Monthly Archives: March 2014

Planting out at last

Posted on March 29, 2014 | Leave a comment

It looks as though the threat of frost has been lifted for the next ten days at least, and the waters of the spring monsoon have receded somewhat. So we’ve made a start on planting out the broad beans, a mixture of a modern variety called Greeny, and some heritage seeds swapped with our friends at Allotments4All.

Planting 001a
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Cleaning the coops

Posted on March 28, 2014 | Leave a comment

Today was cleaning out the henhouses day. We use a product called Aubiose for litter. It’s intended as horse bedding, but it’s absolutely brilliant for poultry. With an interim top-up, it means we only have to do a deep clean once a month.

We start by cleaning the house out thoroughly and checking for red mite, especially on the roosting bars. If we find any, the bar ends are dipped in creosote, and we also creosote the entire house every year. No problems today, I’m glad to say. Then the house is given a good scattering of diatomaceous earth, which also acts against mites.

Henhouse 001a
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Sansaire Sous Vide Steak – Est! Est!! Est!!!

Posted on March 27, 2014 | 1 comment

We’ve tried eggs and we’ve tried chicken. Both have been successful, both have produced interesting results not readily obtainable by other methods. But neither prompted me to say, “You must buy a sous vide machine, if only for this”.

But sous vide steak is a game-changer. This is why sous vide is so worthwhile:

Sous Vide Steak 005a
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More allotment prep

Posted on March 22, 2014 | Leave a comment

The weather has been kind to us. A little bit of rain just to wet the soil, followed by dry breezy days. We’ve made rapid progress on our new half allotment.

Rotavator 002a
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Allotment update

Posted on March 20, 2014 | Leave a comment

The manure arrived for Plot 13 this morning as promised. It’s been dumped on our half, and our allotment neighbours will be barrowing their share onto their half shortly. We rather benefit from this, since whatever’s left behind will be on our side!

Manure 001a
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Sansaire Sous Vide Crispy Chicken

Posted on March 20, 2014 | 1 comment

For a second try at sous vide cooking, I thought we’d have a go at some chicken thighs. I had to go to an evening meeting, but still wanted a late supper. It was an opportunity to show one of the proclaimed advantages of sous vide cooking, which is to do most of the prep well in advance, so that finishing is just a matter of minutes.

This was much more successful than my first experiment with eggs.

SV ChickThighs 002a
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Sansaire sous vide circulator

Posted on March 19, 2014 | 1 comment

It’s been a long time coming, but the Sansaire sous vide circulator, launched last September on Kickstarter has finally shipped.

Unlike self-contained sous vide machines, which are very bulky, the Sansaire simply clips to the side of a large deep pan or plastic container, and keeps the water at a very precise temperature. It’s neat, and quite elegant:

Sansaire 005a
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Mr Rotavator

Posted on March 17, 2014 | 1 comment

Now that the wet weather has finally given way to spring sunshine, we’ve at last been able to make a start on our new half-allotment. We strimmed it in the autumn, and killed the weeds with glyphosate, but we didn’t manage to dig it before it turned into a quagmire.

In order to make up for lost time, we clubbed together with our next-door allotment neighbours to hire the services of a man with a serious rotavator. The results were instant and highly satisfying:

F220 004a
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