Smallholding plans

As a smallholder, you are presented with a wide variety of animals and breeds which you could keep with a view to using them for food; cattle, sheep, ducks, bees, geese, chickens, pigs, goats, other foul, the list goes on. You also need to consider the cost vs. payback; the total value of looking after the animal, not just in terms of food, but in terms of the experience of looking after them. You also want to work out what you want to use them for. Do you want chickens for eggs or meat, as this will dictate to some degree which breeds to buy. Cattle/goats/sheep for meat or milk, or both? 

Then you will have a better idea of the infrastructure you will need to get in place; what housing is appropriate, what food they should be provided with, how much room they will need, what type of fencing and protection you must provide, how much of your time will be required and what the cost will be for all this. You will also need to consider the cost of the equipment for any of the specialist plans you have; milking kit, cheese-making kit, honey extraction, maybe a smoker and curing kit for meat, equipment for making mead - the options are endless and the list (and cost) grow fast. 

Even  a simple plot with fruit and vegetables, you can find your plans to make lots of jams and preserves will require the right equipment, especially if you plan to make enough to sell them in any volume. It takes planning and preparation so that when the produce is ready, you are too. Fruit will not stay perfectly ripe for long whilst you run around trying to buy sugar and vinegars and preserving pans, muslin and jars and labels and whatever else you need.

It is really easy to get carried away and spend too much money too quickly on plans you cannot possibly execute with the time you have. Don't have your enthusiasm dampened, but do consider how much time a lot of these things take, their cost over time too, and how you probably will need to spend some time at work and with your family too! Take small steps and try to master one thing at a time, otherwise it may be that you find you take on too much - being a smallholder is supposed to release stress, not create more!

Record keeping is essential too... write down your recipes, journal your experiences with your plot, and record the health and growth of your animals. Not only will this give you something to refer back to, but it will be useful in many areas where the authorities expect you to keep records of your activities so that the spread of disease in your area is reduced.

As with most new ventures, get some advice. Try to find a mentor or a neighbour who will help with any 'stupid' questions (there are no stupid questions, only stupid people too proud to ask them). Getting involved with a local association is also a good idea - and you will find there are lots to choose from. You will certainly have a local beekeeping association, a horticultural society, a club for foul fanciers and many more. Go along to meet them, listen to the talks they will invariably provide and chat to the other members who will love to share with you their successes and failures. Everything is much harder (and expensive) if you insist on learning all the lessons yourself.

Cooking with Honeycomb

I get a lot of requests for honeycomb from some of my more seasoned friends and neighbours as they learned to love it when that was the normal way honey was sold. My younger customers love the idea and look of honeycomb, but they are not sure what to do with it. So here are some ideas and recipes for using and cooking with Honeycomb! And to avoid any doubt - YES, it is edible, it is good for you, you can swallow it, and it is delicious.

Basic ideas for using Honeycomb

• Like normal honey, you can spread honeycomb, wax and all, on toast, crumpets, muffins, fresh crusty bread.
• Honeycomb is delicious with yogurt; my preference is for a chunk of honeycomb with cold greek yogurt. 
• Honeycomb is great with ice-cream too; try it with a good quality vanilla ice cream, or frozen yogurt!
• Cheese. No, really, honey comb on a cheese board is a fantastic addition to the final course and will be a real conversation piece for your guests. But don't wait for guests - try it yourself, honey comb goes really well with most of the traditional british cheeses (Cheddar, Lancashire, Wenslydale, Cheshire), but I like it with those great nutty european cheeses too, like Emmental and Yarlsberg.
• My favourite use for honey is on porridge (or oatmeal) and honey comb can also be used in this way. I have been told it is great on rice pudding too, but I haven't tried that yet.
• If you like pancakes with maple syrup, try honeycomb instead. Works on waffles too, if you like those.

Using honey in cooking instead of sugar works well, but you need to remember that (a) it has a liquidity that granulated sugar does not have and that (b) it is sweeter than sugar, up to twice as sweet, so you should not need as much honey - always taste it to get an idea how sweet it is. The key is to experiment!

Here are some links to some of my favourite honey recipes on my recommended honey recipe websites.

• Yummly gives you a variety of interesting honey recipes, but I recommend the Honey Teriyaki Chicken. 
• The BBC Food website has a section on honey; try their Bara Brith traditional Welsh cake made with honey or their Honey Roast Parsnips.  
• The Guardian website has a nice '10 best honey recipes' article worth reading; I recommend the rack of lamb with honey and lavender. 
• There are lots of honey recipes, as you would expect, on the Honey Recipes website. I like his Honey Shortbread for its simplicity and it tastes great. 
• Another honey specific website is the Benefits of Honey website which has a few recipes, ideas, tips, health articles and lots more. Check out the intreging Honey Butter recipe.

My new blog to replace my BeekeeperUK blog, as I want to cover more than just beekeeping - but there will still be lots of beekeeping posts, so stay tuned.