Water bowls made from sweet tubs
I am a great fan of recycling – and if you can reuse something first – even better. This is an excellent example. Sweet tubs – the large ones everyone gets for Christmas containing a selection of chocolates – make great water bowls for my rabbits. They are reasonably easy to clean – and you can replace them with new ones every January!
Freezing mint ready to make mint sauce later in the year.
There’s nothing like fresh mint sauce, made with freshly chopped mint – and freshly frozen mint is almost as good. If your mint bed is is thriving, now is a good time to pick some and freeze it. Just chop it and seal it in plastic bags. You can do the same with parsley ready for parsley sauce. I also freeze small quantities of basil, oregano, marjoram, coriander and tarragon for adding to meals like spaghetti bolognese and curries.
I have two varieties of mint in my garden, apple mint (on the left) and spearmint (on the right).
I find apple mint is the best variety to add to early potatoes to get that ‘new potato taste’ and to make mint sauce. Spearmint leaves are delicious with Pimms, mixed with lemonade, lemon slices, cucumber slices, strawberries and ice.
To make mint sauce:
Mix together in a jug:
1 tblsp chopped mint leaves (fresh or frozen)
1 tblsp malt vinegar
hot water (ideally cabbage water)
1 tsp sugar
Is eating no meat actually doing more harm than good?
“People are trying to eat more sustainably but my worry is that they are turning to diets such as veganism that are not necessarily as sustainable, nor as healthy as they imagine.”
I have always believed that, to be truly sustainable, crop rotation should include a fallow field grazed with animals – and the ideal diet should include some meat. To me, it makes much more sense to use animals to manure grassland. If you drink milk, then, on average, for every calf born there is a male calf that is killed at birth – how much more sensible would it be to raise these calves for meat? Try and buy veal from a butcher’s shop in Britain and you will find it’s practically impossible – although you can buy rosé veal online from Shropshire based www.alternativemeats.co.uk This is, I am told, because we believe it is cruel to raise calves for white veal – but rosé veal is from calves that are raised and killed humanely.
So I was very pleased to read this guest post on the Farmdrop website from Patrick Holden, Dairy Farmer and Founding Director of the Sustainable Food Trust which works to accelerate the transition to more sustainable food and farming systems.
He says: “I am growing increasingly concerned about the large number of people turning to diets that may not necessarily be either healthy or sustainable.
“A healthy diet should work backwards from the most sustainable way to farm, and that ideally means eating the foods produced by mixed farms using crop rotations which include a fertility building phase, usually of grass and clover grazed by cows and sheep, but also pastured pigs and poultry.”
Some years ago, I went to a talk by Charlotte Hollins at Fordhall Organic Farm www.fordhallfarm.com – and she was asked a question about the higher price of organic meat. Her answer has stayed with me. She said: “Organic meat is better for you – and it also tastes so much better.” She suggested that replacing some meat with vegetables at each meal, and having a vegetarian meal once a week would even out the cost, so for the same budget you could include organic meat. So that’s what we do – I now have a selection of dried and tinned beans which I add to dishes like spaghetti bolognese and lasagne, replacing some of the meat – and, amazingly, the family are quite happy with the result – and it’s better for us.
My crop rotation doesn’t include sheep, pigs, cows or goats but it does include hens, ducks and rabbits – and the manure they produce enriches my compost bin, replenishes my soil with nutrients, and grows wonderful pumpkins. This year I have allocated a fallow patch for clover – which the rabbits love to eat –and I am leaving some to flower for the bees when I dig the rest in ready to plant cabbages.
Country widsom and folklore diary
From the Country Wisdom and Folklore Diary www.talkingtreesbooks.co.uk
I found inspiration for this website from a diary I was given at a social enterprise networking meeting held in Atcham village hall. When visiting Avebury earlier this year, I was delighted to find a 2017 version in the Avebury village shop and was very pleased to be able to buy it – and give something back – for the motivation to start my own website – and for help with ideas for the content.
I have always been interested in our Pagan beginnings, ancient traditions and folklore, the Druids, ancient stone circles and ley lines connecting earth energies. In these times of fast paced living and the stresses and strains of modern day life, these diaries are full of calming ideas connecting us back to nature, recognising the beauty of trees and plants and the rituals our ancestors shared celebrating country traditions and the phases of the sun and moon.
There are some wonderful illustrations in the diaries – like the one above.
If you would like your own Country Wisdom and Folklore Diary visit www.talkingtreesbooks.co.uk
Humphrey The Scarecrow
This year I decided to make a scarecrow. We lost our little Betsy dog last year – she was always with me when I was in the garden and I was feeling a bit lonely. I thought a scarecrow might offer some company – at least I wouldn’t be talking to myself! I was quite pleased with the result – an old mop was perfect to start with and, at first, he looked so real that he kept making me jump.
I’ve called him Humphrey – and, amazingly, he works! I usually have to cover my baby peas with fleece to stop the pigeons eating them but Humphrey has proved to be an excellent deterrent. The peas are bigger now and protected by privet twigs so I have moved Humphrey to the strawberry bed to stop the blackbirds pinching my strawberries. So far it seems to be working. But, strictly speaking, Humphrey is a scare-pigeon or a scare-blackblackbird!
We called our ducks Arthur and Martha after the Duck Song by Whalebone
We went to see Whalebone during their Mirabillia Tour at a Shropshire Wildlife Trust evening and were enchanted by the musicians and their special brand of folk music. They also play a spellbinding rendition of Stairway to Heaven. Our Martha has just decided to go broody so we might have some baby Arthurs and Marthas by the end of the month.
Martha nestled on her eggs, closely watched by Arthur, standing guard
Midsummer – time to make Elderflower Champagne – which is not champagne – or alcoholic – at all – but, according to my family, is every bit as good as champagne:
Elderflower Champagne
4 large elderflower heads
2 lemons – rind and juice
2 tblsp white wine vinegar
1 lb 8 oz of granulated sugar
7 pints cold water
You will need 2 large clean buckets – one to make the champagne in and another to strain the champagne into.
Remove flower petals from elderflower heads (just rub the flowers off the stalks – it’s not critical if some stalks get in as well) and put in a bucket with rind and juice of 2 lemons.
Add water and vinegar and stir well.
Leave for 2 days, stirring night and morning.
Strain through a stocking held over a sieve or colander into the second bucket.
Add sugar and stir well.
Leave 24 hours then bottle in screw top bottles. (Plastic pop bottles will do fine.)
It should be ready to drink after about a week.
If not drinking straight away you will need to release the tops of the bottles regularly so they don’t explode – or you can use old port bottles with corks.
New Zealand White Rabbits – Holly’s litter at 3 weeks old
Both Holly and Eeny had litters this month – six babies each – and they are now 3 weeks old and hopping around their pens. It will be another 3 weeks before they are weaned and Mum can have a break. They will be ready for new homes when they are 10 weeks old – after 6th June. Won’t be able to tell what sex they are until then.
Now they are old enough to be picked up and cuddled – they are so cute – this is the best part about breeding rabbits.
Spring is such an inspirational time of year
There’s such a variety of spring plants – celandines, primroses, daffodils, hyacinths – and crocuses. I planted these bulbs about 9 years ago and the flowers have grown bigger every year. During the first year of home education, one of our days out was to Bridgemere Garden Centre and Kirt helped to choose a selection of bulbs for the garden – so every year, when these crocuses appear, they remind me of that day and happy memories of sharing life home educating.
Planting Broad Beans
Broad beans are very easy to grow but, for early beans, it’s always a good idea to start some off inside. My aunt advised me to get a big pot full of compost and push in as many bean seeds as possible and, as soon as they come up, you can plant them outside. These are ready for planting now, so I start the row with these then plant some seeds directly into the ground for the rest of the row. That way you get some early broad beans and some continuity. You can do the same with runner beans, French beans and peas. Peas are especially good planted this way because the pigeons don’t get a chance to eat them before they sprout!