Archive for June, 2011
Rum in happier times
We’ve had a bad start to the week. Yesterday, we decided to dispatch Rum, one of our Black Rock chickens. She hadn’t been well for the last week, and yesterday she could barely stand up. We gave her one last check over to make sure we hadn’t missed anything like a stuck egg or any swelling but found nothing, so decided to do the deed there and then. Read the rest of this entry »
Sunday morning lie in
It’s pouring with rain here today, so what better way to spend your Sunday morning?
Strawberries galore!
We’re in the middle of the first glut of the season. The warm weather is doing wonders for the strawberry crop, both inside the polytunnel and outside. I’m having to scour the internet for strawberry recipes (I’m not a big fan of strawberry jam so can’t use them up this way) but one solution may be to try making some strawberry wine (more on this another day). However, despite a good crop, the strawberries inside have got whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum). Every time we go to pick some fruits clouds of little white specks come flying off the leaves. I’ve planted French marigolds as a deterrent (but clearly this hasn’t worked or I was too late), so my next option was to try a biological control. Read the rest of this entry »