Kate Downham

Something I’ve been learning more about lately has been meat rabbits. I’ve read that they can thrive on a 100% tagasaste diet. Tagasaste grows well here, so this is very exciting.

I did some research into rabbit meat nutrition, and if we were to replace half our beef with rabbit meat (while getting plenty of fat from other local/homegrown sources), we would be getting a little less zinc, but all the other nutrients would be comparable to lean beef.

Also another idea for producing more food on what we have is to make pallet tree guards and plant oaks, chestnuts, walnuts, and other big nut trees around the bits of property not suitable for pasture. The tree guards will stop wildlife and goats from destroying the tree, and eventually the trees will grow big enough to produce food for people and pigs.

I learned a little more about wool this year and thought I’d share it here:

(All of this probably depends on the way it is spun to some extent, so if any hand-spinners want to correct me, please feel free to. The information below is what I gathered for commercially spun wool.)

There’s been a lot of fuss made in recent years about high micron count wool (very fine wool like merino, lambswool, and cashmere) being “better”. When this fuss is made about it being “better”, I think they just mean “softer” or “thinner”, it does not mean that it is more durable.

I did some research, and generally the thicker the fibre (lower micron count), the more durable it will be, so this year when I needed a new cardigan, rather than just picking the first 100% natural option in my size that fitted my budget (which seems to always be either merino or lambswool), I found a nice Norwegian wool one. British heritage breeds of sheep are also good.

I wonder also if the length of the fibre before it is spun makes a difference? Do the long wool breeds like the Border Leicester make more durable wool than a sheep with shorter wool?

We have chickens and goats free ranging, so sometimes they are together.

The chickens clean up spilled grain at milking time, and also peck through the goat poo for any indigested grain.

If I were keeping them in an enclosed space together, I'd want to make sure there was no way the goats could get to the chicken food, and also make sure that the chickens don't roost above the goats at night.

In permaculture thinking it would be "you don't have a yarrow problem, you have a ... deficiency".

Goats or sheep could be the answer. Or doing pig tractor/chicken tractor systems to disturb the soil and then reseeding.

There will probably be some yarrow seeds in the soil for some time after, even if you did manage to reseed everywhere, so tinkering around to figure out just the right amount of goats or sheep to keep on the farm to keep the yarrow in check would turn the yarrow into a resource.

Thank you for posting. It's a good reminder that no matter how much we can assume something will always be online, it's a good idea to back it up if it's important.

And also another reminder of why I prefer cookbooks to internet recipes.

I used to rely on wayback machine to get things that had disappeared off the internet, but lately it hasn't been working for me.

Dried blueberries - they can be a bit crunchy though.

Dried sour cherries - these are really good!

Mostly it’s been wild foods, and getting creative with adapting recipes to whatever is on hand. Rather than thinking “I need spinach for this recipe” and trying to grow that year-round, there are different wild greens to pick, or other easier-to-grow greens, and it all depends on the seasons.

Working with nature to eat what is growing naturally, rather than trying to force nature to grow what I want it to grow.

We broadfork all through the year, whenever our clay soil isn’t too soggy. In beds where I’ve forked in the autumn but not gotten around to dealing with and they’ve gone through the winter, the soil texture has been better than beds that weren’t forked.

I’ve been listening to a Norwegian band called Folque, they have some songs that are very similar to some British folk songs that I know. I’d assumed that they were inspired by some of the English folk-rock bands, but now I wonder if the Norwegian versions of these songs are older than that...

I'd have trouble not just eating them all raw!

There's a nice salad I make with peas or broad beans sometimes - boil until just cooked, cool down a bit, then make a dressing with some soft goats cheese, yoghurt, and fresh herbs and mix the cooked, cooled peas through. It's really good.

They're also great in stir fry.