Frugal Food From the Garden. (NB: We don't eat the quail, we eat and sell their eggs.)

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Photo from the old corn mill, Port William

Aside from the fact that I am constantly being distracted by butterflies at the moment, I did, eventually, manage to get around to doing some work in the garden, mainly by way of tidying up the greenhouse and sorting out the tomato and cucumber bushes. The tomato plants were becoming so leafy that no light was getting to the dozens of little fruits that were hiding among the greenery. Hopefully, I haven't done the wrong thing in removing many of the lower leaves to allow the sunlight to get at the tomatoes. I was very late getting my tomato seeds planted this year, so they are well behind some of those I've seen elsewhere.

 

I literally had to thin the coiling tendrils of the cucumbers because they were taking over the entire greenhouse and there's little enough room in there at this time of year. The closer I look, the more cucumbers I can see!

 

 

 Down in the frugal poly-tunnel, I'm beginning to wonder if I've done the right thing is leaving the pumpkins - one each side supposed to be for each of my grand daughters in the hope of having pumpkins for Halloween. They are spreading at a terrifying rate and already have tiny pumpkins about the size of golf balls on them. The cucumbers will need to hurry up in there or they'll be swamped by 'the creature' that is a giant pumpkin plant!

Comfrey as green manure

 

A few weeks ago, some fellow frugalers and I were having a bit of a swapathon. I received some ginger mint, which is doing really well, and some small cuttings from comfrey, of which I had none in this garden. It's used as green manure and for speeding up the composting process, so I was hoping to be able to harvest it before the year ends. It's looking good! The above are the cuttings planted about a month ago. I'm delighted to say that the quail eggs I sent in exchange for the plants have, since, hatched - photo courtesy of Shaz.

Da- old Japanese Coturnix Quail, (fawn x tuxedo)

The herb gardens here are still growing at a an amazing rate, supplying herbs galore for friends and neighbours alike. The newest of the spiral gardens was constructed during the last week of May but it is already filled with herbs - and some unexpected 'guest' plants in the shape of sunflowers that have grown from seeds dropped by the birds. (Apologies for photo quality, the sun had set by the time I got around to taking these photos last night.)

Hands up all of you who have courgettes to spare! I know that several of out regular readers have, so we are now organising a courgette cake challenge. Chocolate and courgettes go well when baked together and I'd like to thank Gill for linking us to her carrot and courgette recipe in my previous post.

Yet another courgette trying to break free!

The Frugaldom potato patch is in full bloom and we have already had some of the potatoes. These were all grown from past their best potatoes left over from early in the year - left to sprout and then planted. We have a major slug and snail problem here, so things do tend to beat us to it in the veg-eating stakes, but there are enough potatoes here to last a few weeks at least.

We are still picking raspberries here but the rhubarb has now all gone and the bed being prepared for winter. I need to get a load of manure and straw to cover this over until next year. The next person past my door on a horse will be accosted and a request made for the contents of their stable. :) Next to be picked looks like being some blueberries and then there should be apples ready.

Blueberries

Well that takes care of the garden update for now - I'll pick and freeze the blueberries for ice-cream making, as there aren't many of them while the bushes are establishing themselves in my 'log-man' acidic (ericaceous) bed but here's hoping they start picking up for next year. That's them been in there for about a year, now.

 

Rounding up on the £4,000 budget challenge, I have £1,137.43 remaining to last me until the new year. That's after paying this month's telephone bill and purchasing the tickets for the frugal friends' fun day out to explore Carrick-a-Rede and the Giant's Causeway during our mini cruise to Northern Ireland later this week.

 

And just for good measure, here are this morning's photos. Yes, you got it... more butterflies!

 

Small Wall Brown Butterfly

Peacock Butterfly

Red Admiral Butterfly

 



I really tried my best not to include any butterflies in this post but they made me do it, I tell you, they made me do it! The above three photos were taken this morning while I was hanging out the washing.

I promise, no more butterflies unless I spot something really unusual.

Have a fun and frugal day,

NYK in Frugaldom.

The Rain Fell, the Ducklings Looked up in Amazement!

It's Never Too Wet for Ducks, it Seems.

We really haven't had anything to complain about, weatherwise, here in Frugaldom, but yesterday's downpour came as a bit of a shock, even to the ducklings.

One minute it was slightly breezy and overcast, the next we were hit by a torrential downpour - it was probaby the first serious rain that we've had since the ducklings went outside.

This was quite a site to behold!

Did the ducklings all run for cover and shelter from the deluge? No! They came running up to the gate, 9 heads tilted sideways, staring skywards and quacking at the falling rain!

QUAIL: One of the projects we are working on here in Frugaldom is that of establishing a small egg production unit with the quail. Have you ever tried to photograph a quail? They are not the easiest birds to get to sit still and smile for the camera! After much to-ing and fro-ing, I managed to get one half-decent shot out of my dozens of failed attempts, so we now have the face of 'Frugal Gourmet'.

She is a 2010, homebred, Italian quail hen. This colour variation of the Japanese coturnix quail is sometimes referred to as a Phoenix Golden quail, a far prettier name, in my opinion. Despite it being very pale, the colour is dominant when breeding in mixed colonies, so I'm expecting to end up with the majority of my homebred hens looking similar to this.

Yesterday, while outdoor work was seriously curtailed by the rain and kitchen work seriously curtailed by the array of tubs scattered across the floor catching the drips from the leaking roof, I finally got around to designing the labels for the quail egg boxes.

Aample labels have now been printed and we are getting ready to begin sales proper. (I've omitted part of the labelling for obvious reasons, but the new web page has been uploaded and we're almost good to go.)

At £1.95 per dozen, I see no problems in selling, trading or even exchanging these eggs for other things that we need. I'll probably make a couple of small improvements to the final labels but, for now, we have the face of 'Frugal Gourmet'.

The latest quail chicks are nearly four weeks old and are about ready for transferring outside to their new quarters. The hens among them should be laying before the end of October!

Last time around, I separated the white males from the females prior to collecting eggs. This will ensure we have sufficient unrelated stock for next year's breeding programme. With luck, we should be able to have at least a dozen hens laying each day to see us through winter, then we'll set to work on improving the set-up to enable a larger flock to be maintained on a self-financing basis from 2012.

We aren't here to make our fortune, we are here to sustain our own lifestyle. If the birds can pay for themselves and supply us with eggs, I'll be delighted. Anything extra is a bonus that will be swept into savings for the next step of our Frugaldom journey.

Quail eggs for breakfast, anyone?

Quail hatch in progress - STOP watching, GO and pick dinner!

Japanese Coturnix Quail Chicks in Assorted Colours.

Yes, this really is the second blog post of the day, but I need to keep certain people up to date with the hatching progress.

First of all, I find it very difficult not to sit watching proceedings but the eggs were left in the incubator this time, as opposed to being transferred into the hatching box, which has a viewing window. This means I've been unable to peer in, so had to keep myself otherwise amused for most of the afternoon.

Bread has been baked, freezer has been repacked to fit in today's order and numerous cups of tea have been enjoyed on the patio.

Some weeding got done, the duck pond got topped up, more eggs were collected (and sold to neighbours) and then it got really hot outside, so more sitting about on the patio. By that time, I could make out at least 7 chicks bumbling around inside the incubator, but I daren't open the lid at that stage as the sudden drop in temperature and humidity can affect the rest of the hatch.

Outside, I cleared and swept a small space under the kitchen window, repotted some plants, planted the first of the strawberry runners into individual pots, sowed another row of peas (can but try) and then potted up all my herb cuttings.

From left to right, I don't know what the first plant is, the second one grew from wildbird seed, the third is Thai Basil, next it's the parsley seedlings and then the rosemary, which I rooted from sprigs I bought reduced to 10p in the supermarket.

 The herb cuttings are an assortment of three types of mint - common, lemon balm and grapefruit - two types of thyme and several cuttings from my hardy curry plant that survived the -10C winter last year.

If I can get all of the above to develop into healthy plants, these will go into planters and get sat out on the little cobbled yard at the front of the house.

Dinner time arrived, so I did the frugal act of pulling some carrots and picking some peas. I also brought in some lettuce, a couple of courgettes and an onion, as I was desperate to see how these were doing.

As you can see by the photos, the onions are doing really well and are quite huge, considering how late the sets went in and the fact that the person who gave me them thought they'd be past their sell by date. Not in the least! These are growing great guns! I can hardly wait to pull them up and get them dried for winter use. This one will be going into tomorrow's spicy stir fry along with the courgette and some homegrown chilli peppers.

So, has anyone tried to count the quail chicks in the photograph? I can see 12, so am really happy that we've managed to achieve over 40%  Even I am surprised at how many of these eggs are hatching, as they were neither stored correctly, nor turned daily prior to being incubated. These were simply surplus to requirement eggs that I decided to set in the off chance that a couple of them might be fertile. :)

Nice result, so far.

A Day Out at Wigtown Agricultural Show

Even Frugalites Have Day Trips

Yesterday, 3rd August, was Wigtown Show. It's an annual event that has been running for the past 200 years and one that we try not to miss. Son was home to hold the fort, so we had a frugal day out. £15 for 2 adults and car parking isn't that much, in the grand scheme of things, is it?

This year was the bicentenary and, to mark the occasion, HRH Princess Anne attended. It's the agricultural community's biggest event of the year, so it is always very well attended. We are normally treated to a shower of rain but this year the sun shone throughout the day and a great tme was had by all.

HRH took the time to wander around the showground, chatting to many of the locals and stallholders. Things about here are usually of an informal nature and yesterday's event was no different. It's seldom you find many false airs and graces around these parts, most refreshing, albeit a little disconcerting for some of the visitors.

This year's poultry show was every bit as well supported as last year's, if not more so. There were hundreds of hens, ducks, geese and turkeys, several I hadn't even heard of, let alone seen. However, for sheer 'aaaaw' appeal, this little bantam with her chicks stole the show for me.

Judging the 'Champion of Champions must be a huge burden on the shoulders of whoever has that unenviable task because I really don't know how anyone can compare a horse to a cow to a goat to a sheep to a donkey to a goose!

I had picked out my favourite, a Black Galloway bull with the rather undeserving name of Nancy Boy. He was rather docile, I have to admit, but I'm sure his name won't endear him to his future suitors.

Now that I come to think of it, do cows even bother to exchange names? Perhaps Nancy Boy won't have to deal with that sort of problem afterall. LOL

The feature act of the day was a performance by 'Jive Pony'. The team had travelled many miles to appear and the crowd seemed to appreciate their performance, particularly the audience participation part. The young guy concerned was escorted into the ring, dressed in a pink tu-tu and then legged up onto the Highland pony for his first ever riding experience. He did really well, considering the ribbing he endured from his friends.

We were also lucky enough to see one of the world's smallest owls. I'm guessing it was some sort of pygmy owl, but I didn't want to pay £3.50 for a photograph, so you'll need to do a search to see what it looks like. Maybe I'm just mean, but £3.50 is about half a bag of hen feed, so not an amount I was prepared to pay for a photo on the Frugaldom blog.

 After the show we visited friends and shared a late afternoon cappuccino and chat on their patio. While there, I was able to take some cuttings (thanks, J) of an assortment of geraniums and some grapefruit mint. I'm thinking that an assortment of mint would be an ideal addition to the front 'garden' where each type could be planted in its own pot. This grapefruit one smells lovely.

It was then time to collect our new bantams. There are six in total, four Light Sussex X hens, one blue Pekin hen and a lavender Pekin cockerel. At the moment, they're beng quarantined in a 2m coop and run. In a couple of weeks, we'll let the X bred bantams out with the others but will need to keep the Pekins in the run so Billy Gruff, my blue cuckoo Silkie cockerel, doesn't attack his smaller counterpart.

 

That brings us back to what's happening in Frugaldom. Last night I was sure I heard a small squeak coming from the incubator. Today is day 17 for the quail eggs, so I shouldn't really have been surprised to come through this morning to find the first chick hatched and bumbling about in the incubator. Since then, a second has arrived and several of the other eggs are rocking and rolling, with the tell tale cracking sound of tiny beaks on shell.

Any chick from this lot is a bonus, as the eggs were all collected from my hens the week after they were seperated from the males. With no way of knowing how many, if any, would be fertile, I stuck 32 eggs in the incubator and crossed my fingers. 3 were removed shortly after that, but 29 remained. I wonder what percentage are fertile? I think we've reached 10% now, as I can see a beak pocking out of an almost open egg.

 

I'll update with photos as soon as I possibly can. For now, the incubator is remaining firmly shut. You can follow the updates by reading the section amed 'In the Incubator' on the free forums, which is where I normally upload the photos.

Frugaldom now has a new project to add to the list of many - we need to build an aviary to house some Diamond Doves that we are rehoming from the same person who gave us the bantams. He's leaving the area in a few weeks time, so we'll need to get organised soon to ensure we can house these new birds. There are a few others comig too, mainly zebra finches and bengalese, but we already have those species, so they'll mix OK after their quarantine period. The Diamond Doves, however, I'd like to see outside in their own space. More on this at a later date.

In the time it has taken me to edit and upload this post, quail chicks 3, 4, 5 and 6 have arrived! We've already passed the 20% mark. :)

Another Busy Fortnight Gone!

Where does all the time go?

It doesn't seem any time at all since I was on here announcing the arrival of our newest ducklings, so it's hard to believe that was about a fortnight ago! I hope everyone has seen a bit of the sunshine we have had and been able to make the most of it.

I had family visiting for a couple of days and, would you believe it, those couple of days were the ones that the sun chose not to shine! Typical. But it did stay dry enough for us to sit outside, take them a wander around the garden and for my dad to create a circular route via peapods and strawberries, munching merrily as he proceeded. Yes, we now have peas... and plenty of them. :)

All nine of the ducklings survived, all of them fit and healthy, all of them being cheeky, noisy, mucky duckies. We've had to move them into a much larger cage in the outbuilding, as they outgrew their brooder box within a few days and then outgrew their converted rabbit cage brooder the following week. The weather is mild and their run is under cover, so they no longer have their heat bulb. Some are beginning to grow tail feathers and we hear the occasional little broken squeak that could be the tell tale signs of a future quack.

Last week, we set up some breeding cages for the Japanese quail then moved them from their run  to get them sorted out for breeding. They were all running together, so the past week's eggs all went into the incubator in the hope of getting some chicks. If fertile, these eggs will be due to hatch on 5th August. By then, I should have more eggs for a selective breeding programme to produce next year's layers.

In the garden, rubble mountain is disappearing fast and beginning to show a semblance of becoming the site for the summerhouse. H has spent a great deal of time digging and hauling out all sorts of rubbish, concrete blocks and rubble. The concrete has had to be smashed up in order to move it, but the space is gradually clearing.

On the other side of the fance, the ducks are still loving their new pond, which still hasn't got the paving laid around it, despite it having been ordered last week. Builders' merchant hasn't delivered it yet! The joys of rural living - nobody wants to have to make a special trip out here when they offer free delivery - more a case of, 'we'll get it to you when we can'.

The pond drainage system is one thing I am really pleased with, as it saves so much time when topping up or cleaning and it meant absolutely no flooding after the couple of nights heavy rain we had here.

I managed to haul a huge rock to the edge of the pond and can now have the water trickling down that to top it up. The ducks love that, too.   

Along the edge of the orchard/duck run, all the soil has now been spread out along the south facing wall to form a border. At one end, we've fenced off about 5m of it and I've planted some sprouting potatoes a friend brought me - that was just over a week ago and all the potatoes are now growing, lots of greenery peeking through the carefully riddled soil. There was also a set of cat paw prints the entire length of it within the first day of digging, raking, sifting and planting!

We did manage to get a few raspberries from the canes, quite surprising considering the amount of time they were in buckets between leaving the last garden and getting put in the ground here.

There were nowhere near enough rasps to use as dessert, let alone make jam, so we ate them with strawberries and yoghurt each day we picked them. There are still a few out there, so it's a race between us and the blackbirds. The blackbirds have already beaten us in the cherry stakes!

Peapods in abundance and we've already started picking. Peas are so easy to grow and always seem to grow in abundance! I would recommend them to everyone who has even the tiniest patch of ground, space for a trough or even a balcony. Friends have them growing along the edge of the bridge next to their house... but then again, those might have been sweet peas of the non-edible kind. 

Despite the lateness of planting, my sweet peas look as though they are about to flower, so I'll need to remember to get photographs of those, as I love them. It's just finding the space to allocate to flower garden that's been the problem, but that's all settled for next year. Plans are afoot for that.

 The courgettes are doing really well, with a further 4 on the plant I cut last week's from and several on the other. The yellow one has begun to grow much faster after losing its first fruit to the snails!

This is the first time I have tried the patty pan squash. This was a seedling plant that came from our previous next door neighbours, who have, since, taken over the old house, stove, garden and greenhouse etc. Dreamer's blog should cover progress from over there.

I think I planted too many carrots in one patch! I'm thinning them out every couple of days in an effort to make space for the others to grow, but they aren't being wasted: the larger ones are being eaten by us and the smaller ones fed to the rabbit.

I'll bet if she realised that was what was at the bottom of the 'swishy' greenery, she'd be digging them up for herself. She does tend to help herself to whatever she wants when running about the garden. This is Floppity taking a mouthful of hay (dried grass from the verge trimmings) for a walk. She was in such a hurry to get out that day, she took her half-eaten mouthful of hay with her!

She really is a very funny big rabbit, especially when she decides to chase the cat. Floppity is bigger than our cat, so she usually wins any scraps or carry-on they may have.

We have a great many lizards here, little brown ones that get everywhere, both outdoors and in! This is one sunbathing on the back gate. I'm afraid I didn't hang around long enough to photograph the one that had climbed up the bedroom curtains when I woke the other morning. It's so warm, the windows have been left open constantly since we moved here, so I'll need to be careful of what can gain entry to the house!

Since the lizard incident, Scruffy cat has chosen to thoroughly check out the windowsill every night - I'm sure she'd alert me to anything untoward. Wouldn't she?

I ended up having to pick more rhubarb, as the stuff just keeps on growing. I traded it for potatoes, so that was good, but there's been another flush of it since then. I'll need to get that picked, chopped, stewed and frozen and let the light in at my belated sunflower seeds, which were thrown in the back corner in the hope that a few would grow.

We have so many wild birds about here that some of them are bound to love sunflower seeds. It would be lovely if the flowers grew and put on a wildbird display for us at the same time. The latest arrivals in the garden have been the Linnets and H was lucky enough to see his first Yellowhammer. We've plenty of wagtails, goldfinches, greenfinches, siskins and willow warblers. In fact, I'm amazed at the number of warblers here, despite us having only a tiny stream and the willow not yet established. (Or is willow just part of their name, I wonder?)

All the recent excitement of new ducklings, quail moving, visitors and family visiting seems to have exhausted the cat. She has firmly established her routine - breakfast, out to play all day, indoors before dark, check for lizards, crash out and sleeps soundly all night.

This is her 'DO NOT DISTURB' pose.

Well, since starting this blog post, the sun has disappeared behind a huge rain cloud and the garden is being watered for me - that's one more job ticked off today's 'to do' list.

Feel free to join us in the free, Frugaldom forums anytime, don't forget to introduce yourself.

The good life may cost lest than you think, especially if you don't mind frugal living and working from home.

Spring Equinox, Gardening and Poultry

Longer days mean more eggs.

As the winter slowly passes, spring will soon be here. The spring equinox having been and gone means that the days will gradually be lengthening and the hens will soon be in full lay. The girls have produced enough eggs to keep the household going through the winter, but there haven't been enough to warrant any regular sales.

We've only got one pair of white ducks remaining with us, for the time being, but I'm already planning on having a couple more as soon as we get settled into the new house - probably Khaki Campbells or some more Indian Runner ducks, as I like both. Our solitary duck, Phoebe, is laying an egg every morning now, but I don't want to incubate/hatch any of these, as there would be no point. We need some nice new ducklings for spring, completely unrelated to Joey, our white Aylesbury X drake.

Preparations for moving house are underway. We are digging up everything that we planted; it's a bit like un - gardening! Fruit bushes, apple trees, plum trees, pear trees and cherry trees - the entire mini orchard has to be moved. The crab apples have already been transplanted into large pots, as have most of the gooseberries and tayberries. There's an entire row of raspberries still to be dug, along with the blackcurrants. If the rain stays away, we should get them into pots this weekend.

All of the vegetable beds have been dug over, so the hens and ducks have now been given free access to these areas, in the hope that they'll root out anything we've missed. Our miniature white Silkie hen, however, prefers to dust bath in the damp soil, so she is constantly filthy!

The sleepers that surround the deep vegetable bed are being rehomed. The soil from the original square foot garden will be ideal for filling in holes after the fruit trees have been removed. It will mean raking and rolling the entire area, but I'll get some grass seed spread on it, just as soon as the hens and ducks have all been transported to their new home.

The grape vine seems to be surviving relatively well, as is the Russian Vine. Not a very popular species, I know, especially for anyone with a small garden, but it will be kept well trimmed. I'd not long put an arch across the garden gate and planted honeysuckle either side, so it all needs to be carefully removed and transplanted before the plants fully recover from their winter hibernation.

Bird boxes along the fence should be removed, but I've already seen bluetits flitting in and out of them on a regular basis. I have no intentions of disturbing them and am prepared to forfeit a few bird boxes in order to encourage them to continue breeding here.

My longterm plan of cultivating willow had just been newly implemented when we received notice to quit this house, so I'm hoping that the withies that were planted won't mind too much if we move them again. I'm determined to have a mini willow plantation somewhere, so the next garden should be the place to start again... without fear of any landlord asking us to move.

Most of what is in the greenhouse will be composted. Only the trays of lettuce seedlings will come with us, although I am desparate to get a few more seeds sown. Trouble is, we don't, yet, have an exact date for moving, so the greenhouse needs to be dismantled in readiness, as does the garden shed.

The next step is to sell the surplus quail so we can dismantle their run. Japanese Coturnix Quail are very hardy little game birds! They have lived outside in a corner of our garden all year round and we're still getting a few eggs. I was amazed they survived the -16C temperatures during the hardest part (so far) of this winter. At that point, their eggs were freezing solid before I could get out to collect them in the mornings. It's still dipping below zero here first thing, but a few of the hens have continued to lay throughout winter - not bad going for what is traditionally thought of as a migratory bird.

I'll probably keep about a dozen quail hens and three of the best cockerels to take to the new place, then start incubating / hatching new stock as soon as we're orgaised enough to safely run an incubator and brooder. Pity this variety of quail are known more for their laying ability than their interest in breeding!
There isn't a great deal more we can do to prepare the garden for our next big move. All I can do is hope that it will be our last for many years, and that we can reliably call it home. I'm glad we didn't set down too many roots here and am now looking forward to beginning again - a whole new frugaldom project and the creation of the new microholding.

Rest assured that the entire process will be well photographed and documented, once again. I now have three full years' worth of this project, including two false starts. 2011 needs to be our final startup! Wish me luck!

An Eggs-cellent Frugal Business

January Sale Now On



I'd like one of these, please!

 2011, year three in Frugaldom and we're still pursuing the debt free, frugal living, frugal business, frugal blogging plan but now incorporating a frugal business plan for the future. Afterall, we still need to earn a living in order to pay all the bills.

There's no such thing as cash free living, no matter how much we want to believe it exists. In a nutshell, it doesn't!


Not wanting to carry all my eggs in one basket, making Frugaldom self-sufficient in all things, including cash, means diversification from ground level. There are no employees, there are no doors to be opened to allow the public access and there are no lengthy meetings or negotiations to fit into my day. What I do have is a small poultry flock that needs caring for from dawn until dusk, literally.

If you have any plans for keeping and rearing poultry or deriving part of your income from them, you'd probably be safest registering via Defra from the outset, get your flock onto the GB Poultry Register. At the moment, registration is voluntary for small keepers, but it is compulsory as soon as you reach 50 birds, including quail. Registration is completely free and it can be done online, so there's no excuse for not meeting minimum legal requirements once your flock is built up to a productive level. You'll also need to complete an annual questionnaire to confirm and/or update the numbers. This can also be done online.



Freerange eggs

Being of a frugal nature, keeping hens means that eggs become part of the staple diet. It's not just hen eggs we eat, there are also the duck and quail eggs, so there are always plenty on the go, especially once the better weather gets here. Birds usually need around 14 hours of daylight to produce eggs, but there are always a few appear through the winter. We've been really lucky in that we've managed to have an average of half a dozen per day right throughout the worst of the winter weather. The main problem was collecting quail eggs before they froze solid - something for which the cat was extremely grateful, as she got all the defrosted eggs.



Homemade Lemon Curd

 Spring will soon be creeping in and then egg production will soar. If the household can consume 40+ eggs per week then what happens when we're getting 100+ duck and hen eggs and another 100+ quail eggs?

There's a limit to what we can sell, especially as the law dictates eggs can only be sold directly to the consumer. There's all sorts of legislation governing eggs and egg sales, so best stick to selling directly to friends, neighbours, family and colleagues. Quail eggs, on the other hand, are a delicacy that can be traded retail or wholesale, to the consumer or hotels, restaurants and wholesalers.

Here in Frugaldom, I breed and rear Japanese Coturnix Quail mainly for eggs but it's the surplus eggs from the hens that get channelled into my small scale lemon curd production. I'm still tweaking the recipe to give it that 'something different' but feedback, so far, has been very positive for both the lemon and lime curds. I even make meringues and coconut macaroons in order to use up all the extra egg whites left over from using the bright yellow yokes.

But before you jump for joy and rush out to start making and plying your wares, one word of caution: In order to make and sell food, it is mandatory that you have a valid and current Food Hygiene Certificate. Your certificate needs renewing every 3 years. On the plus side, it costs only £25 and you can do the short course and sit the exam online within a few hours. As long as you are only making small quantities when you have surplus eggs, this project shouldn't need further certification for the premises. This is a handy publication (downloads as a .pdf) about starting a food-based business.

In the long run, I'd love to be able to build a Log Cabin and live the good life, but let's not try to run before we walk. In the meantime, if anyone has a scrap of land available for sale, please get in contact.

QUAILS AND FROSTY WEATHER

If anyone ever tells you quail are lovely, simple to care for little gamebirds, remind them of how silly these feathered friends can be.

Having spent many weeks deliberating over the best way to keep mine - penned in a shed or space to run around outdoors - we eventually settled for building them an outdoor pen with a large sheltered platform. Quail are originally migratory birds, so they should not like the cold and they certainly shouldn't like the dampness followed by sub-zero temperatures. However...

My lovely little home-hatched, Japanese Coturnix Quail defy everything I've just said, so ignore it all. They don't hate the cold. Mine are hardy, Scottish quail. MacQuails, even!


Last night, it being such a clear, starry night, I wrapped up and went outdoors late to watch the Gemenids - meteors - that were flashing overhead. It was about 10.30pm, it was -5C and the sky was amazing, so I guess that must have been why all the quail were out runing about their pen! I could hear them chirping and gurgling that throaty noise they make when chasing one another. They were out playing in the freezing moonlight!

This morning, I peered anxiously into the run half expecting to see stiff little feathered bundles frozen to the ground but oh no, that wasn't what my quail were doing, they were dust bathing in their shavings inside the shelter and there were eggs lying OUTSIDE, FROZEN TO THE GROUND! Lifting them out, I could clearly see that the eggs were frozen solid, they had expanded and had split their shells from end to end. No wonder the Frugaldom cat likes meal time... I'd to thaw the eggs in her porridge so she didn't miss her fresh quail egg breakfast.

How does the saying go? Toffs are careless? Frugal living does have some luxurious side effects besides helping you remain debt free.

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