Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[no fly zone]

I don't know. Most people eat too much salt. I don't use much in my cooking. One can make most dishes taste acceptable if one chucks enough sugar and salt in it. It's part of how we get conned into buying the pre packaged crap.
Out of all the food problems we have the decline in nutrition per portion of the staples in particular is the most worrying aspect of the food we produce. It doesn't make any difference if it's organic, home grown, whatever, it's still less nutrition than the same foodstuff even twenty years ago.

Garlic & onions are the secret.

 

[Sally PB]

Granny Smith

These are really high in pectin. When I tried making my own pectin for making homemade jam/jelly, this was the variety I used.

I read a study (don't remember by whom, and don't have a link) and it said basically this:
"Apple pectin may boost heart health by lowering cholesterol and blood pressure levels.
This substance binds to bile acids in your small intestine, which may help improve cholesterol levels."

From here:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/apple-pectin#4-May-aid-heart-health
It has other benefits listed.

 

[RoyalChick]

yes indeed, but they are very variable in their phytonutrient values, and all of them are a lot poorer than wild varieties of apples. Worse, although thousands of varieties exist, a mere handful dominate the supermarket shelves - how many appear where you usually shop?

Fwiw, the most nutritious among the 12 most common varieties are Discovery, Fuji, Granny Smith, Liberty, and the Bramley cooking apple (which has 3 times more than the Fuji, which has more than most other common varieties).

Robinson, Eating on the wild side, 2013 chapter 10.

I am in the UK at the moment and here we are blessed with two very ancient apple trees. One is a Russet which has to be my favorite apple of all time. As ugly as all hell which is no doubt why it isn't sold in supermarkets but delicious. The other is a highly prolific cooking apple of unknown variety which is also delicious but too sour for biting in to.

 

[RoyalChick]

Garlic & onions are the secret.

Oooh - another topic you and I agree on. Not much can't be solved with garlic & onions! Steel cut oats with caramelized onions is one of my favorite breakfasts.

 

[Perris]

The other is a highly prolific cooking apple of unknown variety which is also delicious

I didn't realize until very recently that any apple grown from seed / pip is unique (though I did know that all named varieties are grafted, so they are clones of a particular unique tree). Turns out apples have twice as many genes as we do (!), and don't breed true, even down to the level of each apple on the same tree. It is very unlikely to produce the same flavour, texture, colour, size etc. if grown from the seed of an apple that appeals, so the only way to reproduce one with the desired characteristics is to graft it from an existing tree. So if you want to continue to enjoy that one, take a cutting!

 

[RoyalChick]

I didn't realize until very recently that any apple grown from seed / pip is unique (though I did know that all named varieties are grafted, so they are clones of a particular unique tree). Turns out apples have twice as many genes as we do (!), and don't breed true, even down to the level of each apple on the same tree. It is very unlikely to produce the same flavour, texture, colour, size etc. if grown from the seed of an apple that appeals, so the only way to reproduce one with the desired characteristics is to graft it from an existing tree. So if you want to continue to enjoy that one, take a cutting!

I did not know that. And yes, I should definitely take a cutting.
There is also a Cox. I like them but this one has never been very prolific and the Russet is so very special I don’t even really look for the Cox apples.

 

[Canadian Wind]

I didn't realize until very recently that any apple grown from seed / pip is unique (though I did know that all named varieties are grafted, so they are clones of a particular unique tree). Turns out apples have twice as many genes as we do (!), and don't breed true, even down to the level of each apple on the same tree. It is very unlikely to produce the same flavour, texture, colour, size etc. if grown from the seed of an apple that appeals, so the only way to reproduce one with the desired characteristics is to graft it from an existing tree. So if you want to continue to enjoy that one, take a cutting!

I have 'wild' apple trees all over the property. Always an adventure to sample the fruit!

 

[Shadrach]

Consider using a hugelkultur method, it's worked well for some of us. In lieu of logs I use branches and woody weed stems at the bottom.
View attachment 3980153

I add organic material in the fall:
View attachment 3980155
Including chicken

And top off the soil every year with compost:
View attachment 3980156

For those unfamiliar with the method, there's lots of information here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hügelkultur-raised-beds.1604433/

That's something like I was planning to do although I didn't know it was called hugekultur. I dig the base out before I add anything but I've seen people just place the frame on grassy/weedy ground and fill them. The sides of the should be a raised bed aren't very tall so digging will also help give my some extra soil room. I've found one needs something between a foot and eighteen inches depth of good soil to grow parsnips well. I grew a few leeks on my plot last year and they didn't do very well due to lack of soil depth.

 

[Shadrach]

Grey, dull and dry, 11C.

 

[L-plate chicken mum]

I didn't realize until very recently that any apple grown from seed / pip is unique (though I did know that all named varieties are grafted, so they are clones of a particular unique tree). Turns out apples have twice as many genes as we do (!), and don't breed true, even down to the level of each apple on the same tree. It is very unlikely to produce the same flavour, texture, colour, size etc. if grown from the seed of an apple that appeals, so the only way to reproduce one with the desired characteristics is to graft it from an existing tree. So if you want to continue to enjoy that one, take a cutting!

Some are triploid -Bramley’s seedling, Asmead’s Kernel & Jonagold for example. Even more genes to play with! Also have sterile pollen so if you grow them you need 2 others that flower at about the same time. Ah, the weird world of plants………