1 - Hens don't make any noise apart from the odd cluck when laying an egg.
Hens can be very noisy. They can cluck away for extended periods of time when they're unhappy and have learnt to clamour for your attention. Your neighbours WILL hear them and this may be as early as FIVE a.m. in the summer. A friend of mine was reduced to tears and eventually had to rehome her hens because of their early morning rowdiness. Their alarm call is even louder and will be triggered by foxes, cats and anything they don't recognise or feel scared of.
2 - You can move an Eglu (or other small run) around your garden every couple of weeks and stop your lawn from being wrecked.
In two weeks two hens can completely destroy an Eglu-run sized piece of lawn. It will take months to grow back. You will end up with many bare patches. Consider keeping them in a permanent spot and putting down wood chippings (from your own prunings perhaps). These can be changed regularly and the old ones composted. Make your garden hen-proof if possible and let them out for a few hours every day if you can. They'll be perfectly happy.
3 - Two hens are enough company for each other.
Except when one of them is inside laying and the one left outside goes bananas because she's on her own (hens need the security of a flock) and shouts her head off for half an hour or more. If you get three, hopefully there will always be two together and you won't have to spend your day squatting by the run calming a hysterical chicken.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Bored
It's taken four years but it's finally happened. The wooden board as an acceptable serving item has spread from "gourmet burger" land to invade the tables of proper restaurants which had previously been immune and, really, which should know better. Am I being the ubiquitous Grumpy middle-aged Woman here, or do people really like eating off a piece of wood?
Ceramics are beautiful, their variety and use are limited only by the human imagination and the odd law of physics or chemistry. Hand-thrown chunky terracotta drizzled with iridescent glazes that combine and separate into multihued pearly grains can enhance something as simple as a plain green salad. Clean, achingly white bone china that spotlights dramatic swirls of raspberry and chocolate. Dark, secretive cobalt blue to bring the fresh, cream flesh of a fish leaping off the plate towards you. Or a dark, semi-matt slab of wood whose grain fights with the multihued food for the available light to depress and diminish?
Wood is beautiful too, and I've nothing against a bread or cheese board if the food is to be cut upon it and then served to a plate but I really dislike trying to eat off one with a knife and fork. The food falls off (plates have a rim). In all but the most trustworthy places the hygiene is doubtful (plates can be scalded). The server has no edge to grip and therefore his job is made more difficult. And I really don't want to think about the cleaning implications in those less-than-perfect places - cold, damp, mouldy, cracked wood providing a perfect breeding ground for all sorts of bugs. I'm a wildlife enthusiast, but not of that sort.
Stop, I say. It's Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.
Ceramics are beautiful, their variety and use are limited only by the human imagination and the odd law of physics or chemistry. Hand-thrown chunky terracotta drizzled with iridescent glazes that combine and separate into multihued pearly grains can enhance something as simple as a plain green salad. Clean, achingly white bone china that spotlights dramatic swirls of raspberry and chocolate. Dark, secretive cobalt blue to bring the fresh, cream flesh of a fish leaping off the plate towards you. Or a dark, semi-matt slab of wood whose grain fights with the multihued food for the available light to depress and diminish?
Wood is beautiful too, and I've nothing against a bread or cheese board if the food is to be cut upon it and then served to a plate but I really dislike trying to eat off one with a knife and fork. The food falls off (plates have a rim). In all but the most trustworthy places the hygiene is doubtful (plates can be scalded). The server has no edge to grip and therefore his job is made more difficult. And I really don't want to think about the cleaning implications in those less-than-perfect places - cold, damp, mouldy, cracked wood providing a perfect breeding ground for all sorts of bugs. I'm a wildlife enthusiast, but not of that sort.
Stop, I say. It's Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
How to protect your hens from the cold weather
A little trick; just take a small tin of your favourite petroleum jelly and lay it handy. Catch your chicken. Hold her firmly, with one hand holding her legs and supporting her body underneath and the other cradling her back and wings so she doesn't flap. With your third hand hold her head steady so that with your fourth hand you can gently rub a small amount of petroleum jelly into her comb and wattles. This will protect these extremities from freezing and keep your chickens happy and healthy throughout the frosts.
Simple really.
Simple really.
Monday, December 15, 2008
promising
If you like good beer and good food, or even just good beer, the centre of Chester can be a bit of a desert. You can head up a couple of sidestreets to the Albion Inn where the food is hearty and the ale real, although there seems to have been a falling off in quality of late, leading, perhaps, to their being dropped from the Good Beer Guide 2009. You can head to the Falcon or the Boot if you like Sam Smiths beer which is certainly good value. Duttons in Godstall Lane has real ale as well as a good wine list but the food is disappointing. A little further out the Fat Cat usually has a nice pint of something, but none of these come close to the beer and food Mecca that is The Old Harkers Arms (link on the right there>>) which is a good 10 to 15 minutes walk/yomp/stagger from the city centre.
Until, possibly, now.
The local Spitting Feathers Brewery have opened a brewery tap pub called, appropriately enough, the Brewery Tap in the historic and beautiful Gamul House, former home to La Taverna restaurant on Lower Bridge street, right in the thick of things. While the passing of La Taverna is definitely mourned, this pub is as welcome as a big glass of fresh orange juice the morning after. Six of us went to eat and drink there last night and had a whale of a time.
The main hall of Gamul House which is medieval, is now a welcoming bar where the excellent range of Spitting Feathers and guest beers can be quaffed. There's a smaller room off to the right where the noise level is a bit lower and everything has been decorated in a relaxed fashion paying homage to the age and style of the building. We soon settled in, drank a couple of pints and drooled over the menus - including a big board of specials high up on the double height wall. A bit of paper and pen were found and yours truly took on the task of ordering the starters and mains which turned out to be an error of judgement as it all went a bit awry at this point. The menu turned out to be not very well written in that we couldn't tell what accompanied each main dish and therefore didn't know what extra side orders to have. Most of the daily special dishes we ordered were not available because they had run out (fair enough) but they had not been taken off the board as no-one could reach it. And it was unclear what were supposed to be sandwiches and what "light bites".
Anyway. We ordered. And we did have to wait quite a while (more beer!) but the food, when it arrived, was excellent. Deep fried Cheshire Goats cheese was heavenly. Robin loved his garlic mushrooms on toast. John appreciated the generous portion of soup although the deep fried parsnip crisps on the top were still at deep-fried temperature. The only problem was the "devil sauce". This was the name we gave to the viscous cadmium yellow goo drizzled over the picked beetroot accompanying my goats cheese and also, apparently, forming the dressing for the "Caesar salad" that two people had. It appeared to be made of equal quantities of cheese and chilli and not in a good way. It was horrible, and hence the Caesar salads were nothing of the kind. Lettuce, parmesan, anchovies, garlic, worcester sauce, eggs are what you need for this dish - it's a classic and should not be messed with.
We were a little apprehensive after this, but the main courses made up for it. Two steaks were perfectly cooked and cod with leeks and mustard was excellent. My lamb burger was so good, I've forgotten what the other two people had! Whatever it was, was excellent also. The bill (for food only) came to £103 (or £105, we weren't quite sure) or about £18/head for 2 courses. We declined the offer of free coffee and told our waitress, who was having the evening from hell, clearly, to stop apologising!
It was the general opinion that all the right ingredients are here for a fabulous pub (with the exception of the devil sauce); a good range of great beers, very good food and exceptionally helpful and polite staff. The organisation needs tweaking, but that's not surprising for a pub that's only been open four weeks or so. We will be back. Often. Very often.....
(but get rid of the devil sauce, PLEASE!)
Until, possibly, now.
The local Spitting Feathers Brewery have opened a brewery tap pub called, appropriately enough, the Brewery Tap in the historic and beautiful Gamul House, former home to La Taverna restaurant on Lower Bridge street, right in the thick of things. While the passing of La Taverna is definitely mourned, this pub is as welcome as a big glass of fresh orange juice the morning after. Six of us went to eat and drink there last night and had a whale of a time.
The main hall of Gamul House which is medieval, is now a welcoming bar where the excellent range of Spitting Feathers and guest beers can be quaffed. There's a smaller room off to the right where the noise level is a bit lower and everything has been decorated in a relaxed fashion paying homage to the age and style of the building. We soon settled in, drank a couple of pints and drooled over the menus - including a big board of specials high up on the double height wall. A bit of paper and pen were found and yours truly took on the task of ordering the starters and mains which turned out to be an error of judgement as it all went a bit awry at this point. The menu turned out to be not very well written in that we couldn't tell what accompanied each main dish and therefore didn't know what extra side orders to have. Most of the daily special dishes we ordered were not available because they had run out (fair enough) but they had not been taken off the board as no-one could reach it. And it was unclear what were supposed to be sandwiches and what "light bites".
Anyway. We ordered. And we did have to wait quite a while (more beer!) but the food, when it arrived, was excellent. Deep fried Cheshire Goats cheese was heavenly. Robin loved his garlic mushrooms on toast. John appreciated the generous portion of soup although the deep fried parsnip crisps on the top were still at deep-fried temperature. The only problem was the "devil sauce". This was the name we gave to the viscous cadmium yellow goo drizzled over the picked beetroot accompanying my goats cheese and also, apparently, forming the dressing for the "Caesar salad" that two people had. It appeared to be made of equal quantities of cheese and chilli and not in a good way. It was horrible, and hence the Caesar salads were nothing of the kind. Lettuce, parmesan, anchovies, garlic, worcester sauce, eggs are what you need for this dish - it's a classic and should not be messed with.
We were a little apprehensive after this, but the main courses made up for it. Two steaks were perfectly cooked and cod with leeks and mustard was excellent. My lamb burger was so good, I've forgotten what the other two people had! Whatever it was, was excellent also. The bill (for food only) came to £103 (or £105, we weren't quite sure) or about £18/head for 2 courses. We declined the offer of free coffee and told our waitress, who was having the evening from hell, clearly, to stop apologising!
It was the general opinion that all the right ingredients are here for a fabulous pub (with the exception of the devil sauce); a good range of great beers, very good food and exceptionally helpful and polite staff. The organisation needs tweaking, but that's not surprising for a pub that's only been open four weeks or so. We will be back. Often. Very often.....
(but get rid of the devil sauce, PLEASE!)
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
boogie
Another bit of a hiatus caused by; having a horrendous cold/flu thingy which took ages to get rid of and hurting my back planting bulbs and not being able to get better because of the cold/flu thing which meant lying down a lot. Which is not good for backs. And some other stuff. But, hurrah, hurrah, all is better now and we can look forward to the Christmas-type festivities which will very quickly be followed by birthday celebrations as some of the people I know will be saying goodbye to their 30s in January including Robin. And Anonymous (!). And someone else we won't mention.
As a beginning to all this merriment, eight of us went to the Mill Hotel for a "dinner dance", i.e. mass catering and disco. With crackers and hats. The food was on the poor side of average, the DJ (who these days just sits in front of a computer, hardly moving, what a cop out!) was useless, but we all* had a brilliant time and danced a lot and sang along and felt very hoarse and achy the next day. Christastic.
*well, six of us
As a beginning to all this merriment, eight of us went to the Mill Hotel for a "dinner dance", i.e. mass catering and disco. With crackers and hats. The food was on the poor side of average, the DJ (who these days just sits in front of a computer, hardly moving, what a cop out!) was useless, but we all* had a brilliant time and danced a lot and sang along and felt very hoarse and achy the next day. Christastic.
*well, six of us
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
eggs
Found on the horsetail (equisetum hyemale) in our pond. Any ideas what might have laid them? Scale - the dark bands on the stem are about 15 mm apart.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
crap
Sometimes I wonder if it's worth all the trouble and expense to filter tap water before drinking it and whether it might not, in fact, be worse for your health if that de-chemicalised water sits around growing bugs. And then, some weeks this happens.
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