I finally found my iPhone cable so I can download the photos which means I have a few to share. 🙂
You may remember that last week I planted out some potato onions and garlic in my front hugels as well as radishes, turnips, spinach and peas in 2 garden beds in the patch? The 2 garden beds were revitalised with this delicious soil ameliorant and the hugels mulched with it.
Delicious composted used goat shed straw.
The straw is all in small pieces, picked over and through thoroughly by the hens, the manure is composted and added to by the chooks. No smell and lots of plant goodness in what amounts to a perfect mulch.
I had a helper out the front. Well, I had a strawberry magpie come out, look at the pumpkins, proclaim my mulch stinky (it’s not) and then disappear to eat all my strawberries. And I mean all. I am convinced some of the green ones were demolished too!
Where is that pumpkin Mummy? I can’t see it.
Ah, there it is!
I had helpers with apple processing too.
One of the 2 tubs of apples.
Not very pretty I’ll admit but they made a delicious juice.
The 2 older kids helped to pull off the woody branches and leaves and helped me fill the Thermomix bowls as I cycled through them.
Apples in the Thermomix
15 seconds and it’s chopped.
Into a pillowcase to be strained and pressed.
The kids also helped with the pressing somewhat but I wasn’t sure how well the plastic tub would hold up under the strain of an 18kg wriggling bottom so I opted for my pressure canner filled with water instead. At least it didn’t wriggle. 😉
Needing some weight to help squeeze the juice out. Next year Dad I will be borrowing your paper press.
Delicious fresh juice. The apple-filled pillowcase is resting on a cake rack resting in turn on the back of the Great A’Tuin.
This juice was poured into clean wine bottles, lidded and left to ferment. It’s an experiment to see how it goes making cider. The left over apple pulp still held heaps of juice so I added some water and simmered it gently for a little while. The resulting juice is perfect for drinking without being as full on in taste and strength. I usually water down the kids juice anyway but this is perfect for us all. It had a quick run through the pressure canner (water bath for 10-15 minutes at 100°C) to seal the jars and pasteurise the juice. I have over 7 litres of this juice and likely similar amounts of the cidering juice. I also had another 2L in the fridge of the second run juice which I had no room int he canner for and we’ve been enjoying it. I noticed last night though that it appears to be a little fizzy and carrying a little more bite than it did when I made it. Fermentation already I guess. No more for the kids! 😉
That juice looks and sounds yummy! I never did make juice or cider vinegar, but always wanted to try it. there are rental places where you can rent a cider press for a few days and I think that’s what I’d do.
What’s so nice about you having your own place is that you can even feed the leftover pulp to your chooks or goats or even just compost it. No waste! Even more yum, right?
BTW, I haven’t heard anything about Anna for some time. Hope she’s doing ok.
Nice to see such cute photos of your wee pixie, too. I’d almost forgotten how appealing tiny toes can be . . .
Yep the chooks, goats and sheep have loved the pulp. 🙂 I’ll have to see about renting a press and see if it’s possible. Off to pick more apples this afternoon I hope. 🙂 I’ve got 5 or 6 litres of raw juice bottled and fermenting and 14+L now of 2nd juice which has some water added and is simmered then strained. It’s bottled in #36 jars which hold up to 1.2L I think. I have 14 of them. 😀
Miss Anna is fine but ultra cranky with Miss Pandora (poor thing) so I can only put it down to a cranky and pregnant goat. I’ve not seen signs of her being back in heat (she get’s mippy and stands and mips all day long) so hopefully in 2 months I will be posting photos of cute baby goats like all those wonderful American blogs I currently follow are doing.
Oooh, that goat shed straw looks good enough to eat!!!
Doesn’t it just! My kids thought I was mad when I said so though. 😉
I love apple cider. Im sure there must be more wild fruits out there. Id love to go on an adventure. Almond tree anyone? You need to start your own cider club like Hugh found on the earlier River Cottage series.
Nothing like a pot of scrumpy to addle the brains. I’ve a real partiality to cider even though I don’t drink alcohol these days. Must be my Cornish roots.
I’ve yet to watch Hugh through. More incentive to do so now. 🙂
Excellent photos and not a derierre in sight ;). Sounds like all things are “GO” on chez Twinn