Growing your own - is it worth it?

[gurnemanz]

I did try pigeon some years ago when the butcher had it on offer - wasn't impressed. I was also rather surprised as I've had pheasant, partridge and venison and liked them all, and had expected to like the pigeon too.

The only time I've eaten pigeon was in Aswan, Egypt. We were a small group and our local guide took us for lunch at a non-touristy restaurant. It was very good and quite memorable. The pigeon was one of various dishes which formed part of the meal. It obviously does not have so much meat and was augmented with a tasty rice stuffing.

[oddoneout]

The only time I've eaten pigeon was in Aswan, Egypt. We were a small group and our local guide took us for lunch at a non-touristy restaurant. It was very good and quite memorable. The pigeon was one of various dishes which formed part of the meal. It obviously does not have so much meat and was augmented with a tasty rice stuffing.

There was plenty of meat on the bird I tried, and those that cause me grief in my garden are hefty birds. In a previous house, admittedly a flimsy Barrett rabbit hutch, I could hear them landing on the roof as the tiles would crunch slightly with the impact. It's not surprising that a few crash landings onto a gooseberry bush can virtually destroy the bulk of it.

[Globaltruth]

There was plenty of meat on the bird I tried, and those that cause me grief in my garden are hefty birds. In a previous house, admittedly a flimsy Barrett rabbit hutch, I could hear them landing on the roof as the tiles would crunch slightly with the impact. It's not surprising that a few crash landings onto a gooseberry bush can virtually destroy the bulk of it.

Just harvested red and white currants - taken the netting off and now the pigeons are gorging on the left over currants.

They are in magnificent condition and I would happily sample them if I could find a way of efficiently offing them.

Good news is my daughter plans to get a new cat who should, with a bit of luck, be, er, put amongst them...

[gurnemanz]

Just harvested red and white currants - taken the netting off and now the pigeons are gorging on the left over currants.

They are in magnificent condition and I would happily sample them if I could find a way of efficiently offing them.

Good news is my daughter plans to get a new cat who should, with a bit of luck, be, er, put amongst them...

Red, white and black have been prolific, and loganberries. I didn't need netting this year. More than enough there for the two of us and the feathered friends. A couple of extra redcurrant bushes have appeared self-sown in recent years - presumably thanks to birds - which have been a welcome addition since my main bushes are getting on a bit. Thornless blackberries are also looking like cropping well when their time comes.

[oddoneout]

Red, white and black have been prolific, and loganberries. I didn't need netting this year. More than enough there for the two of us and the feathered friends. A couple of extra redcurrant bushes have appeared self-sown in recent years - presumably thanks to birds - which have been a welcome addition since my main bushes are getting on a bit. Thornless blackberries are also looking like cropping well when their time comes.

Redcurrants will root easily from cuttings - use the annual prunings - which can then be used to replace aging bushes.

[gradus]

Currant famine here thanks to our feathered friends and plenty of collateral damage to the plants. The peas took a walloping too from which they didn't really recover though Enviromesh did the job needed.
Spuds are pretty low yield too thanks to the dry conditions. I'm hoping that my Dowding inspired second cropping programme will yield the goods, unfortunately I ran out of home-made compost and have had to resort to the municipal sort. It looks fine but is a bit smelly.

[cloughie]

Good crop of blackcurrants and had first couple of runner beans at the weekend, but overnight something destroyed a short row of lettuces.

[vinteuil]

... now the pigeons are gorging on the left over currants.
They are in magnificent condition and I would happily sample them if I could find a way of efficiently offing them.
...

... I recall my brother, aged about nine, on his first outing with a catapult he had made, successfully killing a pigeon in the fields behind our house. He brought it home in triumph - but one pigeon wasn't much good for a family of five, so mother had to drive into the nearest town to get two more pigeons from the butcher, all of which ended up in a (as far as I remember) most excellent pigeon pie.


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[gurnemanz]

Good crop of blackcurrants and had first couple of runner beans at the weekend, but overnight something destroyed a short row of lettuces.

Impressive to have runners already. I thought I had got mine going in reasonable time but the first tiny beans are only just setting.

We've had potatoes for a few days now. Looks like a good crop. Pentland Javelin with Charlotte to follow.

[cloughie]

Impressive to have runners already. I thought I had got mine going in reasonable time but the first tiny beans are only just setting.

We've had potatoes for a few days now. Looks like a good crop. Pentland Javelin with Charlotte to follow.

It was only a few beans for starters!

[oddoneout]

My runners have had plenty of flowers on for about 10 days now but given the weather it'll be some time before any beans set. Of the two kinds of climbing french bean one started flowering a few days ago, the other is yet to start, but dwarf french beans have been producing a crop for best part of two weeks now. They were all sown on the same day and planted out ditto and are all varieties from the Heritage Seed Library, two were new to me this year, the other two I have grown before and now save seed of as they do well for me. Having the wide range of crop producing times suits me as a single person household not much given to freezing veg.

[Rjw]

Last year I let a few lettuces go to seed, collected the seed heads and put them in a paper bag and forgot about them. I have just discovered the bag, scrunched and sieved the contents, there was an amazing amount of lettuce seed. much nicer than buying a packet.

[ardcarp]

... I recall my brother, aged about nine, on his first outing with a catapult he had made, successfully killing a pigeon in the fields behind our house. He brought it home in triumph - but one pigeon wasn't much good for a family of five, so mother had to drive into the nearest town to get two more pigeons from the butcher, all of which ended up in a (as far as I remember) most excellent pigeon pie.


.

Yes, the labour:food ratio is quite high! What a dedicated mother.

I always think rabbit is a neglected food. It makes excellent pie-meat and plenty of it. They seem to eat a lot of rabbit in Malta for some reason. Mrs A and I went on a church-crawl there a few years ago (for architectural rather than religious reasons). Most restaurants seemed to have rabbit on the menu.

[oddoneout]

Yes, the labour:food ratio is quite high! What a dedicated mother.

I always think rabbit is a neglected food. It makes excellent pie-meat and plenty of it. They seem to eat a lot of rabbit in Malta for some reason. Mrs A and I went on a church-crawl there a few years ago (for architectural rather than religious reasons). Most restaurants seemed to have rabbit on the menu.

That jogged a memory for me and in the course of checking it out I came across this which seems a useful summary https://www.guidememalta.com/en/an-i...ic-dish-rabbit
I think in this country it has a bit of an image problem - a generation grew up having had too much of it(wartime) and turned against it subsequently and then further down the line people don't find it so easy to dissociate the product from the pets and cute images as they seem to do with other meat animals. I haven't seen it in the local butchers for some time
The bunny population round here seems to be in one of its lull phases, so allotmenteers are not facing too many problems from them.

[Globaltruth]

That jogged a memory for me and in the course of checking it out I came across this which seems a useful summary https://www.guidememalta.com/en/an-i...ic-dish-rabbit
I think in this country it has a bit of an image problem - a generation grew up having had too much of it(wartime) and turned against it subsequently and then further down the line people don't find it so easy to dissociate the product from the pets and cute images as they seem to do with other meat animals. I haven't seen it in the local butchers for some time
The bunny population round here seems to be in one of its lull phases, so allotmenteers are not facing too many problems from them.

Weren’t there a couple of issues with rabbit meat in the past? Cheap imports of low quality ( thank Heavens that could never happen again...) and then myxomatosis which put people off it. It’s still possible to find it from a reputable game butcher or if you have a pal that shoots for the pot. Or the road kill option ...