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TABLE OF CONTENTS... • The latest issue of Home Farmer... • Win a pair of Dr. Martens work boots... • Win James Wong's book, Homegrown Revolution... • The Home Farmer resource... • 'Best before' dates to disappear... • GMO Myths and Truths... • Smallholders Show, Ardingly, 2014... Brand new issue out now... To view the contents panel click here To buy this issue click here To save 25% off the cover price and get a copy of Paul Hollywood's Breadbook worth £20 FREE,click here. To subscribe for 12 issues and get a FREE copy of Paul Hollywood'sBread book click here. Please support our Advertisers WoodBlocX is a natural, elegant and simple system for designing and creating structures in your garden. The timber used is specially selected pine from sustainably managed forests. It is quarter-sawn, avoiding the centre of the tree, and pressure treated twice during the maufacturing process, which will give you over 20 years of use, and everything is organically approved by the Soil Association. VisitWoodBlocX to find out more. Add a title Enter your description Add a title Sign up today and save over *£1.00 every issue (on direct debit), get Home Farmer delivered straight to your door every month and get a FREE copy of Paul Hollywood'sBread book worth £20. To read an extract click here. Plus there is always 20% off any books bought from The Home Farmer Store. To subscribe by *Direct Debit and save 25% click here. To subscribe for 12 issues by card click here. The latest issue of Home Farmer... Hot off the press, the July Home Farmer is hot as the chillies in Elizabeth McCorquodale's fiery food article. With spices, plums, unusual veg, propagating softwood cuttings and all our regular 'on the plot' and 'under plastic' features, plus poultry housing, red mite, preventing bees from swarming, an alternative take on First World War food, fabulous features on bread and ice cream, and cooking up your own 'Bounty' bars in the kitchen. Special projects this month include reupholstering a chair and a new series called simply 'Fixing stuff', featuring common things such as repairing a vacuum cleaner, hanging a door and darning and sewing on patches. And it's all ready to go, so we hope you enjoy it and try out many of our ideas. To view the contents panel click here. To buy this issue click here. Win a pair of Dr. Martens work boots... I recently got a pair of Dr. Martens Forge ST boots, a new range for the garden, the factory and the workshed, and they come with lashings of style. They're comfortable (they were devised to help their inventor cope with a broken foot), and undeniably strong - sheets of leather triple-sewn together to cocoon a home farmer's feet. We have joined up with Dr. Martens to offer a pair of Forge ST boots for a lucky male reader, and a pair of similar Izzy ST boots for a lucky female. Just tell us which range of Dr. Martens footwear the Forge ST boots belong to - the answer can be found at www.drmartens.com. Email your answers to ruth@homefarmer.co.uk no later than the 5th of June with the heading 'Dr. Martens Competition'. Forge ST boots come in sizes 6-13 and Izzy ST in sizes 3-9, but tell us your chosen size (and colour) when we let you know you have won. Good luck everyone! Win James Wong's book, Homegrown Revolution... In Homegrown Revolution,James Wong reveals lesser-known but often familiar fruit and veg, much of which is far more suited to growing in the UK than their often better known counterparts. Tomatoes are a classic example, being more suited to Mexico than Manchester, or take the kiwi fruit - there is a smaller version, considerably sweeter with no furry outer section, so you can eat it whole. It is even hardy down to -25 degrees Celsius too. There are many such gems in the book, and most are available from Suttons at www.suttons.co.uk, so they won't be hard to find. We have five copies of Homegrown Revolution to give away; to enter simply email ruth@homefarmer.co.uk no later than the 5th of June with the heading 'James Wong Competition' together with your details, and get your very own Homegrown Revolution started! The Home Farmer resource... www.homefarmer.co.uk is becoming quite an extensive and wide-reaching resource for anyone seeking solutions to familiar problems, step-by-step 'how-to' instructions, recipes, news snippets, information and videos, and it's still growing and growing all the time as we add lots more new features and items of topical interest. Here is just a brief cross-section of some of the things you will find atwww.homefarmer.co.uk. 'Best before' dates to disappear... Discussions to end the use of ‘Best before’ labels on foods such as hard cheese, pasta, rice, jams, pickles and coffee are underway as part of a European Commission plan to reduce the 100 million tons of food thrown out each year across the Continent. Most foods are required to show such information, but the Commission is considering amending the rules with regard to foods that can be stored for a considerable period. About 15 per cent of all food waste is believed to be caused by such information on food packaging, and the Commission believes people should make an informed decision as to whether a product is safe to eat. The ‘Best before’ date has always been more a quality gauge than a safety warning, but there is confusion between ‘Best before’ and ‘Use by’ dates. Even vinegar, both a foodstuff and a renowned preservative, was only recently exempted from these rules. As yet the British government does not support the proposal, arguing that the link between waste and such labels requires more research. GMO Myths and Truths... A new report compiled by some of the UK's top genetic engineers has poured scorn on the belief that genetically mofified crops can ever hope to feed the world, and raises concerns about safety too. To read more click here. Smallholders Show, Ardingly, 2014... The Smallholders’ Show takes place at the South of England Showground at Ardingly in West Sussex on 5th and 6th July 2014. Home Farmer will be at the event, which has always been a great mix of family entertainment and smallholder essentials, with talks and demonstrations, advice from local smallholder groups, a wide range of smallholder and gardening accessories, local food, music and a full programme of entertainment. To learn more visitwww.smallholdershows.co.uk, or telephone Alison on 07714 102381. We look forward to seeing you there.

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10 Fun Things to Do with Mint This Summer

10 Fun Things to Do with Mint This Summer

I think we've all had this happen at one time or another: you plant some mint and before you know it, you've got enough mint to feed a third-world country! I've learned my lesson and plant most of our mint in a container now to keep it from spreading, but honestly, I love mint and use it in so many ways on our farm that I am more than happy to let it grow like a weed. Here are my ten favorite ways to use mint.

1.) Fresh or dried mint in the nesting boxes and mint planted around the coop helps to naturally repel rodents that can spread disease and eat the chicken feed. 

2.) I also make this Lavender Mint Coop Refresh Spray to help keep our coop smelling nice. It's a wonderful refresh spray for your home as well.

3.) Flies don't like mint much either, so I make these simple, cute fly repelling mason jars for our back patio in the summer ...

4.) and also this vinegar-based all natural Basil Mint Fly Spray for our horses, duck house and run area where the flies seem to congregate.

5.) Mint has natural cooling properties, so it makes for great iced tea in the summer. I brew this Vanilla Mint Iced Tea right in our coffee machine for an inexpensive, healthy summer sipper.

6.) Your chickens can benefit from mint's cooling properties as well with these Frozen Ice Cube Treats that are fun and easy to make.

7.) We eat eggs nearly every day and not just for breakfast. Next time you have steak and eggs for dinner, try this easy Basil-Mint Chiffonade as a yummy accompaniment.

8.) I also love using mint as a garnish for desserts, especially for this Tiered Blackberry White Chocolate Cheesecake.

9.) Mint helps to keep breath fresh (hence all the minty gums and breath 'mints'), so I like to whip up a batch of these Blueberry Mint Dog Treats for our dogs on occasion.

10.) At the end of the season, I like to harvest all of the remaining mint and dry some to use over the winter using my handy DIY Herb Drying Rack and also make a batch of Mint Jelly to use as an accompaniment for a rack or leg of lamb.

There are many different varieties of mint including chocolate mint, orange mint, spearmint, grapefruit mint, mojito mint and lemon balm. You can use them interchangeably. Just avoid Pennyroyal; it's toxic.

Do you grow mint? What varieties? And do you have other ways you use mint around your coop, farm or home? I would love to hear them.

Cheese and Beer Tasting - non members very welcome

EESG Group Members Meeting Home Brewing

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EESG Group Members Meeting Home Brewing Tuesday 20th May 2014 The Blue Boar Hotel 3-7 Silver Street, Maldon, Essex CM9 4QE 7.30pm For all those keen home brewers, here are a couple of guest speaker not to be missed ! Julian from May and Bretts Department Store in Great Dunmow will be coming to tell us about the wonderful array of home brew equipment he sells and hopefully with him will be a chap from The New Forest Micro Winery to tell us more and even sample a tipple or two if we are lucky ! Can we try for a 7.30 prompt start please as he will have a 3 hour journey home. Look forward to seeing you all there. If any non members would like to attend and see just what the EESG are about please feel free to come along.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS... • Inheritance Recipes Online • How to Build a Solar Cooker • Next Issue Current Issue. To view the contents panel click here. To buy this issue click here. To subscribe by Direct Debit and get Paul Hollywood's BREAD book (worth £20) for FREEclick here. To subscribe for 12 issues click here. Sign up today and get this beautiful book for FREE... Sign up by Direct Debit today and save over *£1.00 on every issue, get Home Farmer delivered straight to your door every month and get a FREE copy of this lavishly illustrated book choc full of practical recipes for the bread maker. Plus there is also 20% off books bought from The Home Farmer Store. To subscribe by Direct Debit and get your FREE book worth £20 click here. To subscribe for 12 issues by card click here. *based on 12 x £3.95. Raised Beds on a Slop Loving this suggestion from WoodBlocX for using raised beds on a slope. See this month's issue to win £750 of WoodBlocX kit. Inheritance Recipes Online Home Farmer is building up a free resource of 'inheritance recipes' from our readers, and we need your help. Most of us have family favourites, either recipes that have been passed on to us by family or friends, or recipes that you will be passing on to your own family and friends. They don't have to be fancy or grand, but should include measurements and a list of ingrediants. If you got them from elsewhere (a book, for instance), please credit that book. Also, if there is a story behind the recipe then we would like it if you could share that story, as it is a part of the importance of that recipe. All we ask, though, is that they are much loved by your friends and families, especially when reunions take place. If posiible any photos would be great too. Please email your inheritance recipes to ruth@homefarmer.co.uk together with your name, address and a bit about why this recipe is important. We will then post them online together with a link to your blog, if you have one. We also think this would make a great feature for the magazine and would like to include a number of them at some point in the future. Here are just two of our own family favourites: Auntie Margaret's Evaporated Milk Ice Cream Vanilla Kipferl As a thank you for sharing your treasured recipes you will automatically be put into a prize draw to win one of five Food From an Irish Garden books by Home Farmer contributor Fiona Dillon. . How to Build a Solar Cooker We're finally getting some sun, so make the most of it with our instructions on how to build a solar cooker. For instructions click here. Next Issue The pages are shaping up well. As usual we have gathered together a diverse range of subjects, including an article on how to re-upholster a chair and also kick starting a new series on how to fix things. We've also got our regular seasonal foraging feature, all you need to know to grow chillies and other spicy items such as wasabi or radishes, an update on some First World war recipes, and plenty of our regular features for the home grower and producer.

We hope you are OK with us sending you this email. You are being sent it because you either signed up for it or made a purchase from us. Your email address does NOT get shared in anyway. To contact us email ruth@homefarmer.co.uk | Telephone 01772 633444 Edit your subscription | Unsubscribe

Problems reading this email?       Check Your Ewes After Lambing       Keep a close eye on your ewes after lambing. Watch out for the signs of Mastitis, a painful condition affecting the ewe’s udder. Check any ewes that appear lame on a hind limb, or who seem reluctant to feed their lambs – butting them away when they try to suck; it may be a sore udder that is causing them to behave this way, and if the lambs are left hungry you should consider bottle-feeding. See our DVD 'The Breeding Flock' for information on conditions that can affect ewes post-lambing.               Things to do this month! May is another busy month. The days are lengthening and there have been some beautifully warm days to help the growth in your vegetable plot. The warm weather can bring early cases of flystrike though - so keep an eye on your flock. There are lots of useful seasonal tips on our website. Here are a few: Avoid turning lambs out onto pastures that carried lambs the previous year. Check your hen coop regularly for eggs, if left too long it may encourage egg pecking or eating – and once the habit is formed it’s very difficult to stop. Your pigs will enjoy a daily ‘grooming’ session with a stiff brush. Hoe in the morning so the sun desiccates the uprooted weeds, and water in the evening when the heat of the day is gone. Keep up with all your smallholding tasks with our comprehensive guides to sheep,chickens, pigs and the vegetable garden. Just click on an image below.                     New on our Website Article of the Month Lambing 5 - The Growing Lamb Moredun Health Bulletin Neosporosis: a major cause of reproductive failure in cattle Green Farm Diary The joys of Spring, lambing & new chicks NADIS Health Alert Non-parasitic skin conditions in sheep Advice from Hush Farms Trailer Training - be confident in manoeuvring your vehicle and trailer Recipe of the Month Asparagus Frittata with Soft Cheese and Chives                         Feedback We really appreciate getting feedback from our customers - your views on our DVDs, suggestions for articles you'd find useful / helpful, and how you initially heard of us. You can leave feedback by emailing us - see the feedback page on our website. Real Smallholders Do you have an interesting story about your smallholding? How you achieved your dream, or the variety of livestock you have? Maybe you have new products you would like to promote. We'd love to feature you in our 'Real Smallholders' section. Just email us, and we'll send you details of what to include in your story. Weekly Bulletins Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for weekly smallholding news.

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