The good news is – there’s more than one good news, this post is all good news. I like to think that this is what I’m for. In this uncertain and worrying world, Z tries to find some good news.
Anyway, in my last post, I mentioned that Hen Lee was sitting on some eggs. Though I admit to a soft spot for chicks, I’m rather glad that she returned last night, having abandoned the attempt to hatch them. I don’t know if she’d been disturbed or just got fed up, but it doesn’t matter. All chickens are home safe.
I think all the chickens have got names now, for the first time ever. The big brown hen, with her mutton-chop whiskers and her frilly rear end, is Gladstone/Gladys, depending on which way she is facing.
The two big black hens are Dizzy, short for Disraeli, and Jabba the Cluck.
Rose’s three were already named. They’re Jenga the cockerel, Pollywollydoodlealltheday and Scrabble.
Canasta successfully reared four girls last year, but didn’t survive the winter. Her daughters are Foster, Frostier, Hen Rietta and Hen Lee.
Scrabble’s daughters from last year are Slapper and Polly Garter.
Polly Garter’s daughter is Mary. She is the only one of this year’s chicks to be named. Frostier has three children, at least one of which is a boy and one of which is a girl. Jury out on number three. Scrabble has six chicks and I’m pretty sure that there are three boys and three girls.
Sadly, Foster’s only chick is a cockerel. He’s a small chap and everyone finds him annoying. But he’s bottom of the pecking order except, possibly, for Mary, so he’s no problem.
Good news number two (hah, I’ll explain why my scatological mind finds that funny in a minute) is that I know that the animal stealing eggs from the coop is a hedgehog – it left a calling card, otherwise knows as a poo or whatever else you like to call it, including number two… I’m more than happy for hedgehogs to eat eggs or anything else, and I’ve put down some meat tonight in the coop, as well as a couple more eggs so that it has a choice.
Weeza and Michelle came to paint the back room in the annexe and there’s just one more day to do before that’s finished. There was quite a lot of tidying up to do and it’s a huge room. And Weeza was still there when…
…Alex and co came to visit and bring LT’s birthday present. We all sat on the lawn and drank grape juice and ginger beer (one or the other, for the most part) and it was a pleasure.
I made more chutney. I have had it in mind to make gooseberry chutney, having bought a commercial branded gooseberry and coriander. I had to make it up, because I couldn’t find a recipe that had both those ingredients plus tomato, and no onion. The first batch was good and I’ve made a second, using cardamom rather than kalongi. I’ve kept back a bit to try – most chutneys need to mature before being eaten – and will write down which is better.
That’s five good things. Actually, there’s more, but that’ll do for tonight.
I’ve made gooseberry and red onion chutney for the last two years, but have swapped out the odd ingredient. We’ve had another good gooseberry year this year but I still have most of last years chutney left so will be making something else. Have had some success with gooseberry ice cream but can only make small batches of that, but at least I can make it with the gooseberries straight from the freezer.
Once you’re reasonably confident about balance of flavours and proportions, you can do some juggling. My mother-in-law used to make delicious gooseberry jelly, which I do sometimes, though straining the gooseberries is a bit of a faff. I like seeds, so would be happy with jam, but I seem to be in a minority. The useful thing about this particular gooseberry chutney is that there is practically no chopping. Roughly chopping the tomatoes is easy and everything else is just tipped in. Nice to hear from you, Alan.