Happy Halloween!

Doing some poo clearing and some gardening

We needed to remove this big pile of poo from outside the horses run in shelter before the rains of winter start because it turns in to a giant poo swamp which isn't very nice.

 So we decided to do two good things at once and take it up to the vegetable garden.

I also planted some beans

 and some peas

Drum carder

Despite Doug’s protests (where’s it going to GO - which is of course a valid concern, but we don’t want to let reality and practical things intrude *too* much on our dreams!) I bought a drum carder to make preparing wool for spinning a bit easier and quicker.
It is fantastic! I cannot say it make my spinning good yet, but it is a lot easier to do from the more even preperation the drum carder provides. On the whole things that slow down how fast I can knit are good, otherwise we will be inundated with knitted products. However there becomes a point where it is too slow and hard and I lose interest.

Bedroom progress

While I have been doing most of the tree planting Doug has been slaving away on the bedroom (with breaks to move animals, worm animals, strim some things as well as have fun walks with the dog etc).
Using the laser level to level the support for the top of the wardrobe - it will have 5 sliding doors along this length here with storage behind (that Doug is going to build also)

All level and fillered

Fillering the plasterboard round the window.

Autumn Skies

We have been having mostly amazing sunny weather recently (with just the odd break for rain). It has resulted in lovely skies and sunsets.

View from the house

Up at the ski area

From the top field

From the ridge above the house

Back to the top field

Looking up to the house from the bottom field

Jam tarts

I can't really call this a recipe as it is too easy!
I made jam tarts for a friends birthday. They are made with shop bought puff pastry. I discovered you need to blind back otherwise it comes out a mess like this because the pastry puffs up and sploshes the jam out a bit as they cook. These ones we had to keep at home and eat.

They are plum jam (bought plums but very tasty ones)

I used a cake tin like this as I find it much easier to get the pastry circles in than the muffin tin. It is easier to get them out when they are cooked too.

Rosehip and apple jelly recipe

320g rose hips

640g apple (cooking is best but eating ok too)

640g sugar

juice and zest of 1 lemon

640g water

Put the rose hips in a pan with a lid, with half the water and boil until they are soft and fall apart (about an hour). Add the rest of the water and the apples and the lemon juice and zest. Cook for a further 30 mins until the apple turns to mush.

Strain the mixture overnight in a fine sieve (or a jam muslin depending how much you mind if it is a little cloudy).

Add 640 g of sugar to the resulting liquid and boil until you get a set (no lid now)

Mango Chutney Recipe

I have made quite a few mango chutney recipes and none are right. For example this one. It is nice, but doesn't taste as good as sharwoods and doesn't have the right shiny consistency.This is another attempt. It came out better, possibly because I managed to get much riper mangos. I think it would be better for cooking the mangoes slightly more to mush and a bit more sugar (flavour good as is, but it would give the more jammy look of indian restaurant chutneys)

600g mango (approx 2 mangoes)
150ml vinegar
120g sugar

You can vary the spices or buy a chutney mix, but something like the following:
3 cardamom seeds
5 cloves1/2 tsp cuminPoppy seed (optional)
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric

Chop the mango up in to approx 2 cm chunks
Simmer gently until the chunks start to breakdown. You can continue until they are much or stop when there a few whole pieces depending how you want the chutney to come out.
Add all the other ingredients and continue to simmer until the chutney is a thick consistency - about an hour.
Put in to jars. The flavour will develop over a few weeks so keep before you eat.

Chocolate crispies

200g cornflakes
100g butter
250g plain chocolate
6 tbl sp honey/golden syrup

Melt everything except the cornflakes over a gentle heat
Add the cornflakes and stir gently until all the flakes are covered in the chocolate mixture. Put in to muffin/cupcake cases.

More wood

But not enough yet!
We took advantage of the drier weather to get the car and trailer over to where it is stored. We need to get it up to nearly touching the balcony to see us through winter. The next loads come from in the field and are less weather dependent. Winter is coming though so we need to get on with it!

The wood here includes the very last of the wood we bought with the house. Soon we will be on to burning only Doug cut wood!

French flour and British things

I get frustrated that the bread flour in the supermarket here isn't very good and I was worrying what I was going to do, now I am not going back to the uk and fetching various useful things like bread flour, marmite and cheddar.
Someone suggested getting flour from the bio shop in Tarbes (30 mins drive away) so I did. It is much better though less 'strong' than the bread flour I get in the UK (which is Canadian).

So that is one of the problems solved...

Trees planted

I mentioned here that Doug chopped down a giant holly tree. This was part of a push to clear the bank below the potager so we could plant the 11 columnar (with a little pruning, they grow in straight columns with just tiny branches so they are a compact way of having fruit trees and therefore easy to pick) fruit trees that we had ordered.

After chopping the holly, before clearing the bank

Bank cleared

Some landscaping done and trees planted.

They are rubbish looking little sticks at the moment, hopefully they will spring into life in the Spring...

We have now planted grass seed on the bank and around the trees. The hope is that the little wooden beds are going to make it possible to strim without taking out the trees and we will be able to stop the brambles and nettles returning and swamping the little trees. It was a lot of work to clear this area and it is depressing how quickly brambles and nettles return - regardless it seems of how thoroughly you remove them.

So I can remember later, they are (from the left along the bottom row then back from the right along the top row)
Sunburst cherry
Czar plum
Brambley apple
Morello cherry
Golden greengage
Conference pear
Winter Gem apple
Scrumptious apple
Cox apple
Victoria plum
Williams pear

Indian restaurant in Pau (and seeing Blade Runner 2049)

We went to the cinema in Pau (which is about an hour drive away) to see Blade Runner 2049 as they show it in the original language with French subtitles rather than dubbed. We enjoyed it a lot.
While we were there we went for dinner in an Indian restaurant. As there is not one in Bagneres it is an exciting treat. Would recommend it.

Lovely camping trip

As we are having a beautiful Indian summer we decided to go camping.
We didn't pack light - taking roll up mattresses, a double sleeping bag each, table and chairs and the ozpig.
This is our favourite camping spot as it is accessible by car, but far from the road (so the dog can run around), the ground is flat and the views are amazing.

Sunset

Sunrise

Lismore from the abattoir

A cow can be fitted in to a surprisingly small number of boxes - though they seem bigger when trying to cram then into a freezer.

This is a whole cow!

Sorting through all the bits so they are organised and we can find what we want.

First sample

Yummy in a sandwich - just as tasty as Bif we decided.