Wild blackberries are very much at home on the smallholding. They wind their way through hawthorn, ash and nettle hedgerows, providing a welcome barrier from the country lane and home for a multitude of wildlife. Unfortunately the brambles also pop up in less welcome places. This year they have made an appearance in the middle of our favourite rosemary bush, sprawling out from the centre, dangling across the garden path, and snagging our clothes as we walk past. On the edges of the old hazel coppice, they have formed a barrier between us and our prized cobnuts. And amongst the flowerbed roses, they have created an epic tangle of thorns. It is a constant battle to keep them in check….
Wild Cherry Sour
It has not been a particularly good year for our cherry trees. One of the two sweet cherries, which gave us an absolute bumper crop last July, has been struck by what appears to be a nasty combination of fruit drop and cherry blackfly. The tree stands curly leafed and forlorn, surrounded by shrivelled fruits that have fallen from its branches and now litter the orchard floor. All of its tiny crop of surviving cherries were snaffled by the squirrels as soon as they started to blush red….
Milk Jelly with Strawberries, Elderflower, and Cobnut Brittle
The tiny alpine variety of strawberry that grows wild might just be the tastiest strawberry there is. The minuscule fruits, sherbet sweet and deeply flavoursome, melt in the mouth in seconds. We have a small patch of them growing in the dappled shade of some rosebushes. We also forage a few extra from the grassy banks that edge the quiet country lanes near the house….
Borage Leaf, Pea and Garden Mint Soup
The borage pops up in the vegetable patch every year without fail. It would almost be considered a weed if the dark green leaves and starry flowers weren’t so welcome in our garden. We grew a few borage plants in a module tray in our first year here and planted them out in the corners…
Chickens: Creating a Dual Purpose UK Easter Egger Flock – Part 2
This is part two of the story of how we created our dual purpose meat and coloured egg laying flock here on the smallholding. You can read part 1 here. After a lot of research, we settled on four main breeds that we wanted to keep to form the base of our flock.
Pickled Wild Garlic Flower Buds
The wild garlic is as abundant this year as ever. It carpets the woodland floors and lines many of the shaded roadside verges. Open the car window on a sunny afternoon or stumble over a patch on a walk, and its scent is almost instantly noticeable. Here on the smallholding, we are lucky enough to…