Fishing Pond

As I wrote already today on my other blog, I am fascinated by the idea of having a pond for fish and for fishing. My son and I are keen and not very good fishermen, and far more interested in sea fishing than coarse, but the idea is an appealing one.

Reading Parson Woodforde's diary (highly recommended, a fantastic insight into real life in the 18th century, and in a strange way a compelling soap opera avant la lettre) I was taken with his own obsession for a time with stocking, filling, and generally taking care of his own fishing pool or pools. Tench featured regularly on his menus, as did eels (best not to promote the eating of them at present given they are in decline), and if memory serves carp. I cooked carp once, bought on Bury Market as a Christmas Eve treat for my late Polish father-in-law. It tasted muddy and very unexciting, but I think in his grumpy way he appreciated the effort.

We do have an ornamental pond in our garden, and have managed to keep goldfish alive for several years in there, plus a few tiny perch (I think). Recent visits by a heron (can't help thinking about the instructions in Hannah Glasse about how to dress one of these birds) have almost certainly emptied the pond of fish, so perhaps in the warmer months we'll restock with something edible.

Given the weather the last few years has been wet, wet wet, thus parts of the garden are sodden after the merest drizzle now, it could be a good idea to expand the pond, or dig a much larger one designed for the purpose. I guess my wife will have her say on that. As we have lots of trees which drop leaves aplenty it may not be truly practical here. The fun of raising tench, perch and whatever other species are compatible and obtainable, is another aspect to this, and so of course is dropping a hook and line in to catch one for tea.

And yes, tench, perch etc are fine to eat. Perch is a treat in Switzerland, where I have eaten it. My memory is that the flesh was quite sweet, a bit like dab. They need a good sauce, but then so do quite a few more frequently eaten fishes.

Big Freeze and Chickens

As ever with any threat of cold weather the media are predicting death and terror. Here on the west side of the country we tend to avoid major snowfalls, but when we do get them it makes life a bit tougher for the chickens, and along with the duty to look after them there is what happens to the egg yield to consider.

Ours are bright enough (a relative term as regards hens) to spend more time in their house when it gets really cold, but if there is a frost it still affects them - they can't for instance figure out what to do with frozen grass, the non-frozen variety being a big source of food for them when they roam the garden. That grass is supposed to help with the yellowness of the yolk, so I'll supplement the diet with scraps of our greens to balance it out. And if they are using loads of energy to fight the cold they lay fewer eggs (ours are intelligent enough not to lay less eggs), so I up their feed (not that they are ever without anyway) and include some cheap (cheep? I hate myself) porridge oats, said to be the best thing for them in the cold.

Anyone reading this and thinking about keeping chickens? A few pointers:

1: It's easy. Get a very basic book and read up before buying.
2: Make sure you fox-proof their home as far as that's possible.
3: Go for the bog-standard brown hens, not the fancier breeds. They are healthy and lay more frequently.
4: It's kind, and economic, to give them plenty of time ranging free. If you have a garden they can make a bit of a mess, but they fertilize it and make inroads into snails and slugs and other nasties, especially near fruit trees.
5: We had a rat problem briefly, as the hen-house was then far too near a hedge - good cover for the vermin - and probably because we were sloppy with the odds-and-sods we fed our hens. Make sure the hen-house is in the open.