'Chitting' Potatoes

A couple of weeks ago we collected our order of potatoes for this year- usually we plant them on Good Friday which this year is the 29th March, quite early in the growing season so we shall have to see how things progress. However the process of 'chitting' the seed potatoes has started- they have been placed in old egg boxes with the best looking 'eyes' or potential shoots facing upwards to the light. We put them out of the way in the spare room so it is cool but getting the light. Gradually green shoots develop and begin to grow until they are ready to plant out

Although there had been rumours of poor quality or scarce seed potatoes for this spring ours seem fine; we have gone for old favourites:

International Kidney- a lovely new potato that we have found develops good sized tubers if left in for longer and is great for jackets.

Kestrel-  a good all rounder

Charlotte- a waxy salad potato that has stored well for us.

Cara- we have not tried Cara before, but last year blight was such a problem that this variety that claims some resistance seemed to worth a go.

Things to do with wax

This year we have for the first time used a home made solar extractor to melt down wax to show - May 2012 - we were successful in getting good clean wax that only needed filtering and setting in moulds , it smelt and looked great. We weren't just biased because we won the wax categories at our local honey show and the Moorgreen Show this year. It was a lovely surprise to find that a trophy went along with this success!

I love the smell and feel of the blocks of wax and have used it to ease sticking wooden drawers - but it takes a lot more skill to make things like cosmetics or polish with the wax. Not surprisingly it also involves some legislation if these products are to be sold or used by other people- so this area takes some dedication. We have only dabbled in using wax for obvious things like candles, wax blocks and like other bee-keepers cleaning up wax in order to swap it for new foundation.

Christmas Cards

This year at the December meeting of  NBKA, Linda Jordan generously handed out Christmas themed moulds of wax- these gave an idea for another craft idea- Christmas cards. These are simply double mounted on card with a loop which enables the decoration to be removed and hung on the Christmas tree!

Fudge and Florentines

It is always good to receive hand made presents so this Christmas we began to think of treats to make - we love chocolate and we have honey so it is logical to think of combining the two. This recipe for Florentines adapted from  Nigella Lawson was delicious -

Honey  and Almond Florentines

100 grams flaked almonds
1 tsp. chopped peel
2 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. plain flour
150 ml. double cream
100 grams dark chocolate

1. In a heavy pan, melt the butter, sugar, and honey until smooth. Stir in the flour to form a paste, then remove from heat and whisk in the cream. Once the mixture is smooth, stir in the almonds and lemon peel.

 
2. Drop heaped tablespoons on the mixture on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof, leaving lots of room between them as they will spread. Bake at 190 C  for about 5-8 minutes, or until golden on the edges. Leave to cool for a few minutes before lifting, gently, with a palette knife onto another tray to cool fully. 

3. Once the florentines are cool, melt the dark chocolate then spread the chocolate on to one side or dip half of the biscuits in to the chocolate. Allow to set before serving.

Needless to say these did not last long and we made a few batches for Christmas!

Another recipe adapted from Nigella was for fudge- not true fudge but delicious and easy to make.

Chocolate and .......Fudge

350gm dark chocolate

1 tin ( 375gm) condensed milk

30 gm butter 

pinch of salt

150gm of flavourings

Melt the chocolate, condensed milk , butter and salt in a heavy saucepan until melted together.

Add flavouring of your choice- we tried cranberry and chopped macadamia nuts, sour cherries, and crystallised ginger ( in different batches) .

Pour in to a 23cm square tray lined with foil ( makes it easier to lift out) and leave to set in the fridge. 

Cut into mouth sized pieces.

The fudge needs to be kept in the fridge, but I made bigger batches and froze some as well so it was easy to make up gift bags - cellophane bags tied with ribbon and a tag- these made ideal gifts for Christmas.

Winter Wonderland!

It's funny how a fall of snow makes such a difference to the landscape- it all looks very pristine and clean out there. We have had a few days of snow- laying deep and crisp today it was an obvious invitation to get out there. Most weeks since the bees have moved to Woodborough we have walked over the fields to check them out. After an initial plod on the roads it is a lovely walk down the fields with a view towards the Trent valley in the distance. A bit misty to start with today but it soon cleared and the walk back was cloudy but better visibility.

We had great views of  flocks of field-fare, a green woodpecker, sparrow-hawk as well as the usual corvids and wood pigeons. These Jacobs sheep are always in the field at the bottom of the hill - today they were just standing in a line and were still there on the way back!

The beehives looked fine, last time we had been we hefted the hives to see how heavy they were- the 2 that had always been small colonies were still light but the others felt reasonable. Today we just wanted to check the entrances weren't blocked with snow and everything appeared fine- its impossible to know what's happening inside .We just have to hope they have enough stores and are not too cold to move to them.

Sometimes in snowy weather bees think it is bright outside because of the glare on the snow and come outside only to get too cold to get back inside- there were a couple of bees in the snow but no more and all the entrances were clear, so things are looking as well as they could be for now!

Compost Corner

The recent wet weather has meant we have been unable to get on the ground at the allotment so we are pleased that the compost bays were complete before a stream began to flow through the middle of the plot.

There are four bays allowing for rotation and turning, leaves are delivered to the allotments in the autumn and these along with layers of manure compost down in about a year or so. Leaves on their own give good soil conditioner but not much nutrition so mixing them with manure gives a good all round finished compost.

In to the other bays and 2 black bins go annual weeds, trimmings and prunings and some of the compostable rubbish from home. Along with the wormery we are doing fairly well in cutting down what we ahve to throw away!

Mead

Unlike some bee-keepers this year we had a reasonable crop of honey, especially considering the bees didn't settle to any normal pattern of behaviour. But some of the honey we had taken off late this year was still 20% water, usually we hope the water content goes down to around 18%. The higher the water content the honey does not always keep so well and may ferment- we have had a couple of jars look a bit doubtful so decided to check out the others and use them before they went the same way- the obvious thing to use them for was to make mead!

Like many people our age (!) we had gone through a home brewing stage and at the back of the cupboard under the stairs we have a cluster of demijohns and a box of wine making equipment. So really there was nothing to lose! Out they came and were sterilised- new wine yeast and yeast nutrient were bought and a simple recipe found.

After reading a lot of recipes I decide to just try a really simple, basic one:-

1.5 kg honey
1 tspn yeast nutrient
1 tspn wine yeast
Water

Heating the honey with cinnamon and cloves

I heated the honey with a litre of boiling water until it reached 140 F and kept it there for about 25 mins- this was to kill the natural yeast which can be unpredictable flavour-wise. Then I left it to cool down, added the nutrient and yeast, gave it a good shake, poured it into the demijohn and topped up with filtered water. I made 2 batches, one of them I put a cinnamon stick and a few cloves in as I heated it- just out of interest to see if it would pick up the flavours.
 Just in case the fermentation got too vigorous I put the demijohns in the bath so it wouldn't make too much mess!
After about half an hour they were both bubbling away and today- after 24 hours , not overflowing but steady and strong! It seems that it is now just a matter of time to wait while the fermentation stops, then letting the wine clear and racking it off - all of which will probably take a few months- I need to find somewhere else for the bottles to go for now though!

New Shed

Once the old shed had been demolished the tricky bit of levelling the site remained. Luckily Mike and Eileen were there to help - a big thank you to them both for their help in taking down the new shed from its old plot, moving and re-assembling it on Plot 87!

It makes a big difference- there is potentially more space at the top of the allotment- we hope to open it out and move the blackberry and tayberry to have a bit of standing ground for plants and maybe a potting bench- all plans for the future. We have already started work on the new compost area at the bottom of the allotment and hope to get the new cordon fruit trees in before too long. 

On the bee front - all the hives seem busy whenever we see them, I am not completely happy that the supplies they have taken in are going to be enough, we have hefted the hives to gauge the weight and will keep a close eye on them to see if or when feeding will be necessary. Some of the colonies were very small which is an added concern, we shall just have to wait and see! I have had my 2nd dose of venom in the de-sensitisation program and so far no problems!