Winter is here, Barley Broth to comfort and sustain!

The start of December and snow lies all around, not deep and crisp and even but sparse and slushy and slippy!  We have had two snow falls in the last fortnight here in west Aberdeenshire but so far the temperature has still been warm and to my delight the garden and polytunnel are still yielding produce for us.  I spent a few minutes rooting around the other day and picked enough to make a big pot of broth, one of our family favourites at this time of year.

I used everything apart from the cavalo nero, which I saved for the next evening's supper.

Ali's Winter Barley Broth

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 onions 

a Handful of carrots (probably around 3 medium sized ones)

2 sticks of celery

3 leeks

Big handful of parsley

1 cup of barley, soaked overnight in plenty of water

Approximately 1.5 lt/3 pints of chicken or veggie stock (I use homemade)

Some leftover chicken (from the bird used to make the stock, I buy local free range chickens so always use every bit of them)

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop the onions, and start by gently softening them in the oil in a large soup pan or casserole.

2. Once the onions have started to become translucent, add the chopped carrots, celery and leeks.  Give this all a good stir and cook away until the pot starts to sizzle.

3.  Add your stock and barley at this stage, followed by as much chopped parsley as you fancy.  Bring everything to a gentle boil.

4.  At this point I pop a lid on the pot and put it in the bottom oven of my Aga for a good hour to gently simmer away.  I don't season at this stage as I always wait until the barley has become soft and toothsome before I do.  On a regular cooker just reduce the heat until you have a low simmer and cook for about the same time, stirring regularly.

5.  The broth is cooked when the Barley has plumped up but still has a bit of bite to it.  This is when I season and then add the pre-cooked left over chicken and bring it all back up to a rolling simmer for about 10 minutes before serving.  We eat this with oatcakes, it will stick to your ribs as my Mum used to say!

I make many variations of this soup, sometimes with lentils, split peas too and depending on what we have in the garden, but I have to say that this version with barley in is my favourite.  Just the thing for the dark and short days we have at this time of year.

I got this lovely shot of Brooke our Shetland pony coming in for some hay last weekend.  I am trying to keep the horses out this year, as we now only have one 'big' horse, Brea, and two little ones, Brooke (above) and the even smaller MissyBell who is an American Miniature Horse.  As the herd are all getting on a bit I'd rather they keep moving, eating ad lib hay whenever they want than stay in stables at night, however, the condition of our fields and quantity of mud is always the deciding factor.  I much prefer cold, sunny and frosty weather and I think the horses do too!

Wondering if this will be my last post for 2015?  Perhaps it is, but I hope to return more regularly in the New Year.

Wishing you and yours all the very best for the festive season and a happy and healthy 2016 to us all!

Ali
x

Stuff that works for me in cold (baltic) weather!

Another very cold and absolutely freezing day today!  However, the sunshine and clear blue skies make up for the fact that it's still -6oC at 10.00 am.

Having kept animals at home for the last ten years I have found the following things really help when we hit the 'very cold' part of winter.  This year hasn't been so bad so far, last year our lowest temp was -27oC and we stayed at below -20oC for a week.  All this is fine for us humans, central heating, an Aga, a couple of log burning stoves and even some electric fan heaters kept us warm inside but dealing with our horses and chickens outside was more challenging.

Here is my list -

• Musto snug jodpurs - warm legs and happy me
• Muck boots - these are neoprene wellies, and keep your feet warm and dry (but they do really stink when you take them off, I Febreze mine and my OH's!!)
• I have two galvanised waterers for our chickens - one is always defrosting/defrosted inside the house, ready to be swapped over for the outside one once it freezes (and this can happen a couple of times a day if it's -20!)
• Last year we finally bought and fitted a heatsource tape to the water pipe that supplies my stables - it has a built in thermostat which automatically heats the length of blue water pipe if the temp drops below 3oC.  It means that I can fill the horses water buckets in the stable and also outside without having to fill containers from the house and move to the stables/field by wheelbarrow.
• I now use large Tub Trugs as water buckets in the horses stables and in my fields (especially as my automatic waterer freezes solid pretty quickly).  They are easy to remove the ice from and flex a bit if they get frozen solid.
• I use a kids (clean) shavings fork to lift ice out from the buckets before I refill them with water - bit basic but stops the water freezing again so quickly.
• We have a section of hardstanding in our paddock nearest the stables, I feed the horses hay from a round (Highland Cattle!) feeding ring there, it stops them standing in mud and means I don't have too far to go to move hay.
• When the temp is really cold, I feed the horses in their stables, do rug checks etc etc and then I leave the stable doors and the gate to the field open.  This means they are free to come and go as they please.  My two big horses moved home with us from Calgary, Alberta and are used to cold temperatures, but I have found on really cold nights that they keep warmer if they can move/walk around rather than standing in a loose box all night.  This seems especially true with Zac, my paint horse, he is around 24 years old and is quite stiff in his pelvis so keeping moving is much better for him.
•  I keep a chicken feeder filled up with layers pellets under a small weather shelter at all times.  The chickens also get two poultry corn feeds a day, and an extra feed of grain at night just before roosting.  My theory is that this keeps them a bit warmer when they are roosting!
• We have a automatic pop hole opener on our chicken house, which is great, but sometimes if there is a lot of snow I dig small paths for the chickens to go from their house, to the water, to the feeder etc.  A sprinkling of hay outside their door can help them jump down, they don't seem to like the initial shock of going onto cold snow.  We just rake it up again once the hay has gone. 

A list of simple things, but they mean I can look after my animals, even when it does feel like we're in a freezer outside.

First post of 2011

I've started this year with such a feeling of optimism and happiness, perhaps because of the end of 2010 being so cold and dark with snow etc, but I have really noticed a change since the winter solstice.  The days are certainly longer and small signs that spring is on its way are appearing too.  Although I fully expect to have some more snow before this winter is over!

The first order of business this year has been our annual seed order - especially as we have the polytunnel this year.  I want to grow the things I love to cook with most of all - no more huge gluts of stuff that has to be made into chutneys or pickles but I reckon the best use of our time and effort (and to save us money from our food bill) is to grow to the cook's (ME!) order.

My list for this year (so far) includes;
potatoes - first earlies and Pink Fir Apples (my fave)
salad leaves
peas
broad beans
onions - red and white
shallots
garlic
tomatoes - Tigerella, Gardeners delight and Tumbling Tom
swiss chard, kale and cavalo nero
courgettes (but only a few - really don't want the glut of them again!)
cucumbers
herbs
runner beans
beetroot

Our chickens have started laying again with me getting one or two eggs a day - this is so lovely as they are building up to Valentine's Day which always seems to be when they come back to lay.  I haven't had any eggs from my Cream Legbar for ages, but I think as she is a pure breed, she is less likely to lay than the others - I don't really care, she is so pretty and makes up for the lack of eggs by her delightfully scatty nature and funny 'old lady hat' head.

Zac, Brea and Poppy - our horses are all well, and due to the snow and relatively dry weather have been living out most of the winter.  They are so much happier being able to move around in these types of conditions rather than having to stand overnight in a cold stable - this is the reverse of what normally happens when we have cold, wet rainy weather when they would much rather be in.  P and I fitted a heat source tape with thermostat to my stable water pipe which thankfully has kept the water from freezing even down to -18oC. This has made a huge difference to my routine of carrying water from the house every day when the pipe had previously frozen - also made a difference to my poor elbows too!


The countryside around us is so beautiful at this time of year - the low winter light seems to give everything such wonderful colours.  The woods behind our house are a wonderful blend of purples, browns and greens - Birch are my favourite at this time with their smoky purple haze.  I'm feeling inspired to get out and about with my Christmas present, a new camera, although I don't have a clue about photography - I'm really excited about it - watch this space!

More photos

Just been out to move electric fence for the horses. With this cold weather I'm now giving them more grass every day. So far the paddocks are standing up well to the rain we've had, but it could all turn to mud quite quickly.




Zac and Brea waiting for me.





This is the railway carriage we've got grand plans for. It's an old stock car and was previously used as a field shelter. The idea is to restore it and then use it as a summer house.





P (my husband) has helped one of his friends dismantle a deck, in return for getting to recycle the decking. We'll have a deck around the front of the carriage, hopefully to sit and drink gin and tonics on! (Not on a day like today though)





View of field from railway carriage.




Meanwhile Coco checks out the ground works for the new tractor shed. It's slow progress due to the horrible weather but at least it's progress!

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tipping it down Tuesday

Pouring with rain today, just been out to bring horses in to their stables to dry off with some hay.  I'll put their rain sheets on before I put them back out in a couple of hours.  So, I'm sitting here with a coffee, perfect for catching up with what's happened in the last week or so.

Coco

Last Tuesday we visited D.A.W.G.S (link to their website below) rescue centre in Aberdeen.  We were interested in rehoming a wee dog from them.  After various questionaires and a home visit, I took our kids and our two other dogs into the D.A.W.G.S. Kennels to meet up with the dog (my husband met us there too, as he works in Aberdeen).   It was a huge success, we loved her and she seemed very happy with us too.  So we brought her home and she has settled in really well.  She is learning to respect our other animals, is a bit wary of visitors but she is a lovely addition to our brood! 

http://www.thedawghouse.co.uk/

fruit in here somewhere

On Saturday I braved our completely overgrown fruit patch to pick blackcurrants for jam and some gooseberries for pudding that night.  Whoever decided that gooseberries were good to eat deserves a medal, in my opinion!  They are the scariest looking fruit and the thorns and spikes on the plants make picking them downright dangerous (I have the scars to prove it).   My hens were very pleased with my efforts though and decided to help themselves to the gooseberries I had picked too.

Happily I've now got 7 pots of blackcurrant jam and made delicious Gooseberry Snow pudding (from Valentine Werner on Saturday Kitchen).

June already....

Gosh, really can't believe we are on the second weekend in June already.  Haven't managed to post as things have been really hectic.

On the evening of Wednesday 2nd June, Brea, my quarter horse, colicked really badly .  I had been out cutting the grass as we were due to go to a friends' wedding that weekend, and my daughter had gone out to feed the horses (they get a handful of happy hoof and feed balancer every day).  My daughter came running in, Brea was down and she thought she was colicking.

When I got up to the field, poor Brea was flat out.  No noise, no movement, it was almost as if she was dead.  My husband had gone to phone the vet and I sat on the ground next to my mare, checking her pulse (racing) and started doing some of my Ttouch ear work on her.

Mark, the vet, arrived within 30 minutes at around 8.45pm.  By this time I'd managed to get Brea back up to her feet, and had walked her down the hill to our stables.  Brea's pulse was almost 70 bpm, there were no gut sounds and Mark decided to put a tube into her stomach incase we were dealing with grass sickness.  Thankfully, her stomach was clear but we were faced with what to do next.  The nearest vet hospital that can do abdominable surgery on horses is the Royal (Dick) Veterinary Hospital in Edinburgh.   It takes 4 hours to drive there under normal conditions but to transport a sick horse in a trailer would take over 5 hours.  Brea was in so much pain, things really were looking very bleak as we suspected a twisted gut, impacted colic or grass sickness.  However, I made the decision not to subject her to the long journey, if there really was nothing to be done to help her, I would rather she spent her last hours at home with us, rather than stressed out stuck in a trailer.

Mark gave Brea some painkillers and agreed to return within 4 hours at 12.30 am.  I spent the next few hours checking her every half an hour, doing more Ttouch earwork and also I managed to do some belly lifts with help from my husband.

Ttouch Ear work is one thing I wish every horse person knew how to do.  Basically, you make small circle and a quarter ttouches around the base of the horse's ears.  Then stroke the whole length of the ear, up to the tip and apply pressure to the shock point right at the tip of the ear.  By doing these ttouches around the ears you can help stabilise a horses temperature, respiration and  - this stops the animal going into shock and is exactly what to do when you are waiting for the vet or to aid recovery.

http://www.lindatellington-jones.com/horseArticleColic.shtml - link to Linda Tellington-Jones website.

http://www.ttouchtteam.co.uk/   - UK Ttouch and Tteam website.

When Mark returned at 12.30am, Brea's condition was still looking very grim.  Although, her pulse had lowered to 44 bpm.  We agreed to keep monitoring her, with me checking her throughout the night, but with us both well aware that I may be calling Mark during the night to put my darling horse to sleep.

I checked Brea hourly during the night, (flashback to when the kids were babies and being up all night with them!).  At around 4.00 am when I had checked her, I was happy to hear slight gurgling and bubbling noises from her gut, she had been walking around with my other two horses normally.  (I can't believe how light it is here at 4.00 in the morning!).  I went back to bed, and slept until 6.30 am, the longest I'd left her - when I walked over the field I got the best welcome any horse owner ever gets, a lovely whicker from all 3 horses!

Mark, came back to check at 8.30 am.  I've never seen anyone so relieved as he did when he walked round the corner to see Brea standing quite happily at the gate.  I know that we both thought she wouldn't make it through the night.  We decided to not give her anymore painkillers and monitor her for the rest of the day.   

When Mark returned that evening, I was happy to report that Brea had been behaving normally the whole day, she was grazing and drinking (and poohing of course).  It had been a really close thing, and I am so thankful that we noticed as soon as we did that something was wrong.

My family and I decided not to travel down to England to our friends' wedding, luckily for us they are animal lovers too and knew that we couldn't leave a recovering animal (even though I have the best horse sitter around!).

We've now got the cover on our polytunnel, and have managed to plant most of our veggies in it.  And we have spent this weekend moving the chickens round to their new bit of garden - so things are slowly moving forward with the garden even if the weather has been wet and cold.  Some sunshine every now and again would be nice though too!

Hello - welcome to my blog

24th April 2010 - 4.00 pm - Cup of tetley in the garden with some home magazines.

Finally it's warm again, spring did feel as if it had arrived a few weeks ago, but it really was a trick to make us hope that the worst winter we've ever had was over. On Tuesday this week, my husband was taking a group of P5's (9 year olds) on a environmental/geology fieldtrip and of course, it snowed on them! Still everyone came prepared and braved the 2oC to have a great day, complete with spotting adders.

Just come back from a shopping trip with my teen daughter, just us this weekend as the boys (husband, teen son and younger son) are off on a scout camp.

So finally I get to sit out in the garden with my tea. Plans for the garden this year include; putting up our polytunnel - (which arrived in about a million boxes yesterday); transforming the derelict railway goods wagon half way up our field into a summerhouse (would love one like MsMarmitelovers!); and perhaps putting in a pond.

Great dreams, but we'll see how we get on.

Now I'm off outside to muck out our paddocks - one of the major benefits of keeping horses at home is the easy supply of well rotted manure for our garden.