organic vegetable gardening courses, growing tips and homegrown recipes.
Jim bunny loves carrots, including the tops, but possibly not more than apple cores. Dr. Harry, the guinea pig, has stronger tastes – parsley, fennel and lemon balm. He has very sweet breath and a large tummy. They both enjoy the bitter greens of sorrel, dandelion, puha, plantain, minutina, silverbeet and chicory. Rabbits need sticks on which to … [Read more...]
a very fine plymouth barred rock hen on a sunny winter's day So you think your chooks aren’t laying well? Maybe they’re not. If it’s winter, hens have got better things to do, like planning their summer holidays and catching up on some reading. It’s no time to be raising chicks. Laying eggs is a daylight sensitive business. Commercial egg … [Read more...]
When we no longer lie on our friends' bedroom floors on a wet Saturday afternoon, mining their tape and record collections for interesting stuff, how do we find new things to which to listen? I used to sneer at people who bought compilations for relying on someone else's taste to choose their music. Now I recognise the potential of a collection of … [Read more...]
Jim bunny does a little dance when I feed him carrot peelings. That's a good enough reason for me to make spicy carrot dip. Appropriate to keep your rabbit as happy as possible coming up to Easter. You could make the dip with pumpkin but it wouldn't have the same effect on your bunny. If you love proscuitto I recommend you try home curing a … [Read more...]
If you've raised some chicks and have a rooster or two beginning to find his voice, I'll be running the workshop on Sunday 13 March 2011 at 10am at The Kitchen Garden for you to learn how to slaughter and prepare your birds for the table. You can also deal with older laying hens at the same time. I've currently got a waiting list for this workshop. … [Read more...]
Gorgeous George arrived this week and he's working out the important things in life like drinking and eating and being with his Mum. If you want some food in your garden to keep you through winter, sow the seeds now before it gets too cold. Rocket, kale, silverbeet, cabbage, brocolli, cavalo nero and lettuce. I recommend you start them off in … [Read more...]
Chooks and chicks do best on a diet rich in greens, bugs and dirt in which they scratch about. However producing an egg takes a protein-rich diet so most chook owners use supplementary pellets. Chicks also need special chick crumbles. They'll all enjoy some extra wheat or maize for which to scratch in the grass. In Wellington your best options are … [Read more...]
I'm still refining my mince pie recipe since making slow-cooked Christmas mincemeat and favouring mini pies over large. Silicon bakeware takes the stress out of removing them from the tin, washes in the dishwasher and doesn't need greasing - hooray. I used made this sweet, short pastry for one batch and it worked well. I like the fact each pie has … [Read more...]
Nelly, the hen, has just hatched ten chicks out of the ten eggs she was sitting on. Rodriguez is father to them all. Mums are either Plymouth barred rock or Rhode Island red hens. All are now sold but I've got another hen due to hatch chicks next week so email me if you're interested. I was remiss in excluding a cookery book from my last post. A … [Read more...]
I've planted a few potatoes this week, although it's possibly too early as the shoots won't enjoy a late frost. I've mulched them with shreddings from pruning the fruit trees. We'll plant some more on the fresh food garden courses on Saturday 2 and 30 October 2010. The other opportunity to visit The Kitchen Garden is to come on the very popular … [Read more...]
