Recent content by MIchael Hibberd

What gourdy squash. I like them muchly! Good eatin'.

I know only that thy are a red 'wine' grape and not eaters. The year before last (I moved here just before then) they produced a crop but it caught a fungus of some description. It had been sorted, but then next year some builders cut it back to a small stump at an awkward time in their...

Always had the chickens @canesisters it's just that a mink got in a despached them all :( Well, I got them from a travelling horse dentist, and his reply was 'just farmyrad' chickens.. ha! So I'm guessing, from their form and fluffy legs they could be Silkies or Cochins? Unless any keen...

Little update. the tomatoes and cucamelons are going nuts in the orangery this year. I seem to be trimming them every other day and boom! They're back again with the foliage. (In the foreground on the first image is a prolific vine, it's about 120 years old, or so i'm told).

I have started a pen for them, there will be an additional structure inside they all sleep in at night of course. And my lovely cat Lola is 'guarding' the chicks.. frequently.. ;D

Gourds for all! Yey! @digitS'

I have only ever had bottles blow when making champagne (because one doesn't stop the fermentation and I was not using strengthened bottles). It was quite a show!

A length of tubing, gravity fed. I'm good at it now, hardly swallow any of the wine first! ;) Kind of my 'test run'.. Yes it probably will eventually @baymule, depends on what is causing it to bubble. Excess yeast, excess sugar, bacteria etc. Still'll drink it eh? Ha!

I'm no expert! (for the record). Buuuut.. It's fine if it's bubbly, some peeps like that. But normally one stops the brewing process (with this tablet for example) before the racking process. This kills bacteria and stuff. What are you straining with? I would sacrifice a bit of liquid...

Glad it tastes good though! @baymule

Did you stop the brewing process? With a campden tablet etc.?

Racked a load of the Elderflower wine today. I have another 5 gallons in the white brewer and the two semi-john's at the back that are left to do. :)

Some pickings, roasted and toasted etc. - Potatoes, Radish, Turnip Tops, Swede Tops, Baby Parsnips. Parsley, Thyme and Mustard Seed. A lovely afternoon dinner in the garden.

My new little flock

Amazing! Love it.