Juicy bits

Yesterday, we finally got around to picking the pears. Or what pears there were left, anyway.

We've lost loads in the last week or so. Some have ripened overnight on the tree,  many were attacked by wasps and ruined.   I've raked up kilos of damaged pears and composted them. That part of the chickens free range area is full of wasps all day.

Still, we picked lots yesterday, all the ones we could reach with a step ladder. The many that were rotten on the tree were picked and composted, the remainder were put in crates.   There were too many wasps to even think about pressing them last night, so we decided we'd do it this morning before the wasps were around.

Work got in the way, and we didn't start anywhere near early.  

While DH set up the equipment, I sorted the pears and put them in the sinks to wash.  Yet more were discarded, having turned rotten overnight.

The sinks were full long before I had emptied all the crates

I washed the pears, and then put them into large receptacles, making a note of the weight of each batch. In total we had just over 25kg for juicing.

DH then put them through the crusher (we use a Shark Mill). When the crusher bucket was full, the pulp was transferred to the hydro press.  The pears were so ripe that the juices started flowing immediately. 

We realised we could probably get all the pears in one batch if we tried. I put on some food-safe gloves and pressed the pulp down. DH then processed the remaining pears, and we did get it all in.

Later research told us that was probably not the best thing to do - so we'll take a different tack when we come to do the apples.

The hydro press worked really well, and it was even easier than using the screw press.   Mind you, pears are easier to juice than apples, so the real test will come in a month or so.

We ended up with 15 litres of juice, which is about a 60% conversion rate.  We hit 50% with our large screw press last time,  so the extra is good.  I suspect that if we hadn't filled the hydro press so full, we might have achieved a higher conversion rate.

The wasps were a real nuisance.  We've filtered the juice, just in case we had any kamikaze wasps in there.    DH has decanted it into demijohns,  and has started converting it to pear cider.

Can't wait to try it....

The dangers of dehydration

The dehydrator has been sitting on the worktop, looking at me, for some time now.

I keep meaning to use it, but I decided that setting it running overnight was the best course of action,  and I've ended up being too busy, or too tired, or whatever, every evening so far.

Yesterday I decided to bite the bullet.

I used a food processor to slice a nectarine.  I wasn't paying attention to the food processor blade setting, and I ended up with wafer thin slices.     I shrugged. I didn't have any more nectarines, the dryer was going on whatever, so I put them on the drying tray.  They fell apart as I picked them up, so I ended up putting out one tray full - which with wafer thin slices isn't much - and I ate the rest.

Then I chopped a green chilli. And I tried to use the food processor to cut some celery. That didn't go well, and I distributed the remains all over another tray.

Then a pear - which wasn't too bad as I corrected the slice size.  And another pear which I cut into segments.

And then a banana. I used my latest cutting aid,  a metal butter cutter from the US, which worked well. It was only hindered by the fact that the bananas were waaaaaaaaay past the stage where they are good for drying. The beautifully evenly sliced bananas squished under my fingers as I tried to lay them out.

Finally, I found some tomatoes. Not cherry ones, but  normal ones.  I halved and then quarted them, roughly scraped out the seeds, and put them on a sheet.

And I put it on and left it.

This morning,the chilli slices had dried well. 

I left them in the dehydrator, so they've kind of absorbed moisture from the air now.

I had chewy but rather tasty banana slices (I'm going to put them in lemon juice next time, maybe that will help with the cripsness).  I tried to remove the nectarines, but they shattered. I rescued the pieces and tried them.  The pears were reasonably successful. A bit chewy, but reasonably well flavoured. I don't really like pears,   but they were much more palateable this way.

During the course of the day I managed to eat them everything apart from the chillis and the celery. 

This happened last year when I made apple leather. 

I've decided it's best not to think of the dehydrator as a way of preserving food. 

No. It's better to acknowledge that it is a way of making me heathy(ish) eat-that-day snacks.

Pear shaped

Our pear tree has decided give us a bumper crop this year.  It's been many years since we've had so many pears,  and I'm struggling to cope.

We should have thinned them out. The branches are heavy and low with the weight.  They've been falling off into the Girl's free range area, and the Girls are now sick of the sight of them.  The wasps are having a field day, every day. 

Pears are strange. They are really unripe one day, and then overripe and manky the next day. Sometimes the transition happens in the course of an afternoon.  The advice is to pick them and let them ripen off the tree.    


We had planned to make Pear Cider with the crop this year. They are ready about now for this - and DH is otherwise engaged. The earliest we can do this is the middle of next week.    I know our Pear tree, and I'm not sure it will wait.

I picked a load today, and I'm making pear and lemon marmalade (it's simmering while I type).    I'm going to prep some for the dehydrator tonight.   And I thought I might try Vitamixing some whole pears to see whether it makes an acceptable juice that way (it's easier than pressing, frankly) . If it does, I can do a load of that and then pasteurise it.

Oh well. Onward and onward.

Pillow fights?

That is what the Run looks like.  And the free range area.

A pillow fight with at least two feather pillows, where both pillows burst.

Amongst the black feathers (courtesy of Poppy's recent broodiness and Florence's current broodiness)  which have been floating around the run for some time, there was an enormous pile of copper brown feathers.  

Roobarb is moulting.

........

On the Allotment today, another pillow fight.   I was met by a balding Norah (or it might have been Batty,  I didn't check the leg ring).   She looks like she's gone punk on the head and bottom.

Spike, the Exchequer Leghorn cockerel, started with the attacks immediately.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to catch him (so I could carry him under my arm for a bit).  I resorted to carrying the watering can as a barrier... and at one point when he still managed to get me (Ow!) I poured its contents over him to get him away from me.

Three of the egg-laying girls are broody: Not Norman and Siouxsie (two of the three Dorking X girlies) and Coffee (our chicken of fate BlackRock hybrid).  I don't recall Coffee beeing broody before.  

In the Breeders,  two Girls are broody.  Some of the six of them are always broody, and it's hard to keep up with who has been broody when.

With the Growers,  they are all looking fantastic.  RedHead, the fast developed cockerel,  now has hs full regalia and looks stunning.  I can't believe he's only 13 weeks old (same as the rest).
....
Work is progressing on the new coop for the allotment.  I'll post pics when it's done.

Broody Exchange

At last!

It seems as though Poppy has finally stopped being broody, 2 months after starting.

She went broody mid-June, and has stayed glued to the nestbox since then.  She comes out, of her own accord, for the necessaries.  She came out, when forced by me, usually having a quick leg stretch and nibble before dashing back in. 

She's missed the chicks. She nearly missed the death of Milly.  She's been on the periphery of Tilda's attempt at reintroduction.

And this morning, Florence has installed herself in the nestbox as the replacement broody.  I've hoiked her out and put her in the purple Cube Run. She has shelter, food, water, but the pop hole to the purple Cube is closed.

She will stay there until everyone has laid and I can close the orange cube's pop hole.

14 Nights

Tilda has just spent her 14th night out with The Others.

Apart from a little wobble last Thursday, when she came and sat in the kitchen for a while,  she's been OK.  Mostly.    

To mark this milestone, I folded up the dog crate that had been her pied-a-terre for the last 8 months.  It's still in the kitchen, just folded up and leaning against some kitchen units.   It'll get back to My Shed eventually. Just not yet.

Poppy (1 year old, Australorp x Indian Game) is still broody. She comes off the nest, eats, poos, drinks... but then goes back on.   I've shut everyone out of the coop each afternoon and, as soon as I reopen the door at 7pm, she bolts up the ladder.  I've started to take her out in the morning and shut her in the Purple Cube run (with the pop hole shut). Once the others had laid, I shut the orange pop hole, and released Poppy.   In the meantime she has fresh water,  fresh food, mealworms.  I'm wondering if she's staying broody to avoid confrontations with Tilda?

Florence (3 years old, Australorp) is now trying to go broody.   I caught her eating an egg today.  I think she probably sat on a weak shelled egg and broke it, as her front and tummy were covered in a sticky mess.   Her beak was all yolky,  which might have been from where she was trying to groom herself, but it was more likely from her eating the remains.  I took her in the house and gave her a bath,  and I found that she's losing her breast feathers.  If she goes broody, she's going in the purple cube run straight away.  It seems kinder than putting her in a broody cage.

Back from hols?

Tilda has been out with the Others since Tuesday 30th June.

Things have been mostly okay, although I have seen her sheltering under a bench a fair bit,  and I have caught Custard chasing her.   Custard, trained by the ever-spiteful and no-longer-with-us Milly,  is the same with the two young girls.

On Thursday afternoon, I had a sudden feeling that Tilda might want to come back to the kitchen.

I decided to ignore my feeling.  We've had various grandchildren staying for the last week or so,  and we were expecting another set on Friday morning.   I didn't really want Tilda in the house while they were here, as I wasn't sure how much she would be poo-ing.

On Friday, I felt it again,

This morning, as the grandchildren were getting up,   I let Tilda out of the big run, and she ambled down the garden and into the kitchen. She looked at the (shut) door of her apartment.  She looked round outside, presumably noticing that there were no coop cups hanging up. 

I filled a cup with water and hung it on the outside of her apartment.  She looked at it.  She rejected it.  She didn't stay long.   She stood by the netting near the pampas grass, and so I lifted her over. 

After the grandchildren had gone (flying visit), I saw TIlda was standing by the run doorway, watching me.  I let her out again, and once more she ambled down the path. She sat outside the kitchen door.  I brought out some yoghurt and some water, and set themdown on the patio, away from the kitchen door.  She ate the yoghurt. 

I came inside and sat down, reading my dehydrator book.  There was a minor commotion, and then I found Tilda sitting at my feet.

I'm hoping she's just visiting for the day, rather than angling to move back.  She's survived 11 nights out there, hen pecked the two youngsters so they run away from her.... and it seems a shame for her to throw all that effort away.  (And of course I've got used to not having to clean up after a chicken every day).

As usual, we'll see......

Feeling fruity

Years ago I bought a pasteuriser from a company in Germany.  Even with shipping, it was significantly cheaper than buying the same model in the UK because there were only a couple of places selling them.  

I couldn't quite stretch to getting the stainless steel version, so I bought the fully automatic enamel version instead.

It's great for non-pressure canning,  it has a timer and a thermostat, and it is fully automatic in that it doesn't start timing until the correct temperature has been reached.

We can also use it for cheesemaking.   

It's still used every year, but less since I bought a pressure canner (from the US, can't seem to buy them here).

When I bought it, I also bought the "juice extractor" part,  which comes in it's own large box. It's sat, unused, not even opened, in the loft since it arrived.

Until yesterday.

We have a good blackcurrant crop this year.  The last few years have seen the blackcurrants turned into Vodka, or cordial.   This year I decided to make blackcurrant jam, as I've now run out.

I picked all the blackcurrants yesterday. It took ages, my back hurt.   

I started to start destalking them, ready to make jam. After about thirty seconds, I looked at the mountain of blackcurrants and decided to do something else.  

I remembered reading about juicing in the pasteuriser, and how you didn't need to de-stalk first.   I could do that, and then make blackcurrant jelly instead of jam.  

Then I thought about how I love getting bits of blackcurrant popping in my jam, and I wavered.

And then I looked at the blackcurrant mountain, and decided that I could manage without the blackcurranty bits.

Now, I do understand that I could easily have done this on the hob, and left the stuff in jelly bags to drip through overnight.    I've done that. 

I had such a lot of blackcurrants that it seemed I might as well try the juicing bit. Or bits as it turned out.  As I said, I'd never opened the box so I didn't know what to expect.  So, I washed the new components and set it up.  When stacked  it was rather tall.  I didn't take a pic so I've had to find a pic online....

The pasteuriser bit, with the water in, is at the bottom; next we have the juice collecting chamber, which has  rubber tube coming out of it so the juice flows out;  next up we have the enormous fruit basket, and then the lid.

And do you know what?  It was bloody amazing.   I wish I'd weighed the blackcurrants, but I didn't.   I have about 3 litres of blackcurrant juice. It smells amazing. 

If I'd been making cordial, this would have been fantastic, because it would fill the sterilised bottles directly from the contraption, and it wouldn't need further pasteurising.   I really wish I'd tried this years ago!   I'll definitely use this next time I'm making cordials.

Anyway.  I've got the juice sitting in jugs at the moment, and I'm going to start making the jelly in about half an hour.....

Isobel, and Tilda

Nothing obviously amiss with Isobel.  Vet took blood and urine, and we got the results last night. All clear.  So, the good news is that Izzy's fits aren't caused by kidney (or other organ) problems.

She doesn't seem to be fitting often enough to put her on anti convulsants, so we need to monitor her.

We're setting up a camera by the back door which is where she has had the other fits.

.....

Tilda is still on holiday with the Others. 

Yesterday evening she went to bed first, before getting harangued. She then stoof in the doorway and refused entry to Poppy.  Lotti didn't even try.  When the other Big Girls went to bed, Tilda moved her head out of the way and let them in.

She was panting a lot. Stupid chicken clearly hadn't been drinking enough.  I spent half an hour syringing water into her (she wouldn't drink directly from the proffered coop cup).

She's refused to drink from any of the four waterers available to her today.  Eventually I took her round to the nipple drinker, and taught her to use that.

Other than that (rather crucial detail) she looks really well.  Her tail is up, her eyes are bright,  she's sitting near the others rather than hiding all the time.      

Maybe she really is moving out this time.....  if it wasn't for the threat of the caecal poos, I'd be a little sad about it.

Cat Fit

Poor Isobel has been having seizures.

About six months ago, I came downstairs in the morning and found a small pool of cat wee.  I kept vigilant, but it seemed to be a one off.

Some weeks later, there was another one, with a bit of foamy stuff beside it.  I mentioned it to DH, and we speculated that Izzy had perhaps had lost bladder control whilst being cat-sick.

There were a couple more episodes.  About a month ago, after one episode with quite a lot of foam,  it occurred to DH that perhaps Izzy was having a fit.

Last night, Izzy woke us up with some pitiful meowing.  She's done that before (and when we get up to investigate, there's nothing to find) , but this sounded a bit strangled.  DH got up, and found Izzy at the bottom of the stairs,  apparently paralysed.  She'd definitely had a fit - there was a lot of foam and a cat wee,  and she couldn't move.   He ran back upstairs to get his dressing gown, and hurried back downstairs together. 

At this point Isobel was no longer paralysed, but was completely spaced out.  We checked her over, cleaned up,  and then suddenly she was fine and was starving hungry.   She had two half packs of food, and she looked as though nothing had happened.

We got an appointment at the Vet today, and we're just off there now.

Dehydrator hit and myths

My banana chips didn't go crispy. Not even after 30 hours.

My replacement dehydrator book arrived today (the original one got lost in the post).  It mentioned 8 hours for drying banana slices, and mentioned chewy.  Nothing about crispy, snappable, chips.  

I googled why arent my banana chips crispy dehydrator (or something like that) and found pages of people bemoaning their inability to get crispy banana chips.

There is even information from Excalibur saying that it is not possible to get crisp banana chips in a dehydrator.

It appears the chips have to be fried before drying.

Hmmm.

I'm going to try frying some courgettes (as I have an abundance of those) and then drying them.

Meanwhile, I've tested the temperature of the dryer using a probe thermometer. Spot on!

And the dehydrator book contains a number of recipes for dehydrator macaroons... very interesting.  

Another holiday?

Tilda decided to go to bed with the Big Girls last night.

I'd popped out earlier on and told her that she could come in if she wanted to.   She ignored me.  I carried on anyway, telling her that if she didn't want to go to bed with them, all she had to do was wait in the run when they went up, and I would come and get her.  

And for those of you who think I am mad,   this is exactly the arrangement I've had in the past with Tilda,  and she has waited in the run for me to get her.

Anyway, back to last night.

I watched on the camera.  The three Big Girls - Custard (Tilda's sister, and chief bully), Florence (Australorp) and Roobarb (Welsh Black) - farted around, making a really big deal out of going to bed.  Poppy was sat tight on the nest box anyway,  Lotti kept out of the way.

Roobarb and Custard eventually went up, although Custard reappeared shortly afterwards.  I thought that Tilda was going to wait for me...but then events took a strange turn.

Florence, who had been ignoring Tilda all day,  marched over to her and pecked Tilda on the head.  Tilda wooshed out of the way, and ran to the bottom of the stairs. She stood at the bottom of the ladder - Custard and Roobarb had decided to have a late snack in the dust bath.

Time passed.  Then Florence and Custard both appeared behind Tilda, and lunged for her, and suddenly she was up that ladder in one jump.   Eventually Custard and Tilda followed.  A bit later on, I went out and helped Lotti move from the veranda into the Cube. The Big Girls didn't take any notice of her, so either they are stopping her getting in when I', not loking, or she's just so used to being pecked that she can't bring herself to try without Mummy backup.

This morning, everything was fine.  Tilda was stuck at the top of the ladder, so I encouraaged her into the nestbox and helped her down from there.

Both DH and I had to be out at the same time this morning,  and I left Tilda shut in with the others. She was fine. 

So, is this another holiday, or is she looking at emigrating?  

Henry

Henry was the cockerel we decided to keep from last year's hatch.

He is a gorgeous boy. He's not in any way aggressive towards us (unlike the horrible Spike in the next door pen!),  and he is very courteous towards his Ladies.   He rarely eats any of the treats, instead he calls his Girls over so they can enjoy them.

He has amazing black eyes, and a really wonderful double comb. I think it's a pea comb, but it's almost buttercup type.

Here's the lovely lad.

Courgettes

Like anyone else who grows them, we're enjoying a bumper harvest of courgettes.

I've been having lots of fried courgettes with salad.  I've fried them cut into circles, i've done lengthways slices. I've used oil,  I've dry fried.

When my dehydrator arrived,  I set about using it.

The first load of courgettes that I attempted to dry, were actually a bit too thinly cu (I used the 2mm blade on the processor) . They ended up like chewy rice paper.  I ate them all anyway.

The second load of courgettes were cut more thickly, I used the 4mm blade.  These came out much better. I ate some, and put some in an airtight glass  jar. Not kilner, what's the one with the rubber ring called?  Slipped my mind for now.  Anyway, despite being airtight, the quality of the courgettes deteriorated, and so I decided the next lot would be dried to a crisp.

I got distracted into drying some sage leaves, which took forever.  Eventually the dehydrator was free, so I loaded up some sliced bananas,   estimating that these would take 24 hours to dry to a crisp.    The three nearly-over-ripe bananas only took up a tray,  so I hand sliced some courgettes for another tray.  And then, because I had some leftover, I put mushrooms on a third tray.  To see what would happen, I left the mushrooms whole.

The mushrooms were dry after about 15 hours.   The courgettes and bananas are still going.

So, I decided to make a courgette and lemon drizzle cake.   300g of courgette sounded like a lot, but was actually only one very large courgette.    I found a recipe online. I read the feedback both good and bad, and I made some adaptations.  I made the cake.

It was lovely.

Even DH, who doesn't eat vegetables,  ate it and commented favourably.  He's not known for saying things just to be polite,  so I was very pleased.  I've typed up the recipe including my alterations,  and put it in my recipe folder.

Here's the recipe - I used a mixer, so it was very easy. 

COURGETTE AND LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE wth CREAM CHEESE and LEMON FROSTING

INGREDIENTS

For the Cake                      

200g butter, at room temp   

3 eggs

300g coarsely grated courgettes

(squeeze out as much  water  as possible. I spread on a clean teatowel, roll up, squeeze hard)

1 tablespoon lemon juice                                                                                        

zest of 2 lemons

1 tsp poppy seed (optional)

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g self raising flour

100g plain wholemeal flour

1stp baking powder             

1/4 tspn salt                                                                          

For the Drizzle          

25g Icing sugar

1 tblspn lemon juice

For the Frosting

60g Icing sugar

50g butter

Zest of 1 lemon

2 tbslpns lemon juice

250g Full Fat cream cheese (Philadelphia is perfect)

A few poppy seeds to decorate

Lemon zest to decorate

Preparation

Grease and line 2 x 7inch sandwich tins

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (160 Fan), Gas Mark 4

 METHOD

Make the Cakes:

1. Beat/ butter and sugar together until smooth

2. Lightly beat eggs, then add a bit at a time to the beaten butter/sugar mixture, beating in between. Too much too quickly, will curdle

3. Add (squeezed) courgettes, poppy seeds, lemon juice and lemon zest  to mixture and beat in

4. Sift the flours, baking powder and salt into the mixture, stir to incorporate.

5. Spoon mixture into prepared cake tins. Level.  Cook until browned and a skewer comes out clean (min 25 mins, mine took 40 mins)

6. Remove from oven and leave in tins for 15 mins.

Meanwhile, make the drizzle

7. Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together.    

8. Turn the cakes out of the tins, prick all over with a cocktail stick or large skewer, and spread the drizzle over.

9. Leave cakes to cool completely

Make the Frosting

1.   Sift icing sugar into a bowl, add butter, and cream well.

2.   Add the lemon zest and juice, and beat briefly

3.   Add the soft cheese and beat until combined and fluffy. Do not overbeat - if you do the mixture will split and go runny

Sandwiching the Cakes and Frosting

1.   When the cakes are cold, put one layer of cake on a serving plate. Spread with half (or just under) of the frosting

2.   Put the second sandwich on, and spread the remainder of the frosting over the top.

3.   Sprinkle a few poppy seeds and/or lemon zest to decorate

 What do you do with your courgettes?

Tildy-bombs

Tilda is approaching her 8th month annversary of being a house hen. 

She did try to go back and live with the others a couple of weeks ago,  managing 3 days and 2 nights with them.  She was attacked, quite nastily,in the end by Poppy. Poppy had been (and still is) broody for some weeks and hadn't been out to see that Tilda had become a regular day visitor to their enclosure.  In an attempt to break Poppy of her broodiness, I'd shut her out of the nestbox. She wasn't happy.

The attack shook Tilda a bit. She not only resumed overnighting in the kitchen, but she stopped wanting to go in with the Big Girls during the day.  Instead, she went back to sitting under the Pampas.

We had planned to eventually put her out in the garden in the Go with her own run, but the extra-hot weather put paid to that idea.  Last weekend, as we were clearing out the sheds, we acknowledged that Tilda was unlikely to be going to live outside at all, so we dismantled the Go run, and packed it all away.

Yesterday morning, DH remarked at the amount of poo  (or "Tildy-bombs" ) that Tilda had produced.  He doesn't often do the morning Tildy-bomb disposal run,   so I thought he just wasn't used to it.   Up to now, she has pooed with a chicken's normal frequency,  but the amount produced each time has been tiny.   

This morning,  I saw what he meant.

There were quite a lot of bombs.   Not only that, they were normal chicken sized poos. All normal chicken poo texture.  Does this mean she's getting properly well, rather than just "doing well considering that she's a bit under the weather"?    Could I put up with this for long?    

And then a thought struck me.  Thank heavens, for all of us, there weren't any normal caecal poos.  

Yet.

That's the critical thing, isn't it?  "Yet."

I need to work out my emergency Caecal-Poo strategy because, believe you me,  the first appearance of one of those buggers,  and Tildy will be ejected from the kitchen, and will not be allowed back in.

I've got several outline options. 

1. remantle (or whatever the opposite of dismantle is) the Go, and find somewhere to put it
2. Put Tilda in the purple cube run, she did manage the orange cube ladder for two nights after all
3. Put the Go, minus it's run, in the purple cube run.  If we take the ladder off the Cube, it should just about fit
4. Put that big egg shaped cat bed in the Cube run, Tilda could sleep in that (Lotti did for a while, which is why we removed it from their run).

Option 1 - most hassle, both immediately and on an ongoing basis.  Will keep as a fallback.

Option 2 - easiest option, but would TIlda manage it?  Probably need DH to build yet another wooden ladder (or I could re-deploy the other one).  Best option if it works.

Option 3 - easy-ish option,  but doesn't give Tilda much space. 

Option 4 - second easiest option - would be OK for the summer but not for the winter.

Hmmm.

I think my emergency plan will be a combination of Option 4 and 2.  That way, Tilda could choose where she wants to sleep.  If she doesn't want to manage the ladder, she can use the Ovum thing.     

If she continues to not use the Cube, and the weather worsens,  then I can implement option 3 or 1.

Yes, that sounds like a Plan.  I feel better now I have a plan in place.

Meanwhile, I made Tilda go outside, even though it's raining.  She can sit in the Pampas and keep dry.  She sat under the barbeque table for a while,  before deciding she wanted to go in the walk in run with the Big Girls. 

I let her in, saw Poppy's hackles go up,  so I quickly opened the pop hole so Poppy could go back on the nest.    In the scheme of things, breaking Poppy's broodiness has to take a back seat to getting Tilda access to the others (even if it's only a day pass).

I've been keeping an eye on things both by looking out of the kitchen window and by looking at the RunCam.   The Girls are leaving her alone,  which is a good start.

  

Shedding stuff

The main shed, the one with the power, is referred to as DH's shed ("your shed", when I talk to him). The other one is referred to as mine ("my shed", when I talk to him.).

I have a large item belonging to him in my shed.  He has chicken stuff in his shed.   I suggested a swap.

I realised that in order to get to the offending item in my shed, we'd need to take some stuff out. Yesterday we ended up having a bit of a clear out,  making final decisions on a number of accumulated stuff.  We ended up with a big pile for the "tip".   I took a large pile of electric fence posts to a local horse rescue centre (which I've been meaning to do for about 2 years now).   I've got some items to freecycle.

"My shed" is tidy, and organised. I can get to anything.

It took half a day.

Wonder how long it will last.....

Decisions made in the heat of the moment, part 2

The next decision made in the heat of the moment took me by surprise.

The garden is busy delivering vegetables and fruit.    I made the cherries into vodka.  I ate the strawberries as they ripened.   

The rasperries and tayberries have been a disappointment,  the lack of rain means that the fruits have been very small.  I've eaten quite a lot, and given the past-best stuff to the Girls.    I thought I might make some raspberry jam, but it's been too hot.   Then I thought I'd dry some.  I needed to get the Dehydrator out anyway, as the pear tree is having a rare bountiful year, and we'll soon be inundated.

I had a look online for some inspiration.

Instead of being inspired by recipes, I found myself looking at new dehydrators.

If I was going to buy a replacement dehydrator, then it needed to be significantly better than the one I had, otherwise there wasn't any point.    I read the mixed reviews of L'equip.  Hmm, probably not one of those then.    My eye was caught by the Excaliburs.    Yes, I could see that horizontal drying would be even better than my current dehydrator.   It looked like a neat little unit.  The user reviews were positive.

  

I read the comparison charts.  Yep, the Excalibur looked great.  It wasn't extendable, so I might as well go for the 9 tray version.  

 I did some price comparisons.  I looked on Ebay. 

I found a competitive supplier who was also on Quidco.    As my finger hovered over the "add to basked" button, I stopped.  What was I doing?  I don't use the dehydrator anywhere near enough to warrant spending the money.

Step away from the keyboard!

I stepped away.  

I did some other stuff. Made bread,  looked at the growing pile of courgettes. I've made courgette bread. I've fried courgettes and had them in my salad.  I've eaten them raw (not great frankly),  I've fed  some to the chickens.

I thought about dehydrating. Would I really eat "courgette crisps"?  I got some apple leather, made last year, out of the cupboard and munched away.    

Back on the puter. I looked at Excalibur again.  I looked at the comparison chart again.  I noticed  a different make on the chart this time.  I googled it.  I watched a video which directly compared both machines, out of the box. What a great video!  I saw how enormous both machines were.   But the new machine beat the Excalibur hands down. 

I measured where I keep the current dehydrator and the transformer (it's a 110 volt machine so I run it via a transformer).   Hmm, not a lot of difference really (in that way that when you want something, there are no real obstacles).    The Sedona is designed to be used all the time, and you can fit it into a microwave cavity.    Micro processor for accurate temperature (just been reaing about that actually).    Can use half the oven.   Glass door.  Folds down.  Controls on the front.  Quiet.  Timer.       Yep, if I was going to get one - which I wasn't as I didn't need anything that big - it'd be the Sedona. 

As I prepared dinner, I looked at my microwave.   The two dehydraters were no bigger than that.  And how often do I use the microwave?    Once every couple of weeks to reheat frozen rice? And a few times a year to make microwave popcorn?  Why,  I could buy a teeny microwave to do that, and put the dehydrator in its place. And if the dehydrator was there on the worktop I'd be more likely to use it. Wouldn't I?

I downloaded some samples of new dehydrator books on to my kindle.  I read the info, which sadly stopped before any recipes.   I got out my old dehydrator book. I looked online.  

Many of the books are about dehydrating food which is then later reconstituted.  I'm not really interested in that, I'm more interested in drying food to eat dried.

I decided I'd order one.  And I'd order the Excalibur, which was slightly smaller and probably better value.  They are tried and trusted, and well regarded.   If it didn't work out, I could always easily sell it again on Ebay.    

So, remembering to go through Quidco, I went back on to the site.  And I ordered the Sedona!  

Super service, it arrived the following day (Wednesday). It spent Wednesday blocking the hallway while I looked at the enormous box and wondered what on earth had possessed me.  I debated with myself whether to open it or to send it back without opening it. 

I opened it.  DH helped me rearrange the worktop. It fits on there and looks OK.  There was no recipe book, only instructions on how to operate the machine.   I decided to wait until my new dehydrator recipe book arrived before attempting anything.

The book didn't arrive. The mountain of courgettes was getting bigger.

I looked online for courgette recipes.     I made courgette crisps, and I used only the top half of the oven. I seasoned each tray with something different.   I cut up some tomatoes for the last tray. I set it running at 7.30pm, on a 12 hour timer.  Before I went to bed, I switched it to "night time mode" so the fan was even quieter.  It was great.

This morning, I tried some of the crisps.  A bit too thin, like eating rice paper, but they tasted quite good.  Actually, they must have tasted OK because I've eaten all of them now.  And the tomatoes....were really really delicious.  I've saved some to have on my salad.

And I'll be setting another tray of (thicker cut) courgettes this evening.

I've kept the box. And the packaging.  Just in case.

Echinops

We have quite a few of these gorgeous flowers in the garden, and they are really attractive to bees. 

Yesterday evening I noticed that each head had multiple bees at work -  some had 5 or 6 bees on.

We have a couple of bee hotels by the shed, and I guess that's where the bees are living.  We also found one solitary bee making a nest in the screw hole of the wall mounted hose reel.

Decisions made in the heat of the moment, part 1.

It's been unbearably hot for a while now.  Too hot to do anything, and for the first time in 7 years I found myself missing "going into the Office".  Or, specifically, I found myself missing the air conditioning.

DH and I had talked idly, some time ago, about whether we could put a ceiling fan in the kitchen.  It was only idle chat, and we hadn't really come to any conclusion.

I used to think ceiling fans were useless.  Noisy, wobbly,  ineffective, nasty things.   Many years ago on holiday in New Zealand,  we stayed in a motel which had ceiling fans in the rooms.  I was amazed to find that the ceiling fan (a) worked really well, (b) wasn't noisy, and (c) didn't wobble.    When we returned to the UK,  we bought one for the living room.  And, sometime later,  an enormous one for the bedroom.   The bedroom one, particularly, has been fantastic. (Sorry, I couldn't put off using that word any longer)

So.   The first (and literally) heat of the moment decision was to buy a mahoosive fan for the kitchen ceiling.   Ordered it Monday night, it arrived Wednesday morning and was fitted by Wednesday late afternoon.   We had to remove the "chandelier" from above the worktop, so I ordered one with a light (which I don't normally like).  I'm sorry to see the chandelier go, as it was very handy to hang things from.   Maybe I can relocate it to the other part of the kitchen later.

Fortunately for such a rash decision, the fan works really well. Fan technology has moved on quickly,  and the new one is lower energy,  has six speeds, can take an LED bulb (and is still dimmable) .

I'm wondering whether to upgrade the living room one now....

They'll learn. Won't they?

5.30 a.m. I was woken by Roobarb.   Stupid stupid chickens!  I was tired. I was a bit disappointed. 

We'd spent time yesterday (in addition to the time I blogged about)  making sure everyone was OK going in and out of the new opening.  They managed to get themselves in to the Run in the evening.

We'd set the door to open at 5 a.m.   Maybe it hadn't opened?  I got up and  peered out of the bedroom window.  I went and got my specs, and tried again.   I could see that the door had opened.  Stupid chickens.  One night's sleep, and they had forgotten all about it. 

I went downstairs,  avoided the Tilda-bombs (I didn't miss those while she was on holiday!), found the keys and opened the kitchen door.  By the time I got outside, the Girls had magically discovered the open door, and were out munching grass.  

They looked up quizzically as I reached them.  

Butter wouldn't melt in those little beaks.