The Livestock & Home produce thread - An Alternative investment

[lupercal]

Good shooting

 

What are your plans for the Boar ?

 

Goulash, sausages and black pudding, the mother in law butchered it. Made her weekend.

[Silent reader]

Goulash, sausages and black pudding, the mother in law butchered it. Made her weekend.

 

 

I'm not to sure what is the better asset, A wild boar thats cost nothing or a Mother-in-law who is able to butcher - lol

 

Have you thought about smoking the hams ?

 

 

The Goulash sounds quite nice.

 

http://www.venisonamerica.com/recipes/boargoulash.html

 

 

 

 

[Silent reader]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11846786

 

 

 

Obituary: Bernard Matthews

 

Bernard Matthews became famous for his "bootiful" catchphrase which saw him describe his products in a rich Norfolk accent in 1980s television adverts.

 

The turkey tycoon began his multi-million pound business in 1950 with just 20 eggs and a second-hand incubator bought from a market in Acle, Norfolk.

 

Just 12 hatchlings from the initial batch of eggs survived, but he managed to sell them for £9.

 

Two years later he was producing 3,000 turkey eggs at his home and decided to leave his insurance job and move into poultry farming full-time.

 

He and his wife, Joyce, bought a dilapidated mansion, Great Witchingham Hall, three years later, which is still the headquarters of the company. It was often shown in television adverts.

 

Within 10 years it became the biggest turkey processor in Europe and brought cheap meat to the tables of the masses.

 

Matthews told the BBC: "When I started the price of turkey was extremely expensive for the ordinary person. To put it in perspective there were less than one million turkeys being produced in England in 1950 when I began, and in those days a man had to work for a week, the whole of a week's wages to pay for a turkey for Christmas.

 

"Today, it only takes two hours of his working time to be able to buy one."

[Mabon]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11846786

 

Obituary: Bernard Matthews

 

Bernard Matthews became famous for his "bootiful" catchphrase which saw him describe his products in a rich Norfolk accent in 1980s television adverts.

 

The turkey tycoon began his multi-million pound business in 1950 with just 20 eggs and a second-hand incubator bought from a market in Acle, Norfolk.

 

No doubt his funeral will be with all the trimmings....

 

[Silent reader]

No doubt his funeral will be with all the trimmings....

 

 

[underling]

Thought I'd add this link here ...............

 

'Farm for the Future' documentary by the BBC. Saw this about a year or so ago when aired on terrestrial tv in the UK. Well worth a watch for some ideas ...............

 

http://vimeo.com/18161854

 

Covers the effects of peak oil on food prices and sustainability issues. Feel free to post this video on other threads if you think it relevant ......... I struggled to find a thread suitable so put it here in advance of the new growing season which is now upon us here in the UK.

 

 

[jerpy]

<!--quoteo(post=193392:date=Nov 20 2010, 08:15 PM:name=riggerbeautz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (riggerbeautz @ Nov 20 2010, 08:15 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=193392"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->STUPID QUESTION: Is it necessary to move these indoors for winter, as they are starting to shed their leaves and i'm not sure whether this is normal or the result of frost creeping in? Or can they remain outside?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

 

I'd get them in to somewhere a tad warmer.

 

Shed or something, just to stop the excess of winter.

 

Else they might kark it.

 

Good Luck.

 

Absolutely spot on advice. Started giving them a little water, get some sunlight and buds showing now. Keeping them in the sheds a few more weeks, as still a little frosty in the mornings.

 

Now i'm looking for the best Raspberry and Gooseberry canes for the U.K to add to my efforts this year.

[Silent reader]

Not going to go "to heavy" this year, I've had some major changes in my life and a period of "adjustment" is required but I'm using the time to try a few things.

 

Tomatoes, Courgettes, strawberry plants and some runners is all i'm planning. but hopefully in reasonably large quantities

 

 

Now on Lunar Planting.

 

Planted my Tomatoes and Corgettes while the phase was waning. (just after the last full moon around 4 weeks ago) Germinations have once again been fantastic but I've still yet to establish why this is.

 

Is it the timing of a germination (7-21days) and as the plant starts to grow the extra light given by a full moon assists this, or does it have something to do with the gravitational pull of the moon, well all know the moon effects tides, animals, and people..... i'm sure plants would be effected to. Is it a combination of both ?

 

hmmmmmmmmm

 

I have noted that in previous years plants have growth spurts..... I’m now trying to see if this co-insides with the full moon.

 

Anyway.... I am starting to think there’s something in it, although the spell of warm weather has certainly helped matters along.

 

http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases.phtml

 

Chickens are still doing well, getting 2-3 per day

 

SR

[underling]

SR,

 

Possibly my last post on this site ......................... , and knowing your situation (which is no-one else's business), can only offer my words.

 

My friend, I urge you to recover your interest .........................

 

" Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

 

 

............ my last post.

 

Goodnight.

[Mabon]

SR,

 

Possibly my last post on this site ......................... , and knowing your situation (which is no-one else's business), can only offer my words.

 

My friend, I urge you to recover your interest .........................

 

" Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

 

 

............ my last post.

 

Goodnight.

 

Well whoever's out there, a progress report of sorts.

 

I left the carrots in their bed from 2010, just covered with a bit of extra earth in the winter.

 

The grew 7 feet tall and flowered. I've pulled a few. You can still eat them. The top third tends to be a bit woody.

 

However the remianing two thirds are still pretty sweet. And as most are a couple of foot long, no matter.

 

I've planted a load of peppers in the very big earthenware pot, they will be ready by sept. Also courgettes. A few trial pots to begin with.

 

I've potatoes everywhere. Chits discarded on 'waste' ground have rooted and I am awash with spuds. I estimate 50 pounds plus which I will donate to my neighbours - maybe they'll make me some potato bhajees? This in a small garden and only one sixth given over to growing true food per se.

 

Strawberries were lovely. Got about five pounds of strawbs from some forty individual plants. Some varmints got a few of them. They sure were juicy.

 

Survived well enough over winter as most are near a heat-retaining wall. Runners everywhere. So much so that the strawberry plants have defeated the weeds in the bottom lefthand corner.

 

Making my own tea regularly from my mint, lavender etc bushes. In fact I haven't bought any mint tea bags since end of 2010, as my mint plants are growing very nicely, even though they are pot-contained. Cutting back the rosemary allowed it to thrive. And I've been using a lot more in my cooking.

 

In the other end of my growing bed I have a couple of renagade beetroots (planted 2010) and some peas growing. First time I've bothered with peas, but they seem quite happy, after I kept the pigeons from destroying them, by putting some slatboards over the bed.

 

I might shoot the wood pigeons and eat them, as they are tasty and they wreck just about everything.

 

Beans don't seem to want to come out this year - maybe the soil's a bit too acid there this year?? Or maybe it's that psycho blackbird that keeps headbutting the soil to pieces?

 

I also have loads of new seeds, including some great herbs to plant. I'm keeping most for next year. However Lemonbalm can be planted from Sept onwards and I've got the ideal spot in mind. Lemonbalm tea (a few sprigs boiled then steeped) is great for bringing sleep quickly.

 

If I were to use say one third of this 30 foot by 15 garden, I reckon I could produce maybe 45 percent of all our veg and 20 percent of all our fruit intake for say May til October. Pretty useful that's for sure. Takes no time at all either.

 

What I'd really love is a few cherry, almond and olive trees.

 

Good Luck.

[jerpy]

Mabon you've inspired me to consider having another look at carrots next year.

 

My stawbs were also a big hit and multiplied like little triffids with runners enough to take me well past a 100 plants. Also resilient to winter as I simply couldn't take the m all in. Used nets to keep out vermin lost an handfull to the odd bug.

 

My raspberries likewise are coming on great, apples and pears too, but the fresh Gooseberries are a big Read somewhere it takes 2 years to get a return? Hope so. Blueberry had to go indoors, noticed the birds took a liking as they turned. Blackberries just bearing fruit now.

 

Beets are unbeliveable, Lettuce so easy, got it to an art to produce 2 a week planting at intervals in frame, Kidney beans just coming through. But.... Broad Beans showed so much promise then the stalks withered black. Got a return, but bit unsure what they will taste like, they seem so much smaller than ones my grandfather used to grow. Doing something wrong, regularly watered(maybe too much?) bit of an headscratcher.

 

Spring Onions showing promise with Leeks and Brussels, but seem to have attracted a cabbage eating bug, tried sprays. ANY HELP, ANYONE?

 

So several positives and a few negatives for me.

[Mabon]

Mabon you've inspired me to consider having another look at carrots next year.

 

Excellent. In a space say five foot by two, I've probably got up to 65 pounds of carrots. Most of which are edible. They were pretty easy to grow. Just make sure you don't plant them when the carrot grub bugs are around. Which I think is mid-spring (check).

 

My stawbs were also a big hit and multiplied like little triffids with runners enough to take me well past a 100 plants. Also resilient to winter as I simply couldn't take the m all in. Used nets to keep out vermin lost an handfull to the odd bug.

 

I must endeavour to use netting and the like. If I was absolutely dependent on the amount of ffod being produced, I'd be a lot more ruthless. Next year my strawberry yield will at least be double, just from the amount of plants replicating. Non Alpine-Strawbs really are incredible plants and will colonise an area of ground really quickly.

 

My raspberries likewise are coming on great, apples and pears too, but the fresh Gooseberries are a big Read somewhere it takes 2 years to get a return? Hope so. Blueberry had to go indoors, noticed the birds took a liking as they turned. Blackberries just bearing fruit now.

 

2012 will see me growing a lot more fruit. I just have to reorganise some of the space in the garden. I've some patches of 'waste' ground that I want to make more productive. This relies on me having enough composted matter from my composters and also making the soil the right PH. Blueberries, raspberries and maybe cherries will be my front runners.

 

Beets are unbeliveable, Lettuce so easy, got it to an art to produce 2 a week planting at intervals in frame, Kidney beans just coming through. But....

 

See my beets completely refused to grow last year. And now one has popped up. My Dad told me this was because I was growing the wrong combination's together. As in Beets don't like growing with carrots. This is where the expereince comes in, because there are loads of these combinations and getting them right means great yields.

 

Spring Onions showing promise with Leeks and Brussels, but seem to have attracted a cabbage eating bug, tried sprays. ANY HELP, ANYONE?

 

I've been lucky with the amount of Ladybirds I have in the garden this year. Most bugs get ate.

 

Good Luck.

[jerpy]

See my beets completely refused to grow last year. And now one has popped up. My Dad told me this was because I was growing the wrong combination's together. As in Beets don't like growing with carrots. This is where the expereince comes in, because there are loads of these combinations and getting them right means great yields.

 

 

Ah thanks for the tip, stored in the memory bank, unlike the ladybird one which I neglected from S.R. My Beets were grown in front of the raspberry canes and i used a bit of soil enricher to help. Surpassed the father in laws crop(ex farmer) in size, so major achievement there.

[underling]

Possibly my last post on this site .........................

 

*ahem* ........... possibly not.

 

 

I took on a 5 rod allotment at the turn of the year (after 3 years waiting) as the rest of the family were complaining that my efforts at home were hampering their enjoyment of the garden. I've no great experience of running an allotment and intend to make as many mistakes as possible in this first year (2011), learn from them and make 2012 onwards a success. This is a record of my first year warts and all;

 

 

On my first visit there on 28th December 2010 I found the entire plot to be covered in well established cooch grass. I was able to make a small effort that day and turned over a small patch of ground to find the topsoil was about 8" deep at best with a very heavy clay level underneath. There was no evidence of any previous activity on the plot (no raised beds, discarded tools etc though there was a makeshift path laid with some cheap patio paving slabs) and so I decided to start by digging over and splitting the plot into nine (3 x 3) sub-plots.

 

 

January 2011

 

I was hoping to only use man-power to dig over the plot but due to persistent rain digging over by hand was nigh-on impossible in January. Though I tried again and again results seemed poor and so at the end of January I bit the bullet and hired a rotorvator for £55 from my local hire shop. I did this more to relieve me of the arduous task of breaking through the rootballs of the cooch grass. I unearthed some evidence of potatoes being previously grown.

 

 

February 2011

 

Early seedlings planted out in the greenhouse mid-February; potato seeds chitting, leeks, cauliflower, spinach, and broad beans. Though still very wet, time at the allotment spent digging over the plots and clearing out the cooch grass roots, breaking up the soil more. 1 of the 9 plots dug over fully and covered over.

 

 

March 2011

 

Seedlings in the greenhouse all doing well. An overhanging tree at the allotment will be casting 1/3 of the plot into shadow (glade during peak summer) and so work has started to cut it back. Not too sure if I'm permitted to do this under allotment regs so am removing bits at a time. March weather turns out to be suprisingly warm and so succeeded in digging over and removing roots from 1/3 of the entire plot. First early tatties planted along with some seedlings under cloches.

 

 

April

 

Added strawberry, loganberry and gooseberry to one of the nine plots to make a fruit plot. The second week of April turned out be a scorcher. All my plants seem to be happy and the potatoes even start to show. Onions have gone in (bought from sets). Still lots of digging to do. Whoever has the plot to one side of me has done little and the grass and bramble is falling over onto my plot. A long weekend is spent cutting back and clearing the paths between my allotment and my neighbours in an attempt to make a 'fire break'. Aonther two plots are dug over in preperation for corn and courgettes, carrots, leeks, runners, cabbage & broccoli. April turns out to be extemely dry.

 

 

May

 

It's hardly rained in about 4 weeks. Trips to allotment involve an hour of watering instead of digging .......... the ground's too dry anyhow and it's like digging through concrete. Tomatoes, corn and courgettes, carrots, leeks, runners, cabbage & broccoli have gone in. Harvesting started on strawberries, peas and beans almost ready to harvest too. My cauliflower are getting hammered by something. I suspect slugs or snails but there's no evidence to suggest they're the culprits. Where no fertilizer was added late last autumn some hungrier plants are slow developing. Have struck a bargain with friends with stables to swap produce for some well rotted manure later in year.

 

June

 

Lots of harvesting from the strawberries, broad beans, spinach, peas, potatoes, onions and courgettes. Have lost four sweetcorn plants either to wind or to pests. Still very dry and so watering on a regular basis.

 

July

 

A little wetter this month which has brought a lot of the plants on. I'll probably not plant much winter veg out this year as I'll want to re-dig over and cover the plots ready to start again in February next year. Broad beans and peas finished harvesting, whilst most others are producing and I find myself coming home after each visit with an armful for the table. With the recent rain a program of digging over the rest of the plots will begin in earnest next week as I have a week off work.

 

 

I have tried previously to add various pictures to help readers visualise more but time and technical problems have hampered progress (hence my previous quoted remark - frustration). I've been keeping a picture diary on my facebook page too for my own records etc.

[Mabon]

*ahem* ........... possibly not.

 

 

I took on a 5 rod allotment at the turn of the year (after 3 years waiting) as the rest of the family were complaining that my efforts at home were hampering their enjoyment of the garden. I've no great experience of running an allotment and intend to make as many mistakes as possible in this first year (2011), learn from them and make 2012 onwards a success. This is a record of my first year warts and all;

 

 

On my first visit there on 28th December 2010 I found the entire plot to be covered in well established cooch grass. I was able to make a small effort that day and turned over a small patch of ground to find the topsoil was about 8" deep at best with a very heavy clay level underneath. There was no evidence of any previous activity on the plot (no raised beds, discarded tools etc though there was a makeshift path laid with some cheap patio paving slabs) and so I decided to start by digging over and splitting the plot into nine (3 x 3) sub-plots.

 

I can recommend Andi Cleveley's 'Allotment Seasonal Planner and Cookbook' (Collins) (He also has a standard allotment grow your own type book as well). This gives you a step by step, month by month, plan, plant, grow, crop etc guide and is (IMO) very good.

 

Will save you all manner of headaches. A friend of mine took over an allotment in north-east outer London. Spent months digging over the cooch grass, nettles etc. In the end she asked a farmer to hire their goat for a week. The beast made short work of all the errant vegatation and chomped it all down to a finely cropped level. Leaving a ready supply of fertiliser behind.

 

I had the idea (and wrote all the sales letters, website etc promo) for a 'Hire a Goat' service for people with overgrown gardens, land etc. Still think it would work nicely. No labour involved, just set the goats on their tethers and they eat everything you hate.

 

Good Luck.

[underling]

Spent months digging over the cooch grass, nettles etc. In the end she asked a farmer to hire their goat for a week. The beast made short work of all the errant vegatation and chomped it all down to a finely cropped level. Leaving a ready supply of fertiliser behind.

 

What a fantastic idea. I'm hoping by the tail end of next week to have eradicted most of the cooch grass and weed and have all nine plots ready for next year (weather permitting) though I've a busy schedule locally as it's 'Old Town Week' and have been recruited to help out with some of the local 'open gardens', marshalling at some public events and have quite a few bookings to fulfil with a street drum band.

 

I've got the planner book you mentioned and yes, very useful. Especially to a novice like myself, especially on the planting schedule. It really is a rewarding way to spend some of your freetime. :-)

[Mabon]

I've got the planner book you mentioned and yes, very useful. Especially to a novice like myself, especially on the planting schedule. It really is a rewarding way to spend some of your freetime. :-)

 

I'd like to turn the whole garden into an allotment. The missis is well set against it. I'm always saying to her that having a fertile garden that is producing grub is an asset - both now for the food - and if she wants to sell the place.

 

I reckon the next thing estate agents start saying in their blurbs will be that as well as being close to xx public transport, the garden is very fertile and is regularly used to produce bumper crops of fruit and veg. That will become more and more important.

 

My latest batch of peppers are growing up a storm. And a major pea harvest seems imminent.

 

Can't seem to get the wolfberry (Goji) seeds to sprout though. Maybe because I completed disregarded what I considered to be the unnecessarily fiddly instructions and just stuck em in a pot in the sun...

 

Good luck with your allotment BTW.

[Mabon]

Update:

 

Me and my GF's niece (7) dug up 30 pounds of white, purple and twisty type potatoes on the weekend. I'd forgotten about the twisty type spuds.

 

Which we then took to her Grandma's. Verdict is good, spuds are very tasty, totally organic.

 

Grandma has apparently made me a five pound bag of Rostis in return (my evil plan worked).

 

I also pulled about ten pound of carrots (been left in for two seasons)which were a bit woody and have mostly gone in the composter. The point was to let them flower. However chitty chatting with my backdoor neighbours turns out they have a pony. So gave them a load of woody carrots for their pony.

 

Am planting a few more herbs over the next few weeks. To colonise the 'waste' ground in the bottom right corner. Lemonbalm - the best thing for nosleepability.

 

Some new strawberries have come through, another five pound or so. Nice surprise.

 

Courgettes are growing quickly. So much so, that I might try a cheeky late planting in buckets and see whether I can get them to mature by late October?

 

Is it wrong that I am excited about my huge pot of peppers? Looking forward to grilling and skinning them in maybe six weeks time?

 

Good Luck all.

[Mabon]

Also bought a load more seeds over the last two weeks.

 

Am using some of the co's in the Andi Cleverly 'Allotment Planner + Cookbook'.

 

I'm prepping for when I get a bigger piece of land and finally get to plant my fruit trees and have my garden how I want it.

 

Oh BTW why are fresh apricots so expensive as compared to tinned apricots which are much cheaper? Anybody know why? I mean production costs are the same?

[Mabon]

My courgettes are coming.

 

Three big uns so far.

 

The big bucket they are in has the potential to produce up to twenty courgettes from two plants.

 

Beans finally sorted themself out and have suddenly sprouted from nowhere.

 

One minute not there, the next shazaam.

 

Peas are growing pods. First time I've grown them.

 

Bit tricky, bit fiddly too. For a climbing plant they don't seem to fussed about climbing at all.

 

Beetroot going steady in the middle of the patch.

 

Transplanted my bag grown strawberries into the bottom left hand corner, so I now have an L-shaoed dogleg of strawberry plants all cwtched by the wall and shed.

 

Planting some more herbs next weekend.

 

And will see what crops are suggested I can grow overwinter.

 

Good Luck

[jerpy]

 

Some new strawberries have come through, another five pound or so. Nice surprise.

 

 

The same variety as others or a late flowering type?

 

b.t.w my cabbages are awful, hole ridden and frankly I give up

 

My runner beans have been brilliant, but anyone know if it is a sign they have gone over, if the inside is large and they taste a bit stringy? Last few off seem that way this time.

 

But i've surprised all the family with my sweet orange toms

[VictorBroom]

My runner beans have been brilliant, but anyone know if it is a sign they have gone over, if the inside is large and they taste a bit stringy?

We always keep picking them until they 'feel' a bit hard when you put a knife to them. Always try and pick all of them so that new ones grow throughout the growing season. When they start to get a bit hard, we will leave them on the plant and save them for planting next year. As soon as they have dried out, pick them and dry them further by lobbing them in a box indoors. When they are proper dry, take them out of the pods and put them in a jar.

 

----

 

Our courgettes have been amazing this year Mabon. Again, keep picking them so that they keep coming. Peas should climb about three foot (ish). We use old broken canes that aren't big enough for the runner beans any more. Like you say, they go a bit straggly though.

 

Anyone grown any Parsnips this year? Ours haven't done as well as usual.

 

Leeks plants (from neighbour) are going in. One of the few veg to keep you going through the winter months.

 

Broccoli just didn't happen.

[underling]

Lost all my corn this year to rodents (I have a reservoir alongside my allotment and get a good deal of related pests). I've had some successes this year though and whilst I've still got leeks, runners, courgettes (coming to an end) and cabbage I've not planned for a winter crop and will start growing again in the spring next year.

 

With my allotment being new to me this year (and has taken a long time to get tidied up) my biggest problem is the quality of the soil. I've got a good supply of muck to put on it for rotting down over the winter to hopefully improve the situation for next year. My compost heap will also see some fern & gorse added (which grows abundantly on the hillsides all around) which I'm told break down to produce nitrogen and potassium rich soil. (Please correct me if this is incorrect).

 

It's a shame I'll not be able top grow in the winter but I'm hoping by missing this winter and concentrating on improving the soil for next year and subsequent years longterm I should produce better results.

[jerpy]

We always keep picking them until they 'feel' a bit hard when you put a knife to them. Always try and pick all of them so that new ones grow throughout the growing season. When they start to get a bit hard, we will leave them on the plant and save them for planting next year. As soon as they have dried out, pick them and dry them further by lobbing them in a box indoors. When they are proper dry, take them out of the pods and put them in a jar.

 

 

Tip appreciated, not sure if I describe them well enough, but they probably are best left now, i'll give it a go and try and remember next year to voice up progress.

 

On fruit front inundated with Raspberries at present.

[littledavesab]

I managed to grow some stawberrys this year. Not a great success but my first season. Typical as soon as I grow some, our little terror decides she doesnt want to eat strawberries any more Fetch the belt........

 

Need a greenhouse me thinks.

 

Also have to find a good use for the various herbs I managed to grow. Mrs is a great cook but shows little interest in our little patch. Any tips on uses of herbs greatly appreciated. Cooking not my strong point.