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Dead easy - just melt 1 lb Lard (or you can use Vaseline if you'd rather) in a pan, very slowly. Add as many heads of elderflower as you can immerse in the lard and keep "cooking" on the lowest heat for about half an hour or so. Remove the flower heads and compost, and add a few drops of y...

I think there should be an absolutely bumper crop this year, what with everything being held back by the snow and cold weather staying late. When I was out riding the other day (at just the right height to check out the hedgerow bounty), the blackthorn bushes I came across were absolutely laden with...

I'm about to plant some too, but they should do fine here in tropical West Wales, as they grow wild along the hedgerows - I was admiring some from horseback as I rode round the lanes the other day. Hope they don't trim the hedges before I can "harvest" them for hop pillows . . . We'll have...

Wombat - what a thing to suggest :shock: We used to have a little Mallard-looking Call Duck who we called Angel (his wife was Tess) - and he would "go for" anything with a beak! The funniest thing I have EVER seen, was the sight of our Maran cockerel Paxo hurtling round and round the paddo...

Carmarthen has a wonderful static market - so wonderful in fact, that the Council are going to flatten it so that Debenhams (who obviously did some powerful "bargaining" to get this prime site) can build there, and the "new" market is going to be put where the old livestock marke...

Well it's coming on. The hard work - clearing and digging - is done. You just wait until you can actually eat something you've grown - I still get a kick from it every time! I'm not a brilliant gardener, but I've always grown runner beans. Even if I've no time for anything else, there are runner bea...

I forgot to mention, you add a few drops of your favourite essential oil to the hand cream and mix it in well before you pot it - otherwise it smells just like last Sunday's roast! Oh, and don't leave it until the flowers yellow, as it reeks then (cat pee, as someone said). Our Elder here is just ab...

They make a lovely Hedgerow jelly when combined with blackberries and crab apples. As you mentioned, Sloe Gin too. I now use the Hugh F-W recipe which only calls for 2 oz sugar instead of 12 oz, and you get the full flavour of the sloes without the sickliness of too much sugar. Just make sure they a...

My husband used to "do the deed" just as Stonehead described, when we had surplus cockerels. Messy, but instant.

What a fascinating thread and way above my head on the technicalities. We have our own water supply here - and we're not alone in that, as many of the farms and smallholdings off the beaten track have boreholes, springs or wells. Ours is (I hope and pray) reliable - leastways, it was the supply to t...

Well, last year I bought one of those mini polytunnel thingys but it took OH a year to get his finger out of his ear and to listen to my pleas to put this thing together. He cursed and cursed, and I should really have listened to him, as the night we put it up, it blew down. We have now relocated it...

I make Elderflower "handcream" using a recipe from a book I bought in the 1970's, "Farmer's Fare". It's brilliant stuff for when your hands get dry and sore in the winter from doing outdoor things. It's just coming up to Elderflower time, so if you want the recipe, just shout out...

They usually do Ina, but the more expensive daughter is having a cash crisis at present, so I have to bail her out. Both have temp jobs but middle daughter is about to start her AS exams so isn't working at the pub until the exams are over. I think I shall buy some of the Lidl shower gel and decant ...

Ah Lovage - like having a Triffid in the herb bed isn't it?! I've got recipes to use it, but I must confess, I think I shall just enjoy its statuesque shape rather than make Lovage Soup or Lovage Sauce or whatever. That's what comes of having someone say, "Would you like a root of Lovage?"...

Our local farmer's market started off well, but the last couple of times I've been (months apart as I usually forget it's happening), there were very few stalls, and what was being sold was incredibly expensive. I would love to be able to afford to buy everything I needed from individual shops, espe...