Country bumkins - Aug 2025

 

Before heading off to our next sit, we had a lovely lunch out with James's family at the pub in Huntingdon, where J's uncle lives.

Our next sit was in the weeny village of Burrough Green.  We had no domestic pets here, only farmyard animals.  What a lovely place to be!

We had the very good company of Cruella, the pig.

Seven ducks that didn't lay any eggs but were, nontheless, very personable.  Once they got used to us, they would sing out every morning and evening for their kibble.  As it had been so dry for so long, it was also important to provide them with lots of fresh water as their pond had completely dried up!

Yet, most surpising of all, was the tortoise, Mercury, in the back yard.  He is 23 years old!  We fed him fresh beans from the garden and fresh dandilion leaves from the hedgerow.  And he absolutely loved company!  So we would sit in his enclosure for a while each day and be entertained by him. What a (hidden) treasure!

James also had the opportunity to go hunting with his nephew-in-law on the family farm.  It is so much different to hunting in New Zealand.  This style of hunting is high seat hunting, where you sit up in a seat and wait for the deer to come to you.  As most of you will know, if you follow our lives/story, we much prefer to eat our protein this way .... by gathering it ourselves from the wild.  This did not disappoint.  James cam home with a Muntjac deer which we have all enjoyed.

Too far away.  But what a mob!

The real work begins

We put a lot of work into the harvesting and breaking down of our wild game in order to get the best out of the animal out of respect for a life given/taken.  We even eat the neck meat, which, if you haven't tried it, is slow cooked and made into a pie or similar.  If is a bit like pulled pork in texture.  Melt in the mouth!  We also eat the heart, liver and kidneys.  Nose to tail harvesting.

We have seen so many deer in the countryside and even in the town this trip.  Not sure what is going on.  We have seen Muntjac, Red, Fallow and a Chinese Water Deer.  Pretty special indeed.