Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[squidsin]

Amanda you will be eyeing up LAMBS next, like me! And lusting after a greenhouse and growing your own veg ..... slippery slope! And wondering idly if you could send apig you had raised to the slaughter ..

 

On the subject of wine - I was driving along today totally distracted by all the dandelions growing beside the road , thinking "must make dandelion wine!"

 

I want bees! And have been joking to my husband about getting a goat to put on the allotment - he's starting to look nervous now. I'm into my second year of growing my own veg and still have about as many mishaps as I do successes, but so long as we don't actually get FLOODS like we did last year that washed away most of what I was growing (and also flooded the house, a week after I'd given birth to my son! Just what you want with a newborn - raw sewage in the house!) I reckon I might have a few more successes this year. It's all a learning curve but I love it. Of course, I live in the city though - what I really want next is a house in the country.

 

Wouldn't dandelion wine make you wee a lot?

[ValerieR]

OSH elderflower champagne sounds lovely... can you make it fizzy and if so how?

 

Amanda, I have 2 friends who keep bees! Unfortunately I am severely allergic to beestings so better not risk it!

It is only my second year with the veg too - as you say it's a learning curve! For example, I have learned I hate string beans

 

I too would like a house in the country. I was brought up in a tiny scottish village and suspect I will end up back in one...

 

We are visiting freinds who have a farm this weekend to feed the pet lambs - they have offered me one and my son is begging me to take it! No way. The neighbours would probably gang up and get me sectioned if I had a sheep wandering my garden.

[Old Speckled Hen]

There is a really good recipe here

http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/elderflower-champagne-recipe_p_1.html

It's a Hugh FW one.

Some tips. You might need some extra yeast. I didn't chance it and put a pinch of white wine yeast in the must.

Don't use flip top glass bottles. The stuff just gets toooooooo fizzy and when you open a bottle it erupts.

A tip from here ........ save your large plastic pop bottles and you can periodically loosen the bottle top to let a little CO2 out. It's wonderful stuff......so light and summery and does you no harm at all. UNLESS you drink a whole pop bottle....and I know

[squidsin]

You can get champagne yeast from brewuk which would definitely make it fizzy, but it didn't look like you need to - judging from The Edible Garden anyway.

 

Val - I've never been stung by a bee or a wasp, so I could be allergic for all I know! I'd have to do a controlled experiment before getting a hive, just to be sure - doesn't sound much fun though!

 

My neighbours when I was growing up used to have a couple of sheep in their garden. It wasn't even that big a garden. Mrs Ackland made her own sheep's milk yoghurt - it was lovely. My sister had her first kiss with one of their sons in a tent in our back garden...ah happy days!

[ValerieR]

I used to live in Italy and there was a pecorino sheeps cheese place along the road - the diminutive Sardinian shepherd was forever bringing me bottles of sheep milk by way of a courtship token

It was so viscous and yellow I couldn't bear to drink it and instead fed it to the feral cats that lived round about.

Yogurt might be quite nice though! I love greek yogurt so I guess it might be similar.

Must be right fiddly milking a sheep.

Which reminds me - I used to buy Whiskas cat milk for my cats. A friend saw it and said "Wow! It must take ages to milk a cat. They have such small nipples."

[Cinnamon]

My Mum used to make a wonderful wine from fresh apple juice - I think I have the recipe somwehre.It was delicious - as dry as you like

 

Can I add that I am available for tasting any of these wines that are being concocted?

Anytime,just let me know

[Old Speckled Hen]

 

Must be right fiddly milking a sheep.

Which reminds me - I used to buy Whiskas cat milk for my cats. A friend saw it and said "Wow! It must take ages to milk a cat. They have such small nipples."

 

Splutter splutter

I've just been on the hung parliament thread and this is soooooooooo refreshing.

Really made me laugh.

Thanks for the post Valerie

[Guest]

valerie, I'm reading annie hawes' 'journey to the south' at the moment. (I've read her 'extra virgin' and ''ripe for the picking') and this latest one is about her journey south from Liguria to calabria to visit her boyfriend's family. They live in a small village and they have a sheep which they keep for milk

 

I adore her books, they are written with such wit and are fascinating insights into italian rural customs, traditions, history and life. If you haven't read them then i bet you'd love them!

[Cinnamon]

I love those books - some of the first I downloaded when I got my Kindle

They have such atmosphere & are really honest - brilliant stuff

[ValerieR]

I'll look out for those books! When I was in Italy I was actually working for a writer. Her name is Lisa St Aubin de Teran. She wrote a book called "A Valley In Italy" in which my friend and I feature.

It was about buying a wrecked old palazzo in Umbria near the Tuscan border and renovating it. My friend and I were Au Pairs and I typed her manuscripts for her. It is supposed to be fact but a lot of it is nonsense. She refers to me and my friend as "The Beauties", Irish Au Pairs. (We are actually Scottish) She goes on about the shenanigans we got up to (I therefore never told my dad about the book ) and the fact we were pretty useless. Which we were! Had a memorable time though

[Guest]

is it worth a read?

[ValerieR]

It got good reviews but I thought it was terrible .... if you google her you will find loads about her.. she has written quite a few books now.

[bluekarin]

We stared making out first home made red wine and beer a couple of weeks ago. The wine is almost at bottling point and the beer is in a large barrel doing its second fermentation. Smells good every time I release some of the pressure and hubby is desperate to drink it

[ValerieR]

Hi BlueKarin did you use a kit? How long before it is drinkable?

[bluekarin]

ValerieR - we used kits for both. TBH I didn't think the wine one would work (and it still might not be drinakable) as my sis gave the kit to my hubby many years ago and I wasn't sure if the yeast etc would be ok. It fermented like crazy and I had to take the airlock off for a few days The beer should be ready in about 3 weeks. Not sure about the wine. The bubbles in the airlock are about 15 secs apart and they need to be about 30 secs apart so maybe another week till bottling, then not sure how long to 'cellar' it before drinking. Once this one is bottled, I'll start another one so I have a good supply. Might try a Chardonnay in time for the summer

[squidsin]

Can someone who's made wine before tell me what you're meant to do with the airlock? I've got my recipe for gooseberry wine and it looks reasonably easy to follow, but I am a bit baffled by why you need the weird swirly airlock thing.

[bluekarin]

Pop it in a large cork bung, pop a bit of water in and then pop it into the top of the demi john. The water keep the wine sterile and when the wine starts to ferment, the air blubbles through the water. Quite cool to watch. I am currently timing mine - its the opposite of timing contractions ie waiting for longer between each blup instead of a shorter gap. Not got to the illusive 30 sec gap yet, but hope to soon.