Author Archives: james

James and the giant Butternut Squash

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

We didn’t get many butternut squashes this year. Probably in part because I didn’t do much watering of the vegetable plot. Which is ironic in the light of the previous posting. If I had watered the plot we might not … Continue reading →

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How much?! A mind-numbing water leak

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

Our water supplier read the meter at the start of last September which prompted a letter to me just before they sent the bill saying, “Errr, your bill is going to be quite big. Do you have a leak?”. “Quite … Continue reading →

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Let there be (attractive) light!

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

We’ve had this somewhat post-modern light fitting in the stair well of the barn conversion for a while and my wife had been nagging me to replace it with something more to her liking. The only problem was getting to … Continue reading →

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Eek! The rain!

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

First heavy rain of the Autumn after a long, dry Summer, and half of it ends up in the workshop! Not certain how I’m going stop that happening again for the moment. Ideally I guess I’d need to add a … Continue reading →

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And more Speidel apple mill repairs

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

This time it was a mill that wouldn’t run despite the rotor spinning freely, which suggested an electrical fault. After testing the obvious stuff such as the fuse and power cable it seemed as though there was no choice but … Continue reading →

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Wow! Pink apple juice!

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

Someone brought in a large-ish batch of apples of mixed varieties to be pressed. By sheer chance, the first batch I did produced juice of an amazing pink colour. It was sheer chance that I noticed — if it hadn’t … Continue reading →

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More Speidel apple press repairs required

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

Oh dear! In my hand here is the top half of the bleed valve from the bladder of the press below. It has snapped off inside the rod that supports the bladder, so the actual air release mechanism is still … Continue reading →

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Second cider pressing day

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

This time it was Dabinett apples, but otherwise it went much the same as for the earlier Harry Master’s Jersey. Slightly less than two hundred litres perhaps, but not by much. This juice also had a high pH of 4.4, … Continue reading →

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It seems pears don’t stick

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

to the inside of the press cloth like apples do 😀 I had another test of the settling “tank” with the pear juice too. This is the sediment from about forty litres of juice… And the pear juice, with apple … Continue reading →

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There will be quincequonces…

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

… if I don’t use these soon. But for what, hmmm?

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