Monthly Archives: January 2026

Spring and Autumn all in one day

Posted on January 14, 2026 by james

From an orchard where I was picking apples for cider…

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It might look like rain forest

Posted on January 13, 2026 by james

but actually this is just Willett Hill, and a lot colder!

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Intellectual pygmies

Posted on January 13, 2026 by james

I gather from the news that the Writers’ Week at a major Australian festival has collapsed in the last few days because a Palestinian author was “disinvited” at least in part because of the recent horrifying events at Bondi Beach, … Continue reading →

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New potatoes for Christmas

Posted on January 13, 2026 by james

When I harvested my Charlotte potatoes in the Summer there were a few green ones thanks to the blackbirds digging around in the dry compost looking for good. Rather than put them into the compost, I saved them in hessian … Continue reading →

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Apple juice with a bit of bite

Posted on January 13, 2026 by james

Or sting, more accurately. This is the end of one of the syphons in a bottle filler. It’s not uncommon for people to start them off by sucking juice through the syphon via this hole. Note to self: check the … Continue reading →

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Get a load of my plums!

Posted on January 13, 2026 by james

Victoria plums, that is. I’ve never had so many before. We can’t eat them all right now, so most will be destoned and frozen.

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Pressing the first batch of my own apples

Posted on January 13, 2026 by james

In the past I’ve mostly mixed up all my apples to press, but there were so many in 2025 that varietal pressings became viable. This is the first batch, of Blenheim Orange. After the Blenheim Orange I had some Ashmeads … Continue reading →

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Field fire!

Posted on January 13, 2026 by james

Everything became so incredibly dry this Summer. Our grass had gone way beyond crispy. And then one day I noticed this out of the window. I believe the farmer was harvesting the straw from this field and presumably something caused … Continue reading →

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Wasp invasion!

Posted on January 13, 2026 by james

For the second time in three years, wasps invaded around the edge of one of our Velux windows. They’re getting in through the gaps in the aluminium flashing where it fits around the slates in this photo. In fact you … Continue reading →

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Speidel fruit mill bearing replacement

Posted on January 13, 2026 by james

I was delivered a Speidel fruit mill, already heavily disassembled, beacuse it had stopped working. I assume the person who had opened it up thought there might be an electrical fault. I wasn’t 100% convinced though, and the fact that … Continue reading →

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