It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

charlies-aunt

silvasava wrote: »

Yes you can! Sounds as if you have some Mirabelles, round and orangy red about the size of a cherry tomato. Damsons are small & very blue/black & there might be a Victoria there too - larger, plum shaped & red/yellow. The plums will make good jam/crubles etc & the damson jam is really good - nice & 'tart'

Good Luck!

Thanks for this - I will get busy at the weekend - they are so profuse, the yard owner is having to shovel the barrowload of windfalls off the road to keep it clear so I don't think I'll be robbing anyone if I help myself to a bucketful of each colour.

My carefully tended cherry tomatoes have lots on but they are hard, green and look very thicked skinned - need the big hot orange thing to come back !

Its very unseasonable to have the rain but its lovely to see the grass turning again here after such a long dry stretch

I remember the 80's! my youth! - when out to see the 80's rewind tour last month - the line up was Flock of Seagulls, Midge Ure, Belinda Carlisle, Pepsi & Shirlie, Jimmy Somerville, Jason Donovan and Boy George - a fab blast from the past!

ceridwen

Seakay wrote: »

I read a book by Clarissa Dickson Wright the other day. She seems to eat pretty much anything but she said that this
"was exruciatingly horrible, one of the most disgusting things I've ever eaten, even more horrible then the Icelandic shark in the permafrost.."

Thats not a goer for me then?:rotfl: if I decide to "make exceptions" to vegetarianism for "wild animal fodder".....aw shucks....

Back to the drawing board - and tonights veggie experiment - alternatives to wheat...chomping my way through kamut grain (and accompanying sauce) for dinner tonight. Verdict so far = yep...its okay...as chewy as wheat berries and takes quite a while to cook (just took 70 minutes - but not a problem, as I used my electric steamer for it...so could walk off and ignore it). Would do as a rice substitute....dont know if it could be grown in this country?

[Deleted User]

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ceridwen

KITTIE

I aint frustrated with you gal...you are doing things for much the same reason as me sometimes...but in a different way.

Fair 'nuff:D

I did some tomatoes in brine last year - and I can assure you I do NOT bother about fiddle-faddling round taking off the skins (why lose food value and calories anyway?) - and they were fine some months later.

EDIT: Here - the word "fiddle-faddle" DOES exist - LOL - for this reason....now goes off wondering what century that one came from.....check later = 16th century.

ChocClare

kittie wrote: »

ceridwen, I see your frustration with me but I am not a blogger. Lol I tried facebook once as all my nieces, nephews, cousins, siblings are on there but I couldn`t keep up with all the friends postings, hundreds in a few days, so I quietly slipped out

I am not taking to bottling unprocessed tomatoes, they took a messy while to peel and and I just went back to the kitchen to find the jar floating out of the water. Doh, so I have started sterilising again. Oven processing has got to be better

GQ how do you store your potatoes so they remain nice as long as possible?

Oh I forgot, I got fed up peeling diddly tomatoes so just put some unpeeled ones in a jam jar and topped with pre-made brine. How easy is that. I made the brine a few days ago and stored in a sterilised jar in the fridge. It`ll be interesting to see how different they are from the water bath ones I am doing now. My verdict will have to appear late autumn at the earliest

In re peeling tomatoes, a little tip: pick your tomato and make a little slit in the skin with a knife - then bung in freezer.

The beauty of this system is that you can add tomatoes to your freezer stash as they ripen and then bottle when you have enough to warrant the effort.

Oh, and the point of the post is that when you take them out of the freezer, the skins will come off easily as they defrost :T

HTH - I am watching your preserving efforts with great interest!!!

kate1974

HariboJunkie wrote: »

Did you get an answer? I found this for you. HTH. x



I shall put the Elderberry champagne on ice in anticipation. :beer::D;)



Kidcat. I really recommend the pulley if it suits your DS's needs. I really hope you get lots of help with the adaptations. x

Never persuaded anyone to mushroom with me but the evening isn't over yet. One of the girls has had a friend up and the other has made bath fizzers for her friends from bicarb, citric acid and garden herbs. :T

Psst Redlady. I know a man who can get you neon tights. :whistle::silenced::D

Thank you fot the link-very useful!

kidcat

Kittie - my hat is truly off to your preserving efforts I do wish I had the time to follow your lead, however as I am filling in forms relating to both my sons I am discovering just how restrictive their conditions are - I have never really thought about it before but having to sit and diarise everything and then re-count it spells out the number of hours each day that are taken. OH doesnt get it either because obviously when he is here there are two of us to keep watch, but am hoping that when he sees it all on paper it will show him just how much it really is.

My tomatoes are all tiny and green and are showing no sign of increasing in size - should I assume that they are not going to happen? Hearing you all picking them, eating them and preserving them when mine are not much bigger than peas does make me wonder where I went wrong.


And squeaky thanks for the reminder

mardatha

It's so wet I haven't even seen my tatties for 3 days, but I know they're out there somewhere. I think it's amazing what we could eat if we were really hungy.
We noticed a burning singeing smell in here today and the RV opened the stove doors --- and a huge flame roared out right up to the ceiling - (and I remembered that we'd lent the fire extinguisher to one of the kids)...:eek: Think something fell down the chimney and blocked the throat.

bluebag

mardatha wrote: »

It's so wet I haven't even seen my tatties for 3 days, but I know they're out there somewhere. I think it's amazing what we could eat if we were really hungy.
We noticed a burning singeing smell in here today and the RV opened the stove doors --- and a huge flame roared out right up to the ceiling - (and I remembered that we'd lent the fire extinguisher to one of the kids)...:eek: Think something fell down the chimney and blocked the throat.

Good lord! How scary is that? I hope everyone is OK?

[Deleted User]

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