Xmas pressies 1- homebrew

Spent an awesome afternoon Saturday wandering about the Somerset countryside with Em picking blackberries. Encountering some angst ridden heffers and bullocks all frantically mooing at each other :) we managed to gather over 4lbs of blackberries as well as a bonus 4oz of elderberries and pound and a half of damsons :)




So thanks to a lend from Em of some bits and a sneaky purchase of some demijohns and yeast I got the first gallon started today. 1 gallon of blackberry and elderberry wine hopefully ready for gifts at some point! :)

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Homemade Goodies - the plan!

I'm getting a bit overexcited about making stuff at home now and have latched onto the idea of using my home grown beetroots to make pickles. I love pickled beetroot, and so does my stepdad, so have found a recipe and gathered some jars from lovely work peeps, so when I get hold of some pickling vinegar I'll crack on. I'm hoping if they come out ok, I can give them as crimbo pressies, so am keeping an eye on some funky material and labels to jazz up the old jars a bit.

I took my mom and step Pa on my fave local walk from Woollard this weekend to show them the lovely views and check out the hedgerow goodies situation, I'm happy to say there are loads of sloe's and blackberries. So list of things I'm hoping to make before crimbo are:

Pickled beetroot

Apple chutney
Blackberry jelly - this weekend!
Ginger cordial
Burnt sugar fudge- this weekend
And finally some sloe gin - that'll have to be for next crimbo or after though :)

I'm also keeping an eye out on freecycle and ebay for brewing schtuff, there are so many blackberries it'd be a shame not to try and make some wine with them! So fingers crossed! Maybe a text to my Pa.

Other ideas for things I'd like to do of late are:
Reupholstry course
Woodwork course
Rag rug making - this is in the process - book on 'how to' purchased, hessian aquired and rag merchant contacted - just need to find some resonably priced tools on ebay!

 Sorry this is a bit wordy - more pics as things unfold!

Knitting revisited!

Since last time and now that we're heading into winter, I'm getting all excited about making things. It was all spurred on by picking up my knitting again, I checked out Youtube to find out how to cast off my first scarf, so that freed up the needles for some more experimenting. Not happy with a standard knit stitch project next I decided to check out a herringbone stitch, again thanks to Youtube :) which is ridiculously hard going for a newb, basically it involves purling one row and then slippng the next row, slips all nice and loose and purls were so tight I could barely get a needle through them! So bought three balls of chunkier Sirdar Indie wool colour 160 and some chunky 10mm 60cm circular knitting needles to try and make a snood. I've now joined Ravelry and faved a few patterns, so we'll see how that goes! (I also bought some DK Sirdar 828 bright purple, its gorgeous, no idea what I'll do with it yet though!)

My original scarf I think I will jazz up with some contrasting tassles and buttons, not sure exactly on the finish yet, so watch this space. Also popped to Midsomer Norton with Em and went to Rose Crafts which was awesome, am tempted to get some sock wool and knit my Pops some chunky socks for crimbo, maybe next year though! They had what I thought was called festival or something like that, basically a super funky multicoloured ball of wool that makes one pair of socks. Will have to go back and get some!

July's garden... Has mostly flopped :)

Not too much to report apart from everythings coming into flower, although through lack of staking etc it's all looking a bit wild and floppy. So highlights are: poppies are gorgeous, alstromeria is lovely, cherry is rampant, dahlia's are coming on, peas are dying back and slugs are slimy little gits. Oh and my long awaited scented climber collection has been poorly treated and I've just got round to potting them, albeit in temporary small pots until I can decide on their permanent homes (if they survive!). Pics to summarise:























































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My New Hudson

Sadly D's Great Aunt passed away in May, which I was strangely affected by. Strange as in I barely knew her, but in the time that I had she'd been through a fair amount of time in hospital and that's where most of our visits happened. I was lucky enough to go with D to her house though, which is in a beautiful part of Worcester called St.John's, I think the thing that impressed me was that she was a spinster even at her grand age and at an age where it must have been quite unusual, to that end she obviously amassed the skills that her male partner would have bought to the relationship which is something to be very proud of. It does still make me smile to think that she employed a gardener up until she passed away, and sad to think how she would react if she could see her lovely gardens now.

Nevertheless, one of the things that we inherited was her New Hudson bicycle, which is amazing. It dates back to 1939 and is basically completely original, I'm part way through cleaning it up mainly because the wood worms have had a bit of a field day with the basket and it was covered in wood dust. Luckilythe basket is still structurally sound, so it'll go back on eventually. I'm torn after a conversation with my Dad about whether to keep it as original, which basically makes it an unusable museum piece or to update the wheels, tyres (obviously), touch up the paint work and rechrome the chrome bits. Tis difficult, so watch this space, I get the feeling Joan would be annoyed to see it sat just being looked at and not being used, nonsense! :)

Anyway here are some pics of before and after the start of the cleaning process (damp tea towel in the sun!)

All excited!

I should probably explain why :) I went for my second lot of volunteering in the garden's at Tyntesfield on Sunday, and came away feeling like 100% I want to do this for a living! I love everything about the gardens, especially the walled garden and glass houses. Even down to the smell of the potting sheds, it just makes me think 'this is it!'.

So yesterday I was working with a chap called Adam who's being paid to do some weekend seasonal work after being a student volunteer for years. It was different to working with the ladies I worked with last time, and pretty useful hearing how he got into gardening (which he does as his full time job now). I started the day side shooting and topping tomatoes and picking nectarines and cucumbers in the glasshouse and then headed into the walled garden to strip the three espaliered morello cherry trees of their fruit, there were thousands of squidgy ripe cherries! Then I cut some sweet peas and bunched them to sell, pulled some beetroots, spring onions, picked the nectarines on the espaliers using a pair of antique step ladders and then that was it. I was supposed to just do 10am-1pm but ended up staying until 3pm, it was awesome! Even weirder when people asked me questions as if I knew what I was doing! :)

We ended up picking a grand total of 20lbs of cherries in the end, most went to the restaurant but some stayed behind on the table for visitors to buy. It feels a bit fanciful to say it but working there is like being in another world, its so peaceful and old, there's a real feeling of history there and I imagine the original gardeners in the Victorian era going about their business growing food for the big house. Just hope that I did a good job! Will definately be back next week, so will try and remeber to take my camera this time!

For the time being this link shows a few views around the estate, also Chris Bertram's photos here are great!

June's garden

Thanks to the unpredictable weather we've had of late the garden's gone crazy, having a few days away in Pembs for S&p's wedding and the midlands has meant I've been able to see a massive difference instead of peering at it every time I get home from work :) new additions are few but sweet peppers are doing well, there's a galia melon grown from a seed from a shop bought one (really easily, cheers Asda!) and ive started some beetroot and carrot from seed in the veg bit. Oh and there's a tray of peas and beans in the greenhouse ready to takeover from the ones already in the bed when they've done their jobs! Here's some pics, complete with some strange feller :)


































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25 years and 3 weeks on

We were talking about politics (as much as we do) at work this morning weirdly spurred on by my winning the Eurovision and deciding to give the winnings to the YPTE (http://www.ypte.org.uk/) who I'd sponsored before on my 100 mile walk. On their blog they had picked up on the news story about the government subsidising nuclear while at the same time reporting that investments in renewables had decreased by 70% in the UK during 2010. Everyone's got ther differing opinions on nuclear but mine is that its a kneejerk short term solution which no matter how 'safe' it now is will leave a legacy of toxic waste that we'll eventually have to deal with. I can imagine the outrage of generations to come when they hear that all of the leakage and associated environmental damage was caused because we were too scared to invest in renewables when we needed it most.

This reminded us that it was the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disatser on 26th April which completely passed me by, probably because the news were hushing it up in case it reminds everyone that 'hey maybe nuclear isn't that safe'. From a personal point of view, despite the horrificness of the disaster and the terrible after effects I've got a fascination for Chernobyl. It is one of the only places on Earth where a place once collonised by humans has been deserted and left to be re-taken by nature. Post apocalyptic movies always interest me, and I love watching CGI scenarios where familiar places become unfamiliar and over run with trees and wild animals. There are loads of examples especially in film but I am Legend, Logan's Run and Planet of the Apes spring to mind.

For that reason I'd love to go to Chernobyl and see the wildlife sanctuary its become. It puts into stark contrast the message of environmental conciousness, because nature will always prevail, it is humanbeings who will become the endangered species. Saving the planet is as much about saving ourselves as anything else. That's not to say we shouldn't try our hardest to reduce our reliance on resources and it's why I support environmental charities that try and conserve endangered species and the poorest people of the world, since is and will be them that feel the effects most.

Anyway that's all from me, check out this collection of abandoned places around the world http://www.geekpolice.net/t16458-top-10-most-interesting-abandoned-places and here's some pics to finish of Chernobly and Pripyat 25 years on: