Current Issue

CONTENTS

JUNE IN THE VEG GARDEN

The first full month of summer sees the garden at its very best. The editor sets out the tasks for gardening home farmers.

FANTASTIC FENNEL

Maureen Little discusses the growing requirements of veg diva fennel, and serves up a couple of delicious recipes to make the most of its uniquely aniseed flavour.

EDIBLE FLOWERS

Dave Hamilton looks at some of the nation’s edible flowers, together with recommendations for their use, cultivation and foraging.

GROWING LARGE

Kevin and Gareth Fortey visit giant veg triple world record holder Ian Neale, who shares his top ten tips for success.

ELDERFLOWER

Elizabeth McCorquodale pays tribute to a real taste of the British summer, elderflower, from the pleasures of foraging for it, to the taste of elderflower fritters and the fizz and sparkle of elderflower champagne on a warm summer day.

GOAT’S CHEESE

Rekindling Home Farmer’s original motto of ‘You don’t need a cow to make cheese’, Heidi M. Sands makes goat’s cheese, but without a goat in sight.

CHICKEN AILMENTS

Chickens usually enjoy truly rude health if the proper and appropriate husbandry is applied, but there are things to look out for when watching over your flock. Terry Beebe covers five ailments any chicken keeper should be aware of, and ways of keeping them at bay.

GETTING INTO TURKEYS

Turkeys are ornamental, table birds, egg providers, ideal for showing, and make great pets and companions too. Janice Houghton-Wallace looks at the varieties of turkey available and how and where to buy them.

BEE-KEEPING IN JUNE

The queen is central to any bee colony, but rearing queens is often shied away from. Claire Waring considers the whys and wherefores of rearing your own, and concludes that it’s only as complex as you wish to make it.

A SMALLHOLDER’S DIARY

It is March on the Tyne’s smallholding in Wales, and Dot’s diary shows the family missing much of the snow, but overcoming numerous other problems as they both deal with lambing, and run a course on it.

WHAT THE BOOKS DON’T TELL YOU

From John Seymour to Katie Thear, the books written on the subject of smallholding and downsizing could fill an entire wall of shelving. Mwenzi Morris, who often learnt things the hard way, looks at what they sometimes fail to tell you.

PSST… WANNA BUY A TRAILER?

John Butterworth knows the value of a trailer, as bargains generally come in bulk with ‘buyer collects’ clauses. Here is his essential guide to all you need to know about general load-carrying trailers, together with the latest (and some forthcoming) legislation.

COMMUNITY BEER

If you live in London, don’t panic! Those new plants springing up are not triffids! First we had bees on rooftops, now we have hops in pots across London. Ruth Tott reports on one craft brewer’s quest to create a truly ‘crowd-sourced’ beer for the capital city.

BUILDING A MOVABLE CHICKEN HOUSE AND RUN

Recycling has to be a good thing. Joanne Mudhar and Tom Wilmot recycle readily available bulk food containers to create movable chicken housing, and here’s their step-by-step guide to how they do it.

LOOKING AFTER YOUR HAND TOOLS

A good workman never needs to blame his tools because they are always in A1 condition. Mike Clark begins a new series on looking after your tools, starting with isolating a workspace for the job, then stocking the workspace, and finally sharpening all those critical blades and edges.

A YORKSHIRE LAVENDER FARM

Ruth Tott loves the aroma of fresh lavender and just couldn’t refuse an offer to visit a farm where they actually grow it. Here’s how she got on and what she learnt about the requirements of growing it as a business.

Write a review