I’ve just done a quick count-up of the value of the produce we’ve grown or scavenged so far this year and it’s an impressive £111.69.
I’m quite happy with that, as it’s been a difficult growing year this time around. The tomatoes still have barely ripened, so I’ve been out and bought vinegar and sugar to turn them into green tomato chutney. And not a moment too soon; you have to let them sit for a good three months once you’ve jarred them up so they can mature, so if we want to be eating chutney by Christmas it needs making this coming weekend.
By far the biggest crop this year has been the runner beans, which turned in an impressive £40-worth of produce. That’s much better than last year, and shows why growing them in the ground is so important. Last year we grew them in pots on one of the patios and the six plants gave us produce to the value of £10.17. This year we had only two-thirds the number of plants, but four times the results.
But of course the most exciting addition to the homestead is the chickens. They’ve popped out 44 eggs since 11 September, averaging 1.7 a day between the three of them.
Much as I’d love to say they were free range I can’t, as they don’t have the run of the garden. Their coop and outdoor exercise space are built for 10, though, and we’ve put only three in there so they enjoy better conditions than those in which barn eggs are laid (and a world away from battery). But as there’s not a category for ‘eggs laid indoors but with a lot of access to outdoors and plenty of space to stretch your wings’ we’ll use barn eggs as the next best thing against which to gauge their output. Those kind of eggs cost 22p each, so we’ve had £9.68-worth.
So technically the chickens are running at a loss at the moment, rather than a profit, so while they’re cute and good for a cuddle they’re not really fitting into the self-sufficiency thing right now. Fortunately they’re still young and probably not up to full speed yet, so I’m guessing they may be more productive before too long.
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