Autumn?

I keep thinking autumn is here and then it gets really hot and sultry again. I'm hoping this will bring out the autumn colours as the leaves are just starting to turn. There is wet weather forecast for next week though so I'm trying to get a few bits done while it's dry and solid underfoot.

The bees are loving the ivy and continued flowering of the Himalayan balsam (it'll get zapped by the first frost and vanish) so for once I am fairly confident about their prospects over winter. It was so mild last year that they didn't really quieten down so got through a lot of stored honey but they are full to bursting with the long dry summer we've had.

I've bought a new extension run for my hens which is fox proof and gives them more height to perch, preen and flap their wings. It's more open too so I can see them more easily through the kitchen window.

Jason, Pippa, Amelia, Peggy
Daisy and Maud

There are 6 chickens in here - 3 bantams and 3 hybrids and I'll get some more polycarbonate sheeting for the roof and also the sides to protect them from the weather. There's a local supplier of hardwood chips which I will be able to put on the floor of the run as this drains well and will stop the hens getting too mucky and wet. They've all just been wormed and the houses have been treated for red mite so they are ready for the winter now.

They are ploughing the field behind my house which is making dog walking a bit of a chore as it's hard work up the field over the clay. I feel obliged to stamp out a trail along the designated footpath though as otherwise everyone wanders around the headland and I get other people's dogs in the garden, or my dog does his usual defensive-aggressive teeth-gnashing thing at passers by which is all rather embarrassing. The seagulls were doing a fantastic synchronised dance in front of the tractor as it went up the field, but they do make a real racket!

Uncontroversial Jam

My last post was about Himalayan Balsam honey, and honey harvest in general and for me, this is a bit of a tricky area. However, jam-making is a thoroughly wholesome activity, as foraging for berries and using windfallen or excess fruit to have in the winter months is a wonderful way to remind ourselves of the seasons and reconnect with our environment.

There is a colossal patch of brambles in the paddock where I have some hives, and I'm fortunate to have three rather ancient apple tree espaliers in the garden. Another garden where I work and look after bees has plum, damson and apple trees, so as a result of the pollination services, there is usually an excellent fruit crop which in my book means one thing: JAM.

I have already made about fifteen jars of bramble and apple jelly, which I confess I find easier than jam. Simply wash and cut up the apples; core, skin, pips and all. Wash the blackberries and add enough water to stop them catching. Cook until thoroughly soft and pulpy, although if you're using eating apples you may have to help this along once they're soft by giving them a good squidge with a potato masher. Strain the resulting gloop through a jelly bag for about 12 hours in to a jug or bowl, or until every last scrap of juice has filtered out, but don't be tempted to squeeze the bag or you'll end up with cloudy jelly. Even though you may not be entering your preserve for the local show, the clear, jewel-like quality of bramble jelly is one of its charms.

Measure out your liquid and for every 10 parts of juice, you'll need 7 parts of sugar, so 1 litre of liquid will require 700g of regular granulated white sugar. Warm the liquid in a large heavy-based saucepan, or preserving pan if you have much more than 1.5 litres of juice. Add the sugar and stir slowly until dissolved and pop your sugar thermometer in now if you use one and a small plate into the freezer if you don't. Also put your jars in the oven to sterilise. Then crank up the heat and bring to a rolling boil - this, if you're anything like me, is where you discover you should have used a preserving pan as the vat of scalding bubbling magenta comes dangerously close to spilling over your stove...

Once it reaches near setting point, which should be after about 10 minutes at a full terrifying boil without stirring, test the jelly. If you've a jam thermometer it will be at the temperature for jam (!) but I adopt a belt, braces and additional belt policy and have a thermometer, and a plate, and use the flake test too. To carry out the plate test, drop a few blobs of liquid on to the plate and wait a minute or two for it to cool (hence putting it in the freezer) and then give it a prod with your finger see if it has jellified. The flake test is where you pick up a spoonful of liquid on your wooden spoon and again, wait for a minute. If, when you turn the spoon over to deposit the liquid back in to the pan, it sort of flops off in a big blob, then you've reached setting point. Remove the pan from the heat and using a ladle and funnel, pour in to your hot jars and screw the lids on quick (remember the jars are hot!) so that they form a good seal.

Jam is made by preparing your fruit, so peeling, coring, chopping, de-stoning as necessary, then weigh it before placing in a preserving pan. Add a small amount of water to prevent it catching, then heat gently and simmer until the fruit is soft. Then add an equal quantity of sugar to fruit and bring to the boil and continue as for jelly until setting point is reached where you can once again deploy the cold plate technique. Once it's ready, jar up as above.

Softening apples, damsons, plums, blackberries
and elderberries for Autumn Jam

A note about pectin: this substance naturally occurs in plant cells walls, and reacts when heated with the fruit and sugar to form a gelling agent which binds the jam or jelly together. Some fruits contain a lot of pectin, others less so. All the fruits I preserve happen to be high in pectin so I don't use additional pectin, lemon juice or specific jam sugar, and I quite like the natural soft set of home made jams and jellies anyway. However, do check before embarking on your own recipe as it will not set if there's insufficient pectin and you'll end up with fruit glue. I've been there.

IVA

I haven't posted as I have been rather busy sorting out my leftover marital debt disasters and various other personal issues which has left me soooooooooooo completely wrung out I've hardly been able to pick up a hook let alone look after my children or write the blog.

Anyway hopefully it's all sorted out now. Meanwhile back to some crochet and more enjoyable pursuits!

I want to make a seasonal garland and it being the latter part of the summer, thoughts turn to autumn. I made another mushroom but it's still not looking like the picture but maybe I need a bigger hook for the small mushroom as it wasn't very squishy and pliable. I'd bought some new wool at the charity shop in some autumnal colours and some brighter red too for my hot garden blanket. I made an oak leaf too:

I still want to carry on making some veg as I think a summer garland with vegetables and flowers and butterflies would be lovely. My Red Krim squash plants have all done well and I've now got a colourful selection although they were red in the catalogue (the name's a bit of a giveaway too)...hmm...

I was looking for a wine recipe today as I have apples on my trees and blackberries in the hedge but I got fed up as since searching yesterday for info on Julian's financial mess every Google strapline ad was YOU TOO CAN BE DEBT FREE!! and WRITE OFF 70% OF YOUR DEBT WITH AN IVA!!! }:-( so I gave up. I could wait for the damsons but my peapod's going brilliantly since I bunged some more sugar in on Simon's advice and only half a demijohn of homebrew seems a bit, well, feeble.

I must check my bees soon as they've been really busy. Mary is still sitting on her eggs and didn't seem to object too much to me replacing the shavings with more aesthetically-pleasing straw that I nicked off the field. Henry keeps taking the hens out in to the field as of course there are loads of spilt grains and stray ears of wheat that the combine missed and he can't cluck fast or enthusiastically enough.