Apple Beer, aka Country Cider

4 lb apples ~ 2 gallons cold water ~ 3 lb white sugar
4 oz ginger root
1 tsp ground ginger/cinnamon ~ 1tsp cloves

Grate/chop &tc. washed scrumpied apples
Add to pan of cold water & stir every day for 7 days
Strain & add sugar, bruised ginger root & spices
Leave for further 7 days & then strain
Bottle & drink
... YUM!

Improves with age (see, here)

lemon curd fairy cakes

... for work (counting down the tea-breaks)

More of the same

... but have I a single courgette yet? No! Tons of flowers but they're just not fruiting. The rain (of which there has been much)? Or, are the seeds not viable?!

Scrumpying

Yellow plum & ginger jam



Plum & allspice jam (shockingly good and a good base for chinese plum sauce?)

Saga of the toilet excavations

The toilet, as was, back in August 2009 ... honestly (!) under the 'produce' and concealed beneath tiles, we were informed that there was a toilet.




Whatever you do, I was told, DON'T touch the toilet... it must have been boxed in for a reason!



Voila!


Rotten!
PVA glue to seal the scrubbed (of mould) concrete

Cement to level and fill cracks (and opportunity to use trowel!)


Plastic sheet for damp proofing and insallating board



Black vinyl flooring
New black toilet seat
Lovely new door: spot on, thanks Nigel!



Thrifted sink all plumbed in: tidy!

Now, just a little tiling behind the toilet and sealant where the tiles and toilet meet the vinyl

Free seeds?

Yes please! Thanks to:

VegetableSeeds.net - VegetableSeeds.net offers fantastic value for the highest quality vegetable seeds in the UK. Over 300 varieties with next day shipping.


- red veined sorrel (400)
- asparagus pea (50)
- organic celeriac, prinz (100)
- marigold pot (100)
- beetroot, boltardy (275)
- angelica (100)
- chamomile lawn (1000)
- feverfew (500)
- cucumber, telegraph improved (3)
- squash, turks turban (15)
- squash, waltham butternut (15)
- pumpkin (15)

cuttings

Honeysuckle, scrumpied from over the fence ...


2 months to sprout roots!

August yard

So, to explain, since one should never move a nest without good cause: this nest came from the allotment shed. Last year a blackbird family moved in and despite best efforts not to disturb it, the nest was unfortunately abandoned and the chicks died. In hindsight, I should have THEN removed the nest. Having not done so, it was re-inhabited this spring with the same result. So I then removed it to the back yard, where it now contains a few pebble stone eggs.


Spot the home-made BBQ...