General Chat

It's because they are little. They can get through small spaces!

Oddly, I am fine with cattle but would rather not share space with a horse. I am a bit scared of them and they know it.

My oh has had broken ribs more than once when crushed against a gate (no, it wasn't me)!

Those 'Dexters' get everywhere, Sharron!

:-D :-D :-D

My oh has had broken ribs more than once when crushed against a gate (no, it wasn't me)!

Those 'Dexters' get everywhere, Sharron!

:-D :-D :-D

We used to have to walk past Walter's dad's pigs (they bit), raspberry canes (left scratch marks on the satchel) and bullocks (fend off with an umbrella) to get to school :-S

Gran had a smallholding with pigs chickens and Fresian cows. One sow tried to crush me - I was only holding the gate open, so she and her piglets could go out.
Gran told her off and she immediately scarpered. - having ignored my quiet pleadings that turned to screams.
The cows were fine, all the progeny of Queenie, who was a darling. Unfortunately Princess was a right, well, cow. She would bite, kick and be a total madam. Even gran called her a 'right b*tch'. :-S
I have a definite respect for livestock, but still asked Gran if Princess was going to beef.......

I never had a problem with the chickens :-D

......but have a definite respect for livestock that are bigger than me.

I was once chased up a tree by a Welsh Cob pony, but have since led a group of New Forest ponies from a flooded area.

I should hate all livestock, yet I have photo's of a group of cows in the New Forest who decided that where I was sitting was the best place to graze :-S

They are only nosey.

Lots of fun to be had watching the people down here on holiday and taking their dog for a walk. Bullocks love to have a look at a dog.

Those areas are too 'commercial', Sharron.
Friend and I were on a walk somewhere - I have no sense of direction - when we came upon a traffic jam and a herd of Dexter cattle that had recently been released, and were strolling across the road in a casual manner, to the grassy bits, causing the jam.
We just walked through the cows, shooing them across the road at a faster pace - to the amazement of many of those in the jam - we weren't attacked!!!

Dexters are small, sturdy, 'prehistoric' type cattle, without the size and 'expectance of privilege' of modern cattle otherwise I wouldn't have done it :-D

I know my beasts :-D

Aha, that will be why we haven't seen them. We usually go much further south, round Brock and Lyndhurst and Beaulieu where the donkeys and cattle seem to congregate.

Try Fritham way. There's also an excellent pub there - The Royal Oak.
We were there one year when a woman strolled in and announced that a sow was giving birth in the ditch.
Bloke at the bar said s*ddit she's early. Disappeared for half an hour, then retuned to say 'she'd' had 6 piglets. :-D

Have to admit to sometimes going through oak woods during pannage and not seeing one pig. Remind me to let you know next year, were they've been 'spotted' - friend goes out to various parts of the Forest at least 3 times a week.

Talking of pigs in the New Forest.

Most years, this being an exception, we go off down to the forest during the Pannage and we have never yet seen a pig there.

True, Sharron, but the venison I eat comes from the New Forest.
Lots of space for people/ponies/pigs/cows/deer to walk. :-D

Why do people just talk about fields any more? There are not many about that do not belong to a farmer.

It was a fallow deer that nearly did for me in 2003. I was dragging a heavy beast that I had just shot, to the edge of the field, when I had this terrific pain in my chest. Fortunately my mobile phone had a signal, but the ambulance crew were not too pleased about driving across a farmer's field to get me. I have since given up shooting big stuff, I am getting too old for it. Bob

Thank you for that recipe, Rollo, though not the way we cook it in our family - we tend to just poach and not fry :-D

Also, no 'real' butchers within walking distance of my home.
However, as I said, as soon as either my sister or I find a butcher and remember the tripe, we shall be cooking it using our family recipe

http://www.lfbmeats.com/beef.html

excellent family butcher has tripe properly prepared for humans

Tripe and onions French style
Overall timing 1 hour 50 minutes

ingredients to serve 4
1 Large carrot
1 1/2 lb (700 g) Onions
2 Stalks of celery
3 pints (1.7 litres) Cold water
Bay leaf
6 Peppercorns
1 tbsp Lemon juice
1 1/2 lb (700 g) Dressed tripe
3 oz (75 g) Butter
Salt and black pepper
2 tbsp Chopped parsley
2 tbsp White wine vinegar

method

1. Peel and chop carrot and one of the onions. Trim and chop celery. Put into a saucepan with water, bay leaf, peppercorns and lemon juice. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain and return to pan.

2. Cut tripe into pieces. Place in pan with stock and bring to the boil. Skim off any scum, cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours till tender.

3. Peel and slice remaining onions. Melt butter in a frying pan, add the onions and fry gently till golden.

4. Drain the tripe thoroughly, discarding the stock, and cut into thin strips. Add to the onions with plenty of seasoning and fry over a moderate heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the parsley and vinegar and mix lightly. Season to taste and pour into a warmed serving dish. Serve immediately with crusty bread.

yummy, cheap

:-)

Chris, we (my sister and I) always thought mum cooked it in milk - with onions and carrots, but it was never as good as mums. We found out, about 3 years ago, that she cooked it in seasoned water - then added cornflour! :-S - so we didn't even gt the benefit of milk!

We desperately want to try this way of cooking it - but haven't been able to find any tripe :-(

Oh Maggie - not tripe. My Dad loved it and would often have it for supper - Mum cooked it in milk and onions. I was coaxed regularly but never succumbed.

If we had chicken for Sunday dinner, we had chicken curry for Monday dinner.
I used to pick the scant remains from the (already picked) chicken carcass whilst watching Whacky races. This was thwarted when my elder brothers came home from boarding school - they were bigger than me, and there were two of them.
Mum use to knit our jumpers, and, occasionally (unfortunately) our socks!

Likewise, I sewed my own maternity outfits, knitted outfits for my babies, and jumpers for them when they were older (never socks) - but I didn't go out to work full time then.
Being an agricultural worker (pre children), and my OH being an agricultural engineer at the time, we regularly ate pheasant, shot on the estate, plus the odd goose the gamekeeper had killed, and our own ducks, killed by my own fair hand, out of sight of the 'main brood'.
Personally, I prefer anything fresh, not hung. We also drank unpasteurised milk.

My mum was a very good cook, so good that, when we four children were grown up, she did a cordon bleu course - and passed with flying colours. No-one could make a lemon meringue pie like her. :-D

I eat a lot of venison and wild boar now - there's a stall on the market - based in Butts Ash (edge of the New Forest, near where one of my brothers lives). He saves offal for me, which has always been my favourite. Apparently, I'm the only customer who asks which variety of deer it comes from. This is because I find some Red Deer offal too rich :-S But I'm not a food snob - I just know what I like, and, quite frankly am peed off that it's sooooo difficult to get tripe!!! It's been at least 3 years since I've had some :-(

It is very difficult to shoot wild duck. They are easy enough to get close to for grockles feeding them bread but they get all shy if they see a gun and disappear. The usual method is a duck punt at some ungodly hour of the morning. For sure they taste a whole lot better than farm ducks though nowhere near as much meat. OTOH some people from (deleted) just throw a net ...

A deer takes a while to hang and you need some skill to butcher it. There are all sorts of regulations unless it is for yr own consumption. A whole deer ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OuXDYyqCnA

I used to go into M & S/Lewis etc., especially when looking at girls clothes, summer dresses especially and then go straight to the market, bury material and make similar!

My mother had kept many of my dad's poplin shirts and I managed to get a pattern of a tailored shirt for boys. Son was about 3yrs and I was stopped in Salisbury by a lady asking where I had bought his Beatles suit and the proper shirt - she was most upset!

Until he was about six when I ran out of shirts - of dad's shirts clothed his g.son!

I have two my Elna which is about 43 yrs old (just counted back) and another used once. Went to Singers for a new pair of scissors OH with me and he coaxed me into buying a rather expensive new machine I used once.

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

priceless