Thursday, 7 April 2016

The chicks are out, Nutella oh yummy.

Those three chicks I wrote about here.
 
Released from the pen, they are out in the world now,
 
From here....
 
 
...to here in six weeks.
 
.
The ones whose mum got squashed under a collapsed hay bale,
but the cooling heat from her body just about managed to get them hatched.
Lots of eggs in the clutch,
so lots of dead  chicks in those unhatched eggs,
but these three were breaking through their shells when we found them.
 
They are funny little bunch, cockerels we think,
but not sure of this one....
 
 
... looks like its rear end has not been formed properly.
We hope it is a hen, but it play fights with the other two cockerels, so is probably male.
Anyway.....they are now out and about.
 
Meanwhile, we went out and about as well yesterday,
but only to the local supermarket, reluctant though we were to do so,
but we did need supplies...
 

Alright, alright, alright....I know that it is not really smallholding fodder,
but we do need something to put on our toast in the mornings:
two slices each: one slice DIY cheese, the other DIY jam,
but we ran out of homemade jam weeks ago.
Fortunately we were donated a huge pot of Marmite,
which of course isn't jam but filled the gap.
Well that ran out eventually, so we bought some honey,
but then, oh dear, in a moment of weakness,
(well it was on offer)
we bought a jar of Nutella.
 
We have only had it in the house for a day,
and already it is half eaten.
I am suffering from guilt though,
because it was my intention to make Dandelion Jam to keep us going until our fruit harvest begins, but I haven't got round to doing so what with the cold bug hitting me.
So, Nutella it is until this jar is done,
which should be sometime today the rate we are eating it,
because we can't help eating a spoonful of the chocolate goo when passing the jar.
Not to worry,
the dandelions are still just about in flower,
so I might get myself into gear and get some jam made.
Or I might not.
I have to pick 365 dandelion flowers, then take the petals off.
It takes ages, and I do have other things to do, so we might just have to soldier on with Nutella until our plum harvest begins and I can start getting our jam stocks back up again.
Meanwhile, a spoonful of Nutella to get me going perhaps.....

Bye for now,

Vx
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


15 comments:

Dawn said...

They are very lucky chicks and seem to be doing fine, Our jam is running down I didnt make much last year as I wanted to run down stocks, I fancy having a go at making some Nutella and came across a how to, https://bakingsociety.com/2014/08/13/make-your-own-homemade-nutella-please/ seems very easy to do :-)

PioneerPreppy said...

Our dandelions are popping out everywhere now so you could get all you need here. I don't remember seeing dandelions when I was in Europe didn't know you guys had em.

Ohiofarmgirl said...

when you get down to the bottom of the nutella jar you can always put a scoop of ice cream in it to finish it off... just to, you know, get the very last drop. i heard this from "a friend."
:-D

DUTA said...

Very cute chicks!
You work rather hard on the farm, so you certainly deserve to treat yourselves sometimes with some yummi food like Nutella. Dandelion, by the way, is not only an edible flower( used in wine and jam making); it also has medical benefits (i.e. in capsule form it serves as a mild diuretic).

Vera said...

DAWN, I didn't make any jam at all because of having work done on the kitchens, so we were finishing up the 2014 jam stocks. The Nutella recipe looks easy enough to do, but all the ingredients would have to be bought in, so I think I shall continue to buy it ready made, allowing it to be one of the very few ready made items of food we buy, in fact it is the only one! Lovely cushions by the way.

PIONEER PREPPY, we have loads of dandelions here, just not got the oomph to go and pick the flower heads before they go to seed!

OHIOFARMGIRL, oh now thank you for that marvellous helpful hint, thank your 'friend' for me, no ice cream as such here, but we do have full cream that I could cool into a lump and then add to the bottom of the Nutella jar. Oooh, I can't wait to have a go at that experiment!

Vera said...

DUTA, I intend to investigate the use of dandelion as a medicinal herb, as well as other 'wild' plants we have here, like blackberry, elder, plantain, etc. But dandelion jam is really very nice, with a taste you wouldn't expect.

Marty said...

Never, ever heard of dandelion jam. How lovely that there is a useful thing to do with them.
Incredible how quickly those chicks grew!

Cro Magnon said...

I can't stand Nutella. Too sickly sweet. Why not make some Marmalade? How strange that you mention 'Plantain' (above), I've just been writing about it.

Vera said...

MARTY, dandelion jam was brought my way by a French neighbour of ours after I asked her what she was doing with a basket of dandelion flowers. An internet investigation then gave me a lot more info about the usefulness of dandelions,.... flowers, leaves, and roots.

CRO, I have just come from your blog so have read about your 'new' possible plantain-type plant. And I do agree with you about Nutella, which is why I bought only a small jar, and so why didn't I think about making marmalade, which is why I am going to go search for a recipes right now!

Kerry said...

Nutella isn't my thing either, rather have a spoonful of Marmite :) You must let us know if you've eaten it all already.
I didn't know that chicks grew so quickly, they are very lucky that they had you to look after them x

Vera said...

KERRY, I think a very thin smear of marmite is sufficient.... I think a spoonful of that strong brown stuff would be a bit too much to take in one hit!

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

You know what's really good? Nutella mixed with peanut butter. Definitely one of my weaknesses.

Vera said...

LISA, oh wow, never thought of that combination!

Diane said...

I refuse to have nutella in the house as I just eat it by the spoonful!!!!! I also love marmite and use that too heavy as well. N does not like the latter at all, so another good reason though to not have it in the house :-) We eat very little jam, pity you are not closer as I have lots. We only have cereal in the morning, bread and cheese also does not make it much into our house as we eat it too quickly when here!!! The bathroom scales soon relays a sorry story!! Take care Diane

Vera said...

DIANE, when we start getting our own jam made again then Nutella will be banned because we eat it far too quickly for it to be good for us! Marmite we never buy as it is too expensive, so any that comes in to the house is donated by friends!