Welcome to Relaxed Farming
- Alpacas
- Chickens
- Dairy Goats
- Ducks
- Geese
- Pigs
- Pygmy Goats
- Quail
- Rabbits
- Sheep
- Turkeys
- Polytunnel
- Photo Stories
- Video Stories
- Food
- Smallholding Map
- 2013
- 2014
- August
- September
- October
- November
- December
- January
- February
- March
- April
- May
- June
- July
- August
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
Wednesday, 27th August 2014
Today has been a very very very wet day and our top paddock looks in places, very similar to how it looked this last winter. Not good and especially when we have so many young chickens around still: wet, mud and poultry don't mix that well unless of course you are a Muscovy duck, in which case life is great as you get to spend all day dabbling in puddles: perfect!! We have decided to try to sell some of our 'growers' (young chickens) now rather than wait till they are fully grown as we are worried this weather and the ground conditions could affect their health...
Away from the relentless rain, it has been fabulous to take advantage of some 'unplanned' produce in the form of blackberries and field mushrooms. We get blackberries every year in the hedgerows round our paddocks but this year has been a bumper crop - even with the goats nibbling away at them for the last couple of weeks. Blackberry and apple crumble may well be on the table when Jack's brother comes to stay at the end of next month. Blackberries freeze really well so we will probably pick a few over the next week or so and put them in the freezer.
The mushrooms are a real bonus. Due to our compost heap being in the open air it is likely that several spores buried themselves in amongst all the muck - a spore is the name for a small organism or single cell that is able to produce new life, a bit like a seed. Now the compost is in the polytunnel where it is warm and wet (ideal conditions for mushrooms to grow) we are seeing them popping up all over the place between other plants. We KNOW these are field mushrooms and are safe to eat BUT one should NEVER eat any kind of fungi picked wild unless you (or someone with you) is 100% sure what it is, as some are highly poisonous. Fungi is the name for organisms that feed on organic matter and includes mushrooms but also toadstools, moulds and yeast. The advice usually is to keep a small part of any fungi you eat just in case it makes you ill - that way you will be able to show the doctor exactly what you have eaten.
We are happy to report that we ate our field mushrooms tonight with veg from the polytunnel and some fresh salmon from Looe. It was all delicious!!
