I now have four crab apple trees in my new upper orchard, there mainly to ensure the cross pollination of apple trees old and new around the farm. But they also yield their own fruit. Had I harvested a couple of weeks earlier I would have got around 8 lbs as quite a few apples have dropped to the floor and started to rot. Instead I came away with just over six lbs which were cleaned and then with the stalks removed cut in half and left to stew. The water could not get too hot as that would have destroyed the pectin on the skins which is the binding agent. Eventually the apples were soft enough to mush and that mush was left to drain through a muslin cloth overnight.
This morning I stirred in cane sugar and brought it to the boil and setting temperature. A natural scum on the surface was removed and I produced just three jars. What can we do with the mush sked the Mrs, can we eat it? You cannot as the taste is bitter. Right now the mush just gets poured onto the compost heap and so, in a few years, will be fertilising my vegetables. But there is a better way to dispose of this waste or the apple skins and cores chucked away after chutney making late into tonight. Chickens!
A barn, the one closest to the house, has been earmarked for a while. I had a window at the back made especially for the chickens. All I need to do is
a) clear it of junk
b) build a run in the area behind the barn which the chickens can use thanks to my cleverly designed window
c) remove the asbestos ceiling. I do not want my chickens getting sick and as I will be in there twice a day I’d really rather the stuff was cleared. Besides which, when this place is sold it is good to be able to say that it really is asbestos free.
A skip is being ordered and I am getting in my helper Morgan in a couple of weeks to clear that barn and, while we are at it, another couple of barns as well. For some reason the various workmen we use were not so keen on the asbestos job which really will take only a couple of hours and this is low risk asbestos. But at last someone has bitten and will do the job in three or four weeks time. And that just leaves building the chicken run.
Who is going to do that asked the Mrs? I am, I said. She gave me a look of disbelief but I shall show her. I have been working on designs in my head for more than a year and, to misquote my late father, a PPE man can turn his hand to anything. The plan is that chickens will arrive after Christmas and at that point we will be self sufficient in eggs. After that for the year after it is goats.
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