Nearly a day off

Today it was cold again. The rest of the country is getting snow but we are not. I went up to Lincoln to pick up Miss L on Saturday. Again no snow but so cold the engine would not come up to full working temperature. It is nice have her back.

I went to collect some pork, a boned out leg, from Sagely Steve and drop off his air dried ham. I have been working on it all year. It started off at a little over 10kilos. Now it weighs a lot less, is quite solid but moist. It is going to take some eating, there is loads of it.

I had a day off today, well nearly. I went over to the lottie. The soil is frozen solid but I was there to do other jobs. I patched up the netting. It killed my shoulders as all the netting is over head height. Patching the holes should keep the pigeons out.

On Sunday I picked up some food for the birds. The store was selling 1 kilo bags for £5. That was too much. I cast my eyes about the shelves and saw the same bird food in 20 kilo bags for £12. It just look a bit odd walking off with a big of bird food. At the lottie I filled up the feeders. Even as I was filling the feeders the Robin was dodging in and out picking off fallen crumbs. He must be hungry. As soon I put up the peanut filled feeders they were mobbed by the birds. I found another feeder at the lottie so I filled that too and hung it up. All that food should keep them going for a while.

I checked over the plot. The Savoy cabbage looks great, the crinkly dark green leaves are stark against the snow.

I took a spin out to see Angie & Chris and had a chat. I gave them a bottle. a small bottle, of Sloe Gin and one of Limoncello and agreed to meet in the middle of January to resume the poo run.

Time enough for digging.

This morning H and I went to drop off my seed potato order at the Newall Allotment Society shop or the " potato men" as H calls them. We had a chat with the chaps on the usual topics of spud varieties, amount of business they did last year, how their allotments did. I picked up a bag of compost and some more seeds trays whilst I was at the shop. I like to support them.

Next stop, after the potato men, was Taylor's butchers in Measham. I bought a Ham to prepare for Christmas. When we got home I trimmed the skin from the Ham, rubbed in the salt cure mixture and set it aside into a basin in the fridge. In a week or so I will do the next step. Whilst I was about it I checked on the ham that has been air drying all year.

The little birds have found the feeders we set up in the garden. The feeders have been fizzing with long tailed tits amongst the more usual garden birds. They come and go all day in gangs.

H is going to a party with her old buddies up in Macclesfield. I am to drive her up there. I plan to go on to Manchester to see my Mum. I will drop off the Christmas prezzies as well. I can go with a clear conscience. The snow has thawed but with the thaw comes a lot of water. That water makes the soil too wet to dig. I have a few day off between now and Christmas so time enough for digging.

Intersting Website

Here is link to a plant website. the messages in the website are a bit scary but the plant elements are interesting.

Hoar Frost

Nobody in the UK will fail to have noticed it is cold....very cold. There was a short, partial thaw at the weekend. That cleared most of the snow off the roads and dried them which was handy because since then it has been very cold. Monday morning -6C and this morning it was -9C. The good thing about the cold is the hoar frost. Everything is coated in a crispy ice layer. I had to run a errand in the car to another town, the trees and bushes were spectacular in the bright sunshine. The sky was blue, the sun was out but there is no heat in it. Even through the middle of the day the frost was not melting. By the evening it was a balmy -1C.

Racking and Bottling

It is still really cold so no lottie. Instead I tackled the eight demi-johns that sitting at the back of the dining room for the past few months. I had two demi-johns [DJ] of Rhubarb wine. One of the Rhubard DJs is not very nice so I binned it. The other Rhubarb DJ was really nice so I bottled it off. I have been tasting the Limoncello this past few weeks. I have been restrained and there is some left to bottle. The Strawberry, Plum, Pear, Grape wines and Mead need racking. Racking is when wine is transferred into another demi-john from the current one. Racking or racking off achieves a couple tasks:

1. It leaves behind the dead yeast cells and other debris to gather at the bottom of the demi-john.
2. Clears the wine.
3. Ensures the fermentation has finished
4. Removing the old yeast keeping the wine from tainting
5. You get a chance to taste it.
6. This the point where sparkling wine can be made.

The wine made from my lottie grapes has a great colour but is not ready for drinking. The racked wine went backed on the shelf in the dining room. The bottled Limoncello and Rhubarb have been put into the shed.

Who you looking at?

It has been snowing all week. There was nothing that could be done at the lottie but H and I went over to check it out and fill up the bird feeders. Today, Saturday, the snow is thawing so it is wet and slushy. I dug up a couple of Leeks for tea. The soil is not frozen and looks in really good shape. The spouts are looking well as are the Broccoli and Savoy cabbage.

Whilst trundling up the lottie drive H spot a bird of prey sitting on a fence post. It just sat their eyeing us. It is not usual to see a Buzzard or Kestrel sitting on a post but the bird was not either one. I got the bird guide out of my bag and flipped through the falcon section. Even without the guide it was unmistakable a Peregrine falcon. H and I sat there looking at this striking bird, looking at us, until it had enough and zoomed off.

When we got home we set up a few bird feeders in the garden and filled them up. We have been seeing the usual small birds but we also seen lots of Long Tailed Tits. I made a beef stew using veggies from the lottie. I made some suet dumplings to go with the stew. This was the first time I had made dumplings from scratch. I will be having them again.