Feasting without Food Miles.




Tuesday 24th January 2012

The tree protection tubes have somewhat spoiled my traditional sunrise photo!





Wednesday 25th January 2012

         

Thursday 26th January 2012

A series of gloomy mornings. Tuesday was a washout, but at least it watered the newly planted trees and wet the ground for those to come. Wednesday was wet till 9, followed by a dry but occasionally windy and chilly day. Thursday was a good day to work outside.

Surging Forward With The Trees
Wednesday
After the morning rain, I carried on with the job of getting the trees planted. This was a satisfying task and the end was in sight. Today I aimed to plant half of the 175 trees still left. I started with an area of Ash trees in the furthest corner of the land, by the back dyke.
The Ash tree was not very familiar to me until I moved here, but it is the species which dominates the Lincolnshire landscape. Here on The Fens it obviously copes well with an exposed site! The four majestic Ash trees which tower over the garden here produce a plethora of seeds which attract hordes of birds. A charm of goldfinches are almost always to be found feeding precariously in the tallest branches. Often I look out on an autumn or winters day to see a gang of fieldfares and starlings swoop en masse from their elevated perch down into the adjacent field, only to all swoop back up to the safety of the trees a few minutes later. These four statuesque trees are dozens of years old and it will be a couple of decades before the newly planted trees produce their own bounty of seeds. Hopefully it will be sooner than that when we can begin to take a little firewood from them.
As I came back towards the farmouse, I introduced a few woodland shrubs to the Ash plantation, the odd blackthorn, guelder rose or crab apple. Then a few Field Maples, a few more, until this delightful old English species was dominant, with just the occasional Ash, and Dogwood and Dog Roses for the understorey.
Before I knew it the sun was on it's way down, the chickens and pigs needed their late afternoon feed, and I had been so engrossed in the task I had completely missed lunch myself!

Thursday
Only 94 to go! An early start and a determined attitude. I had enjoyed this task, but would be happy too when it was completed. The weather might not hold out much longer, and the young saplings would appreciate being in the ground sooner rather than later. In went the last few Field Maples, merging into an area of mixed Goat Willow, Rowan and Alder. Planting was very easy as the rain of Tuesday night had softened the ground perfectly. I worked straight through breakfast and lunch, and by 3.30 I was finished, with time to stand back and admire too. I was finished! 430 trees planted in a week. Not bad going!
Now to be patient. Another five years and it will resemble a young woodland. Another twenty years and I will be strolling through an established woodland in my retirement


Funny Old World
It's funny how things turn out. We have made the conscious decision, as far as is practical, to settle for the foods we have, rather than flown-in exotics from all over the world. The only exception to this is fruits, until our orchard and fruit bushes become productive enough to grow and process most of our own. Even then, in season we at least buy all our apples and plums locally from the farm gate (or scrump them from Don's, whose orchard is six years further down the line than mine!) I have written previously about keeping seasonal tastes special, something to look forward to.

Funny then that we should find ourselves this evening feasting on Jerusalem artichokes (more on this wonderful-to-grow veg at a later date), fennel bulbs, blanched baby beetroot leaves and beetroot. This following the celeriac and Hamburg parsley of the other day. Exotic ingredients all from the garden and harvested in the middle of winter.

Some of these you can buy year-round from the supermarket, bigger, cleaner, more uniform versions flown in from god knows where, though lacking the freshness and so the flavour of those straight from the garden. Some of these you'll never find in a supermarket, or you'll have to pay a fortune for. Either they are too knobbly to be convenient or they just don't store well enough for the supermarkets. Some would just never make it onto the shelves because of minor imperfections, or being the wrong size. Yet others are not commercially viable on  a large scale.

It infuriates me! If only we had to pay for all the hidden costs of our food we might make some far better and healthier choices.

A New Bird For The Farm List!!!

All day I planted trees with my binoculars hung on a fencepost nearby. The only times I stopped briefly were to scan through the gulls which flew to and fro all day. A few of those northern white-winged gulls which recently flooded into the Northwest of the country have begun appearing down south, but none yet over the farm. Still, a good excuse to stop and take in a small piece of the countryside every now and again.

With an hour left before dark, I decided to move the twenty bags of animal food down to the bins by the chickens and pigs. Typical... No sooner do I abandon my binoculars than low toward me and straight over my head flies a large grey goose. Unusually it was not honking loudly, but it was clearly a Greylag Goose. Not a spectacular bird for the list, but a long overdue one for the farm. It continued in the direction of Peterborough, doubtless in a hurry to reach its intended roost site.