Mushrooms

When bringing in the cow this evening for milking, I noticed some field mushrooms near the gate.

I was delighted! It brought back fond childhood memories of collecting mushrooms with my late dad in the autumn. We would walk to the back fields of the farm amongst the sheep and easily fill the bucket. They were very plentiful, before the use of artificial fertiliser and have since become scarce.

We would then bring them home and without washing them, place them upside down on the hot plate of the turf fuelled range and sprinkle them with salt. As they cooked they filled with yummy juices. 

They were so delicious!

Elderflower Champagne

I had collected more than I realised of elderflowers yesterday. I had enough to put on a batch in the fermenting bucket but i did not have a spare bucket.

Alas I have so much on that I am running out of demi-johns, bottles and buckets. My kitchen sounds like a witches coven with so many brews bubbling away!

So last night I took my foraging harvest of elderflowers and cut of the stalks and put the flower heads, lemons and enough water to cover in a large pot on the stove.

Before going to bed, I took it off the heat and added a sprinkle of champagne yeast, yeast nutrient and cream of tartar once it had cooled to warm. I covered it with a tea towel for the night.

When I stirred it this morning, it was fizzing away. The yeast had took up residence!

I had three available demi-johns to use, so I rinsed these out and set them up.

I strained the mixture through some cheese cloth and equally divided the liquid between the three demi-johns.

I rinsed the flower heads several times to extract as much juice as possible. 

I then added 700g of sugar to a gallon and filled them up with warm water. I put on the air lock and they started to bubble  immediately.

Ingredient summary per gallon

Elderflower heads

700g sugar 

Tsp yeast nutrient

Tsp cream of tartar

Lemon

Champagne yeast 

I have finally faced into bottling 27 litres of rhubarb wine. I am just ten litres in at the moment!

I love the colour and I had a wee taste. A dry rhubarb taste that has already began to soften. It doesn't taste too potent thankfully (alcohol%). I primed it with honey.

I hope the bottles don't explode!

Elderflower, Broadbeans & Onions

It is elderflower season!

Although a little behind schedule due to the cold spring. I got busy this morning at my sister's farm picking the fragrant flowers. Armed with wellies, heavy clothing and gloves to do battle with the nettles and blackberry bushes. I collected a large canvas bag of flowers that should make two gallons of wine that I will start this evening. Later in the week I will collect more flowers in my local area for a second batch.

I got a bit ruthless yesterday and pulled all the broad beans out of the polytunnel that were causing me problems. 

They were taking up a lot of room and had gotten very tall. They shaded out many of the surrounding plants and was causing air to stagnant in the tunnel which would have caused rot.I felt guilty at the time but now I am so pleased with the amount of space that it has freed up. 

I wheeled in a few loads of manure/compost and worked that into the soil. I then planted out a few pumpkin plants that had been long overdue to get their roots into the good soil. The air circulation and light is much improved this morning.

The onions are doing great! We sowed 300 sets earlier in the year. The flavour is strong and moist compared to shop bought onions. Many of them are setting seeds which I will save. Next month they will start to fall over, and then they are ready for harvesting. 

We will move them into the polytunnel to dry out and later plait them for use in the kitchen.

Foraging for mussels

I brought the kids foraging for mussels at the weekend. They had great fun and the lovely weather helped.

We picked more than I had thought!

I put them into a bucket of iced water overnight to let them filter feed, therefore cleaning themselves of sand etc.

I heated up a pot of butter and garlic leaves and then added the mussels. After 2-3 minutes they opened their shells and were ready to eat.

Note: I had checked before cooking the mussels that they were all closed and therefore still alive! Don't eat mussels that are open when uncooked!

Yummy! I have eaten at least thirty so far today and the pigs are loving munching at the empty shells.