I was determined to update the blog this week with news on how we are reaping the rewards of our hard work as we were now eating our produce etc., however, sometime late afternoon /early evening on Wednesday I discovered Gabby, our gregarious hen, dead. I saw Megan was standing over her and she was automatically accused, in typical cop show style, as the person first to find the body always is. However, as there was no other evidence she’s now been let off the hook and, as the body was ‘disposed of’ by the buzzard before Jon had a chance to do a proper post mortem (basically I was too chicken, forgive the pun, to get any nearer the body) an open verdict has been returned. Our initial reaction was to give up on keeping birds but I suppose this is something all henkeepers go through at some point and if we all gave up at the first hurdle there’d be a lot more unhappy battery hens to satisfy the nation’s egg needs.
Back to the original topic, we’ve been enjoying homegrown mangetout for several weeks now, supplemented by the odd peapod. Our fruit bushes are producing blueberries – delicious with yogurt, dreadful baked in muffins – and raspberries that we plan to have with our mackerel salad tonight (had it in a restaurant on my birthday and they go together really well). There’s a dish of gooseberries in the fridge that will probably get eaten before I have a change to bake them into a tart, and there are another couple of bowls’ worth waiting to be harvested on the same bush. Last Sunday we ate early spuds roasted in rosemary and garlic, all homegrown of course apart from the olive oil, and last night we had them boiled. Either way, homegrown spuds taste so good. We’re miles away from being self-sufficient but it’s a start.
I’m also planning other uses for the garden produce. I currently have a bouquet of mint and fennel decorating the dining table but, more excitingly, I was bought a soap-making starter kit by Caroline and Mike for my birthday so I intend to source herbs from the potager to make our own decorative soaps in addition to the culinary oils we’ve been making for the past few years. That’s this year’s Christmas present list sorted!
