HF ISSUE 1 P03 CONTENTS
20/2/08
16:15
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CONTENTS
In the April issue... 04 WELCOME TO HOME FARMER MAGAZINE! What this new publication is all about.
28 ONCE I CAUGHT A FISH ALIVE... The very best seafood comes from British waters.
64 POULTRY PARASITES Diana Sutton delves in to the murky world of worms, ticks and mites.
06 NEWS Chickens to the cost of living and news for growers.
32 TALKING POINT: EVERYONE’S DREAM? What does it mean to be self-sufficient?
66 HOME FARMER INVESTIGATES Changes in how we buy from the farmer.
10 READER’S QUESTIONS We answer your queries from getting a smallholding to elephant man bread.
34 SCRUMMY SCONES You’ve made your butter – now use the buttermilk to make scones.
70 PRODUCTS We look at some must have products.
14 STARTING WITH TOMATOES Kicking off the new season by sowing our favourite red fruit.
38 PORK PIES The simple, basic, easiest pork pie that anyone can make and no one will refuse.
Cover Story 16
17
SPUDS-U-LIKE
40 SUBSCRIBE Don’t miss a single issue – subscribe!
Cover Story 72
73
COTSWOLD FARM PARK
INTERVIEW WITH
Adam Henson When he is not filming around the country for BBC television’s Countryfile programme, Adam Henson runs the Cotswold Farm Park, which pioneers rare breed conservation, as well as running the 650-hectare Bemborough Farm tenancy near Cheltenham THE TELEPHONE RANG and a voice I knew well for the last few years said. “I’m on the way to the airport, so I can talk for a minute.” Adam Henson is a busy man, but then he always was. His farm and tourist attraction in Gloucestershire keep him on his toes. Established in 1971, the Cotswold Farm Park can be aptly described as a pageant of history on four legs! The farm has a serious agenda: the preservation of rare breed livestock. On display is an unrivalled collection of rare breeds of British farm animals including sheep, cattle, pigs, goats, horses, poultry and waterfowl.
The Cotswolds owes its name to sheep, Roman sheep. It is said that the Romans came to Britain for our seafood and left us with politics, roads and sheep. The Cot is a small sheep enclosure and there were many thousands to be found on the ‘Wolds’ - the rolling hills of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, long before there were any such things as counties or even England. All of our monastic abbeys and most of the manors and churches were built on the wealth brought to this country by sheep, which is why the Cotswold sheep was
THE FARM HAS A SERIOUS AGENDA: THE PRESERVATION OF RARE BREED LIVESTOCK
referred to as having a “Golden Fleece”. Even our laws were decreed on a woolsack! Home Farmer readers and those interested in finding out more about keeping livestock can use their visit to the Cotswold Farm Park as an introduction to the variety of breeds available. The farm aims to help people learn about seasonal farming life, with lambing taking place in front of the public from mid March to mid April, followed by milking demonstrations and shearing from the end of May to the beginning of July.
First Early potatoes need to be in the ground by mid March – traditionally St Patrick’s day...
Getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day important. ‘First Earlies’ need a round YOU HAVE TO believe this. There is 12 to 15 weeks, depending on where nothing – NOTHING – more exciting you are in the country. ‘Second Earlies’ than digging up your potatoes, taking need 17 to 20 weeks and ‘Maincrop’ them to the kitchen, washing, boiling need 20 to 25 weeks. and eating them. Anyone Skin quality is also an who has not experienced important factor in the this is missing out on THE GOLDEN distinction between one of the greatest joys RULE IS TO STICK maincrop and earlies. You of life. You do not need a field to grow potatoes. TO WHAT IT SAYS could dig up a maincrop potato in July and get a Of course, the more ON THE PACKET crop of small potatoes space you have the that would have a decent better, but in truth you AND THAT WAY (ish) flavour but would can grow a week’s worth YOU WILL NOT BE have a skin that was of potatoes in as much chewy. Alternatively you space as you can stand DISAPPOINTED could leave a ‘First Early’ in – especially if you use in the ground to get a container on a patio. bigger tubers, but they would fall apart The potato, brought back from the much more easily in the pan. South Americas in Elizabethan times, You don’t want a baking potato the has been worth much more to the size of a conker, and it clearly takes country than the many tonnes of gold longer to make a big potato than a small that came over in the same ships. The one. The golden rule is to stick to what original tubers bear little relation to it says on the packet and that way you the ones we grow these days, but the will not be disappointed. plants have been grown in much the same way for 300 years.
HOW TO GROW POTATOES
THE SOIL Preparation of the soil is important. It must be like a sponge, full of well-rotted organic matter. Potatoes need a lot of water, but apart from emergencies this water must come from the soil itself. Incorporate as much organic matter as you can some weeks before planting – even during the previous winter. THE POTATOES Do not save potatoes from last year. They very quickly gather viral problems. Similarly you should not simply plant potatoes from the supermarket. You can get new ‘seed’ potatoes for around 2050 pence each and they will guarantee the very best results. From each potato you will get around £2-£3’s worth of potatoes, probably even more. CHITTING This is what the potato does for itself. If you leave them in a light, airy space enzymes will start to convert the starch to sugar. As soon as this life giving substance hits the dormant buds (known as eyes) they will burst into life. Victorians used to think that the shoots produced from chitting gave the plants a head start. This is not
TWO TYPES OF SPUD There are basically two types of potato, waxy and floury. Floury potatoes are used for mashing and frying or roasting. Waxy potatoes are used wherever the texture of the flesh needs to remain intact; for salad potatoes, boiling and making dishes such as rosti.
A SCIENCE LESSON A waxy potato has very strong cell walls made of cellulose that tend to stay intact during cooking. A floury potato has weaker cell walls that burst open easily. Once the cell walls break the escaping steam within the cell causes an explosion of starch. When fried this fluffy starch becomes crispy. So floury for roast potatoes, waxy for salads and boiled.
EARLY OR LATE – STICK TO WHAT IT SAYS ON THE PACKET! The time needed for the plant to produce a reasonable crop is
The main UK potato varieties can be graded according to their waxiness
Early or late? FIRST EARLY VARIETIES: Maris Peer, Home Guard, Arran Pilot, Pentland Javelin, Rocket, Pink Fir Apple
How waxy is your potato ? 90% WAXY Nadine, Pink Fir Apple
75% WAXY Cara Marfona Home Guard Sharp’s Express
60% WAXY Estima Wilja Saxon Nicola Charlotte
60% FLOURY Maris Peer Maris Piper Romano Desire
75% FLOURY King Edward Sante
SECOND EARLY VARIETIES: Kestrel,Wilja, Estima, Osprey, Nadine
90% FLOURY Golden Wonder
46 READY, STEADY, GROW! Do you need a polytunnel? We look into the details.
22 PLANNING A PRODUCTIVE GARDEN Getting organized when it comes to planning a new garden is important.
Cover Story 26 HOME DAIRY How to make butter in a milk bottle!
50 BEGINNER’S BEES What you need to make a start.
Diana tells us how you really can make excellent tasting butter in your own kitchen in a very short period of time The way butter has been made for SOME PEOPLE MAY ask the question: centuries is by using a butter churn, a should we be eating butter in this lidded container with a handle in the health conscious society? lid. The cream is placed in the Isn’t it bad for us? Well too much of container and the lid fitted tightly. The most things can be bad for anyone. But handle is turned and the eaten in moderation cream is churned: the fat butter is better for you separates from the liquid than hydrogenated fat MAKING YOUR and butter is the result. spreads and tastes better In the past butter than margarine. It is OWN MEANS churns have been made also good to know what THAT YOU ARE IN out of wood and glass, but goes into the foods we are consuming and TOTAL CONTROL are often made out of metal or plastic these making your own means OF WHAT days. There is an easier that you are in total way that doesn’t require a control of what you and YOU AND YOUR butter churn but uses an your family eats. FAMILY EATS everyday object that most Making butter in households have or can your kitchen is a very get hold of easily. easy process and is great fun to do with I was amazed at the ‘magic’ trick my children. They love seeing, feeling and husband performed for me one day, hearing the changes as the fat in the ‘Watch this,’ he said. After a few cream solidifies and becomes butter. minutes of shaking what I thought was a When I have made it with adult friends, bottle of milk up and down, he stopped, they also are amazed at the ‘magical’ cut the plastic open and poured appearance of the butter. So how do some liquid in a bowl you do it?
76 YOUR PLOT Mike Woolnough gives us a glimpse of the Good Life on a series of allotments.
Cover Story 54 THE HEN HOUSE DIARY Keeping chickens can be great fun says Janice Houghton-Wallace.
Cover Story
Cover Story 27
Make your own butter YOU WILL NEED E 2 litre plastic milk bottle (rinsed with cold water). E 500ml carton double cream E Salt to taste (a level teaspoon) E Small dish to store your butter in E Colander METHOD 1. Pour cream into milk bottle, secure lid. 2. Shake bottle vigorously till the cream separates, you will hear a thud sound as the fat binds together. 3. Open the lid and pour the butter milk into a jug. 4. Cut round the middle of the bottle and scoop out the butter into a colander. 5. Under a slow stream of cold water chop into the butter rinsing all the time. 6. Salt to taste and mix gently away from water and place in dish.
Get a child to churn the butter – they love it!
Pour off the buttermilk and use it for making scones!
Cut the bottle open to get at the butter.
then scooped out the rest of its contents. ‘There, taste that, its butter.’ He was right, it tasted just like the butter I had bought the previous day to make a cake, the unsalted type. It appeared to be very easy, so I thought I would have a go and this is what I did...
MAKING BUTTER I bought a 500ml carton of double cream and I had an empty two litre plastic bottle. Pour the carton of cream into the bottle, put the lid back on the bottle securely and shake it up and down as fast and as vigorously as you can, it is good exercise! Keep the shaking going till you hear the cream separate; this sounds like a heavy thud in the bottle and a splashing sound of the separated liquid. Then take off the lid and pour the liquid into a jug. This is buttermilk and can be used in other recipes, like making scones (See page 34 in this issue). Cut round the widest part of the bottle and scoop out the solid mass that is left. It looked like butter and smelt like it too. Would it taste like it? Not bad, but not quite right. What else did I need to do? I put the butter into a colander and rinsed it under a slow stream of cold water, chopping into the butter to get rid of the rest of the buttermilk. The more you can get rid of, the better the butter tastes and also it will keep longer. The water you rinse it with must be a gentle stream as anything stronger will cause the butter to be forced through the holes in the colander. And of course it has to be COLD! When the butter is rinsed well a little salt may be added, gently mixed into the butter with a chopping action. Rinse again, drain well, and then put it onto a cold plate or chopping board. If you prefer your butter un-salted then it can be put straight into a container and covered and stored in the fridge. This will keep for 5-7 days, but if you add a level teaspoon of salt and mix well into
The creamy butter should be in a mass at the bottom.
Wash away remaining buttermilk with COLD water.
80 RABBIT’S BACK The best meat in the world – we should eat more of it. 84 LOCAL HEROES We look at Rick Stein’s Food Hero – Lords of Middleton.
58 THE URBAN PIG Linda McDonald-Brown gives some invaluable advice for the pig about town.
MAKE YOUR OWN!
Better Butter
72 INTERVIEW WITH Adam Henson, BBC's Countryfile presenter who also runs the Cotswold Farm Park.
MAINCROP VARIETIES: Admiral, Cara, Eden, Maris Piper, King Edward, varieties.
16 GETTING READY FOR ST. PATRICK’S DAY New potatoes in the summer? You need to start now!
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42 DIGGING THE DIRT Jayne Neville helps us with soil fertility and how to improve it.
86 GREEN HEAT Joe Jacobs looks into the feasibility of installing a wood burning stove. 91 NEXT MONTH What is coming up in Issue 2. 92 WILD FOOD First in an occasional series on collecting food from the wild.
Cover Story You can form your butter with Scotch Hands.
The butter is now ready for salting if you prefer.
the butter this will keep for longer. I find storing my butter in ramekin dishes is the best as I can take one out to use each day. Homemade butter is very firm and needs to be kept at room temperature for spreading, just take it out of the fridge on the morning it is needed. It may be softened by creaming and a teaspoon of olive or sunflower oil can be added to soften and make it easier to spread. This butter makes the best tasting shortbread and cakes, once again use at room temperature otherwise it is very difficult to cream even using an electric mixer.
You can use it straight from the fridge for frying, sautéing or sweating vegetables for curries or soups. The flavour of the finished butter may be enhanced if you add a teaspoon of crème fraiche to the cream at the beginning of the process. This isn’t necessary, but I find it lightens the taste of the finished product. More salt may be added if you prefer. Experimenting is the best way to achieve a finished butter that appeals to you and your family the most. So why not have a go? Just follow the simple steps to making your own delicious butter. Friends and family will be most impressed. E
96 COFFEE BREAK PAGES A Prize crossword, a joke and the chance to win a £360 Eglu chicken home. 98 CLASSIFIEDS If you have something to sell... fill in the form.