buried him near to his favourite mousing spot so he can forever keep an eye on his favourite prey.  

I miss his terribly, but am so glad that he was my cat and that we had so many good times together. I have so many happy memories of him and the great and full life that he led.  

Rest in peace my gorgeous little pussy cat.

In the tunnel I have planted loads of raddichio plants, and they are doing pretty well. This is the second lot I have planted out as the first were devoured – slug pellets have worked! Although I have also discovered a new and exciting sport involving my welly boot and a paving slab and a slug, the results have been quite impressive, with the innerds of one slug shooting a good 5m across the tunnel! The buddists would clearly not approve, and I do feel a slight twinge of guilt when I stamp my foot down. But, they have eaten all our vegetables! Payback I think! We’ve decided that a more stringent slug policy is needed next year – my mum recommends a bucket of salt to dispose of them in.

The squashes I planted in august (4th attempt at getting them past the slugs!) are doing really well, and I just hope they will have a chance to ripen before the frost start. They’re in the tunnel so should be ok as its still up to 30 degrees in there on a sunny afternoon. The beetroots, spring onions and endives are doing ok too, so hopefully we should have something to show for all the hard work! The last of the pepper plants are still producing prolifically, so we now have a freezer full of peppers, but I’m not sure they are going to last much longer…..

 I’ve been out blackberrying most days too, and made a couple of bottles of blackberry vodka last night – only have to wait until christmas to try that. The damson gin I made last month will have to be next years treat (i opted for more expensive gin than Tesco value this year as the stuff I made last year is perhaps best described as ‘interesting’!). We’ve got tons of blackberrys in the freezer, and will have more later today! Hurrah, a winter of crumbles, pies, cakes and other delights to look forward too! I have done a spot of scrumping for apples from our landlady’s trees, but alas there are hardly any this year – the windy april and may we had seems to have done for the fruit trees this year.

 Oh well. I’m now hoping for a really cold winter so that all the slugs will die off! Plus we will have our new Bullerjan stove to keep the house toasty and warm! Hurrah! I’m thinking of knitting the chooks hats to keep them warm…..

It’s been an expensive couple of weeks for animals – Harvey had to have his teeth cleaned and various blood tests last week, costing £200! But, it was worth it as he’s completely fine again now, phew. I thought we were going to loose him for a while there.

Right, off to make some pumpkin soup and watch the rain!

Hurrah! We have chickens!! I have been very excited about the prospect of getting chooks for months, and now they are finally here! We have four Light Sussex’s – a traditional British breed. I was very conscious of getting a traditional breed as they are becoming less popular, and consequentially rarer, as people focus on the uber egg production abilities of the hybrid breeds. So, we went to a agricultural show in the spring and chose ourselves a good dual purpose chook who will lay enough eggs to keep two people and a cat happy. They will also be good for roasting at some point (eek!), and my brother has kindly volunteered to undertake the darstardly deed of killing them (he has experience of such things) as and when we require. Hmmm, now they are here I am not sure I’m going to be able to eat them……

So, we have Wonkey (who has a wonkey comb), Black Beak (self-explanatory), Scaredy Chicken (the most timid of the four) and The Other One (no distinguishing features for us to name her by). They are about 18 weeks old and should start to lay very soon. I collected them from a farm way up in the mountains on friday, transporting them home in a box – having the boot of your car clucking is a novel experience! We left them in their house to settle in and then let them out on saturday – they weren’t overly keen to come out but after some initial hesitation they finally ventured out into the sun and onto the grass and were quickly introduced to the joy that it a hearty slug meal! Steve collected a tub full of the slimey blighters and scattered them liberally around the run….mmmm, slug. Well, they think so, something I am very keen to encourage!

Its now just a case of checking every morning and hoping for that first yummy egg…..

 So, I have written this year off to experience. Next year I shall be more prepared, and wont be working such stupid hours!

Having said that we have managed to get a good crop of things in the polytunnel – courgettes, early potatoes (slugs and blight killed the main outdoor crop), peppers, herbs, sweetcorn and cucumbers, thousands of them! The tomatoes were doing amazingly, but blight got them alas.

Anyway, back to the cucumbers…..there really are only so many things you can do with a cucumber, and I have tried nearly all of them. The one thing left to try is pickle, which I may turn my hand to later this week. If anyone has any suggestions for cucumber recipes I would be very grateful! I did discover a lovely recipe for cucumber and peanut salad in my Mousewood Classics recipe book, this is a slightly ammended version as I prefered it with more of a kick, but reduce the chilli content if you don’t:

Peel, seed and slice 3 cucumbers and toss with salt. Put in a coander and drain for 15 minutes, then rinse thoroughly and drain again.

Mix together 1tbsp brown sugar, 2tbsp lemon juice, 1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a small pan and when it is hot add 2tsp fennel seeds and 2 finely chopped hot chilli’s. Swirl around for about 30 seconds and then put over a low heat for 1 minute.

Put the drained cucumbers in a large bowl and toss with the hot oil mix and vinegar. Leave to settle for 20 minutes and toss with a generous handful of crushed roasted peanuts.

Yummy…..

At the other end of the kitchen, we have our wine making area, where we have 3 demi-johns maturing, following second racking, and one still fermenting. We decided to try some of the fruit juice wine recipes in the book we were given for Christmas, after the success of our first attempt of a kit wine. So, currently we have cranberry and raspberry wine, tropical fruits wine and grape juice wine maturing, and a kit red wine still happily bubbling away. This evening I shall be starting the next kit wine, an elderberry one. All we need to learn now is the art of brewing fine ales, and then we shall be set!

The tunnel is now all finished, and dug over, with very professional-looking paths running through the planting area, and a gravelled area at the door end, for us to use as a wee conservatory. Here, we’ve planted a couple of honeysuckles up a trellis to attract lots of pollinting insects into the polytunnel. We’ve also planted the two agapanthus plants that we got in Scilly last summer, that weren’t overly happy in the welsh outdoors. In the main planting area, its all starting to spring into life, with lettuces, spring onions, rocket, potatoes, parsley, coriander and basil all starting to come through, and peas and curly endive sown. In the heated propagator on the windowsill in our dining room are the chilli and aubergine plants, that have already been assigned a place in the planting scheme, and will hopefully be transplanted sometime over easter.

I’ve got lots of seeds planted in pots too: leeks and celery (which are starting to sprout), broad beans and peas (for outside), tomatoes, and lots of herbs (borage, summer savory, dill, purple basil), some of which will be destined for the herb patch in the garden.

In the veg patch, the shallots, parsnips, carrots, radishes and beetroot have been planted, and the no dig area is gradually being covered with a cardboard and straw mulch. Half of this area will be used for potatoes, and I have decided to dump a load of manure on the other half, mixed in with the straw, and plant the squashes in there. Hopefully this will mean a bumper crop of squashes, as they love compost and manure.

Its all getting very exciting……!

In anticipation of the bumper harvests coming up in the next few months, I have invested in a new seasonal cookbook, which is full of loads of delicious looking recipes….can’t wait to try them out!

 We had our first harvest of purple sprouting broccoli from the old veg patch last weekend. It was rather meagre, as the plants have only just started sprouting, but it was delicious nonetheless. Rhubarb crumble too, mmmmm.

 A huge thanks to both the Feakins’ and the Pannetts (and Mark and Chaz) for their help with the construction of our new horticultural space, we would never have managed it by ourselves!

Photo’s will follow….I promise….