A Turkey is not just for Christmas

Monday 1st January 2018!
New Year Resolutions

I don't really do New Year's Resolutions, but if I am making one this year I guess it will be to cook a lot more from scratch. And I never thought I would ever say this, but I would quite like to shed a few pounds too. Hopefully one will help the other.

It's not a question of not having time, more about planning ahead and using my time wisely. So gone is slumping on the sofa tucking into a supermarket pizza while watching TV.
And in is baking, cooking and developing other hobbies.
We'll see how it all goes.

I don't intend to turn this into yet another food blog, but I have long held the position that using your produce properly needs just as much focus as growing or rearing it in the first place.

Even at this time of year there is fresh produce for the picking in the veg plot.

So what better way to spend New Year's Day than knocking up a couple of curries. The luck did not last for one of Christmas's survivor turkeys as it got caught up in the New Year's Eve cull. Turkey is an excellent meat and should not just be consumed once a year. In fact this annual massacre leads to turkeys being kept in terrible conditions as the industry tries to produce 10 million birds all to be oven ready on the same day.
We split the turkey into 2 breasts, 2 drumsticks and 2 wings. Each breast and drumstick is enough to cook up one big pan of food. The drumsticks are difficult to get the meat off raw, so I roast them up and then pick off the meat to be added last minute to dishes such as curries or stir fries. The tasty dark meat makes a perfect addition. The breast meat is easier to cut into steaks, to cube or cut into strips and gives endless opportunities.
Todays recipes were both taken from the internet.  Turkey and Potato Curry and Spiced Turkey Curry with Spinach (substitute Chard or Kale)

The first of these called for using 'a curry paste of your choice'. We always have plenty of spices in the store cupboard and I prefer not to purchase ready made concoctions. I found in one of my many cookery books a page for whipping up 5 quick curry pastes. It was in Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food but can be found online too.
I opted for the Jalfrezi version and was very impressed with the result. At least as good as any I've tasted in a restaurant.

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
Rain stopped play
I had a weird dream last night. A class of 5 year olds were lined up at my classroom door with their parents ready to come in and I had no plans for what to do with them, nothing set up and no idea how to actually teach them.
This is a sure sign that the holidays are coming to an end.
We had one last lye in, with the intention of getting up and worming the sheep, planting garlic and pruning fruit trees. But as has happened so may times this holiday, rain stopped play. I am not just a fair weather smallholder, but none of these jobs was suitable for a wet day.
Instead it was blogging and baking so my time was not wasted.

The pumpkins and squashes were very late to fruit this year

so are not storing well. But we still have a good selection and enough for our needs.

Today I was making a Galette of Butternut Squash, Bacon and Parmesan, something for our packed lunches when we are back at work. I knocked up a loaf of bread too. Fresh bread is so good.

Galette of Butternut Squash.

What to do with cabbage white caterpillars

The sign says it all.

New Public Enemy Number One.

I love insects. They come in so many shapes, sizes and colours. They're like miniature alien creations. But they're not all welcome in my garden.
It's been a great year for butterflies and this pleases me greatly. Who could not marvel at the sight of butterflies fluttering by?

JUST AS LONG AS THEY ARE NOT THESE BUTTERFLIES!!!



A group of five cabbage whites cavorting over (and under)
the netting which is supposed to protect my greens. 

In the year when I have put more effort than ever into growing my greens, nature has put more effort than ever into eating my greens! Those scraggy butterflies have found impossible ways of getting themselves on the wrong side of my netting. In fact, when I show people round I joke that the netting is there to protect the butterflies and their offspring from predators.
And therein lies my dilemma. I have to net my brassicas or else every leaf would be reduced to a skeleton by caterpillars and pigeons, but in so doing I deny access to the ducks who would be more than happy to help with caterpillar clearance.

So instead I have a new fixation - hunting out the caterpillars.

They're not always as easy to find as these two were.

 And I have a new entrepreneurial idea. Caterpillar racing!

 

 

However, before I find this too depressing, let's remember that I should still get an ample crop for the two of us.
OK, they may need a soak in salty water to coax out any extra creepy-crawly protein, but for the first time I am producing our own calabrese, kale and cabbages.
Hopefully cauliflowers and sprouting broccoli will come, and maybe even some sprouts for Christmas.

Let's remember, too, that not every insect is bad. Which is why I don't just aim to kill everything that comes near my crops.


One of the friendly bugs.

As for those cabbage white caterpillars. Well they're currently being put to good use too.