Farming Friends

Different species of birds’ eggs require different incubation temperatures.

Here is a guide to the incubation temperatures for different species of birds’ eggs.

Bobwhite Quail = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Canada Goose = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Chicken = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Chukar Partridge = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Cotumix (Japanese) Quail = 99.5-99.9 degrees fahrenheit.

Duck = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Egyptian Goose = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Emu = 96.5-97 degrees fahrenheit.

Goose = 99-99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Grouse = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Guinea Fowl = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Indian Runner Duck = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Mallard = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Muscovy Duck = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Ostrich = 96.5-97.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Partridge = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Peafowl = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Pheasant = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Pigeon = 99.5-100.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Rheas = 96.5-97.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Swan = 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Turkey = 99-99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Please note that these temperature guides are approximate and may differ according to the incubator manufacturer’s guide.

Always consult the manufacturer’s guide when using an incubator.

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Every year I get more enthusiastic about gardening, and particularly vegetable gardening. My grandad would be proud of me and my achievements here on the farm, as the garden is beginning to return to it’s former glory and the range of vegetables we harvest each year gets bigger!

Over the last few years my enthusiasm for gardening has grown and so has my desire to impart some of the joy of gardening onto the next generation. My nephew is nearly 3 and he loves to help dig up the soil in the veg garden and water the seed trays in the greenhouse.

Having launched the national grow your own potato competition at my local school, I thought that this year I could also have a go at running a gardening club at the school.

This week my Year 6 class have been helping me promote my gardening club by designing and writing posters to persuade the Year 3 children to join my club. I was so pleased with the work that they have put into the posters that I thought I would share some of the excellent alliteration and fantastic phrases penned by the Year 6 children.

Suggested Club Names With Alliteration!

• The Great Gardening Group.
• The Groovy Gardeners Group.
• The Perfect Planting Pack.
• The Greenfingers Gang.
• The Gathering Gardening Club.
• The Great Gardening Gang.
• The Greenfingers Gardening Gang.
• The Groovy Gardeners.
• The Gorgeous Gardening Gang.
• The Great Gardening Club.
• The Groovy Gardening Gang.

It’s going to be hard to choose a name for the gardeners with such a selection of clever names.

Fantastic Persuasive Phrases

• Turn your fingers into greenfingers!
• Have you ever fancied having a go at gardening? Well now’s your chance!
• A brand new planting experience.
• Plant blossoming flowers and healthy veg!
• Grow, harvest and eat!

The poster work has made me even more enthusiastic and I can’t wait to start the club next Tuesday.

I’ll keep you posted with regular updates from the gardening club and I may even share some of the fantastic poster illustrations of me, (the glamorous, gorgeous gardener!), drawn by my class.

On Saturday we went to the farmer’s market and bought some smoked trout. Although I am not a great fan of fish, the dish we prepared was delicious.

Smoked Trout With Poached Egg and Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Ingredients

1. Smoked Trout - pre-cooked and ready to eat.
2. Sliced granary bread - 1 per person for a starter and 2 per person for a light lunch.
3. Purple sprouting broccoli - as many sprigs of broccoli as you like.
4. Eggs - 1-2 per person.
5. Butter - a small amount for drizzling over the broccoli.
6. Lemon juice - a quarter of a lemon per serving.

Method

1. Wash the broccoli and place in a pan with some water.
2. Steam the broccoli with the lid on the pan for about 10 minutes.
3. Boil a pan of water and then take off the heat and wait for the water to be still on the top.
4. Carefully break the eggs into the water and then poach for about 5 minutes.
5. Toast the granary bread.
6. Cut the trout up into small pieces and remove any small bones.
7. Melt the butter in a pan.
8. Place the toasted bread on a warmed plate with the broccoli on top, making sure that the broccoli has been drained well before hand.
9. Drizzle the melted butter over the broccoli and bread.
10. Sprinkle the pieces of trout over the broccoli and squeeze or pour on the lemon juice.
11. Place the poached eggs on top.
12. Serve immediately and enjoy.

This dish makes a great starter or light lunch.

The beauty of this dish for us, is knowing that we are eating broccoli from our own veg garden, homemade bread from the bread maker, eggs laid by our own hen and guinea fowl and smoked trout bought from a local producer.

I bought a rhubarb plant a few years ago and until last year I had kept it in a container. Last year I decided to plant it in the vegetable garden, near the orchard. I kept it covered over during the Winter and then I forced it earlier this year following tips from Top Veg. The plant has produced some long sticks of rhubarb which we have been harvesting in the last week.

We have stewed the rhubarb and then served it with custard. A hearty dessert, heartliy recommended!

Stewed Rhubarb

Ingredients

1. Sticks of rhubarb - 2-4 long sticks serves two people.
2. A little water.
3. Sugar - to taste.
4. Custard - homemade custard tastes fabulous but a tin or packet of custard is quick and easy to use.

Method

1. Cut the sticks of rhubarb off the plant.
2. Cut off the leaf from the stem.
3. Wash the rhubarb.
4. Slice the rhubarb into small pieces.
5. Place the rhubarb slices into a pan with a little water.
6. Simmer in the pan, until the rhubarb is soft.
7. Add sugar to taste.
8. Serve with custard.

A simple, hearty dessert which my husband says is just delicious! Heartily recommended!

Visited the York Farmer’s Market on Saturday, to have a look at the stalls and see what products were on sale. We managed to do some shopping and came back with some interesting items.

We bought;

1. rhubarb,
2. tomatoes,
3. cucumber,
4. lettuce,
5. strawberries,
6. bread,
7. cakes,
8. wensleydale cheese with cranberries,
9. wensleydale cheese with apricots,
10. cheddar cheese with onion,
11. smoked trout,
12. venison steak,
13. chicken sausages,
14. chicken burgers and
15. duck and cranberry sausages.

As you can see, some of the items were the normal everyday items to be found at a farmer’s market, but I have not seen chicken or duck sausages on offer before. I will let you know how they taste when we eat them.

The British Council have launched a national grow your own potatoes in schools competition, because they have found that 60% of children thought that potatoes grew on trees.

I am a teacher and I have launched this potato competition in the school I work in with the Year 3 children. I do not want the children to just grow the vegetable and learn nothing about potatoes, I aim to use this competition as a stimulus for learning lots of information about potatoes.

I have therefore created this wordsearch for the children to find words associated with the potato.

Click on the image or link below to view the wordsearch and download the file.

Potato Wordsearch

Click on the link below to view the solution and download the file.

Potato Wordsearch - The Solution

I hope you enjoy completing the wordsearch about potatoes.

It is true that a hen rules the roost and on this farm it’s Hatty the Hen who rules the roost, but not only that, she rules the farm yard as well.

Earlier today I was outside on a quick hunt for guinea eggs in an attempt to beat the wily magpies to them and managed to find one egg on a quick circuit of the field hedgerows.

On my travels back to the house, I decided to stop at the silage wrap mountain to see if Hatty the hen had laid. The sight that greeted me was Hatty standing in the entrance way looking up at her usual nesting site. However she didn’t look very happy and when I took a closer look I could see why. Someone had placed a couple of boxes right where Hatty likes to lay her eggs. So being helpful, I moved the boxes, which sent Hatty into a tirade of abusive squawking! She was not a happy hen and I was obviously being told off. Even though I had moved the obstruction so that she could now nest in her usual place. I tried to explain to her but she just ran off, squawking into the distance. Fancy being told off by a hen, Hatty certainly rules the roost!

I will pop outside later to see if she got over her mood and has gone back to the silage mountain nesting site to lay her egg.