Hen Corner

Welcome back to Hen Corner!

As featured in Country Living Magazine

Whilst it was sad to hear the news that Good Life actor Richard Briers had died, the legacy that his character Tom Good has left sees a new generation pull on their wellies. This week we look at a bride to be,  London school children and a nation of food lovers that want to know what’s in their food…

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A Hen with a Hen!

Hen Party at Hen Corner
‘Oooh Sara, I’m organising the Hen Weekend for a friend, can we all come to Hen Corner please?’ said Jess one of the young graduates at church. ‘We all read Country Living and would love you to teach us!’ Well of course I’d love to help, but what can we do with 20 young ladies in their 20′s on a cold afternoon in February? I wasn’t sure what they would like to do and certainly wouldn’t be able to fit them all in my kitchen at once… So Jess and I got together and cooked up a plan, we designed a bespoke course that included baking biscotti, making marmalade and drinking bubbly. It all seemed to go rather well and, judging by the laughter and subsequent Facebook comments, everyone had a great time. Dr Seuss, our green egg layer, popped into the conservatory for a cuddle with Vicki (the bride to be) and made herself at home with all the other ‘hens’. For more info see here and if you’d like to talk to us about a bespoke course, get in touch!

What comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Food Glorious Food!

It has never been more important to know where a child’s food comes from than today. With stories of horsemeat (potentially contaminated with the veterinary medicine bute (phenylbutazone) in everything from Tesco beefburgers, to Findus lasagnas, Bird’s Eye chilli con carne and Ikea meatballs, it’s essential for families to value their food, reduce waste and choose a healthy diet for their children. This week’s news tells of the high numbers of UK children living in poverty and the link to obesity due to cheap ready meals and junk food. Please, let’s raise another generation that has dirt under it’s fingernails not because of poor personal hygiene but a fresh fascination of growing our own food. This week, we are really pleased to be working with another London school; last year they came to visit our chickens and this year we are helping them hatch their own in the classroom. ‘Go to work on an egg’ was a healthy eating campaign of post war Britain; today, a three-minute boiled egg is one of the best fast foods you can get!

If you know a school that would be interested in visits from us, please do pass on our details.

Book of the Blog Post:

Lost in London: Adventures in the City’s Wild Outdoors
By Lucy Scott, Tina Smith

A wonderful hardback book that opens up the unlimited opportunities to discover quite a lot of country living within London. We especially love this book as we helped them with their research and are thrilled that the chapter on chickens tells the story of Hen Corner.

Other News:

• Hot chicks on page three! Our family and hens are in this month’s Your Chickens magazine
• We’ve collected some berries and are trying to propagate some mistletoe on our old apple tree
• We’ve started selling our spare eggs through Edible Ealing Box Scheme

Jobs for next week:

• Keep an eye on the eggs in the incubator at school
• Check out the holidays at Feathers Down Farm
• Keep counting the eggs (we collected nine yesterday!)

Have a good week yourself…

Join us on the Journey!