Midsummer Musings

I just love this time of year, especially as we approach the solstace. I come over all 'Midsummer Nights Dream' and go for losts of walks at dusk - which last night, was 9-10pm, down our quiet country roads with meadows either side. There is an almost electric feel to the cool and moist evening air and it feels like there is something special going on in the hedgerows and waving long grass that I dont quite understand. There isn't much point taking photos as with my camera they would only come out as a grey grainy mess. But the other day I took a solitary walk up the steep hills of the Cherill white horse and watched the sun set - beautiful.

The view to the left

The view to the front

I am also spellbound by the beauty in the cottage garden (pictures once I have mowed the grass, promise!). I do love exuberant floral displays and every year promise myself a cutting garden with exotic lovelies growing in neat rows. I always fail as veg takes up all of my time, but sometimes there is nothing nicer than a scruffy little collection of totally clashing, scruffy cottage garden blooms.

Bread

What with the recent wet weather and the village Scarecrow Festival (more on that another post) we haven't been very productive on our patch lately - the wet weather has sent the grass and the weeds rocketing skywards, although I am grateful that as yet (touch wood) slugs don't seem to be too much of a problem.

But wet weather is perfect baking weather...and Oli (who is the head baker in our house) has been busy whipping up these beauties:



We generally make all of our own bread - once you have mastered it (which took us a good two years to get to the point of making reliably nice bread every time) I don't think you ever look back. But lately, since I have been on a massive tiny-bridesmaid-dress-induced-diet we have had a few bread free weeks. So it was nice, if a little guilty pleasure, to saw the end off the long loaf and scoff it with butter while it was still warm. Mmmm.

We use the River Cottage basic loaf recipe - although we vary the ingredients depending on what we have - this time a handful of linseeds went in and Oli used 50% wholemeal. Delish.

Fast Food

Finally we have reached that time in the season when we are eating entire meals which have been grown on site.

The first pickings of spinach, dill, parsley and some eggs from the hens made a lovely spinach omlette (OK, I admit, the feta cheese was bought).

Oh yes, we even rusticaly gather the bounty in a rustic old trug.

And then last night, a salad using some leftover BBQ meat from the weekend with some tiny new 'Pink Fir' spuds, radish 'French Breakfast', leuttice, baby spinach leaves and some gorgeous carrot thinnings just eaten raw in the salad.



Oh and for afters and to be sliced over cereal in the mornings this week.....


They don't call it the good life for nothing!

Re-Charge Your Batteries!

I am very privileged to co-ordinate rescues for the British Hen Welfare Trust. This amazing charity works hard to get the nation to go free-range. Sorry about the poor quality photos, but it was a frantic day and I only had seconds to stop and take pictures using my phone.

 

We liaise with battery farmers up and down the country to rescue as many hens as possible from slaughter when they come to replenish their 'stock'. Battery farming exerts a huge toll on the health of the hens and very often for reasons of disease or exhaustion, egg production drops slightly and the hens stop being commercially viable after about a year in the battery. They are often sold to cat food or stock cube manufacturers and sent to slaughter.

 

The hens in the van, ready to be unloaded.

 

 The lucky ones - 360 of them on Sunday, are re-homed as domestic pets via the BHWT. Although we can only hope to save a fraction of the 20 million battery hens in the UK, it is effective because each little rescue hen acts as an ambassador for the silent majority - getting neighbours and schools talking about the use of battery eggs and the industry and drawing attention to the issue. Very often re-homers turn up and burst into tears at the sight of some of them - (they are often very scraggy looking, particularly the ones at the front as they rub against the cage and loose their feathers) and if that is not a powerful way of delivering a message then I don't know what is!

 

The hens have at least an hour to rest and have a drink after their journey before the re-homers arrive to collect them.

But after 3 months or so, they re-feather beautifully and learn to act like proper hens. This transformation is heart-warming to see.

 

It is easy to blame the farmers for producing battery eggs, but the BHWT takes the view that they are only meeting consumer demand - if we did not buy cheap processed cakes, mayonnaise and confectionary which calls for battery eggs, the farmers would not produce them. The charity runs educational programmes for consumers and works with the egg  industry to work towards a free-range system. Check out their brilliant website here for more information.

 

At last, we are down to the last ten

We finish the day covered in hen poop and this time, red spider mites - but it was very satisfying to know that 360 hens would be waking up the next morning to their first ever free-range day.