Home food on the smallholding (From Smallholder)

Home food on the smallholding

6:00pm Wednesday 10th March 2010 in

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Liz Wright shares her thoughts - to read more go to Editor's Blog where you can also leave comments. I really enjoy cooking and my mother was a great cook (but hopeless needlewoman which describes me as well). She used to hand raise pork pies and make sausage rolls at the local butchers. Fearless in the kitchen, it’s rubbed off on me and I expect anything I cook to behave itself and turn out well, which normally it does.

So on Sunday I thought I would make a game pie with the pigeons from the neighbouring field. There’s quite a lot of these in my freezer from last spring when quite literally hundreds of pigeons descended on the rape field next to the house. Because my partner would prefer to shoot them himself rather than have people he doesn’t know shooting next to the house, he offered to do this (though he is less keen on shooting now – a bit like Sir Peter Scott who gave up wildfowling for conservation). Result was a freezer of pigeon and a scurry to find some pigeon recipes. Step up to the plate Jusrol who provided a super recipe in a local magazine which included red wine, butter, pancetta ( bacon is fine) as well as game meat. I made two huge pies so froze one of them and it was easy to do and really satisfying.

The recipe also called for parsley and I was able to go into the greenhouse where my winter herbs are enjoying a greenhouse heater, and pick some fresh. We ate the pie with roasted squashes which had kept very well all winter.

In the evening I watched between my fingers, the documentary on channel four about over fishing and it was very upsetting. It is horrible to see big fish like tuna taking so long to die. Fish might be good for people but it needs sourcing sustainably in the same way that we source free range meat or grow our own. I’ll certainly be looking on labels and checking out the Marine Conservancy website for details of sourcing fish. They do a little pocket guide which is very handy and free – check out www.fishonline.org. Particularly look for the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) logo. In medieval times, all big houses had a fish pond, carp I think, but although we have revisited the past to revive many “self-sufficent” practices, fish does not appear to be one of them – unless of course you are doing this already. If you are please do get in touch and tell us what you do.

On Saturday we went to “Feast of the East” at Childford Hall Vineyards and it is astonishing the diversity of foods being produced in a small but professional way in our eastern counties. I was amazed to meet our local farmers who have an organic vegetable business that I didn’t know about and they gave me a stored pumpkin to try. Marriage’s flour did a very good breadmaking demo – breadmaking really is easy, it just takes a bit of planning to fit it into a day but once you’ve done that, it’s straight forward and reliable to make. It was a breathtakingly beautiful day and Chilford Hall have a rookery high up in some old trees. The sound of the rooks and the trees against the bright blue sky was an image to treasure. I had to come home with a bottle of English wine – I really enjoy English wine and the slightly “rainy” taste it seems to have. Its not a full on wine like its European cousins but a subtle, evocative flavour which I think is perfect on summer evenings. There is always a vineyard or two at the RWAS Smallholder and Garden Festival 15-16 May at Builth Wells, Wales. We are looking forward to that and I’m sorting out some things to put in the auction sale – made a nice little bit of money last year towards my poultry and this year I want to buy a polytunnel.

"Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten." (Cree Indian saying)

Liz is reading A Cornish Year by Smallholder’s David Chapman.