Fig and Apple jam

Busy using apples from the tree that fell down. I also had some figs that were about to go off so I made up this jam.

300g fig
300g apples (I used eating apples from the garden, but bramley would work well)
600g sugar
Juice and zest of 1 lemon (grate the zest or chop fine)

Cut the apples and fig in to bite size pieces.
Put in to a pan and heat gently until juice comes out, then increase heat a little and simmer until fruit are soft (or turned to mush depending how you want your jam)
Add the sugar and boil until a set is reached.
Put in to sterilised jars (I just wash in the dishwasher and use straight away)

EAT!

Big litte apple tree fell down

We have two big apple trees that were here when we moved in. They both seem to fruit well every other year, one has big apples and the other has smaller ones.
There are also a number of other trees, none of which fruit so well, one is a russet and has nice apples though. It has quite a few apples this year too.
We also planted a number (4 maybe?) of apple trees a few years ago. None of them have really started fruiting yet.
Anyway the big tree with the small apples fell over under the weight of fruit it is having this year which is a BIG shame.
We are hoping to save it somewhat, by letting the apples ripen (a week or two yet till they are fully ripe) and then cutting off a huge amount of its branches so we can lighten it enough that we can push it back upright and stake it in place. It might work and we feel is worth a try.

Cutting down the trees behind the house.

The trees that hold the bank behind the house together had grown tall enough to touch the electricity feed into the house. Though it is covered we don't want them bringing it down. Plus they were hanging it bit over the roof which is not a good thing even though at this point they were not big enough to do any damage - a stitch in time saves nine as they say.

This is an after photo. You can see the cut trunks on the right and the odd branch further down that is still hanging over the roof, but much better now - it is lighter in windows at the back of the house too.

None of the trees were very big so this is the relatively small pile of stuff that will be cut in to lengths for the wood burner. See the nice safety trousers Doug is wearing his kind wife bought them. It makes it hot work though.

And this is the giant pile of stuff that needs chipping (or we might just bonfire)

Lawnmower!

Although this line looks really neat the grass they have been on looks all mad and hacked up, so it has to get mown properly from time to time too. These ones are nearly ready for harvesting!

Last (ish) trip to London for a while

I had to take back my laptop, say farewell for now to Toastmasters and go to a doctors appointment, plus Aidan was flying over on my normal flight on Thursday to visit in France (main purpose of visit - to eat steak!)
So I had a few days in London not working.

Buses

Baker Street

Millions of cranes. There is a theory that lots of cranes in London means imminent financial crash...

 Halva shop in Finsbury Park (popped up there to visit a friend who had just come out of hospital). Doug loves halva, so brought back lots.

The Royal Academy (Matisse - v good - but finished now I think)

Fortnum and Masons (for chocolates and fruit creams)

Artistic pic of bridge

More cranes

Tate Modern is quiet during the week in September...

He didn't just do skinny people

Cool seagull - tried to work out how to steal it but couldn't...

 Reflection of me on the DLR

Had lunch here with friends. Sirloin not as good as our Bif beef. Tasty though.

See ya later London!

(I will be back briefly end of Sept kind of time to clear and rent the flat)

Toastmasters - General Evaluator

In each Toastmasters meeting we try to have everyone speak (even if just to introduce yourself as a guest) and then almost everyone is evaluated. There is an evaluator for table topics and one for each of the prepared speeches. There is then a General Evaluator who evaluates the meeting as a whole and all the people with roles who have not been evaluated by someone else.
This means giving general comments on the how the meeting ran (eg did it run on time, were people told how to get out in a fire etc), plus The Toastmaster, The Sergeant at Arms, The President, The Grammarian, The Timekeeper and the other evaluators.
I performed this role for the first time, at my last meeting at Toastmasters for a while at least.
It is quite a tricky role as there are a lot of people to listen to and come up with encouragement and suggestions for. Generally a good pattern for evaluations is commend/recommend/commend and I tried to follow this pattern.
It was a relatively quiet meeting as it was an extra one that had been fitted in where we missed one for the August bank holiday so not everyone was able to attend. Good number of guests though.

These are my notes, I obviously had to make them more coherent, I think I succeeded, but the General Evaluator is not evaluated so I cannot say for sure...

I had a good time at Toastmasters and hope to be back at some point. I had a look but there are no clubs near to us in France :) In French could have been a bit challenging anyway and not sure how I would fit it in with the cycling, yoga, animals, house building schedule anyway.

The certificate here was just for taking part. Toastmasters like certificates and stuff as encouragement. This was a table topics competition and I was RUBBISH - but I still get a certificate, hurrah!

Taking Hainoa to the bull

Now that Hainoa has recovered from having the stillborn calf we decided that it was time to get her pregnant again. So we took her back to the same place as before, but a different bull this time.
It was quite an undertaking getting her in to the trailer. We failed completely on the first day we tried and had to try again the next day. With more success fortunately.

Shifty look - you ain't getting me in there!

EVENTUALLY we did get her in.

The Sebastien and Valerie have just moved to a new bigger farm. It is slightly closer to us or at least the roads to it are better. They have a fab barn which is all set up for cattle. They have something like 40 highlands

When we opened the door of the trailer Hainoa rushed out like a total maniac and a few moments later when Sebastien was trying to herd her into a small enclosure on her own by the bull went a bit mental and charged him. I was quite concerned for a second, but he managed to dodge and she maybe dodged a bit and wasn't actually trying to killing him. He seemed un-phased, I guess it happens from time to time if you have that many cows!

This is Angus the bull that Hainoa is visiting. He has broken one of his horns because highland bulls rub the base of their horns on trees and things to mark their territory and he managed to wear through it.

They have alpaca too

We went in to the field to visit various other cows

They all came running for the apples

This is Hainoa's mum with a calf a similar colour to Bear (Islay's calf)

This is Bear's dad, his name is Capi.

This is Islay's mum Griotte.

Hainoa will stay with them for about 2 months then we will have to go and persuade her back in to the trailer.
We are not quite sure how we are going to get Islay pregnant again as we couldn't really send her away with Bear. We can get her AIed if we manage to spot her in heat.