One Swallow on the smallholding still (From Smallholder)

One Swallow on the smallholding still

1:10pm Wednesday 14th April 2010 in

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It's now the 13th April and still only one swallow on the smallholding. He sits hunched up at night in Jade's stable, glaring at us. If anyone else has swallows or swifts, please do leave a comment or email me on liz.wright@smallholder.co.uk - I really would like to know. Also have you seen a hedgehog yet?

My broody Old Englsh Game bantam has brought off seven chicks, not all pure bred by the look of them but a proportion look true. They are tiny but she is a great mother and I had the foresight to buy some chick crumbs when I was at the feed merchants, expecting this situation in early spring as the bantams always get keen! My ducks have taken since I collected them which I think was November, to show any inclination to actually return to their house at night. It is quite annoying as I have never had ducks that are so, well, thick really. I've collected them from every field around us and driven them up the road like a drover. Finally they seem to have an inkling it might be a good idea to return as it gets dark and they are also laying eggs at last. I've tried everything to get them to be tamer and supplied a pond near to the house to encourage them to stay. I've let them out for a short period and extended it, you name it, I've done it. It's a good lesson though because if someone had told me that their ducks were this difficult I would have struggled to believe them as all my other ducks soon got the hang of going out and coming in within days of arriving.

What's cooking...

In my own personal war on waste I want to share the smugness I feel in making a turkey into so many meals.

I was in Waitrose and they had free range turkeys in the cheap shelf, half price, so I bought one for a treat. They were £11.75p. I removed the giblets, and cooked this turkey slowly and it was, of course delicious. I made gravy from the giblets which is ridiculously easy. The following day we had cold turkey which was lovely, with new potatoes and garden mint. The day after we had turkey crumble with the rest of the carcase, cooked in the remainder of the gravy and a topping made from flour, butter (I use butter and don't apologise for this fact!) and left over from Christmas Stilton cheese. It really did melt in the mouth. In addition we had sandwiches and I made three large stock pots from the bones plus the cats had an unexpected treat from gristly bits. So thats six main meals, two lunches and the basis for more meals for £11.75 - suddenly it looks cheap. I think to reduce food waste we have to be confident in using left overs in interesting ways. I love cooking with left overs because it means I don't have to think about what to cook - I am completely guided by what is in the fridge. I've still been using up the Stilton (it was a big piece) so last night we had Cauliflower Cheese with stilton and duck eggs. You don't need recipes, just let your imagination guide you and your feel for the food. I've never had anything "go wrong" and I am a really casual cook. I don't even know where my scales are. I love cooking because I love food. A word on Waitrose. We don't have a Waitrose in Fenland but because my father in law has been unwell, I have driven past two Waitroses rather a lot lately, one at Ely and one at Newmarket. I do like looking round Waitrose as they have so much local produce and their products often give me ideas to use my own produce. Here in Fenland we have Aldi and Lidl's, I do find that Lidl's have a good range of MSC approved fish and sutstainable fish is something I am getting fussier and fussier about. We also have a Co-op who do a good job but recently they went beyond the call of duty. I was buying a chocolate pudding (again from the cheap shelf - there's a pattern emerging here!) and the cashier said to me, "you can make that yourself in the microwave" and then proceeded to write down the recipe which I will share with you.

The "two" pudding Two ounces flour, two ounces of sugar, two ounces of margerine and one free range egg. Mix together and cook in microwave.

Thank you Hazel. I think this would work well with home picked soft fruits either as a plain sponge or incorporated into the mix. I've given it as she gave it to me. If you want to do it in metric it becomes the 57 grams pudding which isn't so tongue tripping. Or I would probably do it as the two tablespoons pudding and just hope for the best. I'll let you know!

Way behind on planting out seeds though I have some broad beans in my border much to my partner's amusement. Because we took the decision not to buy any more heating oil in March (yes we now know this was a stupid decision) and because the jackdaws won the battle of the chimney so we can't have a fire, I am permanently cold - I'm typing this with fingerless gloves on - and I have found it is not a huge motivation for sowing seeds. But I am confident that most of them will catch up as the weather warms up so will get on with it this coming weekend.

Liz is reading (slightly reluctantly) Waiting for Godot for her Open University course and (more enthusiastically) Salad Leaves for All Seasons (Charles Dowding) Organic Growing from Pot to Plot She's looking forward this weekend to a trip out with the Peterborough and District Machinery Club visiting collections of vintage tractors - (this is her partner's idea of a birthday treat for her!)