God I love growing our own

[Martimart]

Last harvest of this year's chiles. That there were enough to be worth harvesting at this time of year came as a pleasant surprise. I expected the ones I picked a few weeks back to be the last. Photobombed by jars of honey for "rent".

And another slightly different harvest. This was a sycamore that I had cut down last Winter. Didn't do it myself as it was overhanging some outbuildings and a greenhouse, so it had to be climbed and taken down piece by piece. Soon to be this Winter's heating. To cut the cordwood into suitable size logs I used my new battery-powered chainsaw which I bought because it was cheaper than getting the Stihl (which has decided it absolutely isn't going to start) serviced and shares batteries with my InstantVap amongst other things. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect of it, but generally I think it does pretty well. Not sure what it will be like for actually felling trees. I guess I'll find out in a few months time. I am going to need a few more batteries, but that's hardly the end of the world when I have other tools that also use them. This lot was enough to fill a 6'x4' trailer to overflowing twice over and the cutting ran two 4Ah and two 2.5Ah batteries from full to empty twice each (the saw uses two 18V batteries at a time).

James

Very nice chillies, I’ve done mostly paprika chillies this year, smoked them in the bbq and ground them into a powder, very nice. I think I got more chillies than tomatoes which have been very poor, and the cucumbers which I pulled up in August without getting any fruit at all. It’s been a strange year.

 

[enrico]

What's the name of your battery-powered chainsaw, James. I'm trying to interest my husband in buying one but he says they're not worth it, not powerful enough. Those logs look pretty useful.

Chain saws can be lethal so please get your husband the right gear for Christmas. Chain saw trousers are a must, a friend of mine swung his chain saw backwards and cut into the back of his leg. It only takes one slip. The trousers are full of fluffy which will clog the chain saw and stall it.
I have been using chain saws for many years, the battery ones are good these days better than even five years ago, but you MUST LEARN HOW TO SHARPEN A CHAIN. Sorry to shout but it is so important. A blunt saw will lead to mistakes.
Stihl do an amazing sharpener that does the blade and the depth guage at the same time. There you go, two Christmas presents.
If you are only going to cut small logs then you can buy chain saws with guards fitted that can be used with one hand. They are battery driven and again are remarkably good.
Also don't forget a new chain on a saw will slacken rapidly so it needs tightening as if it comes off the bar at high speed it will have your hand off.
Finally, would you keep bees without doing a course? There are chain saw courses available...... And there is the third Christmas present😃

 

[enrico]

This is the start of winter 2025 pile. I always store for two years




This is this winters store ready to go, about fifteen layers!!

 

[JamezF]

Very nice chillies, I’ve done mostly paprika chillies this year, smoked them in the bbq and ground them into a powder, very nice. I think I got more chillies than tomatoes which have been very poor, and the cucumbers which I pulled up in August without getting any fruit at all. It’s been a strange year.

What variety/varieties of chile do you use for paprika? I've occasionally pondered making my own. If you're smoking them on the barbie, does that mean they're hot smoked?

Our tomatoes have produced plenty of fruit, just very, very late, so we still have huge numbers of green fruit. In that sense they've not done very well. I switched varieties of cucumber this year though, growing one called Gergana. I've never tried it before but it has done very well despite pretty much all our other squash-type plants (even courgettes!) having quite a poor year.

James