when you cannot have sugar it makes it tough to preserve fruits in delicious ways to enjoy the rest of the year.
Gin is low carb, yipppeee .. and it infuses beautifully taking up the flavours of aromatics like elderflower, and fruits like gooseberries, plums, strawberries.
These flavoured gins are perfect with a sparkling water, needing no further flavouring. (the wonderful tonics are all high sugar!)
There are increasing news pieces on TV, radio, newspaper and online about how we need to change how we eat for climate change.
Mostly this is an erroneous drive to cut down red meat, without any single iota of understanding of the different parts of red meat production.
Anyway – todays twist, along with a sugar and salt tax, is to suggest that GPs prescribe fruit that will be handed out to certain patients.
report on Englands food strategy – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57838103
This is not a new idea
2003 – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2777947.stm
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Tuesday, 18 February, 2003, 19:55 GMT
Doctors prescribe fruit and vegetables
Patients will be given tokens to buy fruit and veg
Doctors in north Staffordshire will soon be able to prescribe fruit and vegetables.
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INSTEAD – why not GROW MORE FRUIT .. in every community : city, urban, rural ..
Delighted to see our scrummy free range pork back from Mull today. All for sale, limited joints, lots of sausages, bacon back next week.
Fill your freezers .. <g>
Contact for collection /local delivery arrangements. Please share with friends and family.
These 2 were locally born and raised with us all winter helping to clear different areas of ground around the farm. Happy, healthy lovely girls made wonderful meat.
● Joints ○ Sausages
● Chops ○ Bacon
● Steaks ● Ribs
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Another blossom in full bloom.. so important to have flowers all year around, for our insects, this is especially important for the native mason bees. With the weather getting milder, it’s wonderful to know there is a ready source of food for early emergents.
#flowersofinstagram #shrubsofinstagram #pieris #pollinators #masonbees #beesofinstagram #farmingwithnature #naturefriendlyfarming #kintaline
Nice to have a clean floor for 5 minutes !! LOL
More winter gales : rain : hail makes a good time to get some housework done !
Storm Brendan might still be howling around having kept us all awake all night but looking forward to the coming growing season makes everything worth while. This “half tunnel” was made up using old tunnel hoops against a building to create an easy working space. The tables are sand covered in thick coffee that worms love but slugs don’t! It could be tidier !! and all our equipment is very ancient .. root trainers are wonderful for the broad beans and early peas and these are at least 20 years old !!
sourced from the Woodland Trust’s Nature Detectives resource this is a wonderful chart to ID trees in the winter.
Really chuffed to say we have at least one of each and every one of these here at Kintaline
First Gorse flowers of the year .. spring is coming, the whin flowers return.
#gorse #springflowers #turningoftheyear #permaculture
What do we have around for any bees out in the increasingly mild month of January?
So far it’s been really wet here on the west, but very little snow around us.
In between the showers there are likely to be winter insects, even bees, out and about.
What do we have flowering for them?
Mahonia, Gorse, Ivy, Periwinkle, Hellebores, Snowdrops
There is strong growth on the other early bulbs, and plans to take lots of cuttings so that the Mahonia can be spread into hedge rows across the farm. The flowers and berries are edible too.
Winter 2019/2020 – thank you all for your custom this season – will take orders again for next winter.
We now have a variety of Willow (and Balsam poplar) pegs for sale which can be sent mail order or collected from the farm.
(and some well established in pots, also for local sales)
Basket willows : Construction willow : Native willows (and Balm of Gilead, Balsam poplar, which is not a willow but can start in the same way and is highly vigorous)
Basket willows :
40p per rod (for pick up or plus postage)
Varieties : Flanders Red : Brittany Green : Packing Twine : Tri Norfolk. Packing Twine . Dark Dick . (may have a couple of others spare)
Eugenii 35p : is vigorous but not as massive as the Chinese, it is better for small constructions like domes and tunnels as well as lower hedging and tree hay
“Construction” biomass, tree hay Chinese willow : Chinese (Salix miyabeana)
35p per rod (for pick up or plus postage)
Native / Species Willows
Grey Willow
30p per rod (for pick up or plus postage)
Salix hybrids
35p per rod (for pick up or plus postage)
Balm of Gilead / Balsam Poplar
40p per rod (for pick up or plus postage)
Salix udensis
50p per rod (for pick up or plus postage)
Salix Udensis is a lovely shrubby vigorous willow, with very early catkins (already opening in Jan in Argyll) so one of the best for early bees in mild spring days, its branching and covered in soft strappy leaves that our sheep love, cut and come again all year, so really good for a fenceline hedgerow where the stock can help themselves from one side, and we can make tree hay from the other. It does not get very tall and thrives on being cut back.
