Tony wanted more in "fair game". So here we go. I could have posted this in the Homestead section but it covers animal slaughter so...
Today I cooked a meal for our elderly relatives. As smallholders, what we can do for them is limited, but we produce food. We can make sure that they have a good meal.
This was one of our cockerels from last year
Rosemary roast chicken (cockerel) by English Countrylife, on Flickr
We selected the egg, set it under a hen watched it hatch, made sure it grew safe & well fed. After 20 weeks we slaughtered it, plucked & dressed it. People often ask "how could you"?
Well if you buy a commercial broiler, it lived perhaps 6 weeks and probably never saw daylight. Even "free range" birds often have limited access to unenriched grass. No trees, shelters, dust baths or natural stimulation. These birds can barely stand by 6 weeks because their muscles can't grow fast enough. The cockerels of laying breeds are killed at hatch as "worthless".
We raise traditional, slow growing utility birds. The hens don't lay as many eggs as intensively farmed egg laying breeds like Warrens and the birds aren't as breast heavy as broiler birds like Ross Cobbs and take five times as long to mature but they develop muscle, graze on green growth & taste amazing. You can't buy them commercially of course because people want cheap food, not good food.
Now around this time someone is probably declaiming that vegetarianism is the answer. Let me show you the veg.
Garlic & Rosemary roast potatoes by English Countrylife, on Flickr
Honey roast parsnips by English Countrylife, on Flickr
Our soil is fed with the manure from our chickens as well as compost from our garden. It is rich, nutritious and dark like fruit cake. It holds water but drains excess. The organic matter holds enough water for plants but opens the soil structure so that downpours can escape.
Braised red cabbage with apple by English Countrylife, on Flickr
The cabbage is braised with apples from our orchard and cider vinegar that we grow using cider from those apples. Excess apple pulp, outer cabbage leaves etc. are composted and returned to the soil.
Windfall apples are eaten by the chickens ranging in the orchard. They live on land that cannot be dug or ploughed because of the tree roots.
The 200 acre vegetable field next to us is commercially farmed. It contains so little organic matter that when ploughed on a dry day, the dust cloud turns the sun orange. The soil erosion is measured in tonnes per field per year. It's just clay and minerals. Entirely dead and devoid of all life. In dry spells it hits drought quickly and has to be irrigated with diesel pumps. To grow anything it has to be heavily fertilised with nitrate fertiliser derived from fossil fuel.
Our version of "fair game", as well as actual game that we eat, is to recognise that we are part of an ecosystem. The soil needs animals, plants and trees and they need to work together. Our role is to work within that. The cockerels that we eat are more than is needed to sustainably breed flock replacements, but they get to grow to maturity in the sunshine with fresh air and stimulation.
Small mixed farms can still manage ecologically sound practice where the straw from grain is used as livestock bedding, then rotted with manure and returned to the soil. Fodder grown feeds the livestock in a virtuous circle. Animal pasture supports wildflowers, birds and insects that the ecological deserts of industrial arable farms do not.
Don't get me wrong, Fiona and I aren't perfect. But we are trying. We finished the meal with a cherry pie
Cherry Pie by English Countrylife, on Flickr
We did grow the (morello) cherries, but we didn't grow the flour. That was milled in a windmill from our friend's Winter wheat.
Oh and we baked it using wood that we cut, split and seasoned.
Timber jack on firewood by English Countrylife, on Flickr
A long post but after Tony asked for contributions to fair game, I wanted to post something with a little thought behind it. As I said earlier, we are often asked "how could you"?
Our answer is "because we care".
Today I cooked a meal for our elderly relatives. As smallholders, what we can do for them is limited, but we produce food. We can make sure that they have a good meal.
This was one of our cockerels from last year
Rosemary roast chicken (cockerel) by English Countrylife, on FlickrWe selected the egg, set it under a hen watched it hatch, made sure it grew safe & well fed. After 20 weeks we slaughtered it, plucked & dressed it. People often ask "how could you"?
Well if you buy a commercial broiler, it lived perhaps 6 weeks and probably never saw daylight. Even "free range" birds often have limited access to unenriched grass. No trees, shelters, dust baths or natural stimulation. These birds can barely stand by 6 weeks because their muscles can't grow fast enough. The cockerels of laying breeds are killed at hatch as "worthless".
We raise traditional, slow growing utility birds. The hens don't lay as many eggs as intensively farmed egg laying breeds like Warrens and the birds aren't as breast heavy as broiler birds like Ross Cobbs and take five times as long to mature but they develop muscle, graze on green growth & taste amazing. You can't buy them commercially of course because people want cheap food, not good food.
Now around this time someone is probably declaiming that vegetarianism is the answer. Let me show you the veg.
Garlic & Rosemary roast potatoes by English Countrylife, on FlickrHoney roast parsnips by English Countrylife, on FlickrOur soil is fed with the manure from our chickens as well as compost from our garden. It is rich, nutritious and dark like fruit cake. It holds water but drains excess. The organic matter holds enough water for plants but opens the soil structure so that downpours can escape.
Braised red cabbage with apple by English Countrylife, on FlickrThe cabbage is braised with apples from our orchard and cider vinegar that we grow using cider from those apples. Excess apple pulp, outer cabbage leaves etc. are composted and returned to the soil.
Windfall apples are eaten by the chickens ranging in the orchard. They live on land that cannot be dug or ploughed because of the tree roots.
The 200 acre vegetable field next to us is commercially farmed. It contains so little organic matter that when ploughed on a dry day, the dust cloud turns the sun orange. The soil erosion is measured in tonnes per field per year. It's just clay and minerals. Entirely dead and devoid of all life. In dry spells it hits drought quickly and has to be irrigated with diesel pumps. To grow anything it has to be heavily fertilised with nitrate fertiliser derived from fossil fuel.
Our version of "fair game", as well as actual game that we eat, is to recognise that we are part of an ecosystem. The soil needs animals, plants and trees and they need to work together. Our role is to work within that. The cockerels that we eat are more than is needed to sustainably breed flock replacements, but they get to grow to maturity in the sunshine with fresh air and stimulation.
Small mixed farms can still manage ecologically sound practice where the straw from grain is used as livestock bedding, then rotted with manure and returned to the soil. Fodder grown feeds the livestock in a virtuous circle. Animal pasture supports wildflowers, birds and insects that the ecological deserts of industrial arable farms do not.
Don't get me wrong, Fiona and I aren't perfect. But we are trying. We finished the meal with a cherry pie
Cherry Pie by English Countrylife, on FlickrWe did grow the (morello) cherries, but we didn't grow the flour. That was milled in a windmill from our friend's Winter wheat.
Oh and we baked it using wood that we cut, split and seasoned.
Timber jack on firewood by English Countrylife, on FlickrA long post but after Tony asked for contributions to fair game, I wanted to post something with a little thought behind it. As I said earlier, we are often asked "how could you"?
Our answer is "because we care".
