Welcome back to a productive week at Bryngwyn. Weather is good and no major disasters to record for a change.
Patch:
Continuing to crop well with leeks, swedes and figs now coming on board. The great thing about this time of year is building meals from what is available and needs using rather than being overwhelmed by choice in the supermarket. I have been known to be so fazed by the variety of food on display in Tesco’s that I have sometimes just given up and gone home empty-handed.
Busy week in the kitchen making cider, apple juice and, for the first time, cider vinegar. Jane has made jars of crab apple jelly and our daughter Hannah has produced a delicious syrup from foraged rose-hips. We have a veritable cottage industry going on.
The turkeys went awol, causing a minor panic. Eventually found them in a neighbouring field. We were a bit worried because there was the annual shoot taking place in the adjacent field, and from a distance they look very like female pheasants. However we rounded them up unscathed. Unlike chickens and ducks, who rarely stray from the farmyard, turkeys appear to have no understanding of boundaries and will happily wander off into the beyond without a care if the mood takes them. They have no fear – God only knows how they survive in the wild.
We’re not certain yet but it looks like we have five young drakes and only one female duck, which is a shame as we were hoping to keep them for egg-laying rather than for eating. Generally you can tell the sex by the quality of the quacking ( females quack in proper Old Macdonald style while drakes make this ridiculous whispery noise). Plus males have this curly tail feather. Five to one seems like a strange proportion for nature to throw up, so let’s hope we’re wrong.
On the Wild Side:
We try to supplement our diet with fish when we can, and most years manage to catch mackerel, pollock and dogfish. However, I am not the greatest of anglers, and this weeks attempt at beach-casting with a couple of friends, produced the impressive catch of two dogfish between the three of us. However, we did have the consolation of seeing a couple of seals. Dogfish are not everyone’s cup of tea, but personally I love them. Admittedly they are a bit tricky to skin – I use a Stanley knife and pliers, but it’ worth the effort. Then just cut them into goujons, coat them in flour, with a bit of salt and pepper, and fry them in butter. Dash of lemon juice. Delicious!
The polytunnel toads are at it again. Found them in the woods with half a dozen grouse. Apparently that nice Mr Gove has exempted grouse shooting from the rule of six. “So what?” I asked. Well the toads have come up with an ingenious new wheeze. They are offering rave organisers in England a loan of their grouse and an old blunderbuss they have somehow acquired, and armed with these, and thanks to Mr Gove, raves will be designated grouse shoots and not subject to the rule of six. Simple. They are advertising this service, for a modest fee, on the Dark Web, and claim the response is very encouraging. It seems they have taken advice from the Attorney General Suella Braverman MP, who says it’s perfectly lawful, and with her outstanding legal mind, that’s good enough for the toads. I urged caution and suggested they hold fire, pending the outcome of a judicial review instigated by the grouse, but the impetuous young toads will have none of it. “The police won’t know what’s hit them”. They croaked cockily. We’ll see. I fear that in class-ridden Britain justice is not about what you think you know but more about who you know (or how much you donate to the Conservative party) But maybe I’ve just read too much Lenin.
Saw three red kites hunting overhead. Beautiful sight. They are majestic birds and easily identified with their large wingspan and forked tail. They are a real re-introduction success story, having been almost extinct a few decades ago and now a common sight across West Wales.
Tip of the week:
Fallen leaves are free compost. Just rake them up and stick them in bin-liners and hide for a couple of years. If you are weening yourself off plastic, and you have room, then you can construct a chicken wire cage instead.
Have a good week and may your freezers overflow.
STOP PRESS : Just lost the turkeys again and about to instigate a full-scale search and rescue mission, involving helicopters, heat-seeking equipment and bloodhounds, when Hannah spotted them in the kitchen. Those turkeys really take the biscuit – literally if you let them!