Netting the Fruit Bushes

It's become apparent that some form of wildlife is taking advantage of our fruit bushes: some of the blueberries, gooseberries and raspberries have been munched. Possibly a rabbit, possibly a deer: both have been spotted in the garden at different times.

My suggested solution: a rifle. Venison or rabbit pie, both are good. However, this idea was frowned upon, so yesterday we went out and got some (nominally anti-bird) netting, and spent this afternoon constructing bamboo frames for it to go over. Looks tolerable, and I hope will discourage eating. I'm hopeful that we'll be putting in the raised beds in the next month or so, and at the same time, will build a proper wooden cage to support the netting, which should be much more effective.

Chutneys With the Last of the '09 Apples

Had a chutney-filled afternoon. After scrumping the apples from the hillside last autumn, the last ones were starting to look a little unhealthy, so we decided it was time to make them into something.

I've been wanting to try a sloe-including chutney, and found a recipe that uses the gin-addled sloes from sloe gin. Here goes:

• 3lbs of stoned, sloe-ginned sloes
• 2lbs apples, peeled, cored and chopped*
• 3 large onions, chopped*
• 1 lb sultanas
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped/minced
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground mace
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 2 tbsp orange juice (it was meant to be juice & zest of two oranges, but we never have them in)
• 1lb 12 oz sugar (half granulated, half light soft brown)
• 1.5 pints spirit vinegar

*I tend to chop chutney ingredients quite finely: preferences vary.

Preliminary results are very encouraging! It's got good colour (thanks to the sloes), and isn't too vinegary: the proportion of vinegar is actually much lower than I'd normally expect, but I hope it'll keep well enough anyway.

Secondly, we made some 'plain' apple chutney: not enough sloes to finish the apples with the above recipe. The recipe's from an excellent book that was a Christmas present from Hazel and Alex, and which I can spend quite some time salivating over: Good Old-fashioned Jams, Preserves and Chutneys [I've used an Amazon Associates account to simplify linking to Amazon. If you follow the link and buy the book, I get a fee, so we're both happy.] Anyway, it's quite a simple recipe (apples, onions, sultanas, vinegar, ginger), but has worked out well.

The washing machine and chest freezer didn't arrive (problems with the lorry, the subject of a later rant, I think), but the microwave has (different problems with delivery, but resolved) and is looking good. The other two will get here at the end of the week...

Evolution of the Fruit Beds

Long promised, and here they are: before-and-after photos of the fruit beds; I've also added a photo of the igloo to the post about building it.

These (above) are looking roughly north-west. The next two are looking back the other way.

And a last one, without a 'before' equivalent.

From one snowy patch to another...

It's cold, but there's no more snow forecast---actually, it looks like (barring overnight frosts) it's going to be reasonably clear for the next week or so, as the snow that was predicted for yesterday didn't arrive.

No, the snow is work: I'm in the process of crossing over from one job to another, and am therefore rather preoccupied. Given the climate, I don't expect I'd be found in the garden anyway, so maybe it's well orchestrated.

However, we've finally got round to ordering a chest freezer, washing machine, and wonder-combi-microwave. The freezer is monster-big (360l, or 12.8 cu ft), owing to the fact that I want to put half a pig, lots of fruit, and considerable quantities of baking/pre-cooked meals in it. This does mean that it would comfortably fit me in it, Snowman-style. Not that this is on the cards.

The washing machine we have at the moment is an antique Hotpoint Electronic De Luxe. Which is to say, it being electronic is a luxury. We inherited it with our last house, and think that it was there since the house was built, which made the washing machine about as old as me. Oops. Anyway, the motor's not very well (I had to twiddle with the carbon brushes last summer), it leaks, and---basically---it doesn't wash very well.

The new beast is another Hotpoint (the age of its predecessor spoke volumes for reliability, in my book), but one that's got an 'Eco Cycle'; uses cold water. My parents-in-law have one from the same range, and swear by the cold wash (you have to use liquid detergent, but that's fine---it even works out a bit cheaper). The big advantage, in addition, is that---being a modern creature---it only requires a cold water feed, and heats its own water. This is much better for us, as it means not having to heat a whole tank (and then feeling we ought to do three loads to make use of all that heated water, which gets impractical).

Lastly, I'm looking forward to the wonderwave, which will mean I can use an oven for smaller volumes of stuff, rather than filling the main oven (which we feel we ought to do, but which is a bit of a pain). Now I just need to work out how to make it fit neatly into the 'integrated appliance' hole/surround that's in the wall. This may be more of a challenge, but I have my hopes.

Anyhoo; while, plainly, not a gardening-related post (unless you count the tangential reference to freezing fruit?), that's what I've been up to. That, and finding out how to do the new job.

Rain

Well, it's started raining, and the snow's turning to slush. The ice, though, is still icy. (Gosh.)

I'm hopeful that we'll be able to get out on Monday, and can at least start a normal week. We've been pretty much snowed in since this started (17th December), and have only actually gone out twice.

It's still pretty...but that's overlaid, now, with tedium and annoyance. Never mind...

Coming soon: photos!

I've uploaded an extra set of header photos (from Scotland, from Thorpe Perrow, and from home), which you might notice.

I've also got round to uploading some garden photos, showing the creation of the fruit beds, and now they're on the server, I might manage to embed them in a couple of posts.

No promises on how quickly that'll happen, though.

[Edit: the photos are now up: the fruit beds, and the igloo. 21 Jan '10]

Snowed in. Essentially.

Well, I tried to go to work. Walked to the end of the track, defrosted car, slid up a very icy road to the motorway, went one junction, heard the forecast for Wigan, Manchester, and home, and turned round. It's now snowing so heavily I can't see the other side of the valley, and my footprints have vanished.

We might have got to work (though I'm not sure about the last bit of Liz's journey), but I'm not utterly sure we'd have got back in. Even with no extra snow, the last bit of driving is deeply unpleasant. Apparently Calderdale Council is running low on rock salt, and is having to prioritize roads for clearing---this is unlikely to include the road our track leads onto.

Bit of a pain, as I had things I wanted to do today, and I also wanted to go into the city centre to visit the bank, M&S, and Moss Bros (to book my suit for Hazel & Alex's wedding); and Tesco on the way home for some bits and pieces. Never mind...we've enough food for a bit, at least! It was more important that I get in yesterday: I'm in the cross-over between two jobs, working part-time at both, and there was a staff training day at the new job that was useful yesterday. The old job would rather like me to make it in tomorrow, but we'll see how that pans out.

Cabinets

I've just put up two of the cabinets in the utility room. They're mounted quite high (so they don't annoy me at the sink): possibly too high, but we'll see. I can always drop them later. The third one will have to wait. They're white 'country style' doors, which I think work quite well in there. We want to put a worktop up: probably not a proper worktop, but a pretty deep shelf. It'll need to have an angled front, to get narrower on one side, due to the configuration of the room and the back door at the end.

It's still bitterly cold: managed to get to my parents (and back), as the roads are mostly clear. The track is---as expected---impassable, but that's tolerable.