Andrew Cumberland's Page

I found some apples that weren't looking their best today.  After a bit or work, I ended up with three bottles of chutney.  One of these bottles went in the fridge - where I immediately bumped into an existing bottle of "paw paw, tomato, zucchini, and date chutney."  

"Oi Roz.  Where the hell did we get this paw paw chutney?" I yelled.

My Roz says, "Sophie made it.  You got it at Christmas."

"Oh, that explains the sauerkraut bottle beside it!"

Anyways, that got me…

Expanding the deli here on the tiny farm.

None of you will be shocked by the fact that I like to make my own deli items. From cheese, sauces, pestos and sausages; it's all part of the deli fun. Well, I have decided to add a new item to the McDowall Manor deli. Home dry cured and smoked, nitrite-free bacon. I'll also try to whip out a smoked pork belly dinner, just to see what it's like. 

In other news, the farm flock has returned…

I worked out that many of my quails are 2 years old or more.  That's ancient for quail.  Rather than let the old birds die, I really should cull them while they can be eaten.  

In terms of my cages, two of the three whites are younger (1 boy and 1 girl) so I just need to cull the oldest female.  Second cage is the piebalds - both of those are old and should be culled.  Third cage - the male and a recent chick (from Darren) are okay.  Sadly, my old girlfriend needs to go.  She was one…

I have a batch of 20 quail eggs in the incubator on day 15 now.  I took the egg rocker out today and laid them gently on the floor of what I am hoping will be their brooder soon.  What's the difference between an incubator and a brooder?  An egg rocker.  I use the same incubator for both purposes.  Real quail breeders have two separate bits of equipment.

The alcoholic ginger beer is ready to bottle tomorrow.   I'll try not to add too much sugar and avoid some beery explosions.…