Easy peasy pizza dough recipe no faffing by Katy Runacres

Our first guest Blogger has been making pizza dough, check it out!

http://thegoodlifeinpractice.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/easy-peasy-pizza-dough-recipe-no-faffing-by-katy-runacres/

Chickens - Things to do this Month - January

Each week I am checking up on what i should be doing with The Smallholder Series:

www.smallholderseries.co.uk

Yet another fantastic article from them:

Chickens - Things to do this Month - January

CHICKENS (Laying Hens): Continue to do regular health checks on all your birds:

Signs of Good Health:

- full, bright and velvety ‘headgear’ (comb & wattles)
- full, round and bright eyes, not sunken or cloudy
- dry nostrils
- good, smooth feathering with a shiny appearance
- clean, fluffy feathers around the vent
- neither thin or over-fat
- steady respiration, no panting or wheezing
- active, moving freely
- laying well and producing regular, perfect eggs

Winter Routine & Care

Although winter so far has been unseasonably mild, the daylight hours are much shorter and yet the chickens still need to be properly looked after – but there are ways to save time on your routine tasks:

• Consider ‘deep littering’ the hen house instead of fully cleaning out every day: start by putting down a deep layer of shavings (we’ve been using Easi-Bed woodchip and find that it makes a good firm, dry surface). Start with a depth of an inch or so, quickly poo-pick each morning, then top it up every few days with another thin layer. Once a week, sprinkle a powder disinfectant (we use Stalosan) over the litter followed by more woodchip. We deep-littered our hens in this way throughout last year’s cold, wet winter and the bed kept clean looking, dry and fresh smelling.
• Chickens with prominent combs and wattles can suffer from frostbite in really cold weather, Vaseline smeared over these areas will protect them
• WINTER FEEDING – chickens will appreciate a little more carbohydrate in their diet as the weather gets colder, but don’t overdo this – monitor their weight regularly by picking them up, and feed accordingly
• Suitable winter foodstuffs (which are best give in the afternoon after they have had the chance to eat their regular protein ration of pellets or mash) include: wheat, corn, rice and pasta – and they will still appreciate plenty of greens, ours particularly love windfall apples!
• Clear away all feedstuffs every evening so there’s nothing to attract rodents.
• Check WATER regularly to make sure it hasn’t frozen. A small ball floating in the hen’s water will help prevent it freezing, but in really cold weather you’ll need to de-ice during the day.
• DRAUGHT PROOFING – don’t be tempted to block off ventilation – stale air will increase the risk of respiratory disease, but do make sure there aren’t any howling winds blowing through the house. If we have a repeat of last year’s arctic conditions you could stack some straw bales against the hen house for added insulation – place these on the side against the prevailing winds, usually North or East at this time of year.
• Already the daylight hours are increasing, so if your hens haven’t been laying they should start again soon, so don’t stop checking the nest boxes!
• Many people use artificial LIGHTING for a couple of hours in the late evening and early morning to extend ‘daylight’ hours and encourage the hens to continue laying throughout winter. This is a good idea if your hens are run on a semi-commercial basis, and culled at 2-3 years. But remember, a hen is born with a finite number of eggs, so you will only encourage her to lay these sooner – it will not increase her lifetime output!
• Continue to be vigilant for RATS AND MICE, when laying traps or poison – take great care that you don’t unwittingly harm other wildlife. If you’ve been laying traps but not caught any vermin, try wearing rubber gloves when you set the traps – the smell of humans can linger on the trap and deter rats and mice.
• And finally, winter is a good time to ‘rest’ part of your chicken’s run or paddock; the cold will help kill off any worm larvae and pests, and if you also lime this area (use gardener’s lime) it will ‘sweeten’ the ground by neutralising the inevitable acidity that accumulates on ground used continuously by poultry.

Over the past few months, in addition to our regular ‘Chicken Health and Care’ section, we’ve briefly looked at “Caring for the Broody Hen”, “The Hatching Process”, and “Raising Healthy Chicks” – whether hatched by a broody hen or in an incubator, “Integrating New Pullets into the Flock”, “Whether to keep a Cockerel”, and “The Annual Moult”.  We’ve now put these items, together with general advice on year-round care of your flock, into an article, “Basic Principles of Rearing and Management of Chickens”, which you can find here.

Source: http://www.smallholderseries.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=466&Itemid=183

Gardeners will have to fell 'dangerous' ash trees or face being sued

Households will have to pay hundreds of pounds to make sure trees dying from the ash epidemic do not become a health and safety hazard, experts have warned.

A total of 19 pests and diseases are now attacking trees in the UK, of which 10 are considered to be at the ‘epidemic stage’. Photo: Matt Cardy/GETTY

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent

Ash dieback is now on 257 sites around the country and forestry experts believe it will gradually spread to most of the UK’s 92 million ash trees.

Mike Seville Forestry and Woodland Adviser at the Country Land and Business Association, said diseased trees can be a hazard because of falling branches.

It is the responsibility of the landowner, whether the local authority, Highways Agency or private household to deal with the trees.

If they are not dealt with then the owner is open to being sued if someone is injured by a falling branch or tree.

Mr Seville said it will cost on average £500 to make trees safe by employing tree surgeons to take off branches or even fell trees.

“As the tree falls to pieces there is going to be some significant costs,” he said.
The cost to councils, the Highways Agency and Network Rail could run into the millions.
It is estimated there are 3.65 million ash trees in Britain in urban areas so the total cost could run into hundreds of millions.
Charities like the National Trust and the RSPB will also have to pay to ensure ash trees do not become dangerous.
Austin Brady, head of conservation at the Woodland Trust, admitted it could be expensive.
He said ash trees in forests will be left alone but trees by footpaths or roads will have to be closely monitored and dealt with if they become dangerous.
“It could be expensive. It depends on how many of the trees are infected and how quickly.”
The disease kills off young trees quickly, but more mature specimens can take years to die.
The Government is currently drawing up an action plan on ash, including how to reduce costs.
For example, by keeping infected trees healthy and allowing ash wood to be sold as fuel.
Ash trees are the third most abundant broadleaf tree in Britain, after the oak and birch.
A total of 19 pests and diseases are now attacking trees in the UK, of which 10 are considered to be at the ‘epidemic stage’. At least a further 11 deadly diseases are a potential threat “on the horizon”

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9715336/Gardeners-will-have-to-fell-dangerous-ash-trees-or-face-being-sued.html

Grab a Bargain - The last few EESG Calenders

GOING, GOING GONE !!!!!

Last few EESG Calendars 2013

The EESG 2013 calendar is A4 spiral bound with 12 beautiful glossy photos provided by EESG members one for each month, also a space for each day to write those important dates.
We have a few left so don’t miss out !

Calendars are now at a reduced price of £6.75 or TWO for only £12.00

Contact

donna@furzedown398.freeserve.co.uk

07947606207

Kit Marmalade Making for the EESG Competition

Kit Marmalade Making @ Furzedown



Boiling in the pan



Good Job I brought Mum a Jam Funnel for Christmas

Eight jars of lovely Marmalade

Killer slug which could threaten UK crops and biodiversity

Monday 07 January 2013


The Spanish Slug, Arion vulgaris, has been found in the UK for the first time, raising concerns for potential effects on crops and biodiversity, reports BBSRC.

• Aggressive crop pest slug species is identified in the UK for the first time
• Concern about potential effects on food crops and biodiversity as seen in other countries

• Researchers from the John Innes Centre and UK universities prepare a research plan to investigate and tackle the problem

When Ian Bedford noticed an unusually high number of slugs in his garden this spring he didn't realise he had stumbled on a foreign invasion.


The large brown slugs seemed to have appeared from nowhere and were eating almost everything in their path.


Dr Bedford, head of the BBSRC-funded John Innes Centre's (JIC) Entomology facility, was intrigued by the high number and aggressiveness of the slugs and decided to investigate.

He said: "In early spring I saw absolutely massive numbers of this brown species in the garden. It got to the point where you'd walk down into the garden and you could easily count 50 to 100 slugs on the lawn, so I was very interested to see what was going on.

"And then I noticed that it wasn't just plants that were being attacked by this species, they were actually eating things like dead animals, there was an instance of a mouse that was killed by my cat, slugs were swarming over it and eating it. They were also eating other slugs, eating snails, even eating shells."

Fortunately in his role at the JIC, an international centre of excellence in plant science and microbiology, Dr Bedford had an eye out for potential crop pests in the UK.

He resolved to find out what this slug was, suspecting it could be a foreign species called the Spanish Slug (Arion vulgaris) which has become a problem in northern mainland Europe in recent years, and has been nicknamed the 'killer slug' for its cannibalistic tendencies.

He said: "I heard on the TV that Dr Les Noble from Aberdeen University was interested in what was happening with slugs in the UK this year. He was saying there were large numbers and he thought it was down to the unusually wet weather we'd had this year, promoting the population increase of a species called Arion flagellus, which is commonly known as the Spanish Stealth Slug.

"But what was happening here was slightly different to what was recorded for Arion flagellus and was similar to what had happened in Europe, where a species commonly known as just the Spanish Slug, Arion vulgaris, had moved into Scandinavia and absolutely decimated crops in huge numbers. There were even instances of cars having crashes because slugs had been eating road-kill and made the roads slippery.

"So I contacted Les and we sent him some specimens. He had them identified and confirmed that this was Arion vulgaris and it was the first time it had been identified in the UK. This part of UK seems to be like an open door to all sorts of invasive species. I don't know if it's because we've got a number of ports here."

The presence of this aggressive species is bad news. With few predators, a voracious appetite and the ability to lay around 400 eggs each, the slugs multiply quickly, can cause huge damage to crops and can push out other slugs and snails to dominate an area.

Dr Bedford said: "It's obviously of great concern that we now have this species here. There's been lots of reports from around the county of massive problems with slugs which I'm sure are now going to be Arion vulgaris.

"We had a meeting here recently with Les Noble and Dr Gordon Port (from Newcastle University), to discuss the possibility of getting some funding to look at this further. We want to look at the environmental impact because we know that where this slug appeared in northern Europe, other indigenous species disappeared. I haven't seen any other species here since probably May time."

Dr Bedford and his colleagues at Aberdeen University and Newcastle University are developing a potential programme of research to find out more about the Spanish Slug, its distribution in the UK and the effects it is having.

He said: "We're very interested in seeing what is actually happening, do these invasive species come in with parasites that kill off similar species but not actually kill off their original host? We don't know, so we're going to be looking at this.

"When these slugs invade, do they actually interbreed with indigenous species, are there hybrids out there? We want to see what sort of funding we can get and utilise Norwich's The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) to try and do some genomics on the population of slugs and see what's happening."

If suspicions about the Spanish Slug are right then the UK could see a population explosion in spring when their buried eggs will hatch. If so now is the right time for the collaborative team to start planning how to tackle the potential problem.

"I think the main thing is people are going to see humungous amounts of slugs in their gardens," said Dr Bedford. "There are reports of oilseed rape having problems this year from molluscs which we think could well be because of this Spanish Slug. I've actually seen them in a potato field in the middle of summer sliming across dry, sandy soil and the agronomist with me couldn't believe what he was seeing because slugs don't usually do that. It's a hardy species."

Sourced: http://www.farming.co.uk/news/article/7752

Pig welfare changes from 1 January 2013

From the 1 January 2013 the following changes will come into force.  It’s important to take the time to familiarise yourself with the changes in order to meet the regulations. 

England

From the 1 January 2013, all pig holdings in England will need to meet the provisions of the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 (WOFAR).  Previously this only applied to newly built or re-built premises.
WOFAR implements the EU pig welfare directive which lays down minimum standards for the protection of pigs.
The provisions include:

• For concrete slatted floors – maximum slot widths and minimum slat widths.
• For sows and gilts, minimum lengths specified for the sides of pens.
• For sows and gilts, minimum unobstructed floor area and dimensions for solid floors.

Further information can be found in the information document to pig producers below which also provides further detail and clarification on the provisions.

• Information for pig producers (PDF)

The welfare standards as set out in the Pig welfare directive form part of cross-compliance regulations.

Wales

Producers will be required to implement the following provisions by 1 January 2013:

• Provisions for concrete slatted floors – maximum width of openings and minimum
  slat widths (10 pigs or more)
• For sows and gilts, the length of the sides of pens (10 pigs or more)
• For sows and gilts, minimum unobstructed floor area and dimensions for solid floor.

The Welfare of Farmed Animals Wales Regulations 2007 will also introduce the following the provision below in full:

• The need for all sows and gilts to have permanent access to manipulable (enrichment) material. (Applies to all pig producers).
• To enable proper investigation and manipulation activities, all pigs must have permanent access to a sufficient quantity of material such as straw, hay, wood, sawdust, mushroom compost, peat or a mixture of such which does not adversely
  affect the health of the animals.

Source: http://www.defra.gov.uk/ahvla-en/keeping-animals/welfare/on-farm/pig-welfare-changes13/