The Orchard

 I’m noting here which tree is which so we don’t forget! 

All are from left to right starting from the top

1st row: Old apple, Old fallen over apple, 5 year old Bramley apple

2nd row: New Falstaff, 5 year old Falstaff (which may be just rootstock as it died back), 5 year old Rubinette, Old russet apple, Crab Apple

3rd row: New bramley, 5 year old rosette, new rubinette, new winter gem

4th row: New boscoop, going to add a new rosette here

We need to get some protection round the new trees for when the sheep pass through

... and the winner is...

 ... and the winner is... Poppy!

Nice little walk, 35 mins up, 35 seconds down!

Best Christmas card ever!

 Painted specially for us, how lucky are we!

She’s called Nathalie... (though really Nathalie the cow is brown and white). She was created by Nathalie the human’s daughter. Genius!

I hope Santa and his flying cow were generous!

Hay day

Snow in slow mo. It was actually driving in quite fast. Brrr!

Perfect day to have arranged to get hay 😳

We normally get small bales as they are easy to move around, but he guy has run out so we had to roll it through the snow to the stables. Soooooo cold on our hands.

The ducks were having a nice bathin their mini pond watching us. Crazy!

First time brushing a hay bale!

The horses were please so that is what matters...

This should last them about a week. Between the cows and the horses they will get through 15 more of these 80 more small ones and 6 like this that the farmer delivers in the the field for the cows (he can’t spare more than that unfortunately)

Mince Pie Recipe

 I keep trying to find the perfect pastry recipe for mince pies. I’ve been using this one a few times so better write it down before I forget it!

375g plain flour

250g butter

125g caster sugar

1 egg

Crumb together flour and butter

Add the sugar and stir

Add the egg and mix till it comes together. Don’t over work.

Chill for a while and then roll out. It should be able to go quite thin if you prefer more mincemeat than pastry in your pies!

Crochet Christmas Tree

I kind of made it up as I went along, so take everything with a pinch of salt ;)

The stand is a piece of wood with a hole in it and a 15cm piece of 6mm dowel.

There are 7 rounds of branches. They are just flat circles that start with 6 sc in a magic circle and another row is added for each one bigger. Each row has 6 more stitches than the previous one to keep the circle flattish (I’ve tried to explain differently below)

When you finish off the center of each circle you need to pull the magic circle pretty tight, but make sure there is anough of a hole for the dowel to go through, but you don’t want it so lose it doesn’t grip in place.

I used a 4.5 hook and Cascade Mirafloras wool which is a somewhat spiky alpaca wool that says a 5.5 hook as I wanted it to come out quite compact and stiff.

The star is Adriafil Mirage which takes a 4 to 4.5 hook and I used the same 4.5mm hook.

Smallest ‘branch’

Round 1: 6 single crochet in a magic circle and join last to first with a slip stitch. I start with a single chain, but you don’t have to as long as you end with 6 stitches (6 stitches)

Round 2: chain 1, then sc 2 stitches in each of the 6 stitches. Join last stitch to first with a slip stitch (12 stitches)

Next bigger ‘branch’

Round 1 and 2 same as the smallest.

Round 3: chain 1, then * 1 sc in next 2 stitches and 2 sc in 3rd stitch. Repeat from * all the way round. Join last stitch to first with a slip stitch.

Next bigger one

Round 1, 2, 3 same as 2nd branch

Round 4 chain 1, then * 1 sc in next 3 stitches and 2 sc in 4th stitch. Repeat from * all the way round. Join last stitch to first with a slip stitch.

... and so on until you have done all 7

For the star you need to do 2 and sew together with blanket stitch leaving a gap for the dowel to go in to.

When you make the picot (the chain 3 and slip stitch in to the first of the chain) you need to experiment a little with which oart of the stitch you do the slip stitch through, because otherwise the point of the star sticks sideways and when you try to join the two back to back they don’t match up.

Star

Round 1:In to a magic circle, * sc, dc, ch3, slip stitch in to the 1st stitch in thr chain, dc.

Repeat from * 4 more times, slip stitch in to the bottom of the first sc. Pull magic circle tight and finish off

The Star of Bethlehem!

We thought it was going to be cloudy and we wouldn’t see it, but then it magically cleared and we did!

https://www.space.com/great-conjunction-jupiter-saturn-christmas-star-2020-nasa-tips

This is the view by day (just happened to be on the camera!)

and this is it by night. The church is obvious, then to the right of it is the folly/chapel on the mount, both lit for Christmas. Then further right and down is our friend Emma’s, then the ‘star’.

Before that we had a nice lunch with friends, nice to feel a little bit of nomal... 

Cute huh!

Yummy spicy chicken and noodles...

Chicken Massacre

Some horrible beast (fox? pine marten?) got in to the chickens and killed 17 chickens and 2 ducks. It left behind 9 chicken corpses, some without heads. The rest and the ducks disappeared without trace.

They were mostly ones we raised this year (some were to be sold and some eaten by us) but we also lost the cockerel and 3 of the laying hens. All the remaining 7 are female, but none are now laying, 4 of them are young and haven’t started yet, and the 3 that were laying are too traumatised. The 1 remaining female duck has also stopped laying. We are going to need to buy eggs! 

It is very sad, and such a terrible waste, whatever it was didn’t even eat that many of them 😢

The electric fence had blown over in the night in the storms and the shock power was very low which is presumably how it happened. We have cranked the power up (by depowering some other fences) and not (yet) had a repeat visit. Fingers crossed...

These are the survivors (plus another ginger one). Not quite decided what to do yet, but we need a new cockerel. May buy one or buy some eggs to hatch in the Spring.

New Trees

Possibly our last delivery ever from the UK (hopefully not, but it felt fortunate they made it through all the chaos. Companies are now telling me they can’t now post to the EU from the UK, some temporarily due to lack of clarity and some permanently due to high costs - so good to be seeing the benefits of brexit!)

We got a few new apple trees and a crab apple to go in the orchard below the house, also a mini apricot, plum and cherry to go in the potager garden with other fruit. Hopefully one day under a fruit cage. We have some other mini trees that aren’t doing well on the bank, so we plan on moving some of them to this spot too.

This pear in the orchard is rubbish, so Doug is chopping it down to make room for the crab apple.

These are the mini trees for the potager

They all look like twigs

I dug a hole, we decided it was in the wrong place, so I filled it in. Poppy unfilled it again, how helpful!

It’s snowing!

 In La Mongie, not at home...

I’m busy painting the bathroom and bedroom ready for the day we are allowed to stay up there again. 

Doug has been making various wooden bits for improvements and repairs.

Poppy isn’t tremendously helpful at painting or making things, but she does love the snow.

... and it tires her out nicely so she rests while we do useful things...

Jammy Dodgers Recipe

 200g flour

170g sugar

100g butter (room temp)

If using unsalted butter 1/2tsp salt

1 egg

I mix it all in the kitchen aid, but you can do it by hand. Don’t over mix at any stage.

Mix together the butter and sugar, till just mixed.

Add the egg and mix a little more

Add the flour and mix until it just comes together as a dough (prob only 30 seconds). Careful, it will make a bit of a mess out of the kitchen aid ;)

The dough should be soft and workable but not over wet. If it is too wet and sticky you can add a little more flour.

Split in to 3 pieces (just because it’s easier to roll smaller pieces) and roll out to maybe 3mm thick. Use flour to stop it sticking. Cut an equal number of tops and bottoms. Bring together the scraps and reroll, keep rolling cutting until all the dough is done. Or if you want you can out some if the dough in the fridge wrapped in clingfilm or the like and roll and cook later. That way you get them warm and fresh again!

Cook at 180°C on baking paper for about 7mins until lightly browned.

Let cool a bit, sprinkle the tops with icing sugar and then stick together the tops and bottoms with jam.

Homegrown Brunch

We are trying not to eat too much, or at least to do some exercise to offset it when we do!

Bacon, poached duck egg, roast squash and potato. Yum!

Change to lockdown

From today (after 4 weeks of the 2nd confinement) we are allowed to go a little further from home for exercise (and drive to get there). Up until now we have only been allowed to go 1km from home for 1 hour. We can now go 20km for up to 3 hours! Hurrah. This is just far enough to make it to La Mongie so we are hoping to get a little bit of work done there or at least check the apartment is ok.

Lockdown is due to end on the 15th of Dec as long as new cases are below 5,000 a day. But ski areas, restaurants and bars won’t open until late January.

Today we celebrated with a nice walk. Not far from home, but a very nice change of scene.

We had tea and eclairs too. Yay!

She has a slight scratch that she won’t stop licking, so not a serious injury, it just needs a chance to heal

The Virgin

Busy busy

As well as eating a lot we have been busy doing outdoors stuff in the lovely weather.

It get’s hard to remember everything we have done!

We have been meaning to do some maintenance on the stables for some time and finally NOW was the time.

The wind is almost always blowing from the other end of the stables and was causing water to flow off the roof and down this gable end instead of nicely down the roof and in to the gutters.

Doug has taken it apart and out it back together a bit different. So far it looks to have done the job... but we need some more heavy rain to be sure.

Some of the panels also didn’t hang over the gutter enough so water tended to miss so he has adjusted some of these too. We still have more of them to do though.

I’ve cleaned and refinished the end wall now it should be dryer.

We also emptied the waterbutt that is filled from the gutters. It was quite a job as it was 1/4 full of years and years worth or somewhat rotted leaves. Nice!

Also treated and painted the other end wall.

Soon we will finish the roof and do the front and back too!

First Frost and getting hay

 It is always hard to remember from one year to the next the different time if things like the first frost. It seems a little later than normal and the trees are getting quite bare.

We had one day of rain recently, but otherwise lovely and sunny. We made our second visit to the hay man to get 60 small bales. We are likely to need to go 3 or 4 times more. Horses eat a lot and cows get a bit of it too. It always a nice feeling to have a good supply in!

Butternut Squash Cookie Recipe

115g butter

50g brown sugar

100g white sugar

90g roast butternut squashed pureed (don’t let it brown too much)

190g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

100g chocolate cut in to chunks (or choc chips or nuts or fruit if you prefer. cranberries can be nice)

Melt the butter, gently, don’t get it too hot.

Mix in the butternut and sugar

Stir together the dry ingredients and add to the wet. 

Stir until mixed, but don’t over work.

Chill the dough for 30 mins

Shape in to cookies on baking paper. You need to squish and shape the cookies as they will only spread very slightly.

Cook at 180°C for about 15 mins until lightly browned

Christmas cake made!

 

Now wrapped in foil maturing in whisky until sometime in December when I will ice

 

 600g napa cabbage

1 large carrot peeled

1.5 tbsp non iodised salt

3 tbsp gochugang (korean chilli paste)

1 clove minced garlic

1 tbsp korean chilli powder (or crispy shrimp)

Lump of ginger same size as the garlic, grated

A handful of chives or sliced spring onion (optional)

1/2 an apple grated

1.5l glass jar

I had to adjust this recipe somewhat to use things I had, it is the first time I have tried kimchi, if you want to give it a go there are plenty of tried and tested recipes out there, I wanted to record what I did for next time - assuming it comes out well...

Mix the chopped cabbage with the salt and leave for 2 hours. 

Rince well. It is fine if it is wet when you finish this, you want some liquid in to the mix.

Julienne the carrot and cut the chives in to lengths and mix in with the cabbage.

Mix together all the other ingredients in another bowl.

Add the bowl of garlic, ginger, spices etc to the veg and stir well.

Put in a jar and press down well and leave to ferment for a few days (at around 18 to 20°C). You may want to stir occasionally and make sure the bits are all covered in liquid. Longer will make it more sour. The jar needs to have some headroom as it may bubble up while fermenting.

Nappa cabbage and carrots

Spices and stuff

All mixed together

... and crammed in to a jar!

It smells very very pungent. Quite spicy but not overwelming, may have overdone the garlic a little, we shall see!

Walk and tea

 Wet walk on a rainy autumn day, followed by first cup of tea from OUR OWN TEA BUSH!

A branch partially snapped during transit so we thought we had better not waste it.

Give me a treat!

The holly has a lot of berries, it seems very early, will there be any left for Christmas??

I let them wilt a while, then steamed them for 1 minute, rolled and unrolled them a few times and finally dried them in the dehydrator for 1 hr at 70°C

Green tea!

Tomato seed saving

In Spring, during first lockdown, I planted some seeds from a supermarket cherry tomato.

They grew well initially, then had a bit of a hard life when I allowed them to get smothered in weeds. Once allowed to see the sun and breath again after some weeding they did pretty well, so I have saved some seeds in the hope of creating my own tomato strain that thrives on neglect!

Trees trees trees and mowing

First lockdown we spent plenty of clearing up trees and mowing.

So far second lock down has some similarities!

Here is Daisy ‘helping’ me tidy up branches by standing so it is impossible to out them on the wheel barrow. Thanks Daisy!

Nice mown lawn

Here are the branches before Doug cut them up

My fire refused to light as those branches were still damp. Doug burnt 3 other bonfires we had around the place waiting for sunny weather. Now we have non left for bonfire night! I am sure there will be more by then...