QUIET CORNER FARM APPLE JUICE Patricia Thompson moved with her husband, Brian, to the secluded little Henstridge holding of Quiet Corner Farm 40 years ago. It included an orchard of about eighty apple trees. She has worked hard over the seasons to be a good caretaker of the land she tends. The orchards now comprise [...]
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DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman QUIET CORNER FARM APPLE JUICE
June 21st, 2010DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman CABBAGES (THREE DIFFERENT ONES), SEEING THE LIGHT
June 21st, 2010CABBAGES (THREE DIFFERENT ONES) This week Dirty Nails has been both sowing, tending and eating cabbages. This green-leaved doyen of the veg patch comes in many different varieties that can be sown and harvested practically year-round. On the plot, he has just put down a line of January King 3. This handsome customer is a [...]
Read More »DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman SHOW YOU CARE
June 21st, 2010SHOW YOU CARE The pace of growth in the early summer garden can come as something of a shock. May and June are prolific months in terms of the quantity of ’biomass’ (green stuff) which emerges from a patch of ground then develops into some quite amazing flowering plants. The vitality of weeds never ceases [...]
Read More »DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman DORSET CHARCOAL
June 6th, 2010DORSET CHARCOAL A characteristic of the Dorset landscape is small, remote, so-called ‘farm woodlands‘. These tend to be pockets of inaccessible trees. As with so many things these days, their survival depends on being financially viable – in other words, in order to please the eye and play a crucial role in nature conservation, they [...]
Read More »DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman BROCCOLI RAAB ’60 DAYS’
June 6th, 2010BROCCOLI RAAB ‘60 DAYS’ This week I’ve been been picking the broccoli-like shoots of a quick-growing vegetable known in its Southern Italian homelands as Broccoletti and elsewhere as Rapini. As seed in local shops and garden centres it comes, pre-packed, as Broccoli raab ’60 days’. Five hundred magic pieces cost the same as a loaf of sliced [...]
Read More »DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman CUCKOO
May 31st, 2010CUCKOO A seventy-five year old friend was telling Dirty Nails about the sound of cuckoo’s in her youth. She grew up in Surrey and back-along the summer visiting migrant was considered nothing special – in fact, quite the reverse. In those days the cuckoo was a common bird, its arrival to these shores every April [...]
Read More »DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman RAISING APPLE SEEDLINGS
May 28th, 2010RAISING APPLE SEEDLINGS Orchards accompanied every farmstead and small holding in the Olden Days. The seasonal pressing of apples for cider and juice was part and parcel of normal life. Back then, leftover ‘mash’ (pulped apples) was fed to pigs or spread in odd field corners to over-winter and, the next spring, see what came [...]
Read More »DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman PLANTING OUT ‘GREENS’
May 28th, 2010PLANTING OUT ‘GREENS’ A big job for this time of year is planting out members of the cabbage family. They include Brussels sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli, kale and, of coarse, cabbages themselves. Technically, these so-called ’greens’ are known as Brassicas and they‘ll feed the family this coming winter. A lot of folk baulk at the [...]
Read More »DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman THINNING & PLANTING
May 21st, 2010THINNING & PLANTING Now seedlings are popping up in the veg patch the next job is called ‘thinning out’ and involves removing a proportion of the tiny plants. We do this so the remainder have enough room to stretch their leaves and roots without competing with their neighbours. Advice about how much space to afford [...]
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