Lambs

Six sleepy lambs. We raised the floor of their shelter this year so if it rains they'll stay out of the puddles. This after last year’s mad rebuild during the pouring rain to lift them out of water. The joys of living on clay!
The upturned pot is one of two – easier on the back to sit down to bottle feed.

Learnings:

• Planning ahead and learning from experience – always works.

Snakeshead Fritillaries at North Meadow Cricklade

Fritillaria Meleagris at North Meadow NNR, Cricklade.

The stunning annual display of Fritillaria Meleagris at North Meadow NNR is at its peak. It seems like you can walk forever around the meadow with the purple haze spreading across the horizon. We are so lucky to have the meadow here – one of the finest examples of a lowland hay meadow in Europe, holding the largest natural population of snakeshead fritillaries in the UK. The Meadow is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is also protected as a Special Area of Conservation. It has been managed by the Cricklade Manorial Court as Lammas Land for hundreds of years and is now under Environmental Stewardship Scheme. 

Snakeshead Fritillaries at North Meadow NNR, Cricklade.

Lammas tenure is a fascinating part of our history. The landowner – usually the Lord of the Manor – divides the land into “lots” and the hay rights are sold to local farmers who harvest the hay in their allotment. After the harvest the meadow then becomes common pasture and certain commoners are entitled to graze the entire meadow.

At our own North Meadow some of the original boundary stones for the lots are still visible.

Boundary Stone at North Meadow, Cricklade.

Learnings:

• Lammas day is 12^th August when commoner grazing rights begin.
• Grazing ceases at around Candlemas, at the beginning of February, when the meadow is laid up for hay.

Chickens Out!

Yesterday the avian flu restrictions ended. Thank goodness. Time to take down all the netting and infrastructure that has been prison for our HenSafe chickens so they can take their first steps outside into fresh grass. Beginning to think this could be an annual event.

Moving Chickens

It’s time to sow seeds and I need the polytunnel back. No alternative but to move the chickens under cover outside. It’s still within the DEFRA rules so we are OK. Luckily the fruit cage netting isn’t in use so we draped it over an old tent frame and weighted it down with bricks. That combined with the lamb hurdles and some old scaffold netting saw the job done. They’re definitely not happy birds though – being able to see the grass and not get to all of it must be really frustrating.
Now to clean up the polytunnel. It took a good day’s work to move all the extra equipment out, put the soil back into the beds and hose it all down before moving all the horticultural gear back in. What a mess...you wouldn’t believe the dust! No slugs though haha!

Seville Orange Marmalade

A couple of weeks ago I made this year's marmalade from some delicious Seville oranges. After trawling recipe books, internet, friends and family this is the recipe I have stuck with. It comes highly recommended from my sister-in-law and now also from me, so here goes!

Hubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble....

Ingredients ratio:
Use 1.5Kg Seville oranges to 3Kg sugar and 1.5Kg water, plus 2 lemons.

The magic recipe:
Scrub the oranges and boil in the water for 1.5 to 2 hours or until the fruit is soft when poked with a knife point, then let it all cool. Take the oranges out and cut them in half, saving the juice in a bowl and scraping out all the insides into a different bowl. A teaspoon does this job very well. Cut the peel into whatever size you want and keep it for later on. Heat up the same water and add the sugar. You may need to add a bit more water to have enough to dissolve the sugar. Do not boil it yet! (Now is a good time to put a couple of plates into the freezer for testing setting point.) Take the pot of orange-insides and push it through a sieve into the solution, add the orange juice and the chopped peel plus the juice from your 2 lemons. Boil it all up until setting point is reached (105 degrees Celsius, 220 degrees Fahrenheit) and while this is happening put your clean jars into the oven to warm up.
Let the marmalade cool a little and add a knob of butter if there's scum on the top. Stir it in and the scum will disappear. Now you can start filling the jars with a ladle or a jug, lid them up while hot and label. 

Ready for Labelling

Learnings:

• Don’t add too much water at the second stage when dissolving the sugar or you’ll be boiling it for ages to get to setting point.
• Fill some smaller jars and use pretty labels to keep as presents for friends and family.
• It always takes longer than you think it will!