ilultham

When I shared some pictures of my indian game cockerels on twitter the other day we got talking about how they had been used in developing the modern meat birds.  This lead us to talk bout "The Chicken Of Tomorrow" competition. Amazing to think that the development of a strain of chickens was a national effort in America and how they were worried at after the second world war people might not bother to eat chicken if birds with more meat couldn't be developed, switching back to just eating red meat.  Incredible that the Ross Cobb birds we grow each year are descendant from these birds (the same type if birds tend to be called cornish crosses in America). But it also shows that by selling a hybrid like this the hatcheries make people dependant on buying from then. Much the same as the big seed companies have done with hybrid corns and grains.  One reason why I've been interested in developing my own meat flock and trying different crosses with the indian game I have al...

More and more I'm trying to work from home. Selling my homemade items on Etsy and taking on different commissions as well as bits of writing work and doing talks. But I still take on work that means I have to go somewhere else.  Because of my working week and childcare always being the top priority it means that I can be quite selective about what I take on.  One of my best friends manages a group of buildings and he often asks me to work with him. This is something I enjoy and it keeps my skills up to date when it comes to working on houses. They're a range of old properties but one is a huge old hotel (I'm sure I've mentioned working there before) split into flats.  On a nice day this work was too good to turn down. We had to make a balcony child friendly. But what a setting!  Quite a simple job, but one that looks really good when it's done. My friend did laugh at me for my lunch though. As he grabbed his sandwiches I grabbed my little camping stove and reheated ...

So I've not had very successful hatch rates when it comes to male and females this year. I was hoping to start a flock of indian game to bree from for meat.  But I am pleased with the size of these cockerels! They look like muscle chickens! When I try to pick them up they're so wide it would be impossible one handed and they feel so strong!  I have a feeling we will eat a few of these and just keep one or two for breeding and hopefully hatch out a few more before this year is out.  Currently though my incubator is full of duck eggs and some more silkies to create breeding trios of those birds. Silkies seem very much on the other end of the spectrum but I'm really keen to have a small flock of them as well!  What flock of chickens would you like to create or have? Would you rather keep dual purpose birds or have them for specific purposes (eggs, meat, broodiness)?

I'm all about reducing my spending, especially on highly taxed items.  Now I don't drink much anyway but I do enjoy a beer on a Friday night. A cold one or two really hits the spot.  I've just got back into making beer kits. I understand that it's not really homebrew, but it kind-of is without buying expensive equipment.  The kits are about £12, you need a kilo of sugar as well and some simple beer making equipment and empty bottles. It makes approximately 40 pints, that's just under three crates of beer! I was dubious as to how it would taste but so far I've tried a Mexican beer and I have a IPA on the go at the moment ready to try in a week or two. The Mexican beer tasted amazing, everyone who has tried it has loved it and asked for a few bottles.  So for value I'd recommend giving a beer kit a go if you fancy a cheap tipple (about 40p a pint). A kit should last me months! 

I've got to boast my daughter up, She's super proud of tea. She cooked an Indian Banquet, obviously she couldn't deep fry stuff but she did all the prep! Samosas, bhajis, chapati and a chickpea curry!  Such a lovely tea (and I get a good lunch box tomorrow!)

A follow on from a post in February , my brother and I went to finish the Bathroom. A busy weekend of work. Unfortunately the first day was heavy rain and it really slowed work down. That and the wrong sized doors had been ordered (not my fault I might add).  It was fun being able to spend some time with my brother as I've not seen him much since lockdown. A good way to catch up.  Are you even working right if you don't have an old door as a workbench? We managed to get loads done and with an emergency delivery of doors our whole job was complete!  Of course I forgot to take a picture of the bathroom! Have to be next time I'm down there!  Good to get lots of carpentry done. Hopefully lots more to keep me busy over the summer! 

Yes you have a bit of a pretty flower, but I'm going to level with you Bindweed - you're a bit of a blinking nuisance.   Probably my least favourite plant in existence. What weed do you hate folks?

Today I picked just enough baby cucumbers (a gerkin type) to fill one pint jar.  Not enough to get out my huge saucepan, fill it up and start boiling about 16litres of water. Instead I got my tall, narrow saucepan out and did enough for one! I already had the vinegar mix ready so I managed to do it while we ate lunch. Yes, it doesnt add much to our larder, but it will add up over time if I can keep doing this, slowly and steadily.  Anyone else can one jar at a time? I think this is really going to work for me! 

##### This post contains pictures of dead animals ###### This year we've been using the incubator lots, it's hardly been off over the last few months. Now that means we've got a fair few birds running around the place. Unfortunately we've been a little unlucky with our hatch ratios - not the best rates, but also so many more cocks rather than hens. The first batch we ended up with 13 chickens and turns out that only two of them are hens - and bantams at that!  The group has been getting pretty "fighty" with each other as they've got bigger, big squabbles and birds not wanting to go into the coop at night.  And lets just say that the dawn chorus is basically a load of teenagers fighting over who can crow the loudest with squeaky voices!  So today we had to decide what to do with them. There isn't much meat on a bantam, some of these are crosses from Seabrights and Seramas so pretty much as small as chickens get. But I did think it would work well as a g...

I've failed to grow these far more time than I've succeeded.  This year I started them in the greenhouse, but covered them over with a board. seemed to be the key to my success.  I shoved them in (late) in a scrappy bit in front of the polytunnel. Luckily they seem to like it there and have grown well. Just wish I had put more in.  Apparently all poppy seeds are edible, but the advantage to bread seed ones is the fact that the seed head doesn't open so make sit much easier to collect and save them.  I'm looking forward to having these on top of my rolls!  Anyone else grow poppies to eat the seeds? Or collect the seeds from somewhere else?

I can't believe how fast these ducks have grown! They are huge!  We moved them into a bigger pen the other day and it was far easier than moving chickens! The kids loved herding them as they waddled along (the ducks not the kids waddled). For now they're living in the pig ark and a small gated pen around them.  They'll have the run of this whole 1/4 acre pen when they get bigger, but already they like getting out and doing a runner. Good job this breed can't fly!  My boy seems to have taken to them the most, he spends hours out there sitting on the gate talking to them.  We're currently trying to decided if we should hatch out another batch or not. That way we could have a breeding trio for next year and not have to buy in eggs, which can work out expensive.  What do you think? Next hatch should be more ducks or more chickens? Both would be to produce a breeding flock next year. 

Few fruits I love more than properly ripe cherries  But few things do I struggle growing more.  We netted our trees but still struggle to get more than a few berries. Time to go to the professionals.  Also a trip to the pick your own is a good low cost morning out in these lock down days!  I love fruit picking and ended up goign twice to this local farm, picking two baskets full each time!  The kids might have had their  fill as well!  The rpice of these cherries was such good value, even making my own canned cherries worked out cheaper than buying them! So as soon as we got back we set to work, pitting them and making things with our bounty. I made cherry vodka liquor and canned about 16 pints worth.  My younger daughter set to some baking and made cherry up-side-down cake plus another to go in the freezer. No assistance needed other than putting it in the oven for her!  What's your favourite thing to do with cherries?