Preparedness for when

Karmacat

Thank you both!

I like the look of that blog, nuatha - duly bookmarked. The set of what I made is actually fine, because there was no water involved at all, the instruction was to soak the rhubarb in the sugar for at least 3 hours, and it cooked itself in that liquid, along with the rinse water from the elderflowers.

Fruit butter, dehydration and pickling are all possibilities for me - I could try to get my home made solar dehydrator going or use the defrost setting in my halogen oven.

nuatha

Frugalsod wrote: »

Pickling would be another option. Though dehydration has additional advantages in terms of weight reduction. If possible it would be best to use a solar dehydrator which would cost nothing to run.

I prefer my fruit preserved without vinegar by and large.
(Though vinegar is relatively easy to produce)

Karmacat wrote: »

Thank you both!

I like the look of that blog, nuatha - duly bookmarked. The set of what I made is actually fine, because there was no water involved at all, the instruction was to soak the rhubarb in the sugar for at least 3 hours, and it cooked itself in that liquid, along with the rinse water from the elderflowers.

Fruit butter, dehydration and pickling are all possibilities for me - I could try to get my home made solar dehydrator going or use the defrost setting in my halogen oven.

I've followed that blog for quite a while and made more than a few of her recipes, they work. I don't get the American obsession with water bathing everything, having been brought up on traditional British jam and marmalade making (and pickling) - but I have a better understanding of why they do it from that site.

When I have a bit more time, I'll have a go at fruit butter and jam making from dried fruit.

GreyQueen

I have my zimbuck note framed as well, Frugalsod, as a reminder that all fiat currencies die eventually.

Have been up on the allotment and biking to and fro the tip. Two trips - 4 bagfuls - are gone and the patio is mostly clear now. I started to dig out the horsetail patch and found the edge of it had been colonised by docks (oh how I love the curled dock, let me enumerate the many ways I love thee - not!). Upshot is, I don't work too well when the temps are in the mid-twenties, even with a sunhat on, so decided to come away for a few hours and go up this evening and do some more. No point in being a martyr and struggling on in full sun when you don't have to.

Holidaying on Crete, I noticed that they do their gardening from about 5 -6 am until about 8 am then don't do any more gardening work until the evening. Sensible of them. You may imagine me near a village, attempting to discuss gardening with some people working on what looked like their equivalents of our allotments. With my Greek being a touch limited and their English non-existant, we had fun. I suffer from Galloping Curiousity, a turrible ailment which involves me sticking my nose into all sorts of things.

Frugalsod

nuatha wrote: »

I prefer my fruit preserved without vinegar by and large.
(Though vinegar is relatively easy to produce)

To be honest I was thinking more generally rather than specifically for fruit. Though I would have opted for the dehydration method personally.

jk0

Anyone got one of these?



I've had one of these for a couple of years, and in view of the expense I am very mindful of taking care of the battery. They take 3.5 hours to charge, however lithium ion batteries ideally should not go below 40% charge or over 80%.

I use mine about twice a week, so came up with the idea of connecting the charger via a timeswitch set to one hour per day. It remains to be seen whether this works, but I thought it might interest you guys.

elona

GQ

To be able to have the pie mountain out of sight how about using a suitcase, holdall, shoe boxes etc?

That way they would be portable yet concealed.

GreyQueen

elona wrote: »

GQ

To be able to have the pie mountain out of sight how about using a suitcase, holdall, shoe boxes etc?

That way they would be portable yet concealed.

The pies live in a sturdy plastic crate and a strong square basket, each with a cloth oh-so-casually folded over the top and tucked in. They're very portable, if a trifle heavy. I have just realised they could be stacked on the floor of the broom cupboard and Henri d'Vac could then be made to perch on top of them.

Of course, this would then displace the wally trolley, which is perched on top of Henri............ there wouldn't be clearance under the shelf for it with the pie-crates*. Golly, I should be a Grand Master at Tetris by now, shouldn't I? But thank you for the suggestions.

* Pie-crates was the younger and much less famous brother of So-crates. He has been largely lost to the historical record, apart from a few scholars of antiquity like wot I am. This is because Plato wrote about So-crates, including his premature end from being made to drink a hemlock-based potion in prison. By contrast, Pie-Crates was too unimportant to poison and was sent home after having a nice cup of tea.**

** Only it would have been a tisane, really, on account of tea still being in Foriegn Parts back in the day.

Living_proof

jk0 wrote: »

Anyone got one of these?



I've had one of these for a couple of years, and in view of the expense I am very mindful of taking care of the battery. They take 3.5 hours to charge, however lithium ion batteries ideally should not go below 40% charge or over 80%.

I use mine about twice a week, so came up with the idea of connecting the charger via a timeswitch set to one hour per day. It remains to be seen whether this works, but I thought it might interest you guys.

I have recently bought one and I have to say it is the very best household device I have ever owned. It's so light and versatile there is never an excuse for not doing something right NOW if anything is dropped. I have mainly wood or marble downstairs and a light carpet upstairs which shows every speck. I cannot tell you how horrified I was the first few times I used it - the amount of fluff and powder was enormous, but I think I am on top of it now. With regard to the batteries I don't remember there being any instructions regarding charging. I keep mine fully charged (have solar panels so if I am organised it is free to charge) but would appreciate knowing more about the optimum charging - how would I know I was at 80% for instance?

jk0

Living_proof wrote: »

I have recently bought one and I have to say it is the very best household device I have ever owned. It's so light and versatile there is never an excuse for not doing something right NOW if anything is dropped. I have mainly wood or marble downstairs and a light carpet upstairs which shows every speck. I cannot tell you how horrified I was the first few times I used it - the amount of fluff and powder was enormous, but I think I am on top of it now. With regard to the batteries I don't remember there being any instructions regarding charging. I keep mine fully charged (have solar panels so if I am organised it is free to charge) but would appreciate knowing more about the optimum charging - how would I know I was at 80% for instance?

Yeah. I'm very pleased with mine also.

Dyson don't mention much about charging. As you know there is no battery level meter. I think the only thing you can do is keep a mental note how long you run it for, and how long it's been on charge.

Doveling

GQ – could you stack the FB pies in towers then geta couple of lampshades from the chazza to cunningly disguise them as funky art standard lamps?

Busy week. Decided against the job but will hold out for the other original job I applied for from the same people. It all depends on the uptake of the service after the primary curriculum changes. I would rather work with children.

New front door is now in. Hopefully, this should cutdown on fuel bills this winter. Man is coming back next week to replace some double glazed units which have blown.

We’ve also had a new alarm system/exercise machine installed this week. Mr.D and I went to look with a definite age, size and model in mind….. then the parallel universe thing happened to us again. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: