Tag: North Devon

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Soft Boiled Goose Egg and asparagus

Goose Eggs For Sale (Season 2022)

We have this seasons goose eggs for sale.  About 3 times the size of chickens eggs, they are a meal in themselves.

You can buy online click and collect, or from the door. Unfortunately, we do not ship.

To find out more and check availability see our website : https://chilcotts.farm/produce/local-fresh-goose-eggs/

Thank you for following!

Goose Eggs For Sale (Season 2022)

We have this seasons goose eggs for sale.  About 3 times the size of chickens eggs, they are a meal in themselves. You can buy online click and collect, or from the door. Unfortunately, we do not ship. To find out more and check availability see our website : https://chilcotts.farm/produce/local-fresh-goose-eggs/ Thank you for following!
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Goose Egg, North Devon 2022

First Goose Egg of the Season 2022

Here we are early March, a bit later than normal for the first goose egg of the year. However, for us, this is a GREAT egg. Our little goose who laid this was attacked by a fox a month ago. This perfectly formed egg is the start of the goose laying season for us and the start of Spring! Who knows, this year, apart from hatching out emu eggs …… we may hatch a few geese too. Watch this space. In a couple of weeks, we should have goose eggs for sale. Check out our website for availability: https://chilcotts.farm/produce/local-fresh-goose-eggs/

Thanks for following!

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Emu egg

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.

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Pickled eggs

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:

  1. Hard boil a dozen eggs;
  2. In a pan, add 1 litre of water and 150ml of vinegar (we use spirt vinegar);
  3. Add 80 grams of sugar, 50 grams of salt, two bay leaves, a tablespoon of mustard seeds and 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds;
  4. Bring to the boil and add two sliced onions and allow to return to the boil;
  5. 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;
  6. Seal the jar and allow to cool.
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Samples of Spring Honey (2020) ready to be sent to the National Honey Monitoring Scheme

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

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Bees cleaning honey from the boot of a car

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
    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
    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
    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.

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