November scavenger hunt

Well, November has flown by, but at least I remembered to take a few photos so that I could join in with Made with Love's Scavenger Hunt. Some of the pictures were taken in Cambridge as I recently spent a day there visiting my lad who is at uni there.

GOLD

This is The Corpus Clock in Cambridge designed by John C Taylor and inaugurated in 2008 by Stephen Hawking.  It is quite big and very, very gold!

BREAD

 Cambridge has a lovely market open every day and I like to buy some bread from this lovely here when I visit

STAIRCASE

This is in the Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge.

PATTEN
this  mosaic was in the entrance to the Fitzwilliam Museum.

BOXES  
some boxes in a shop window in Cambridge.  One could buy ones top hat here!!

FIVE 

5 Demi johns full of homemade wine waiting to be bottled

PAIR

My  wellies! 

 

PARK

We don't really have parks in the countryside they are more often just playing fields, but this one in Colchester is known at "The Rec" short for recreation ground 

 

TRAFFIC

driving home from work on Friday afternoon took ages, held up at these traffic lights. 

 RAIN

We have had plenty of rain this month, this was taken from INSIDE the car!

SUNSET

Taken from my bedroom window.  Not many evenings like this recently as it has been foggy and cloudy. 

 

HAPPINESS

Well you can't see how happy I am from this photo, but I had a big smile on my face as I took this.  worked on this blanket for nearly a year and now it is making my bed nice and cosy

That is it for this month!  Hopefully I will be able to some for December, the list looks promising

On the 5th weekend before Christmas

I bottled some wine.  24 bottles to be exact.

You may notice one empty bottle at the front - well you do have to test it!

Making wine is quite a long job but fun.  I make two sort, the first is what I call tinned wine. This is the kit wine where I buy a kit which contains a tin of concentrate, this makes 6 bottles of wine in about 6 weeks.

The other sort is made from scratch using fruit and vegetables.  These are either given to me, grown by me or foraged.

I bottled some elderberry kit wine, elderflower and apple and plain elderflower which was started in June this year, not quite ready to drink yet. The apple and elderflower started in June last year would not clear, properly, so have given up and bottled it anyway.  Not one to put in a show, but fine to drink.

 

I also needed to "rack" some other wine.  This is a technical term for syphoning the wine from one demijohn to another to take away the sediment that forms in the bottom.

Bottling the wine is a bit of a faff.  Firstly I collect the bottles from the storage bin behind the shed and give them a good scrub.  Pour in the steriliser and leave for a bit.  Then with some help syphon with a plastic tube into the bottles.  Push the corks in with a special corking tool, write a label and transfer to my "wine cellar". Haha- I mean the garage.

This whole palaver of bottling 24 bottles and racking 3 jars took me all afternoon!

I make wine for a few reasons

It is nice to drink!

It is much cheaper than bought wine.  The kit wine works out at about £1.50 a bottle and the homemade is the price of a bag of sugar and some yeast, sometimes a carton of fruit juice too. Maybe 30 p a bottle.

There are less chemicals in homemade.

It is better for the environment on two counts.  Firstly my wine hasn't been shipped across the world.  sometimes we buy wine from Chile and Australia and I wonder how much energy it takes to get it here. then there is all the  travelling to the shop to buy it and bringing it home. Wine bottles are quite heavy.  Secondly I constantly re-use my bottles, I have been making wine for around 5 years and keep using the same ones, so don't have to take loads of empty bottles to the recycling bank.

Anyway job done- until next time.  

I also managed to tick some other jobs off the list including defrosting the outside freezer, doing some shopping, getting my tickets for the pantomime and cleaning out the chicken hutch.  Phew!

Harvest time

The weather forecast for this weekend was warm and sunny, perfect for harvesting the potatoes.  Today turned out not to be that sunny,but it was warm and dry.  We were at the allotment early and dug up all the potatoes and laid them out to dry off.  I love digging up potatoes, you never know what is growing under the earth.  Under some where some huge ones and others just a few. Also picked a small handful of French beans, a couple of courgettes and some sunflowers.

Basil popped his head over the fence and wondered if we would like some field mushrooms that he had just picked -"lovely" I said! " We eat them on toast with Worcestershire sauce" he said.  "Lovely" I said"

Later, Godfrey, the allotment manager came along.  "I hear you make wine?"  He said, "oh yes" I replied.  "Do you want some Damsons?"   He said.  "Lovely". I said.  An hour later he turned up with a carrier bag with 5 pounds of Damsons.

I have just spent an hour chopping them up and removing the stones, a bit of a fiddly job!

Have to boil them up, then strain onto the sugar and add some yeast.  Stir daily for 3 days and then pop into a Demi-John and let it bubble away until all the sugar is turned into alcohol.  Then leave it to mature for a few months, it will probably be ready to drink this time next year.  

Must remember to give Godfrey a bottle if I want any more Damsons from him!

Later we went back to the allotment. For a moment we wondered if the potatoes would still be there or had someone taken them?  They were fine, just as we had left them.  Sorted them into bags, those to store and any damaged ones to eat first.   Well it turned out to be a good harvest - 3 bags!  Not sure that they will see us through the winter, we will see!

Picked some flowers too - chrysanthemums.

Autumn show

It's not quite Autumn here yet, but yesterday was our Horticultural Societies Autumn show.  It is quite a small show, with only and handful of entries in each class, but I enjoy all the preparation -  the growing - the making - the cooking.  
Some things have been over a year in the making such as the wine and others are very last minute like the Victoria sandwich and the flowers, which need to be made or picked early in the morning.

 I have had a plan for the week running up to the show. Firstly I had to choose and and order my photos 

Four categories here, My 4 legged friend, Trees, The seashore and A special event, my photos of the Olympics won a 2nd prize.

 Next the wine needs to be tasted, re-bottled and labelled. I entered 4 bottles, white dry, white sweet, red dry and a rose and won a 1st, 2nd and 3rd!

Have been working on the handicraft entries over the year, this knitted fair isle jumper for a child won 3rd prize.

I am quite proud of this appliqued and quilted tea cosy, especially as it came 1st!

The worst thing in the whole show is a dressed doll.  So old fashioned and really not my thing at all.  I found a really complicated pattern with a very difficult lace pattern, knitted on thin needles and 4 ply wool, but it only got 2nd prize.  I was a little disappointed.  I have no idea what to do with this now, who on earth would want it?  I won't be entering this again.

Gave the pot plants a wash and brush up.  Wiped over the pot and cleaned the leaves - made all the difference my lovely Aloe Vera won 1st prize.

 We grow lots of raspberries on the allotment and I made some jam earlier in the summer, this also won 1st prize.  Last week I made some very red beetroot chutney - 2nd prize.

No luck with the rest of my cooking. Alice beat me with her Victoria Sandwich, she was very happy to get the 1st, but neither of us got anything for the banana cake and both our savoury biscuits were "a bit dry"!!!

A basket of veg, all picked from the allotement.  1st prize for some Cavalo de Nero kale, carrots, beetroot, peas, lettuce, spring onions, courgettes, cucumber and tomatoes - Wow!  Of course can't take all the credit for this one, Mr HH does the hard work  -all the digging, composting and watering!

 There are two types of flowers that can be entered, one is called decorative, which is proper flower arranging with bought flowers which I cannot do and the other is homegrown flowers which I can do.  These are my ten stems of garden flowers (no prize!)

 

and a vase of annuals - came 2nd with these, mainly marigolds and cosmos.

Here I am with my Anniversary Class entry.  This one has 4 items, a vase of homegrown flowers (more sunflowers) a pot plant, handicraft (knitted socks) and a cake (cupcakes)

Phew!  I did enjoy that!  Time to start thinking about planting some bulbs for the spring show!

 

LIKE EATING AN ELEPHANT.......

Someone I work with always describes the best way to tackle a large project as being just like "Eating an Elephant"  ONE BITE AT A TIME!  Which is how I felt about this pumpkin

I decided to have a go at making some pumpkin wine.  This needed 5 pounds of pumpkin so I chose my biggest one and started to chop.  It said to grate it, but I thought it would spoil my nails so food processed it.  

However this only used up less than a quarter so decided to make a second batch of wine which left:

This much!  I made two lots of soup, one with just a potato and some chilli, it was a bit thin.  The next lot I added some red lentils, a can of tomatoes and some curry paste and that was lovely -thick and tasty

But I still had some left so I made

a cake, spicy and spongy.  Didn't put it in the fridge and it had gone mouldy by Tuesday so had to throw the rest out.

But there was still some left, so I roasted it with chillis, no photo of that but some sausage rolls that I made.

AND THAT IS HOW I ATE A PUMPKIN  one bite at a time!!!!


 

SOAP AND ONIONS

Well, that's it.  Summer is over.  The clocks went back last night and the winter weather arrived yesterday morning.

Heavy rain made Saturday morning shopping fun, trying to hold a handbag, umbrella and a shopping trolley loaded up with fruit and veg is a little tricky. It was 3 degrees when I got back and then the rain turned to sleet.  Indoor jobs then...

Bottled some parsnip wine, which was made last winter, it was drinkable but not quite ready.  Also racked some other wine.  Racking is syphoning the wine from one demi john to another, leaving the sediment in the bottom.  This helps to clear the wine.

Also made a couple of loaves of bread and a cherry cake, yes all the cherries sunk to the bottom again, even though I coated them in flour.

This morning started with the first frost of the winter but dry and bright so we went to the allotment, first ones there just after 8 am (new time!)

 Planted the onions.  The white ones are Troy and the red are called Red Cross.  Tried to plant them far enough apart to give room to hoe between.  I usually put them too close.
Then Basil our plot neighbour called over to say did I want to pick some chrysanthemums.  I went over to find him pounding something in a barrel with a stick.  He said he had 6 dead rats in it which he was going to incinerate (AHHHHHH)  but the barrel had filled with water and he was trying to make a hole in the bottom.  Oh dear, I am not keen on rats to say the least, didn't go any closer, picked the flowers as quick as I could and hurried back.
They do look lovely though.

The rain then started again and it turned colder and we hurried home.  Time for another indoor job.  I am getting low on soap so needed to make some more, homemade is so much better than shop, does not dry your hands out, I never need to use hand cream.

First thing I need to check my supplies and decide what sort I am going to make.  This is the exciting bit - all the bottles and potions that I have collected

Today I decide on rose with added rose petals.  Wanted to colour it pink so used some paprika.

Melt the oils in the pan, add the caustic soda (with goggles, mask and rubber gloves on) then stir.  After a bit the mixture thickens, I add the rose petals and essential oil and then pour into the moulds.

I will leave these to harden with a towel over them for a couple of days and resist all temptation to poke them with my finger.  Must wear gloves to touch the soap until it is cured.  After one or two days the soap is taken out of the moulds and then put on the shelf for 4 weeks when it will be ready to use.

A bit of ironing, easy baked potatoes for tea, a bit of knitting and then the Strictly results show.  I think that will be it for one weekend!

ELDERFLOWERS

I noticed last week that the hedgerows are full of Elderflowers and it is time to make the wine and cordial.  AND the Elderflower Champagne, I tried it last year and it was an absolute disasaster, the bottles exploded in the garage and covered everything in a sticky glass fragment mess.  I was NOT popular.
I had followed the Quick Elderflower Champagne recipie in Sarah Ravens book, Food for Friends and Family, normaly the recipies in this book are very good.  However this one says to add dried yeast and I think that it was too much and also to store in glass wire top bottle.
This year I searched for a new recipie and found Elderflower Champagne at the Farm in my Pocket blog.  The recpie has no added yeast and suggests using plastic coke bottles.  The build up of gas can be released by unscrewing the lid a little bit.
I now have 3 large coke bottles of Elderflower Champagne starting to brew, after one day I can see little bubbles around the top.

Lets hope that it works this time!
 

Autumn Show

Yesterday was the Horticultural Society Autumn Show. I entered quite a few things and it was a little fraught in the morning as I prepared all the things to take up the hall. We had to nip to the allotment to pick flowers, make another cake and label the photos as I had forgotten. Everything need to be displayed by 11 O'clock and then the hall closes for judging. I went back later and was very pleased to see that I had got prizes for quite a few things, but even more surprised when they announced that I had won the cups in the wine and photo categories.












This is my wine, I got first for the Rose and Sweet red wines and third for the dry white, but nothing for the sweet white.


This is my vase of annuals, winning second prize.

Below is 10 stems of homegrown flowers, mine is the small yellow one at the front which came third (out of 3!!!)














This is the anniversary class, there had to be flowers, pot plant and then 2 out of 4 items, I chose a plate of tomatoes and some knitted socks.

I also won first for a truss of tomatoes, "transport and "A parade" photos and a jar of chutney. 2nd for a basket of vegetables. Third for knitted garment for a child,10 cherry tomatoes. But nothing for my cakes or pasties. I thought that I was quite good at cooking, but perhaps I should stick to making wine!

It was good fun to enter and compete against others, will need to start planning for the spring show now.