God I love growing our own

[enrico]

I prefer french beans so we stopped growing runners.

 

[pargyle]

I prefer french beans so we stopped growing runners.

I like french beans too - but 'er indoors prefers runners so I grow both - usually Cobra - five or six plants on a wigwam will feed an army ! They are climbers and seem to do much better for me than dwarf ones .. They freeze really well as well. I think the key to growing good beans is lots of compost in the soil ... and big crops are encouraged by regular picking,

 

[fian]

I have never doubted that our compatriots were capable of producing extraordinary products thanks to the land and climate that we enjoy. Proof of this is the good work of Enrique who has achieved gold for the best London Dry Gin in the world.
https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/notic...gallega-vanagandr/00031706215331313895773.htm
https://www.farodevigo.es/ocio/gast...-galicia-corona-mejor-mundo-dv-108786139.html

 

[Goran]

Quinces are back on the menu.. Fresh or baked.. Autumn is here..

 

[enrico]

Quinces are back on the menu.. Fresh or baked.. Autumn is here..

Our quinces are way too hard to eat fresh but interested in how you bake them and eat them

 

[fian]

Our quinces are way too hard to eat fresh but interested in how you bake them and eat them

My mother bakes the apples at 150°C until they turn a toasted color. If they are acidic, remove the stem and make a conical cut in the upper part that you fill with a little sugar.
I suppose that for quinces it will be similar.
In Galicia, quince jelly is made to accompany cheese. The sweet is made similar to a jam but more consistent due to the pectin.

 

[Goran]

Our quinces are way too hard to eat fresh but interested in how you bake them and eat them

Washing quinces, then put them dry on cooking paper in backing plate - in the oven. Temperature first at 200C then later reduce to 180C. They will get some brownish color, but real test when they are baked is to just stab with fork - if is still hard, let it bake for some time. When they are finished they get soft inside ( after peeling off, we eat them with small spoon later).
Right now we have cooked pears on our table ( some old variety - when fresh hard as rock and odd taste, but when cooked so tasty and sweet).. As I said autumn is here..

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Washing quinces, then put them dry on cooking paper in backing plate - in the oven. Temperature first at 200C then later reduce to 180C. They will get some brownish color, but real test when they are baked is to just stab with fork - if is still hard, let it bake for some time. When they are finished they get soft inside ( after peeling off, we eat them with small spoon later).
Right now we have cooked pears on our table ( some old variety - when fresh hard as rock and odd taste, but when cooked so tasty and sweet).. As I said autumn is here..

Speaking of pears. We had a couple of Honeywarden trees among the orchard. They grew to a huge height and were heavy croppers BUT the fruit was round like a cricket ball and even harder. I was told they could be used to make a perry drink but not much else. Most of the rest of the pear trees were conference, two trees of Comice and we had a wall covered in Pitmaston Duchess which were huge and exceedingly juicy.

 

[enrico]

Speaking of pears. We had a couple of Honeywarden trees among the orchard. They grew to a huge height and were heavy croppers BUT the fruit was round like a cricket ball and even harder. I was told they could be used to make a perry drink but not much else. Most of the rest of the pear trees were conference, two trees of Comice and we had a wall covered in Pitmaston Duchess which were huge and exceedingly juicy.

We inherited two different pear trees. One ripens on the tree and is so juicy you have to eat it naked in the bath the other ripen off the tree and can store in a fridge until Christmas. No idea what they are

 

[Goran]

This variety of pears we cook, is not widespread and mostly left to extinct. But it is dear to us cause we love cooked pears and as sentiment of childhood for me.. We have some fruit trees that have sentimental value more than market value, but we enjoy in them as some reminder of past times and in their fruits along.. We have one true service tree of which my mother reminds as tall tree when she was a kid.. " We love food with story" as someone would say.

 

[JamezF]

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

 

[Erichalfbee]

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

What are the long thin chillies?

 

[pargyle]

What are the long thin chillies?

Underfed short fat ones !

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Last harvest of this year's chiles.

Got loads left to pick, mostly the carolina reapers and apache now they've turned red, a shedful of jalapenos, although still green and also some mahoosive red pointy sweet peppers now they've turned colour.

 

[JamezF]

What are the long thin chillies?

Cayennes. These ones as far as I recall. We freeze some and dry the rest either loose or on strings. The dried ones generally get blitzed in the food processor to use as chile flakes or powder.

James

 

[JamezF]

Got loads left to pick, mostly the carolina reapers and apache now they've turned red, a shedful of jalapenos, although still green and also some mahoosive red pointy sweet peppers now they've turned colour.

You must have had a better year than us. Very few peppers of any kind have fully ripened here, even in the greenhouses. We had a frost last week too, so I feel as though I'm living on borrowed time now.

James

 

[JamezF]

Underfed short fat ones !

Oddly enough, Simpsons Seeds also do a "Large Red Thick" Cayenne

James

 

[judy12]

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.

 

[pargyle]

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

You see firewood - I see lots of sycamore bowl blanks just waiting for the lathe ...it's a very bland wood but what it lacks in natural colour it makes up for in the way that it accepts stains and acrylic colours ...

 

[JamezF]

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.

It's an Einhell. Specifically the GP-LC 36/35. You're welcome to come over and have a look if it would be helpful. You're only just up the road after all.

I'd say that for a lot of purposes it's plenty powerful enough, but if you want to be cutting logs for two or three hours at a stretch then you do need enough batteries. I've been told that it also helps if you keep on top of the chain maintenance, for example keeping it properly sharpened.

James