Rustical

Category: Food

  • Big pumpkin season review

    Well that’s another year of big pumpkins over and, it is fair to say, Halloween gets bigger every year. The professional carvers took more than ever of our large pumpkins but the giant pumpkins remain in a very niche market. I think how difficult they are to handle is one reason but the other is…

  • Beech Logs and Chunks back in stock

    It has been a while but beech is back in stock. Some will end up being sold amongst the mixed hardwood firewood but the bulk of this tree will be used for serving boards & platters, logs and heartwood wood chunks for smoking food and walking stick handles. The bulk of the branches have been…

  • Polytunnel Update – End July

    A quick update from the polytunnels: Giant Pumpkins Over the last few weeks the main vines have achieved the most desirable length for the production of a giant pumpkin and the selected female flowers cross pollinated with it’s carefully chosen suitor. A couple of pumpkins have now set and are definitely on their way to…

  • Green Beans and BBQ Greens

    The haul from the polytunnel this morning…. The green beans and chuckie eggs will be lovely with a nice piece of gammon this evening and the Lemongrass, Rosemary, Parsley, Rocket, Jalapeno peppers, Garlic and Cucumbers will go towards a big BBQ tomorrow. We do like fresh produce and it can’t get any fresher than this!…

  • Oklahoma Joe’s Offset Smoker

    Like many other things I have been meaning to build an offset smoker for so long, have collected many bits and bobs in readiness but never got around to it. When I saw ASDA selling of the highly reccomended Oklahoma Joe for the price of a cheap tin replica I jumped at the chance. It…

  • Preparing Oak and Rosemary

    Not a chore I particularly like as I am not a big fan of having my fingers so close to a bandsaw blade but it has to be done; preparing heartwood wood chunks. The oak is first cut into rings on the bandsaw and then chopped into pieces using an axe. The pieces are then…

  • Wood smoking revelations

    We have a new Customer. Stuart from Southport is a new customer. Stuart has specific requirements for his 10 hour smoked brisket and he came to see if we could meet his needs. The answer is of course ‘yes’ but that isn’t what prompts this post. Talking to Stuart made me realise that I don’t…

  • Hydroponic Trials Update

    Celeriac Celeriac being a moisture loving plant that needs fertile, moisture retentive soil I thought it might perform well hydroponically. Our celeriac was grown from seed (rather than the recommended plugs) in 8cm pots. When roots were showing, the pots were then placed in a small NFT system. These have overwintered in a small greenhouse without…

  • Hazel wood chunks for smoking food

    Any Hazel wood we remove from our coppice that cannot be used for walking stick shanks or other woodland crafts gets cut up into ‘Wood Chunks‘ which get used in smokers and BBQ’s for flavouring meats, fish and cheeses. All our hazel is coppiced with a hand saw so has not been contaminated with chainsaw oil. It…

  • First lambs of 2017 turned out

    It is always nice to see new life on the plot and today was the day that the newborn lambs started to leave the lambing shed and arrive with their mothers to be turned out onto grass. They are in a small paddock that is very well sheltered so they settled in very quickly. More…