Category Archives: Smallholding

Beer shack progress

Posted on January 21, 2017 by james

Once the walls were insulated and lined they needed painting. I used an exterior grade white paint including a fungicide for the walls and ceiling as there will certainly be some condensation once I start using it. The floor has … Continue reading →

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New brewing pots arrive

Posted on January 21, 2017 by james

As part of my move to a dedicated brewing space I decided to build a new brewing setup with dedicated vessels for different stages of the process. Rather than use the plastic “buckets” that I’ve made do with so far … Continue reading →

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The Beer Shack is born

Posted on January 20, 2017 by james

I’ve been brewing my own beer for years, but doing a ninety-minute rolling boil of five gallons of wort in the kitchen has never made me the most popular person in the house so when the thermostat on the boiler … Continue reading →

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When life gives you lemons, make lemonade

Posted on August 15, 2014 by james

But when it gives you apples, make cider… And to that ends I’ve just taken delivery of a new apple “scratter” for pulping apples before pressing them to extract the juice.  I used to use a manual crusher, but it’s … Continue reading →

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Strange year for swarms

Posted on August 14, 2014 by james

This year I had my first call about a swarm in mid-April, probably a month before I usually start to get any.  It’s very much prompted me to wonder what’s going on with the bees.  I think those in towns … Continue reading →

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Dehydrated to the core

Posted on October 20, 2013 by james

It’s been a busy weekend fruit-wise. Yesterday the children and I collected some of our ripe dessert apples and cored, peeled and sliced them. It took about forty apples to fill our dehydrator which I left on overnight. The result … Continue reading →

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Home made pasta sauce base

Posted on October 20, 2013 by james

The days are getting shorter and the remaining tomatoes in the polytunnel don’t look like they’re getting that much riper, so today we picked about two thirds of the ripest, which actually turned out to be far more tomatoes than … Continue reading →

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Fruits of my labour

Posted on October 19, 2013 by james

A few days ago the children and I picked a decent basketful of crab apples from one of our trees. I reckon there must have been perhaps 3kg or so. A real pleasure as the last couple of years have … Continue reading →

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Lay a little egg for me…

Posted on October 15, 2013 by james

Over the last four or five years we’ve taken an incubator and chicken eggs into the childrens’ school for one of the classes to have in their classroom for the whole of the incubation period and perhaps a couple of … Continue reading →

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A swarm in May is worth a bale of hay…

Posted on October 15, 2013 by james

A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon. So the saying goes. This was my first of the year, on 31st May. I reckon that counts as June 🙂 It was a fairly large swarm, too. Now safely tucked … Continue reading →

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