Collection from Barnstaple, North Devon. Ideal for gardeners and allotment holders, making light work of soil cultivation.
For more details: https://chilcotts.farm/produce/for-sale-honda-cultivator-tiller-rotavator-f200/
Tag: North Devon
Emu Egg Anyone?
Ooooh this is eggciting. We are going to hatch out a couple of Emu Eggs.
The colour is quite amazing, and the size incredible. Both looking like huge emeralds. Weighing around 700 grams each, I should imagine quite a meal.
They are now in the incubator, and will be manually turned 3 times a day.
Watch this space. Hopefully this summer we could have emus roaming the field with our geese.
2021 Pumpkins SOLD OUT
Moving toward Halloween, we have started selling our own grown Halloween pumpkins. Picked and sold from the gate. Prices are £2, £1 and 50p, depending on size.
First North Devon Grapes of the 2021
Seems early for grapes. But these seedless eaters are really sweet and juicy. Admittedly, they were grown in the greenhouse, but the first bunch of many to come. Delicious!
Pickled Eggs
With spring well underway, at this time of year the geese, chickens and ducks are in full lay so we have quite a few eggs.
This year we have decided to turn our surplus into pickled eggs. Really easy to make, here is our recipe & method:
- Hard boil a dozen eggs;
- In a pan, add 1 litre of water and 150ml of vinegar (we use spirt vinegar);
- Add 80 grams of sugar, 50 grams of salt, two bay leaves, a tablespoon of mustard seeds and 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds;
- Bring to the boil and add two sliced onions and allow to return to the boil;
- Layer the eggs in a sterilised screw top/ Kilner jar (fill the jar with boiling water to sterilise), covering each layer with the boiling liquor;
- Seal the jar and allow to cool.
National Honey Monitoring Scheme (NHMS)
I have needed to send this off for a while. The honey I took from the hives back in July ( the spring honey) is going to be sent off to have a DNA analysis undertaken.
The objective of the analysis is too assess long term impacts on UK floral resources in the changing environment.
I am hoping that we not only help with this national scheme, understand where our bees have been and what they have been foraging in the spring.
Anyone interested and want to know more, check out, https://honey-monitoring.ac.uk
Wasp Wars!
This year there seems to be a lot of wasps about in Devon. I have had to narrow the hive entrances down quite considerably to help the bees protect their colonies and honey stores.
What do you do if you spill honey in your car?
Hmmmmmm slight problem. 5Kg of honey spilled in the boot of the car. Problem ….. how do you clean up the sticky mess?
A frightful mess, and a real waste of this precious harvest. This honey was destined to be fermented and become mead. However during transportation, the bucket turned over and ended up all over the boot of the car and a load of honey jars.
PANIC! How do you clear up this sticky mess. Instinct was to get the carpets out the car and hose them down. Worried about how the carpets would cope with water, as much of the honey as possible was scarped up and scooped into a bucket.
After this, we put the bees to work! (Strictly, as a beekeeper this is not good practice! It can spread disease between hives…. but needs must) The boot of the car was left open, and whatever could be removed, from the car was left sheltered in the garage.
Bees cleaning honey from the boot of a car 
Before: Honey Bees cleaning honey from the mat taken out from the boot of a car 
24 hours later: Honey Bees cleaning honey from the mat taken out from the boot of a car
Within minutes, the bees from the hives were coming to recover the honey. Pools of honey had been cleared within an hour. 24 hours later, the interior of the car had virtually been cleared. None of the sticky residue was left. Quite amazing.
Bees are out collecting the summer honey
The weather has not been bad or good, but the bees are out at every opportunity.
The summer flowers are blossoming, and we are hoping for a good honey harvest come August!
Another May new buds and flowers shall bring
“Another May new buds and flowers shall bring: Ah! why has happiness no second Spring?” – Charlotte Turner Smith
This spring certainly keeps bringing. The weather continues to be fantastic for the bees. The recent rain has been welcome. This enables the plants to draw up water and increase the nectar flow in the flowers.
In turn this ensures the bees supply continues to come.
The hives are still doing well, and the bees continue to build up their honey stores. Hopefully at the end of May, I’ll be able to harvest the first honey crop of 2020