We did almost nothing except cutting some wood and watching Gareth Malone's Children In Need celebrity choir thing, which we didn't see last week.
Therefore nowt to write about so it's handy that the very nice people at Home Farmer Magazine seemed to have put me down for a regular subscription which is a surprise as I was only expecting one copy to review. However I shan't complain and it gives me something to blog about once a month. ( And I apologise to any fellow bloggers and commentators who don't like people reviewing free things on their blog posts.)
The December copy arrived here two weeks ago but what with one thing and another I only got round to having a proper look yesterday.
As usual lots of articles on many various subjects of interest to smallholders, gardeners and anyone interested in " doing their own thing".
There are two more cheese recipes to make at home, this month Camembert and a Creamy Lancashire Blue and to go with them some recipes for various crackers which look very tasty. ( Has anyone else noticed cheese making kits for sale everywhere for this Christmas?)
The magazine often features small scale food producers and this month have visited " Totally Fudged" who make what sounds like very delicious Fudge in West Sussex.
For gardeners the Author John Harrison has a piece about choosing what vegetable seeds to buy for the 2015 growing season. There is a very handy chart showing how long seeds will keep. Most are viable for several years, so don't chuck them out just because you didn't use them this year. The only things I always buy fresh each year are parsley and parsnip. As John says " the fun bit is settling down with the seed catalogues ( or computer) to see what they are offering."
If you have a poly-tunnel there is a timely article about First Aid for getting the tunnel through the winter. You may remember what happened to one of ours last year!
It needed more than First Aid!
The second part of "Diary of an incompetent smallholder" is at the end of the magazine and once again it is full of stories of things that shouldn't happen if you are more careful than Mr Barr. I was horrified to read about his sheep escaping and eating rhododendron leaves. A good shepherd checks boundary fences every day and I didn't find his description of his sheep foaming at the mouth very funny. Sorry HF editors but I'm afraid items like this "don't do what I do" are not amusing.
'More money than sense' comes to mind when I read bits like this.
Completely opposite to this is Dot Tynes diary from her Welsh Smallholding - they DO know what they are doing.
For crafters there are pieces about making bird boxes and a rag wreath.
All in all lots of reading with few adverts and this months special offer is for a free book - choice of chicken or pig keeping- you only pay postage. Bargain!
Back Tomorrow
Sue
☺
