Todays Harvest

Also down to Plot 119 today, chillis going mad, Simon picked some to preserve today.  Pulled up some unperforming tomato and cucumber plants, gradually clearing the polytunnel, will have to put a new cover on it next year as it is disintegrating.  So harvesting today was runner beans (we are swamped in runner beans!), potatoes (King Edwards), chard, curly kale, peppers, tomatoes, a cucumber, blackberries (from the thornless blackberry bushes), yellow plums (from the communal fruit trees), parsnips, kohl rabi, carrots (Chantenay), fennel, another car boot full!  The cat came to have a look too.  Shame I cant train her to prepare runner beans....

As I've made about 9 jars of plum jam we are going to use the plums this time for wine making and maybe an experimental plum gin.  Simon has our annual Sloe Gin on the go with some sloes from last year that were still in the freezer.  Wont be too long before this years will be ready for picking!

Another Busy Day

Up to Plot 69, supposed to be just picking beans.... however the local brewery man had been and left bags and bags of spent hops so Simon lugged bagfuls onto the plot, really good mulch, fertiliser and slug repellent!  Neatens the place up a bit too.  Just smells like nothing on earth..... Simon got sent for a shower and clothes straight in the washing machine when he got home later!  Whilst he was doing that I picked the beans, millions of runner beans again, and enough green beans to supply a small supermarket.  Freezer is full of beans, need more ideas for what to do with them!  Picked some dwarf green beans for the first time today, out of the 20 or so plants we put in only 4 survived, enough for a couple of handfuls.  Had a general tidy around.



Picked a few parsnips for roasting and some kale, wanted to pick the last of the beetroot for pickling but still on the small size so will wait another week.

Rhubarb Wine (part 1)

Had to clear some space in the freezer today, for more of our allotment produce. I had 1.3kg of chopped rhubarb in a freezer bag waiting to make some wine. Never had or made rhubarb wine before, but it is supposed to be very nice.

Ingredients

1. 1.3kg chopped and frozen rhubarb.


2. 4.5 litres (approx) of water


3. 1.3kg Cane sugar


4. 1 lemon


5. Yeast & Yeast Nutrient

Method

1. Place frozen rhubarb in a large pan and bring to the boil, once boiling turn off the heat and leave to steep for 30mins by which time the rhubarb will have softened.


2. Mash the rhubarb with a potato masher, aiming to squash all the juice from the rhubarb, keep mashing until the liquid goes pink and the rhubarb is crushed.


3. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved, add the pared peel and the juice of the lemon. Stir well.


4. Transfer into a 5 litre FV and cover loosely . Leave to cool overnight.

Blackberry Wine (part 1)

We made this wine last year and it was a big hit. So after picking and freezing 2.7kg of blackberries from the back of our allotment plot (a nice bonus harvest) I have now started the process of making this wine again.

Ingredients.

1. 2.7kg of frozen blackberries


2. 4.5 litres of water (boiling)


3. 900g sugar


4. 2 lemons


5. 1/2 tsp citric acid


6. 2 tsp Pectolase powder (optional)


7. yeast and yeast nutrient

Method

1. In a large pan bring 4.5 litres of water to the boil,add the frozen blackberries and with the heat still on stir until the blackberries have melted. Mash the blackberries with a potato masher as the water comes back to the boil, then simmer for 15 mins.


2. Turn of the heat and add the sugar, the citric acid, pared lemon peal and the juice from both the lemons. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.


3. Transfer into a 10 litre FV or bucket and leave to steep and cool down overnight.

Chicken Progress

The girls are settling in very well, been with us two weeks now and seem to be thriving.  We put coloured leg rings on them so now we can tell the difference, Agnes is red, Betty is orange, Coraline is green and Demelza is ringless as she didnt want to be caught at the time of ringing!  Their characters are coming out now too, Agnes is bossy and greedy and not afraid to confront the cats, Betty is a chatterbox and loves the dust bath (which is a hole of her own making next to the dust bath Simon made from a cat litter tray and playsand!), Coraline is quiet and gets on with things and Demelza is the timid one.  They have been out and about in the garden a few times now and love scratchin on the lawn and exploring, eating anything they can find and giving the cats something to think about!  No eggs as yet but I dont think that will happen for some time yet, they are approx. 20-22 weeks now and reckon its going to be another month or so, they might surprise me though.   Favourite things at the moment = sunflowers seeds and mealworms (in moderation of course, dont want podgy hens!)



 

Chillifest

The greenhouse down on plot 119 is looking good, Simons chillis are doing really well.  Pulled out the last of the courgettes yesterday and all that remains in there now are the chillis, my sweet peppers and the chinese gooseberries (which have taken over a little bit!) I'll get Simon to add some notes to this post as I have no idea which type of chilli is which or whats going on with them really!  All I know is they are looking brilliant!  The plan is that next year he will take over one side of the greenhouse for chillis only and I will have the other side just for sweet peppers, so a real pepper house.  Unfortunately some of my sweet peppers are a bit stunted as the courgettes were blocking the light a bit, hopefully now that the courgettes have gone they will recover.



And the special one that took us by surprise.... Simons devil chilli!



 

Need a bigger freezer!

Another bumper produce harvest yesterday.  Got some more runner beans and french beans from plot 69, still loads to come!  Had to give a bag full each to both our neighbours, and folks-in-law got some too.  Still got far too many!!  Also from the top plot we picked our first 3 cabbages, lovely firm hearts, really pleased with them.  I would have left them a bit longer but the cabbage patch is being really hit hard by slugs and now caterpillars, despite the netting we still have cabbage white caterpillars invading unfortunately.  Cabbages are touching the netting so the butterflys are just landing and laying on the leaves.  The slugs have done so much damage we are pretty much letting nature take its course, the damage seems to be on the outside row and the inside one seems to be intact so harvestable.  Had one for tea last night and it tasted fantastic.  Also picked some more kale, slugs and butterflies dont seem to touch that!  The good news is that the plot next to ours has a new tenant.  It had become quite overgrown and thistles etc, so hopefully someone is going to start looking after it.  He had only started the same day as us so sad that he has given up so soon.  Down to plot 69 after that and harvested our first fennel!  Also some tomatoes, last of the courgettes, more runner beans and 3 dwarf beans (!), they havent done very well at all, only had 1 plant survive!  Simon dug up the first of the maincrop potatoes and was really pleased, got some nice ones and no sign of rot or blight at all.  A big bagful from 3 plants!  Another bucket of plums and more blackberries for jam, again a full boot!

 









Simons sweetcorn are growing well and the brussel sprouts are really happy, should have lots of sprouts for christmas....

 

 

Plum Jam 1 & 2

Got a mixture of purple damsons and green plums from the allotment and thought I would try making a plum jam with them.  Bought a new preserve book whilst we were on holiday called Food in Jars which had a nice recipe.  Boiled up the plums for 5 minutes to soften them then sieved them to get rid of all the skin and stones.  Put them through a strainer to get rid of all the pulp so it would be a nice smooth jam.  Then out with the jam pan and boiled them up with 3/4 of their weight in jam sugar.  The recipe said to use granulated sugar and liquid pectin but the jam sugar does the same thing.  Boiled it until it was syrupy then added the zest and juice of one lemon then boiled it until setting point.  Result = nice, tart, deep red jam.  Made 5 jars and enough in a bowl for breakfast tomorrow with crumpets!  Lots more plums coming on the trees so hopefully will do some more.



(Rhubarb crumble in the background made with allotment rhubarb of course!)

Update on 26/8/12 - made some more plum jam since this entry, with the yellow plums from the communal fruit trees.  Made loads, 6 jars of lovely yellow jam and its really yummy.  Made some jam tarts with the bit of jam that couldnt fit in the jars and they were really fruity.  Also made 3 jars of bramble jelly.  Running out of room on my preserve shelf!



 

The Harvest Continues!

A busy day on Sunday harvesting.  Came home with a carboot full of lovely produce.

So, pulled some parsnips just to see what was going on under the ground and was surprised to get some really good ones, had them roasted for tea tonight, with some roasted kohl rabi we picked the week before, very delicious and not at all woody.  One lone radish... aaaahhh!   Some curly kale, again we had that for tea with our roast and it was delicious.  Loads and loads of climbing beans, Blue Lake variety, they were lovely, put lots in the freezer, taste better than shop bought ones.  More chard.  Last of the rhubarb, some for the freezer and some in a crumble.  Couple of cucumbers.  Loads of runner beans but unfortunately some were too big, didnt pick them soon enough and they will be really tough.  Did get four freezer bags full of tender ones though.  Few tomatoes.  Some sunflower heads - picking the seeds out for the chickens! And a tub of blackberries, lots of brambles behind our allotment, enough for wine and some jam.  Finally two tubs of plums and damsons -for jam making as well.  All in all a good haul.  (Nearly forget to mention the chilli pepper at them front - fell off during watering!)

Todays Harvest

After being on holiday for a week we braved going to both allotments in the rain and apart from the abundance of weeds (as always...) we were pleased to come home with 3 big bags of produce.  Picked the last of the broad beans, a good carrier bag full.  Also a couple of handfuls of runner beans, some really big ones too.  Pulled all the onions as the tops had been eaten off and were in danger of spoiling, a huge bag full which Simon has strung up to dry.  3 cucumbers from the polytunnel - taste brilliant, had some in a sandwich!  Handful of tomatoes.  3 Kohl Rabi (still not sure what to do with them....) A vaseful of sunflowers.  Masses of rhubarb chard and swiss chard and some spinach.  And some more beetroot for picking and  a handful of large carrots.  Really pleased with all that.

Say Hello to the Girls!

Went to collect our new hens yesterday, I'm pleased to introduce Agnes, Betty, Coraline and Demelza!  4 light Sussex hens at point of lay, should start producing eggs when they have settled in hopefully.  They didnt want to come out of their house this morning but with a bit of encouragement Agnes went down the ramp first and then the others followed and since then they have been exploring their enclosure and eating bits and bobs and sorting out their pecking order.  Lovely to see them preening in the sun when it finally stopped raining!  Hard to tell them apart at the moment but I'm sure I will work out some distinguishing features before long, Agnes has a redder head so she is easy, and Demelza is very pale, the other 2 look the same.  Really pleased with them and looking foward to some eggs appearing, hopefully before too long!





 

Courgette Fest!

With lots of courgettes and plenty eaten with garlic, butter and herbs, it was time to find something else to do with them.  So armed with my cookbook and preserve book I made up 3 jars of courgette chutney which tastes really lovely and has a little heat to it with the addition of red peppers.  Then I made a nice courgette loaf using vegetable oil which made it lovely and moist and threw in some carrot as well to make it even more interesting!  Was very pleased with both creations and still have some courgettes left to have with dinner.  Only one plant left that is still producing so dont think we will get too many more now.