Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Tuesday 26 August 2008

Produce catch up

Well I have been lax, I have not logged the produce I have gathered on my blog...I HAVE, however logged it in my little green book of produce, where all the hens' details are written down, every egg logged, all produce weighed and the dehydrator usage and cost noted....

So...

Since I got the 2 new hens ( Goldie and Babs) the egg production has dropped DRAMATICALLY....

:0((

Henny has gone BROODY as well as Sweetiepie and SHE is our best egg layer! and is hogging both the nest boxes in Cluckingham Palace...( aka the Flytes o Fancy house.....) SHE is destined for a VERY cold bath tomorrow to cool off her bum!

Genghis and Attila are mercilessly bullying the 2 new girls...and Genghis has gone back to laying useless ssofties AND eating any egg around..( sigh)

and Sweetiepie is still mad bad and broody...sitting on her eggs and "bok bok boking" away

So...we have averaged 2 eggs a day from 6 laying hens...( Sweetiepie is broody, Goldie is POL but has not yet started laying...) The star of the egg laying awards is >>>BABS! she has laid every day since we got her on Fri last......



And the BEST Vegetable award goes to..

Vegetables...The Purple French bean deluge is upon us...I picked the first on Saturday and now have 5 Kg...(!)

Tomatos from the Polytunnel continue to emerge, red and ripe and juicy and wonderful taste explosions in my mouth...( sorry I have a tomato love affair bordering on the fetishistic.....ooops)

and Courgettes..well lets just say I am getting sick of them, shall we??

so, since Friday

7.5 Kg Courgettes
3 Kg marrows ( ok, OK overblown Courgettes)
7 Kg Tomatoes
1 Kg Aubergines
2 Kg Green Peppers
5 Kg Purple French Beans
35 Kg potatoes
2 Kg Cucumber
Lots of herbs ( Parsley, 3 Basils, 2 Thymes, Oregano, Sage, 3 different Mints....)

Lots dried in the dehydrator.

Various stuff frozen, dried and chutnied.

Gosh I am very tired..it is a very busy time of the year and I stop and wonder sometimes how much harder I would have to work if I HAD to store food for us to live over the winter? Rather than just augmenting our diet/reducing our purchases as much as I can?

I would be bottling ( Mason jars and hot water /pressure canning)brineing and salting much more of the produce and drying round the clock rather than sitting down with a bottle of good wine and watching a recorded programme on surgery on BBC4 that's for sure!

I am shattered at this time of the harvest year ...and I am ONLY augmenting our diet, NOT providing it exclusively for the winter!

Imagine if , at the same time, I was slaughtering/butchering/salting/curing/drying/smoking meats for the winter also?

AND making butter and cheese?

How on earth did folk manage? They must have done, obviously! I feel tired just contemplating it all...

and it has also made me think hmmm I have a LOT further to go on my self sufficient journey I feel!

BUT I AM showing Compostgirl how to do "stuff" like this so its all valuable , even if it isn't on the scale I would like!

2 comments:

  1. Now why didn't I think of keeping a log-book of produce! Think I shall have to pinch your idea CW, hope you don't mind :D
    Am enjoying your blog very much, btw!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't mind in the least Tabi!

    And I am *really* glad you like my blog :-)

    ReplyDelete

Hello! Thank you for reading my blog and for commenting. I try to reply as quickly as I can and I really appreciate your interest in my life and doings here in The Compost Bin.

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