Farming Friends

Craig recently asked, “I was just wondering if I could gather snails from my garden and eat them? And if so how would I go about ensuring they were cleaned out ?”

What an interesting question that I am sure many people have wondered.

I have done a bit of research and found that the Caferouge website states,

“There are many different types of edible snails in the world. The most common are:
Helix aspersa: also called the “small grey snail.”
Helix pomatia: also called “the Roman snail.” If you’re cooking snails it’s advisable to buy them from the supermarket or from another reputable snail retailer…..Garden snails can be eaten, but you have to be very careful that they have not been near harmful pesticides. It is also important to clean and prepare the snails correctly.”

I also found an interesting recipe which explains how to prepare, clean and cook the snails on the bbc website in a food and drink article for BBC Somerset.

“Mendip Wallfish Recipe
This version of the recipe is by Pat and Bob Reynolds

Collect snails, Helix Aspersa, the common brown garden snail.
Put into a container in which they can be kept moist and can breathe.
Feed them on bran or lettuce or cabbage leaves for 7 to 10 days. This cleanses them.
Put in a sieve and dunk them in boiling water for a few seconds to kill them.
Take the snails from the shells with a small fork, wash them off and then cook.
To cook about a 100 you need a pint of water, ¾ pint of cider, a large carrot and an onion cut into pieces.
Make sure the snails are covered in liquid.
Bring to the boil and simmer until tender for about an hour - it may take a little longer.
Rinse in hot water to clean off the bits of vegetables.

The snails need to be fed lettuce for 7-10 days
Meanwhile put the empty shells in a saucepan with salt and water and bring to the boil.
Boil for a few minutes then rinse in cold water.
Do this 3 times more to make sure the shells are clean.
Dry shells in the oven.

Now to the snails.
You will need a pound of butter for 100 snails.
If the butter is salty you will have no need to add any more salt to the recipe.
½ teaspoon of each of the following,
Chervil, Dill, Fennel Seed, Basil, Sage.
1 teaspoon Chives
3 teaspoons Parsley
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper.
You can use dried or fresh herbs for this.
Grind up all the herbs together and add them to the butter and mix in well.

Take a snail shell, put a little bit of the herb butter into it, then a snail and seal off the shell with more herb butter.
To serve, put the snails on a tray and put into a hot oven.
When the butter bubbles they are ready to eat.
Serve with cubes of bread to mop up the herb butter.”

This recipe sounds great. I don’t know if I am brave enough to eat garden snails but I would certainly purchase the commercial eating snails as I have tried snails in France and enjoyed them. Let me know if you have a go as well.

There are lots of wooden objects and buildings on the farm but one of the most important wooden objects for a livestock farm are the feed troughs.

These feed troughs are in the fold yard and are used by the beef cattle.

The cattle get barley, fodder beet, potatoes or silage in these troughs depending on the time of year or the age or type of cattle.

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Parsley is a very versatile herb that is easy to grow and the seeds can be sown in February.

The TopVeg website was able to provide me with excellent seed sowing information. 

Farming Friends & TopVeg have now collaborated to create a How To Grow Parsley growing card.

Click on the image to enlarge and if you wish to print off this growing card, right click on the enlarged image and then click print picture to print out a copy.If you would like this document as a pdf, just contact farmingfriends and I will email you the document. 

I intend to print off copies and then laminate the sheet so that I can use the growing card in the future.

Teachers, children, vegetable growers and anyone interested in growing parsley are welcome to print off this growing card for their own use.

Other growing cards we have already created;

• How To Grow Garlic.
• How To Grow Lettuce.
• How To Grow Summer Radish.
• How To Grow Beetroot.
• How To Grow Broad Beans.

If you have any other growing cards that you would like Farming Friends & TopVeg to create then please leave a comment and we will be happy to create it for you.

Incubation Period

The incubation period for peafowl eggs is 28-30 days.

Incubation Temperature

The temperature in the incubator for peafowl eggs is 99.5 degrees fahrenheit.

Humidity Levels

The humidity level (wet bulb thermometer) for peafowl eggs is 83-88 degrees fahrenheit.

Final Day Of Egg Rotation

The final day of egg rotation for peafowl eggs is day 25.

Please note that all of this information is only a guide and that this information may differ according to the incubator manufacturer’s guide.

Always consult the manufacturer’s guide when using an incubator and automatic egg turner.

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Piglets are curious animals that love to play. They enjoy;

• Rooting in straw.
• Biting on plastic containers.
• Having their sides rubbed.
• Being rubbed on their tummies.
• Having behind their ears rubbed.
• Being rubbed under their chin.
• Running about.
• Riding about on the back of another pig - maybe that is where having a piggy back came from!

It is always a pleasure to see piglets at play and often amusing especially when one piglet is more rough than another!

I received this comment from Eric about his Dexter herd in South Africa. I thought the comment was very interesting.

I have been breeding Dexters on the harsh South African Highveld for over 33 years. I run a small herd, split into reds, blacks and commercial of about 250 females.

They are remarkable animals. I also run a herd of Brahmans and mixed breeds. The Dexters outperform some of their bigger cousins with regard to milk and meat. This one sees when looking at the profitability and feed conversion per herd.

Dexters eat practically anything, but excell when fed well. Some of my surrogate Dexter mothers raise up to eight calves a year, every year. One cow has regularly weaned a calf that weighs more than she does.

My oldest cow is 21 years old and has produced 19 calves.

In short, no pun intended, a little beast with big potential!

Regards
Eric
Potchefstroom
South Africa

Thank you Eric for taking the time to tell me all this interesting information about your herd and the dexter breed. I can’t believe your oldest cow is 21 and has produced 19 calves. I am surprised that your surrogate cows can raise up to 8 calves a year. Very interesting information. Thanks again for this interesting comment - I have learnt a little about the Dexter breed of cattle.

Snails are often found in the kitchen garden.

Cynthia asked, “Should I get rid of the snails in my kitchen garden? Do they do damage?”

• Unfortunately the garden snail is seen as a pest by many gardeners and vegetable growers since the snail predominantly eats leaf and plant materials.
• So yes the snails will damage your kitchen garden crops.
• You will probably never get rid of all the snails in your kitchen garden but you should try to control the numbers of snails to a reasonably low level.
• You can use either natural or chemical pest control. There are lots of organic and chemical products on the market as well as other methods of pest control such as picking the snails off the plants by hand.

I hope that the garden snail does not eat all your kitchen garden plants and that you can get this garden pest under control. Click on the following links for information about snail control in the garden and methods of snail pest control.

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