the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

Weeny eggs

Our Light Sussex pullets have started to lay - and they lay the weeniest eggs. They're popping them out like there's no tomorrow. We can't sell them so we're using them ourselves; they're fine for scrambling and Dan used some for custard today but you'd never manage to cut a soldier thin enough to have them as boiled eggs. Anyway, we've decided to pickle them - they are a perfect size for lunchboxes.

Oh, and Henry seems to have realised that we didn't just buy him for his plumage and his cock-a-doodle - he has been seen "dallying" with his wives, so hopefully we'll be able to hatch a few chicks soon.

Bird Flu

Some of you will be aware that a swan in Fife has been found to have died of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza (bird flu). We're about 50 miles away from Cellardyke, the small coastal village where the swan was found, dead on the beach, about 2 weeks ago. At the moment this has had no effect on us - there are restrictions on the transportation of poultry and eggs in the area, and poulty keepers around Cellardyke are now required to keep their flocks contained - but so far we're outside any restriction zones. Apparently pigs can carry the virus too, so if it does come to sunny Clackmannanshire our boys might have a stay of execution!

It's a relief that the response from the authorities has so far been measured and reasonable. I'm sure that if certain parts of the media had their way there would already be smouldering pyres of thousands of birds in a foot and mouth stylee - it would make great TV and front page splashes. Fortunately it's well understood by those who need to make the decisions that there are no practical means of containing the spread of bird flu, and that the swan in Fife is very unlikely to be the first bird in Britain to die from H5N1 - it just happens to be the first that was reported and found to have the virus.

Vaccination is one option we'd consider - our hens are young and only one step removed from our pets. It's said to cost about £2-3 per bird, and we'd be more than happy to pay that. Time will tell whether that's an option made available to us.

The measures put in place for poultry flocks do make sense, but it's inevitable that domestic fowl somewhere at sometime in the coming months will contract the virus, and entire flocks will have to be killed. There's a chance our hens and cockerel will have to be killed since we live about 100 metres from an island which is home to thousands of migrating wild fowl, and our birds are totally free-range - they would probably be considered as high risk. We'll be very sad if it comes to that, so we're preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.

Felix gets stuck

in the wardrobe. It was only a matter of time before this happened, he's so nosey. When I arrived home from work yesterday, there was no sign of Felix. All other pets were accounted for, but not he.

I shouted for him and heard a faint and pathetic mewing, which turned out to be coming from the wardrobe. He was awful pleased to see me, since he must have been in there since morning.

He'd made himself a nice bed by pulling most of the clothes off the hangers, but hadn't folded them first, so they had to be washed and ironed again. He must have known how much I enjoy ironing (not). Fortunately, he didn't need to "go" while he was stuck, so that was a blessing.

We'll need to start checking that he's "free" before we go out, to avoid any repeat. Poor Felix.

Cowboy Cookout

Dan and I usually have a barbeque for friends in July, round about my birthday. This year, we've (Dan says "what's this "we"?) decided to have a themed event and to ask those attending to make a donation to farmAfrica, a charity we've supported in the past.

The theme for the day will be a western one - no surprise to those who know me. I wanted to have a cowboy / western themed wedding but I was outvoted. I did manage to get "Secret Love" sung at the wedding, but that was all.

My excuse is that, as a wee girl, my favourite TV programmes were "The High Chaparral", "Bonanza", "The Virginian" (James Drury being my first crush). And does anyone remember a programme called "Hondo" and another called "The Munroes", which was about a family of kids in the West, who had a Pyrenean Mountain Dog called Snow?

Anyway, that's the reason for the theme (also "Dances with Wolves", "Open Range" and so on). I was also lucky enough to go to Wyoming with two friends about four years ago. We stayed on the David Ranch, near Jackson and played cowboys for a week. I will never forget it and would love to do it again.

So I'm thinking about the day already; what food to do, games to play etc. A colleague from work has promised me his Karaoke machine and his C&W tapes and I'm hoping we can build a fake cow and practice roping. Pig wrestling has been ruled out for animal welfare reasons. I also have a set of Smokey's old shoes, so we can throw them at a stake. Or Meg.

Which gets me to the reason for the post. I tried a new recipe today for "Cajun Meat Loaf". I had pulled the recipe from a Tesco magazine about a million years ago but only got round to trying it today. It's very yum - we had it with baked sweet potato and salad. We've never had baked sweet potato before and we really enjoyed it. I've given Dan the recipe and he'll put it on the database when he gets a minute.