Thousands of backyard poultry keepers are signing up all over the country, experiencing afresh the joys of their first hen, their first egg, their happy chuckle in the morning garden. Keeping poultry in the city brings with it not only joys but responsibilities. "The Urban Hen" is the perfect companion for the city poultry keeper and shows you how to maintain a happy, healthy garden or backyard flock in towns and cities everywhere. In this book you'll discover how to: find the best poultry for the small garden - and how to house them properly; feed your birds, tune in to their daily needs and enjoy your own eggs; avoid annoying the neighbours by showing that it is possible to keep poultry without attracting unwelcome pests; recognise healthy happy birds and learn their daily routine; recognise poorly hens; treat them or get help; and, incubate and care for fertilised eggs and raise chicks.

From clamping to dark room storage, drying to bottling, shelving to curing, discover how to keep as much of your crop as you want If you grow your own food you will be aware that the job's not done when the harvest is gathered in. You have to make this bounty last all year through - until next year's crop replaces it. This book explains how to store food in the traditional way, and then goes one step further and shows how you can grow your food in a way that will ensure it is in the best state for storing - an art that is lost to many of today's gardeners and growers. The author focuses on methods by which the grower can keep vegetables and fruit for long periods without altering their fundamental form or flavour. Contents: Introduction; 1. Extending the Growing Season; 2. How to Harvest; 3. Stopping Your Harvest from Spoiling; 4. Techniques: Clamps, Cellars and Sheds; 5. Techniques and Recipes for Preserving Food; 6. A-Z of Growing, Storing and Preserving Vegetables; 7. A-Z of Growing, Storing and Preserving Fruit; 9. Growing and Preserving Herbs for the Kitchen; Index.

'Not everyone can keep a cow, but everyone can make cheese.' This book shows you the very basic equipment needed to make your own cheese: the ingredients, including different milks, herbs and flavours; how to make a simple cheese; and how to produce some of the worlds speciality cheeses such as Roquefort, Brie and Edam. You will find recipes for making many cheeses at home. Whether you are making a cheese cake, a ricotta-based pudding or a stonking salty blue, this book is a cheese lover's guide to making their own favourite food - and there are some recipes for the biscuits to go with it, too. Contents: Cheese: The Miracle Food; How Cheese is Made; Milk, Starters and Other Ingredients; Cheese-making Equipment; Basic Cheese-Making; Hard Cheeses; Soft Cheeses; Cheddar; Blue Cheese; Goats Cheese; European Cheeses; British Cheeses; Manufactured Cheeses; Cooking with Cheese; Cheese for Sweets; Common Cheese-making Problems; Index.

Beginning with the history, the significance and the flavours of the great British Banger this book goes on to explain how to make sausages at home, with step-by-step instructions and mouthwatering recipes from all over the UK. It is ideal for those beginners who just want to make a couple of pounds for the family freezer, but it also assumes that readers will want to progress and so the necessary equipment and materials are explained, from how to buy them, to how to maintain them.

There is a huge social change with more and more people wanting to live a simple, more self-sufficient, make it yourself life. With lawns and flower gardens being turned over to vegetable production and keeping chickens being adopted by suburbia with the more adventurous looking to keeping other livestock such as pigs, sheep, bees and goats urban farming is becoming less of a dream and more of a reality for many. The Urban Farmer's Handbook is the bible for all those wanting to grab a slice of the good life without having to move to the country. Paul Peacock, joint editor of Home Farmer magazine and self-proclaimed 'self-sufficient in a semi enthusiast, examines all angles of urban farming from how beekeeping without unsettling the neighbours to keeping pigs on a small acreage. Packed with practical advice including the legal and welfare implications, the potential problems and the joys The Urban Farmer's Handbook gives good, solid advice on animal husbandry, allotments and making the most of your produce to improve the quality of your life. In short, says the author "if you can eat it, ou can grow it and cook it."

This book is aimed at the majority of us who live in terraced houses, high rise flats, town houses and semi-detached properties with a small garden and often nowhere to grow but the patio. It shows how to make the most of pots and planters; how to plan for a reasonable yield; and how never to run out of at least something to special eat. You might not have all the space in the world, but you can enjoy all the flavour in the world. With the step-by-step instructions in this book you will be able to grow, nurture and harvest your own fruit, vegetables and herbs in a range of pots and containers, including recycled ones such as plastic milk bottles, and kitchen sinks.

This book will give you the knowledge and confidence to choose, prepare, cook and enjoy fresh food and seafood. It explains simply how to gut, clean and fillet fish and how to deal with shellfish and crustaceans such as crab and lobster, and what knives and tools you'll need for the job. The numerous recipes take into consideration sustainable fishing and advise on which fish can be used instead of those at risk. The book also encourages the use of locally caught produce rather than those shipped around the world. As well as recipes for cooking sea and river fish, shellfish, crustaceans you'll discover how to preserve fish.

There is a trend towards artisanal food preparation at home and preserving your own meat in the kitchen is increasingly popular. This book is based on traditional recipes and is a practical guide to curing all sorts of meat, from the ever-popular sausage and bacon through to making your own salamis, pates and galantines.

Less than 200 years ago, beers, ciders and a myriad collection of country wines were generally brewed at home. Beer, whether it was 'best' or 'small' was drunk by everyone in preference to water. Beer and cider nourished, as well as slaked thirst. With just a few utensils you can make your own tax-free beer, cider and country wine. Inside this book you will find recipes ancient and modern, some as simple as dissolving malt extract in sugary water and adding yeast. You can also read the best ways to get really professional results from kits. More than anything you will find really tasty, excellent beers and ciders and home-made wines to quench your thirst for a decade to come. There are recipes for stouts, ales, beers (and the difference between them explained); and for lagers, fruit beers, and ciders of many kinds including rough, orange, scrumpy, perry, natural and yeasted. Also included are the fundamentals of tasty home-made wine-making showing you how to make amazing wine from the contents of your fruit and vegetable garden. Contents: 1. Drinking responsibly; 2. Basics of brewing; 3. That magic touch; 4. Beer - the basics; 5. Beers from the UK; 6. Beers from Belgium; 7. Beers from Europe; 8. Ales; 9. Ales ancient and modern; 10. Ciders peeled to the bone; 11. Apple types and their traditional drinks; 12. Scrumpy; 13. Fine ciders; 14. Apple wine.