HEN CORNER
HEN Corner Sara Ward sees promises of spring
As the days get longer, nature responds with an unfurling to feel the warmth of the sun and hope is inhaled by all that breathe. The arrival of Valentine’s Day, often associated with fertility, traditionally heralds the hens coming back into lay and we should soon be collecting eggs by the basketful each morning (order them from our Bakery via our website). Real Bread Week comes around towards the end of February, this was when we started baking loaves for Hounslow FoodBox last year, and this year we are teaching others how to make sourdough bread both online and in person.
If you’ve been reading this column over the years and have thought about taking your baking to another level, we are also running a Bread Angel training course that can help you start a new business. March arrives with an entourage of triumphant flowers and we get busy sowing veg seeds for the allotment. I love growing winter squash, they need little attention and are easy to store once harvested. We’ve built a large cage on the allotment to prevent pigeons from pecking at our brassicas (cabbages, cauliflowers, brussel sprouts, etc.), so I’ve high hopes for these veg as well this year.
One of the first courses of March is Introduction to Making Cheese where we make Feta, Camembert and Mozzarella - along with a loaf of bread, of course. This has always been popular and we use organic cow’s milk for each of the cheeses so that it is easy to make them again at home in the future. As the Spring Equinox approaches, giving us more daylight than starlight we can keep an eye out for bumble bees feasting on the nectar of rosemary flowers and bold honeybees that leave the warmth of the hive scouting for food to bring back to their growing family of siblings. Our Full Day Bee Keeping courses start 20th April.
All courses, virtual & face to face, can be found at HenCorner.com
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