Category Archives: Smallholding

Blobservatory Bitter

Posted on August 20, 2019 by james

Having spent so much time over the last *mumble* months building the observatory, my brewery (which stands right next door) has been sadly neglected. We have even reached the scandalous situation where my wife has occasionally had to actually buy … Continue reading →

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Two swarms for the price of one

Posted on May 8, 2019 by james

This evening I somewhat unexpectedly picked up two swarms of bees. The first was the prime swarm I think, hanging about in the top of an elder tree and not amused with me when I knocked them out of it. … Continue reading →

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DIY egg incubator and hatcher

Posted on December 19, 2018 by james

For some time now I’ve been idly contemplating the possibility of making my own incubator and hatcher for (primarily) chicken eggs as I’ve never been completely happy with the performance of my commercially-produced ones. What I’m thinking of for the … Continue reading →

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And here’s how you’re supposed to do it

Posted on May 23, 2018 by james

I’ve had my Yanmar 1510D tractor for some time now, but I’m getting to the point where I actually need to know what I’m supposed to be doing when servicing it. Yanmar’s European operation was exceptionally unkeen to help out, … Continue reading →

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Springtime and new life

Posted on May 20, 2018 by james

Ok, so Spring has been some time coming this year with cold and wet weather for quite a while, but it’s significantly improving now and to celebrate our first chicks hatched out this weekend. I have a mixture of Marans, … Continue reading →

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A comparison of bottle cappers

Posted on May 14, 2018 by james

For many years now my favoured bottle-capping tool has been this two-handed capper that I bought longer ago than I can remember: It can be a little awkward and isn’t ideally suited to employment by a handy young assistant, but … Continue reading →

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Checking on M’aidez brew

Posted on May 14, 2018 by james

After a week in the fermenter I checked my recent brew. Fermentation still looks to be going on at a reasonable rate: And a quick check with the hydrometer shows it’s got a bit of a way go to yet: … Continue reading →

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“May Day” brew

Posted on May 8, 2018 by james

I’ve been meaning to get back out to the beer shack for a while but there have been so many other things going on of late that time has escaped me. This bank holiday weekend however I put aside a … Continue reading →

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Old Speckled Hen bottled

Posted on August 16, 2017 by james

Much of this evening was spent in the beer shack, bottling the “Old Speckled Hen” that I started the weekend before last. It wasn’t ready to bottle last weekend, so I left it a couple more days and got it … Continue reading →

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First brew in a while

Posted on August 12, 2017 by james

I’ve not had the opportunity to spend a day in the beer shack brewing for a while and stocks are running low (for some values of “low” 🙂 so last weekend I decided it was time to get some more … Continue reading →

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