Literary Appreciation

Today I had a lie in so I was up at 9am. I had my usual breakfast. I read my book a while. I came to a decision on what I would do today. The poo trailer was still at the lottie, I had a number plate in the garage and spuds in the ground. There's a plan. I went to the lottie and emptied the poo trailer and in the process buggered up my back. I soldiered on very annoyed with myself. I had decided to to dig up the remaining Charlotte spuds. Bending down did not hurt my back so I plugged on. The soil is still on the dry side of moist. The spuds came up clean. I dug the three rows up which leaves nine rows of Cara left to be dug up. I went round the Calebrese one last time and found another dinner worth of heads to harvest. They are pretty much spent. The Calebrese have performed very well over the year giving me three harvests. I will be planting them again next year.

I dropped back in at the house. I removed the number plate off the trailer. Using the old number plate as a template I drilled holes in the new number plate. Holes sorted I screwed the number plate back on the trailer. The trailer now has the number plate of Degsy. I had picked up a trailer safety strap at Melton market the last time I was there. The "strap" is a plastic coated steel cable with ring at one end and a carabinar at the other. I just had the loop the wire through the ring to secure cable to the trailer. The carabiner hooks onto Degsy when the trailer is hooked up to Degsy.

I have been reading a book by Pete Brown about beer. I have come to appreciate the pub, its history and even the unspoken rituals more than ever. I had run the trailer back up the the stables. Whilst in the area I popped over to see the Bees. H came with me for the ride. The Bees were flying freely despite the colder nights we have been having. On the way back we spotted that the front door of the Railway Inn was open so we stopped. We sat in and had a pint, me a Guinness and H had half a Pedigree. Just in the sense of literary appreciation you understand.

Ice cold

It is really cold at the moment. I was a bit weak after the meeting of the Allotment Society AGM on Friday night. So cold in fact we had snow and then frost. I had a look at the lottie but it was frozen solid so nothing to do there which was lucky. Sunday was no better weather wise. Bitterly cold but clear. After bacon buttie; without brown sauce!?!, I am going to have to speak to the quartermaster about comestibles, H and I went for a walk. We walked over to Hicks Lodge to have a look at the new cycle centre. It is still under construction. We had a walk round the lodge. There was a air frost Saturday night so all the trees, bushes and grass were covered in a haw frost. The weak sun did not melt the frost so it was quite pretty. We ended up at Horace's Seat as usual. The clear air meant we could see for miles and its was really quiet as well. It was Sunday morning, the snow was keeping folks at home and the snow was cushioning the cars wheels.

On the way home I decided to do a few outdoor jobs when I got there whilst I was dressed for outside. I tidied up the shed and the greenhouse. I was given a few quality planks a while ago and had put them in the shed. One of the planks was a 10inches wide cill board. I cut it to size to fit the threshold of the shed. I organised the tray of spuds, the baskets of onions and Butternut Squash. Then to the greenhouse. It took a minute to get through the door. A well aimed boot broke the hold of the ice in the runners. I just had to clear out the moldy onions. Red onions just don't keep. I took the stems of the Garlic. Then put the Garlic and shallots into two baskets which, eventually, hung up in the shed. I put a few of the trays I left outside into the greenhouse. It is very slightly warmer in the greenhouse than outside so I hope the plants I have started will make it through the winter.

I came in the from the cold, had a sandwich. Then tested the Lemoncello. It was not cold enough so I put the glass on the decking for half hour. We like ice cold Lemoncello.

Getting back to normal

Today was the first weekend for a couple of months when I had no calls on my time. Time was my own. That is not to say I did not have lots to do. It was very clear last night and I thought we might have a frost. I woke up to a breezy morning and a bright blue sky. You can tell the year is turning. Although the sun was up it lacked the power of a month ago. I decided that I would see the bees today to harvest the honey crop. I have been tussling with how to feed the bees. It is an exchange. The bees make lots of honey, more than enough to see themselves through the winter. I take some of it and in return I feed back sugar. The question is what form is the sugar to take. There essentially two forms to feed bees with, syrup or fondant. Syrup is liquid but it stimulates the bees to start the Queen laying. Not a good thing leading into the winter. The other form is fondant. The trouble is that I have never made fondant. I had a go at making it this morning. One part water to four parts sugar plus a quarter teaspoon of vinegar. Boiled up to 230 degrees and allowed to cool. Whilst it is cooling it has to whisked until it turns white. Boiling hot sugar does not cool down quickly. I put half the mixture in the food processor and set it running. The remainder stayed in the jam pan. That cooled down quicker especially since I had put it outside. I whisked it by hand and as it cooled it turned white. I poured the cooling mixture into greaseproof paper lined trays. Eventually the mixture in the mixer began to cool and solidify. I put the trays outside. When the trays were completely cold the mixture was firm like cheese, in fact it was fondant.

Whilst the fondant was cooling I loaded up the car with my bee fettling gear. I took a run over to Swad to pick up some items from the bike shop. By the time I got back the fondant was ready to go. I had a brew and went to see the bees. The heavy rain of the week had not made the tracks to the apiary impassable. The clearer boards I put in last week had done there job. I snaffled the supers and put them in the car. The then put the ekes [ekes are spacers], I had made during the week, on the hive then placed the fondant on the top bars of the frames, replaced the crown board and tidied up. Before I put the roofs on a I had a peek under the crown boards. The fondant was covered with bees. I put the roofs and came away content.

A had another brew when I came home, took the bee gear out of the car and replaced it with the lottie gear. I had the lottie to myself. It was quite warm. I raked off the bed I had prepared in Bed 2 last week. I planted 50 Radar, white onion sets, and a dozen Shallots [Jermor]. Next I dug up the Caulis that had gone over and weeded the area. I tipped three barrow loads of manure on the area and dug it in. I have some chicken pellets I am trying the use up so I threw a couple handfuls of the pellets about before raking the area flat. The soil is in smashing condition. In to the area I planted 30 Garlic [Marco] cloves. These will form a divider in the bed. The area of the bed below the Garlic will be Onions related crops and above it root crops.

I checked the grapes and they looked great. The weather is due to turn cold this week so I expect I will have to harvest the grapes next week.

I had a little time left so I dug up a row of the main crop spuds, Cara. They are fantastic, large and blight free. The soil dug nicely if a little damp. The row filled one of my storage trays. I got a bucket of water from the trough and washed the spuds before putting them back in the tray and loading the car. I cut the last of Gladioli for H and came home. I pulled a few cobs of Sweet Corn for tea.

H and I went of to Coalville to get the makings for Sloe Gin and Lemoncello. Aldi have cheap spirits. Whilst H made tea [The northern meal] I zested 20 lemons. After tea I finished the first part of lemoncello which involves soaking lemon zest and lemon juice in Vodka. That finished I cleaned up the Sloes Steve had given me. I put the Sloes with equal amount of sugar in a demi-john and topped it up with Gin. That is Christmas sorted.

Aldi has an odd selection of products. It's like going to the super-market on holiday. Kind of the same but different. In the clearance bins was cycling gear. Smart performance long legged, fitted trousers. Merino wool, yes Merino wool jersey and long fingered gloves with gel palms. All these items plus a lights set came to bearly £20. I tried the stuff on when we got home. It fits really well. I hoping to have a spin out to try the stuff out.

The Cuckoo has sung

I finally found half an hour to sit in my shed and rack of the Cider into bottles. Just after Christmas and again at Easter I tasted the cider in the barrels. I have two barrels on the go. One taste fine but the other was a bit vinegary. Now they both taste fine. One is still a bit dry, which is not to my taste, but H likes it. The cider is quite flat but is very clear.

I only managed to get one barrel sorted. It gave me twelves full 2litre bottles. I might do the other one this evening. I am looking forward the weekend. It is Bank Holiday weekend in the UK so no work for me on Monday, well not paid work.

• Saturday is bee moving day and for planting out at the lottie. The greenhouses are stuffed.

• Sunday I am enrolled for an international fencing match in Leicester. Leicester v Kregfeld. Leicester is twinned with Kregfeld. We are doing Leicester fencing club a favour by lending them some skilled swordsmen. I am quite good at fencing now, even if I say so myself. I win when a choose to but I am not very fit at the moment. It will be interesting to see how we get on. I will probably run out of steam in my legs. As long as I can the arm going

• Monday is walking. H is look for a suitable route.

Saturday and Monday are whether permitting. However I foresee planting in the rain if needs be. Bee fettling might have to done at a less than perfect time. I am resolved to being stung............repeatedly.

Cider or Vinegar

My fifteen gallons of apple juice, from the mammoth juicing session, was split into two five gallon bins and the rest put in either Demi-johns as wine or bottled and frozen. The demi-johns are bubbling away as wine in the making. The juice that was bottled is in the freezer. The odd bottle that just went in the fridge for immediate consumption has started building up pressure. That's a clue it is starting ferment. I am getting through it. It taste sharp and fruity with a slight fizz.

The juice in the big bins is a tail of two pressings. Both bins had their lids put on and the air locks fitted at the same time. Both bins were put into the cool shed. Nothing seemed to be happening judging by the water level in the air locks. After a couple of weeks I snapped open the lids to see what was going on. One bin had a nice froth on the surface of the juice. Upon tasting it tasted like cider. The other bin had a gelatinous scum on the surface of the juice which I fished out. There was also an acidic aroma. Upon tasting there was a hint of acid. Is this going to be another vat of vinegar? After a little negotiation with H the bins were allowed indoors into the corner of the dining room. I left the bins for a week to warm up to room temperature. That corner of the room hovers around 64 degrees C. The cider bin picked up and start fizzing more vigorously. The vinegar bin just sulked. I thought I have nothing to lose, I mean who needs another five gallons of weak cider vinegar? I made up a whole sachet of general purpose yeast in warm water and got it started. Then I poured the activated yeast into the vinegar bin, refitted the lid and airlock and retired to a safe distance. It was a difficult two days to keep my nose out of the bin. I checked the airlock but no movement. On the evening of the third day after dosing the vinegar I had a test. The juice smalls fruity rather than acidic and you can see the gas bubbles fizzing to the surface. The juice tastes like cider but different to the other bin.

Following my highly scientific experiment I have come to the following conclusions:
a. The lids on the bins are not air tight.
b. The type of apples that are made into juice have different properties.
c. Relying on the apples to provide the right sort of yeast might not be a resilient plan.
d. The temperature of the shed is not right for cider making. It needs to be colder as in the fridge or hotter as in the dining room.