frost this week end.

[Pford75]

No sign of any last night....anyone else get some?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I hope the frost comes soon - then I can go out and get some sloes for the gin! I have a few litres of damson gin and vodka steeping; but sloe gin is lovely too.

Edit - deleted question about potato vodka

 

[Tom]

Just been out to get the horses in and we have a thin layer of ice on the cars, kennels, gates etc :shock: bbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrr The temperature out there is registering at 5 degrees, so I'm guessing it's down to the northerly wind we have.

 

[TomW]

I'd get those sloes ASAP, they're early this year, I picked loads last weekend on that lovely Sunday and they were very ripe. Now have about 4 litres of sloe gin on the go. I don't think the frost on them makes any difference.

 

[Moo]

It's a lovely crisp, sunny day down here in Naarch. I'll soon be setting off, with bags full of empty bottles, for the allotment where the annual Apple Pressing will be taking place.

 

[Moo]

Just back from the allotment with six litres of apple juice (which I strained, and which provided surprising little residue). It tastes delicious.

The equipment was made several years ago by one of the plot-holders and is a wonderful example of recycling inventiveness (I'll try to remember to take my camera down and post some inspirational snaps). There's a big grinding machine that deals with whole apples, then a smaller machine that sort of minces the chunks into more manageable pieces, and then the press. All hand-operated, and all stand out there permanently, so we can collect more windfalls and process them to our hearts' content.

 

[Penners]

Just back from the allotment with six litres of apple juice (which I strained, and which provided surprising little residue). It tastes delicious

May one hope that there will be a small taste available for any other Ppukers whom you may encounter in the next week or two?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Just back from the allotment with six litres of apple juice (which I strained, and which provided surprising little residue). It tastes delicious

May one hope that there will be a small taste available for any other Ppukers whom you may encounter in the next week or two?

Surely you don't drink it neat?

A little fermentation first will significantly improve it!

 

[Moo]

Surely you don't drink it neat?

A little fermentation first will significantly improve it!

I was wondering about that. For the time being there are two small bottles in the 'fridge for immediate consumption and two big bottles in the freezer, one of which is waiting for a day nearer the end of the month when we'll be venturing into the region known locally as "The Saints", and one is being kept in reserve just in case someone can tell me how to ferment it.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Well, you could start here!

http://www.howtomakecider.com/

8)

 

[jocelyn plummer]

May one hope that there will be a small taste available for any other Ppukers whom you may encounter in the next week or two?

:wink: :wink: :wink:

 

[Moo]

Well, you could start here!

http://www.howtomakecider.com/

8)

Thanks for the link, FW. I now know that cider-making isn't for me - you have to leave it for weeks and weeks before drinking it!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Well, frost took us by surprise this morning, in a last minute panic to scrape the ice off the car.

I'm in those special thermals I posted about a few weeks ago; which really do what they promise to do. I don't feel too cold, but the house is getting pretty cold, to the point that I'm now typing and doing what I can by the Rayburn.

I'm thinking of trawling the charity shops and Horncastle junk shops for curtains to swathe the whole of that glass porch. It would put the hallway in darkness through the day, but might help?

Any suggestions for the plugging of very large gaps? For example, our bedroom window won't close squarely, there's always a cheese shaped wedge of fresh air, which I feel is a bit superfluous, as fresh air whistles up through the floorboards. Then there are large holes in the back door, which is ancient. Cath Kidston patches?

 

[LadyArowana]

Any suggestions for the plugging of very large gaps? For example, our bedroom window won't close squarely, there's always a cheese shaped wedge of fresh air, which I feel is a bit superfluous, as fresh air whistles up through the floorboards. Then there are large holes in the back door, which is ancient. Cath Kidston patches?

I am sure you could design and make something like this http://www.etsy.com/transaction/28681163 or to be a little less twee http://www.etsy.com/listing/33550318/luxurious-green-floral-draft-stopper

and if you absolutely must have CK then http://www.cathkidston.co.uk/c-65-draught-excluders.aspx

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thank you! But Chris won't allow a dog one, and the kitty ones are too cutesy even for him, so we wait for a delivery of dignified stag draught excluders.

I've just learned how to send photos from my phone to photobucket - fab - as I'm still, most of the time, without laptop. Gosh I've got good at this iPhone thingy.

So here's Hepzibah's first blue egg, well done my sausage, and then the pesky holes in the door through which the wind blows in summat dreadful.

 

[worms]

I guess I should have known better, but having wrapped various plants in fleece yesterday afternoon, I couldn't resist pruning back the lavender. I know lavender needs a week or two for the cut ends to heal before being exposed to frost, so I may now have killed the lot. And I know it should really be done earlier in the season, but it is not yet finished flowering! If I followed the advice to do it in early August, it would never get to flower at all!

While I was working on the lavender a big skein of geese flew over unusually low - at roof-top height, which I thought was strange. They were powering hard, due south, and about two minutes behind them came a big squall with really cold rain in it, from the same direction. I guess they were either trying to outrun it or were being powered forward by the advance wind from the North.

 

[Tom]

We've seen several skein of geese going over. I just can't help standing and watching them. I don't know why. They just look so lovely. My own geese always seem a bit bemused by them. They all look up at them but never make any other attempt at communication. Different language? :lol:

 

[jocelyn plummer]

The geese are pouring in now, I used to love watching them fly over Burnham market when we lived there. Something exhilerating about the sound they make as they fly across!

Talking of draughty spots in the house-- our esse is keeping the whole house warm ( running on idle except when I need to cook), and the central heating boiler is switched on to 2 hours in the morning and 3 in the evening to warm up the bedrooms and bathroom, and the other ground floor rooms. but, this morning, I was horrified at the amount of condensation that had formed behind our thick curtains. It was pouring off the front NE facing windows. I wiped them down, when I wrung out the cloth I got a small pudding basin full of water-- it was dripping off the sills onto the carpet as well . We did not have this problem before the ambient warmth from a heatstore, so, converse though it may seem I suppose I will have to increase the times of the heating--- :?: :?: The rad stats are low, and the boiler heat dial is just under 60 ... viscious circle --- . Eventually we may be able to single/double glaze the front windows, they are single glazed at the moment.
It seems as though one economises on one hand and then finds the other hand forking out for counter measures.

 

[Flyfisher]

We're noticing more condensation as the temperature has dropped. DG will stop it condensing on the windows and turning up the heat will make all surfaces too warm for condensation (but allow the air to carry even more moisture!), but the moisture remains and will probably condense somewhere when the heating is switched off - typically overnight. Only more ventilation or a dehumidifier will actually reduce the amount of water vapour in the air.

I find that opening the bedroom window makes a huge difference, but you have to be prepared for a bracing start in the morning - especially if one is accustomed to sleeping in the buff (I know, too much information, but pertinent to the post).

 

[Penners]

Any suggestions for the plugging of very large gaps? For example, our bedroom window won't close squarely, there's always a cheese shaped wedge of fresh air, which I feel is a bit superfluous, as fresh air whistles up through the floorboards. Then there are large holes in the back door, which is ancient.

With such a quantity and variety of cold air sources, it seems to me that your only solution is to resort to PPE (personal protective equipment):