A walk in the countryside

It was a cold crisp morning this morning, but I still managed to get the girls out on their bicycles.  We did my new "ring", a 7.2 km trot around the East Cork countryside.

Here are a few photo's from our jaunt.

Can anyone tell me what this plant is:

A few Donkeys having a chat!

Gaia just getting going!

 Gaia's first real cycle.  Well proud!!!!

Sofia, a bit peeved! And cold!

Haw Jelly

So people, we stewed the haws last night and left overnight to strain off the juice.  We added enough water to cover the haws well and enough to allow to simmer for an hour or so without reducing the volume of liquid too much.

We didn't have a jelly bag so a tea towel had to suffice for this time and, it does need a bit of a squeeze to get some of the juice out.  The recipe we used does say squeezing may turn your jelly cloudy, but hey, who cares as long as it's edible!!!

Anyway, below is the jar of haw jelly just bottled!!!

Quantities are:

1.5 lbs of haws destemmed.
Cover with water bring to boil and simmer for 1 hour, mashing every so often with a potato masher.
Strain overnight in a jelly bag
For every pint of juice add 1 lb sugar and juice of 1 lemon.
Dissolve sugar and then quick boil for at least ten minutes or until the setting experiment works :)
Skim off foam and put into sterilised jars.
Enjoy!!!

The original recipe can be found here (also a good website for other edible foraged foods):


http://www.eatweeds.co.uk/hawthorn-jelly-recipe

Haws

We wouldn't be sure if many people know about uses of the haw.  The haw is the cousin of the sloe and comes from the hawthorn tree while sloes come from blackthorn and they are often found growing close together.

Haws can be used for making wine; this we haven't yet tried and jelly, this we are trying.  Albeit November the haws are still aplenty however they are on the way out and starting to blacken.

We will keep you updated on progress and eventually the recipe we used to make it!!

Blackberries

Even though it's already November the unseasonably warm autumn has left some blackberries around.  It's not easy to get the children out for walks to pick them and as such we did not get as many as we wanted.  In the end we juiced them and now have half a bottle of quite tart juice.  Ferment or sweeten? We will let you know!!!

And all the while this fellow having a bit of a gallop!!

Baking.

We do a lot of baking at home, well in fairness and truth, Erika does :)  From pizza to biscuits and cakes.  Here is the latest endeavour, and as Erika puts it her new "cavallo di battaglia" for when there are more than 3 children in the house:  lemon ball biscuits!!!!

Weather and the Polytunnel

Ehm, it's been windy, really really windy..........

But the Polytunnel is safe and sound and is busy growing grass at the moment....!!!

Sloe Gin

It's that time of year again when the sloes are out (almost gone actually), so naturally it's time to get the gin in and the sloe gin made.
For anyone who wants to make it the recipe is quite simple.

We use a 2 litre preserving jar,

500 to 750 grams of sloes (apparently these are better after the first frost, but since we haven't had any, just pop them in the freezer for the night........we don't know if this has any real effect on them, but we are not about to risk all that gin!)
350 grams of sugar (we use cane sugar)
1.4 L gin (2 bottles!)

Garlic

We currently have broccoli, purple sprouting broccoli, red onions, rocket, kale, cabbage and broad beans growing in the garden.  I also decided to put some cloves of garlic in too.  22 garlic sprouts have now appeared.  Note, garlic was bought in a supermarket!!

Apple crop

We got a really good crop of apples this year.  Some we have kept for eating and some we are currently turning into cider!!

The first lot of cider that we made actually was more like a wine and was quite strong.  We added this cider back into the new batch and the whole lot is fermenting away!

We did taste some before adding it back, it's not bad at all!!

jam and jellies

yesterday it was a gorgeous sunny day, after the rainy and cold week-end, it was a real surprise :) I went blackberries picking with the girls and our friend Brandy and we came home with 1kg and a half of berries! They are now in the pot boiling away and I hope they will soon become a super dooper jam (I only use 350 gr of cane sugar for every Kg of berries!)... I also picked rosehips from our garden in hope to make a rose and apple jelly.....:) for Christmas!