And Nigel opened the lid and ate the remains of Mum’s breakfast bagel with butter and black currant jam. (I was the culprit who didn’t lock the bin).
Night, night chickens and the first egg laid by the young hens
A late lunch
New visitors, one has lived on a farm in SA where she raised sheep. She and her partner helped us
To bring in our small flock because Cieste has a lame foot
The other guests watched proceedings with interest
Visitors before the visitors!
An impromptu visit from friends in the village with their two friends from Italy.
We examined the Italian origin Romanesco broccoli – which they do eat back home.
They also met mum and went home with a jar of green tomato chutney.
Lunch guests expected – dug up some celeriac and a leek which will go into a soup later on this morning
Decidedly decadent dessert
Mum brought with her from London four ripe peaches and I had a pot of unused double cream in the fridge. I peeled the peaches and cut them into a saucepan along with some of our homegrown frozen black currants. I poached them for three minutes until soft then put in an ovenproof dish to cool. Then I whipped the cream and covered the cooked fruit with same and popped it all in the freezer. As we ate our main course I turned the grill to high, took the dish out of the freezer and covered the cream with a good layer of brown sugar. It went under the grill until the sugar began to caramelise and then…….we polished off the lot!
Time to put the birds away, inspect the garden and snuggle under a blanket in front of the TV
Eggs, hens and new homes
One hen “couldn’t wait” to be let out this morning and had already laid a beautiful, brown egg. Thank you
Mrs Silkie has “gone broody” in December? Jeremy has put a clutch of assorted eggs underneath her and we will count 21 days from Christmas Day.
Mrs Bantie’s chick is happy in her new home with Chris’s granddaughter. She arrived in a box to the girl’s utter surprise and delight. Elsie has a magic touch with chickens – they love her and she loves them.
The mystery is solved.
I spent the afternoon making spinach roulade and then jam tarts.
When I returned to the house I passed the cat barn. On the fence next to the barn were the remains of a hen pleasant, feathers, head and all. Nigel was looking mighty pleased with himself and this is what must have happened.
Nigel caught a pheasant last night or early this morning. Having killed and eaten the best bits he was full to bursting and didn’t fancy breakfast so he slept in late inside one of the blanket lined cardboard boxes in the cat barn. It’s the first time ever that he hasn’t appeared for breakfast. Oh Nigel and poor pheasant.
