All language subtitles for Marcus.Wareings.Tales.from.a.Kitchen.Garden.S02E12.1080p.WEBRip.x264-CBFM

A year has passed on
my East Sussex smallholding.

I've been spending more time
out of the kitchen

and in the garden.

This helps me get away from
absolutely everything.

You can't not love this.

Come on!

I've had plenty of successes...

I've got a glut of ingredients
that I'm going to be sharing,

and that's a lovely thing.

..and a few failures, too.

I've just been to feed the pigs
and they're not there.

But with the help of my friends
and neighbours...

Come on, Stu,
get your back into it!

HE GRUNTS

I thought farming
is just about animals.

No-one talks about fencing.

..I'm going to bring in
more produce...

I'm going to see if I can get some
wheat in the ground.

..more livestock...

I've never seen so much poo
in a field in all my life!

HE LAUGHS

..and use every inch of my
land and garden...

Here we go.

First Wareing potato.

It's hard work, but it's worth it.

..all year round.

You know, autumn's just around
the corner when the sun goes

behind the clouds.

Because I know a better
understanding of ingredients...

So much more to learn.

So many new dishes to cook.

..will lead to some incredible
new recipes...

This place is on fire.

It just gets better and better
and better.

..as I discover the secrets
of a kitchen garden.

The more time I spend on my farm
in East Sussex,

the more I've learned
to expect the unexpected.

And today, my pigs
are causing trouble.

PIGS GRUNT

Look at the mess you've made.

Huh? You've made a right mess
of my path.

What's that all about?

They keep escaping from the area
we penned off for them in the woods.

It's like the third, fourth time
they've got out.

Quite clearly, they're not
happy in their new home

and this is their work.

And what they've been doing is
they've just been burrowing

for food, looking for roots.

Unfortunately, this is a pathway
that in the winter months

will just get saturated.

But they're out now.

This whole bit of woodland here

has got a safe fence
around the outside.

So you know what?
I'm not bothering any more.

I'm just going to take that -
the battery down,

the fencing down and just
leave them be.

This is what I always had intended,

for them to be out and about.

They just beat me to it.

So, basically, they've won.

They've won. They've got
the woodlands to themselves.

Troublesome as the pigs are,
I love all my animals

and keeping chickens and having
fresh eggs is one

of my favourite things
about country life.

I got my hens from my neighbour Zoe
last year.

Oh, ladies. Time for your new home.

CHICKENS CLUCK

That was quite an orderly...

They sort of marched out
one at a time.

They look great.

It's great!

I'd love to get some more chickens,

but first, I'd like to find out
if my hen husbandry

is up to scratch.

So I've asked Zoe back to
check things over.

It's like waiting for
the headmistress to pop round

to see if I've done
my homework OK.

Hello, ladies!

Ah!

You've done really well.
They look healthy.

And the fact that you've got
a bowl full of eggs... Yes.

..is testament to they are
healthy and happy

and a happy hen is a laying hen.

The area in here... Uh-huh.
..it's become so barren.

I thought chickens,
as they sort of scrabble around,

poo all over the place, it puts
nutrients back into the ground

and the grass would continue
growing.

They do wreck it.
They have wrecked it.

Yeah, but what we can do for these
ladies is we can give them

a little bit more enrichment
in their pen

and the best form of
chicken enrichment will be

to mimic what they like to do...
Right.

..which is they like to forage,

they like to look for food -
that is their main driver.

Yeah. I've brought this,
and one of the things that we can do

is we can hang this up.

Let's have a look. So underneath all
those petals there, you've got...

What are they looking for, these?

The sunflower seeds. Well, they'll
enjoy all of it, actually.

All of it? I think fun things,
we don't have to do it,

but I think we all want a bit of fun
in life, don't we?

Zoe also wants to check the hens
for lice and mites,

but that involves
catching one first.

Right, ladies, who wants a nice
leg massage from Marcus?

Ah.

Wonderful.
That went well!

You done brilliant.
I've never done that on my own.

You done brilliantly.
So let's just have a look.

Normally, you would see some
lice eggs around this area.

Mm. We can see she's nice and clean,

so we know that she's
nice and healthy.

This is going to help to keep
any lice or mites away.

Is that nice, my love?

She said she's going to give you
an extra egg tomorrow.

It's all these little bits
that help, isn't it? Yeah.

Now I've been reassured the ladies
are doing well,

I'm feeling confident about
getting some more hens,

but I'm not sure where to start.

How do you feel about rescuing
some chickens?

If I can rescue some chickens
and bring them here

and they can enjoy time with us.

I'm going to ring my friend Susie.
OK. Right.

See if we can get you over
to Mac's farm.

You can go and have a look
at her chickens. OK.

Sounds like a great idea.

If you do it properly,
you get beautiful eggs,

you've got happy chickens.
Yeah.

Healthy chickens.
Right.

I would never have thought
of adopting rescue hens,

but having a smallholding has taught
me to keep an open mind.

So I'm really excited to meet
local egg farmer Susie,

a woman who really knows her hens
because her family have kept

free-range chickens for
almost three decades.

Is this how it should be here?

Yeah. Here, yes, very much so.

Ah!

CHICKENS SQUAWK

And clearly, her hens can't
wait to meet me.

What's going on? Very interesting.
What are they after?

They don't have hands, so they use
their beaks to sense and, like,

taste and work everything out.

So that's why they peck a lot.

SHE LAUGHS

I am a chef, by the way, so...

They'll be like that -
oh, maybe not. I know.

That's probably
why they're pecking at me!

Zoe has sent me to come and see you.

So, how many chickens do you have?

We have 12,000 on the farm
altogether, in two sheds of 6,000.

Are they edible, can we eat them?

They're not the chicken that
you find in the supermarket.

They're not? So these are not
the chickens that you have

for Sunday roast - they are
a completely different type.

These are egg laying hens.

Susie produces a staggering
3.4 million

organic free-range eggs a year.

But this is more than just
a business because she also

rehouses her hens as they get older.

Why do you want all
your chickens rehomed?

When they get older, they're not
commercially viable any more.

So, basically, as they get
a bit older, they slow down

at laying their eggs? Yeah.

These will carry on laying
in people's back gardens.

It's just their life is over
on a commercial setting.

That's why generally around
this age, most commercial hens

would be slaughtered because
they're not covering their cost

in any way, shape or form. Really?

And it's something that I really
struggled with because I knew

that they had a life left in them.

So then about 14 years ago,
we started just rehoming ourselves,

worked with animal rights
organisations who came on board

and it's grown and grown and grown.

So to see them go off to little
back garden settings and have a bit

of a retirement, as I call it,
it works for us.

And you're rehousing all
of these chickens?

Basically 12,000 every 18 months.

I feel quite...slightly embarrassed
that you've got all these chickens.

All I've done is come for a couple.

I don't feel like I'm even making
a dent. No, you are.

Every single rehome makes
a difference,

and they are lovely
little characters.

They're great. Your chickens
are going to wonder

what's happened when
my chickens arrive. Yeah!

Oh, no, I'm worried.
Yeah, they're all going to look

at each other and be like - what?
What do I need to do?

So you definitely need
to keep them separated,

but so that they can see each other,
just a bit of netting.

They need to just get used to seeing
each other, being with each other,

because otherwise they can start
having a bit of a dig at each other.

Right, OK. Can I go into the shed?

Yeah. Cos I'd like to see them
in the next stage, because that...

Will I get pecked in there?
Yep. Oh...

And there's more of them in there,
isn't there? Yep.

I thought so! Come on.

SHE LAUGHS

Lead the way.

Susie houses her 12,000 hens

in two 1,000 square metre sheds.

It's a million miles from the kind
of home I can offer the rescues.

Wow... Jesus.

So we would have 3,000 birds
on this side of the shed

and then 3,000 birds on the other.

So 6,000 altogether.

Why are there three areas, then?

So, this is so they can do all
their natural behaviour inside.

So, they can dust bathe,
they can scratch round,

they can jump, they can peck,
they find nice things to eat.

And then you've got your nest boxes
over here, top and bottom.

So there's one up there now.

So they can go in...
So they know to go in there to lay?

Yeah. Most of them, in an ideal
world, lay in the nest boxes

and they can go in when they want.

And then once they've laid
their egg, it rolls away

down onto a conveyor belt
and it pulls all the eggs out.

It's a great system.
Yeah, it's really clever.

And being organic, you don't put
as many birds in

as you would if it was a free-range
shed because they have so much

room at this level and it's very,
very comfortable for them.

It's really nice to see that.

You see so many areas in farming,
especially if, you know,

battery chickens and laying,
where they don't have this.

No. This is incredible.
I'm so jealous.

I just think every animal should
just have every right

to exhibit its natural behaviour.

That's the least you can afford
them... Yeah.

..if you're going to use them
to produce your food. Yep.

It's noisy in here, isn't it?

HENS CLUCK
It's a lot of women chatting.

THEY LAUGH

Before I take two from
this throng back home,

I want to get an idea
of what kind of eggs

I can expect to get from them.

Do you know how many eggs
they lay, then?

When they're younger,
they lay a lot more.

And as they get older, like
these ones, they might come out,

have a little bit of a play,
go back in, lay an egg.

Do chickens lay exactly
the same eggs, size wise?

No.

They all lay eggs according
to their body weight.

So these girls are all sort of
fundamentally mediums and larges

because they're bigger,
heavier, older hens,

whereas with our younger flock,
they're popping out

tiny little eggs, which are called
pullet eggs,

which are incredible but are
really small. Pullet?

Pullet.

We donate them to food banks because
they're so difficult to sell.

Really? Why? I don't know.

Because they are perfect...
So they're just small?

..perfect, small eggs.
Perfect, perfect small eggs.

Susie will choose a couple of
chickens for me to rehome,

and there's work to do to get
things ready for them.

But before we get cracking on the
preparation for their arrival...

Wow.

..I want to see how good
their eggs taste,

including those small pullets.

So I'm rustling up...

There we have it.

..a good old-fashioned
fried egg sandwich.

It's been a long time since
I've eaten one of these.

it is delicious because it's -
they are so fresh.

It's unbelievable.

But the pullet egg and the medium
sized egg are exactly the same.

If I see pullet eggs, I'd buy them.

I think they're great. Egg sandwich.

Mm!

My rescue hens will be with me
in a couple of days.

So, to help the new girls settle in,
my gardener, Anatoliy,

is making a separate area for them
in the chicken enclosure.

So now we need to think
how we can do it

within the existing run area.

So two sides of the run
will serve as one wall,

another wall, and we can use trees,
actually, as another support.

So we will use...

..netting like this and then roll
all the way around.

Hello, ducks.

DUCKS QUACK

Yes, I know.

Some food, yes?

OK, after this.

Now we need to fix it to
this plank of wood.

This cordoned-off area will help
the new hens find their feet

and prevent the old ones
from feeling too unsettled.

OK, that's...that's pretty good.

Well, they know that
something is going on.

Chicken run got smaller.

OK, it's all done, that way.

Finish run in there.

So this will be their home
for a week or two,

so they kind of adjust
to the new territory.

They will be maybe a bit shy,
not sure,

and hopefully they will settle in
with the new ones.

It's easy to close the door.

That's it. Solid.

CHICKENS CLUCK

I'm always dreaming up
new ways of using eggs

and as it's a lovely morning,
I've decided to get out

into the garden and rustle up
a childhood favourite.

I want to make a batch
of lemon curd and that's one

of my favourite preserves -
I absolutely love it.

We've got eggs, lemons, sugar
and some butter.

It's straightforward.

My first job is to whisk two whole
eggs and four egg yolks together.

Put in my sugar.

Bring those together,

and then just whisk in
your lemon juice.

You can do this with limes,
passion, fruit.

Always find a recipe and follow it.

Really important with anything
like this.

Got to get the balance of the sugar,
the eggs and the citrus just right.

So put that over a pan of water.

I'm just going to bring that up
to a nice, gentle temperature

and what will happen,
as the eggs start to get warm,

it will start to thicken.

But then it's really important
that you don't have too much

of a vigorous heat underneath.

Be very careful, it's a gentle boil.

What you don't want to do is
you don't want the eggs to cook

on the bottom of the bowl.

One of the favourite things I always
used to eat growing up

was a lemon curd cracker sandwich.

My nan used to...used to make them.

You got white bread,
tonnes of butter,

lemon curd, cracker.

Same again on another piece
of bread.

Put them together and you got
yourself something very special.

Nana Wareing's cracker
and lemon curd sandwiches.

Can't beat them.

You can see this is lovely,
thickening up.

It becomes light, it becomes
aerated, it becomes fluffy.

Right, butter time.

Put a few little knobs in there.

Don't put it all in...

..cos you don't want it to split.

I'm just going to add that back
on there because there's a bit

of a wind blowing and don't want
the eggs to get too cold

because then the butter won't melt.

So the temperature
has to be just right.

But it's also getting thicker.

It's getting richer, and you can see
by adding butter,

you're also getting a sensational
shine on the lemon curd.

Last bit.

Take it off the heat.

Here it is.

It's ready now to be poured
into sterilised jars.

Look at that.

Home-made lemon curd!

And it'll keep in the fridge
for about two weeks.

There we have it.

Of course...

..there's going to have to be
a little bit left over for me.

Not quite a cracker sandwich,
but it's still delicious.

Since I've been here, I've built up
a great relationship

with the local community kitchen.

Morning. Good morning.

Good morning! Busy?

Always busy.
Doesn't end, does it?

It doesn't!

Run by volunteers,
they redistribute donated food,

so I always like to pass on
any surplus I've got.

Home-made lemon curd.
Ooh! Wow! Wow. Yeah.

Loads of eggs, add some -
lots of lemons -

so I knocked up some lemon curd.

So rather than give you just eggs,

we'll do something
a little bit different.

They're in little small jars
so you can spread them out

and give everyone. Thank you.
Yeah, lovely, aren't they?

Lemon curd sandwiches are
absolutely amazing for kids.

See. There you go.
I mentioned that not long ago

and everyone looked at me like,
"What you're talking about?"

Lemon curd sandwiches... Fabulous!
They're a must.

I should have labelled them
lemon curd. Do you know what?

I'll let you do it.

Nice to see you.
Thank you. And you.

Bye. Bye, see you soon. Bye-bye.
Take care. Thanks, Marcus. Bye.

I really want to start
experimenting with new crops

and I've heard of a neighbour
who's cultivating something

really different
on his smallholding.

Wheat.

So I had to come and see it
for myself.

Is there a Paul in there?

Hello! That's you, sir.
It is.

Paul Lovatt-Smith has been growing
wheat on a small scale for 15 years.

Not only that, he's also reviving
the ancient tradition

of harvesting it by hand.

Welcome. Your own wheat field,
which is quite unusual.

Yes. One day, they'll invent
a machine to do this.

Isn't that a combine harvester?
It is.

How long does it take you
to get through all of this?

This method does take a while.

You know, it takes us
two or three weeks to do it,

depending on how many people
there are.

And this is kind of
the most efficient way

that we've found of harvesting it...

Just by the old-fashioned way.

..in a small area. Yeah.

It's actually prehistoric.

It's what the Celts used to do.

Why do this when you know you can
just get flour from the shop?

HE LAUGHS

It's partly, you know, to know
the provenance of your own food.

Yeah. It's partly that.
It's partly for wildlife reasons.

You know, there's no chemicals,
no pesticides, no herbicides,

no fertiliser, no... Nothing.
Nothing.

You can see that there are things
growing in between.

Does that bother the wheat?
Does it matter?

No, it doesn't, and that's another
reason why picking it

by hand is OK because you just...
You avoid the weeds.

I've never seen anything
like this before.

So while I'm here, I've got to give
hand harvesting wheat a go.

Right, show me what to do.
Grab a bag. Yep.

And it's literally,
you just snap the heads off.

If you grab both bits and just do
that. Pull that up.

Yeah.

Time of harvest, what tells you...

How's the wheat look to know
it's the right time?

It goes a golden brown.
You don't really want any green.

But the main way of telling whether
it's ready to harvest

is if you...if you get an ear
and put it in your hand,

we'll thresh it out by hand.

So just rub it...

..and you'll get the grain
coming out.

So don't lose the grain, yeah?

Oh, yeah, there is.
So there is the grain.

And then if you...if you blow
a bit,

you'll clean it up.

Just gently.

It does look good, though, when you
look at it in the bag there.

There's no two ways about it,
this is a time consuming

lug from start to finish.

It is. But I would imagine that
the satisfaction of the bread

at the end outweighs the work,
I'm sure.

Definitely, yeah. Yeah, it's very
satisfying eating your own bread.

If I said to you, "I just want to
make a couple of loaves of bread,"

how much, what area would I need?

One of these rows does about
two loaves, I think.

One row? Yeah.

If you wanted to grow some wheat,
I've got enough spare this year...

OK. ..that I could give you
some seed.

Just a little...a little patch.
Yeah.

Once harvested, the threshing
machine separates the wheat

from the husks and stalks.

It's actually looking OK.

And it's then turned to flour
in an electric mill.

So, yeah, this is the flour.

OK. Can see a little bit of
brown specks, just...

That's the husk, isn't it?
Yeah.

It's definitely fine enough
for bread making. Yeah.

This loaf here,
I've cut with white flour

about 30% because otherwise you get
a loaf with a dip in it...

Really? And it's quite,
it's quite dense. Yeah, yeah.

Really? Yeah, yeah. Why is that?
That's the variety of wheat.

That's really good to know,
actually. Yeah.

Can I have a slice? Yeah.

It's a lot lighter than it looks.

Yeah, some home-made breads
are really dense.

That's good. Really nice.
Really nice.

It's not because it's just
good bread...

..it's the whole process. Mm.

It's so unique to grow
your own wheat

when it's a smallholding.

I'm really impressed.
I'm incredibly impressed.

It's delicious.

Meeting Paul and seeing the care
he puts into his wheat crop

reminds me why I started
my smallholding -

to get back to basics and understand
just where my food comes from.

We all take bread for granted.

We go to the shops, we buy it,
we don't think about it.

It's always on the shelves.

When you come to someone's
smallholding who's growing wheat

and making it and going through
the whole process,

it really does remind you people
have been doing this almost since

the beginning of time, and I think
sometimes we forget that.

Today's the day
my rescue hens arrive,

and I'm putting the finishing
touches to the enclosure

that Anatoliy made for them.

HENS CLUCKS

The new hens have made
a 27 mile journey

from the only environment
they've ever really known.

Shut this off.

So it's vital they have
a gentle introduction

to their new home.

HEN CLUCKS

Come on. There we go.

That's enough trauma for one day.

HEN CLUCKS

It's OK.

HENS CLUCK

There's a conversation going on...

..with the neighbours.

The one thing that these
two new arrivals are not

going to be is shy.

I mean, they come from a big family,
but they've got four

new friends there who know their way
around the farm, so...

what I've realised from Susie
and from Zoe is that they treat

the chickens like they're part
of their family.

They're extensions of families,
but they give so much back,

so it's definitely well worth
looking after them.

These two chickens are here
as a form of retirement.

They're getting away
from their productive life.

And here, to be honest with you,

they can actually just relax
and enjoy themselves.

It's great to think that the new
rescues could continue laying

for another couple of years.

And I really want to thank Susie and
Zoe for helping me get them here.

So I thought, why not cook
them some chicken?

I've got this fabulous rub
and I'm going to...

Basically, I'm going to hang
the chicken over the fire.

But first for the rub that will coat
the chicken.

It's made by grinding together
cumin, chilli flakes,

paprika and oregano.

So now that we've just gently just
ground those down a little bit,

I've got a little bit
of brown sugar.

I'm going to grate some lime zest.

It's what I love about chicken.

It's a great carrier of so many
different flavours,

and by cooking it slowly
over the fire,

it just allows all of those flavours
just to gently go into the chicken.

But if you haven't got a fire
and you haven't got a barbecue,

you can do this onto your chicken
and you can roast it in your oven

like any other roast chicken.

Next, I'm stuffing the chicken
with lemon slices

and herbs from the garden.

That should do.

Just put a little bit of
oil on the outside.

Sprinkle your rub all over.

You're smelling all the herbs
that you're just breaking up

with the pestle and mortar.

They all start working together.

There's a lovely, lovely aroma.

And, of course, we've also got those
lovely fresh herbs inside.

Just tip all of them on.

Right, I have got this contraption,

which is basically a little cage
that I've got that I put

my chickens in and I love
hanging the chickens.

And this is just going
to hang over here.

If you haven't got something
like this, you can spatchcock

your chicken, you can cut it up into
pieces, put the rub over it.

You can cook it however you like,

but this is perfect because it keeps
the chicken really nice and tight.

But it's a fabulous piece of kit.

And, basically...

..in there.

There we are.

Under there, put the clip on.

And there we have it.

Right, onto the fire.

It'll take two and a half
to three hours to cook.

Plenty of time for me to pick
veg from the garden

to go with my chicken.

I'm going for a mix of
young chard, hispi cabbage...

..and cavolo nero.

That should do.

Which I'm simply trimming down
and sticking on the grill.

I'm just scorching them.

Just getting a little bit of the...

the flavours of the coal
onto them.

You don't want it to burn,
so just keep turning it.

A little bit of rosemary.

So you get those flavours working.

It smells incredible.

And as each of the ingredients
start to get the colour

that I'm looking for,
I can then transfer them

into my serving dish.

I'm dressing the scorched veg
with lemon juice,

fresh herbs and garlic that
I've roasted above the grill.

I've also got just
a little splash of water,

and that will just gently
cook them through.

Put lid on...

..and they can just sit over here.

I wanted to use eggs
in this recipe too,

so I'm making a garlic
and herb mayonnaise.

I start by mixing egg yolks,
mustard,

lemon and salt in a blender

and then add vegetable oil
gradually.

If you add too much veg oil,
it will split out.

It's a cold sauce, so you add
a drop of boiling hot water

to bring it back
so you don't need to panic.

To my mayonnaise, I'm adding
more of my roasted garlic

and fresh tarragon.

A little squeeze of lemon.

Now, just mix all that in.

Wow. That is delicious.

Mayonnaise, tarragon
and smoky garlic.

Vegetables are in the pan.

My garlic and tarragon mayonnaise
is made.

So, moment of truth.

Let's get this down.

My chicken is perfectly cooked.

Now all I need to do
is slice it up...

..and add it to my bed of veg.

Finish it with a pinch of salt.

Bit of thyme leaf.

Absolutely incredible.

Finished off with
a drizzle of olive oil.

A few more minutes on the fire to
allow all those flavours to infuse

and the dish is ready for my guests.

Afternoon, ladies. Hello!
Nice to see you both.

How are you all?
Yeah, good.

I've cooked you some lunch.
Thank you.

You don't have to think too hard
about what I cooked you two.

It just has to be a little bit
of chicken. Oh!

There we go. Oh, wow.
Look at that.

I've got some - just some veg
from the garden. Oh!

what I'm learning is that when
you find the people

that are farming with love
and passion and care,

then you've found the real magic
of your food.

Cheers, ladies. Nice to see you.

Cheers. Nice of you to pop over.
Cheers.

My job is just to put a little
stamp on it, but I have to say,

it all starts with the farmers,
the growers and the producers.

They are the beginning and
the heart of what makes cookery

and eating so special.