Pumpkin and vegetable soup

 

We still have some pumpkins left over from Halloween so recently I made pumpkin and vegetable soup. The stock was water in which we had previously boiled potatoes, thereby helping us to cut down further on waste. A pleasant result though we probably made too much. Four days in a row of pumpkin soup for dinner was possibly a bit much!

Peppers stuffed with ricotta

 

We have a glut of ricotta cheese, made from our goat's milk. Recently, a neighbouring allotment holder gave us a bag of peppers. We stuffed them with ricotta. It was an ideal combination and helped us make a small inroad into our mountain of ricotta.

Lord Woolton pie

 

Lord Woolton, the wartime food minister, gave his name to a vegetable pie that contained no rationed foods other than a bit of fat for the pastry (and some versions use mashed potato rather than pastry). We had lots of vegetables needing to be used, plus some pumpkin, so making a Woolton pie was the logical thing todo. It did us for three days.

Rain proofing the quail house

 

Our quail house is currently being used to house a hen and her 14 chicks. The problem with the quail house however was that there were no solid walls. It was, in effect, a frame with netting (but a solid roof). It meant that the wind could blow straight through the quail house, bringing with it lots of rain. The problem has now been fixed. We have covered 2 sides with conservatory roofing panels which were rescued some time ago from a demolition job. They work perfectly. Nice dry cage with happy chicks (and mother hen).

Eating nettles

 

The mild and wet weather this autumn has resulted in the trees being late in losing their leaves and many weeds that would normally be dead by now are still alive. This is especially the case with nettles. We have an abundance of them and fortunately Florence is happy to eat them.

Eating us out of house and home

 

We had some bales of hay left over from last year. They weren't in the best of shape. Partly wet and rotting at the edges, We decided to use them to build a temporary shelter in the middle paddock where we have our nanny goats and Hebridean sheep. Building it took only a few minutes. The roof was a metal panel from a dismantled shed, weighed down by a pallet. 

The sheep and goats started eating it immediately! They picked out the good hay and left the poor quality stuff. The shelter lasted all of an afternoon.

Will the goats eat leeks?

 

One of our neighbouring allotment holders asked us if the goats eat leeks. The photo above gives the answer! So quite a pile of leek outer skins and leaves (the useful bits went for human consumption) were put into the allotment for Florence and her as yet unnamed baby to eat. Had we been milking her, we wouldn't have allowed her anywhere near the leeks as they could taint her milk.

Florence back to normal

 

I'm pleased to report that Florence has made a full recovery after her visit to the vet recently. Her foot had developed an abscess which the vet drained and cleaned. Her foot was bandaged up but I've now removed the bandages and she is walking without a limp. Good news!