Friday Favourites
It’s been another busy week here on the range. Digging has started for the geo-thermal heating for the new house. It’s not a pretty sight at the moment but it should be worth it in the end. Mr. Cock has become a bit territorial about the chicken house and attacked me yesterday when I went in to clean. We’ll need to see some improvements in demeanor, Cocky, or there may be a very large saucepan in your future. Finally, I’ve been working hard on planting my vegetable beds, often until late evening as it was just too hot during the day.
Reading time has been very limited, but here are a few of my favourite reads from the past week:
- As the garden has become overrun with dandelions recently I was happy to stumble upon this article on how to use dandelion greens in cooking.
- I’m on a bit of a bread buzz at the moment. I find the range of products that can be produced by the simple combination of flour, salt, yeast and water quite incredible. I had wanted this book by Richard Bertinet for ages and finally got a copy in the post this week. It’s easy to see why it’s one of the highest rated bread books on Amazon. The accompanying DVD is great and I intend to make every single item in the book over the coming months. (Neighbours, expect a steady supply of bread!) Coincidently, the NYT recently ran a bread series and I enjoyed this article (scroll down for the slide show) and this simple, no-knead bread.
- I love Michael Pollen’s approach to food education and very much enjoyed this debate on GMO plants hosted by Michael at UC Berkeley.
- I enjoyed this article on eating horsemeat in the Irish Times. Although I’ve never tried it, I have no issue with eating horsemeat but I can understand why some people are hesitant, especially after last year’s horsemeat scandal.
- Finally, I found this article on how keeping chickens can be beneficial to the elderly very interesting. I’ve seen similar stories about keeping dogs and cats but was delighted to see chickens brought into the discussion.
Like what you see? Then please subscribe to My Food Odyssey. Alternatively you can follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
My Food Odyssey 
I’m really interested in thermal heating and cooling, although we don’t have the space here…maybe the next home…I’ll be waiting to hear the progress reports. Want chooks, but do we have the space?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeh, the thermal heating does require a lot of space, but I’m told it pays for itself quite quickly and then you have a low cost and sustainable heat source. It’ll be interesting to see how effective it is during our freezing winters! You don’t need a lot of space for chickens, especially if you only want two or three hens for eggs. I’m not an expert but there are lots of useful sites such as http://www.backyardchickens.com which can advise on exact requirements.
LikeLike
Where’s that bloody dog when you need an escort?
Or make yourself a nice headdress from the tail feathers, maybe that’ll jog his memory…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like your thinking, Simone! He was threatened with dog twice, but I’m not sure he understands English, being Lithuanian and all that. I brought a rake in with me today – seems to have kept him at bay!
LikeLike
Ummmmm…coq au vin……;o)
LikeLiked by 1 person