87 days ago
Apparently, the first words little Jaya said this morning were “Daddy’s ice cream is so much better than Tesco’s or Bellis’s” I kid you not but she is right. Last night’s production ,pictured below, was blackberry and, having allowed myself a teaspoonfull, I can tell you it was amazing. It now goes in an increasingly ice cream packed freezer ahead of Sharestock when it will be served after supper. Also on the production line yesterday was damson jam. The harvest this year was dire and I had to scrounge fruit off a neighbours trees down by the river. and to chuck in a few of my plums. But, as you can see, we now have ten jars. And then to the orchard.
406 days ago
Last year I had an apple glut so there was stacks of apple chutney. This year’s apple harvest has been dire. I have enough to put in storage wrapped in newspaper on an apple rack to fill Joshua’s snack bag until Christmas. Having emptied the tree, under cover of dusk, at Joshua’s school, I have enough for two more runs with the still and to make about ten litres of apple juice which I might bottle up tonight. And there were a few cooking apples but its been a piss poor year.
752 days ago
The thing with dog’s arse fruit, or the Nottingham Medlar, is that you must wait till the fruit are rotting to harvest. That they now are and so as a half term treat, Joshua, myself and Jaya went to harvest the one tree we planted a couple of years ago in the new orchard. It is only about five foot tall so even Jaya could pick the fruit from the lower branches.
776 days ago
Gettig folks to eat apples here at the Welsh Hovel is something of an ask. Which is an issue as we now have two apple orchards and also a highly productive cooking apple tree. I just hate things going to waste. We are now past the blackberry season so there can be no more blackberry and apple crumbles. Rhubarb and apple? Maybe that will work.
780 days ago
The bottle marked vodka contains, of course, apple juice. Producing at 6 litres a day, I am rapidly running out of glass bottles so if anyone locally has any spare I will happily swap eight empties – which you were going to bin anyway – for one full of apple juice. There is a suggestion that the next batch will be apple and damson juice. It is worth one experimental run.
782 days ago
For some reason, I am snowed under with apples from the orchard by the river Dee this year. This week I brought in two 25 litre buckets of apples. I could easily bring in another twenty if I had the time and energy to process them all and enough bottles to store the juice in.
789 days ago
There is just so much to do but my target is to harvest at least one crop a day and put it away for winter storage. Tomorrow is the official start of the apple harvest and, having jumped the gun by a week on the crabapples and edibles from the new top orchard I have created, work will, start on the old orchard by the river which is dripping with reddening apples begging to be scratted and crushed into juice. Meanwhile…
813 days ago
I am working like a demon picking blackberries with Joshua in order to produce as much blackberry cordial as possible. On Saturday we spent an hour picking at our two favourite sites and the amount we produced generated 600 ml of cordial which is enough to make three litres of ice cream. But with both Sharestock and Joshua’s birthday party looming I need about 6 litres, plus some for normal family use. And fear not there will be other ice creams at both events (lavender and rhubarb & ginger). So it is all hands to the coalface.
1115 days ago
Spurred on by the shock admission from the Mrs and Joshua that they really like crabapple jelly with meat, despite streneous protestations to the contrary before they had actually tasted it, I now have a second batch made up. You may remember that I bought two more young trees for the new orchard I have created, a couple of weeks ago.
1120 days ago
It being half term, Joshua and I killed time at the local garden scentre buying more gooseberry bushes for reasons I shall explain later and also a pumpkin. He, the Mrs and Jayarani are away with the mother-in-law this weekend but when he returns on Halloween I shall have it carved and a pumpkin soup ready for him. The light is deceptive. It is bright orange. Pumpkin cuisine can wait. Last night was another cooking night, as the family snored and slumbered I stayed up late, turning the last of the windfall cooking apples into jam.
1135 days ago
Having spotted some blackberries in the churchyard yesterday morning, when the Mrs arrived home to take charge of Jayarani, I headed back through the drizzle with young Joshua to harvest. We discussed the weather in Welsh as walked up the hill. We both know all the key phrases and also “it is sunny” not that we get to use that very often.
1146 days ago
I flagged up the other day that the apple harvest from the old orchard by the River Dee had been piss poor. But still what juice might it produce. As you can see below the press I bought last year was wheeled into action.
1185 days ago
There are two damson trees available to us here. There were three but one at the top end of the vegetable patch just died and it is being chipped to make chippings to go around the fruit bushes with what is left over going onto a Guy Fawkes night bonfire we are starting to build. There is another in the vegetable patch where Joshua and I went collecting yesterday. A third is in our neighbour’s garden but hangs over the fence to our formal lawn so we are – with our neighbour’s agreement – abler to harvest half of it as well.
1192 days ago
Tended by P and watered by God, the garden at the Welsh Hovel has come on by leaps and bounds in my absence. There is so much to photo, eat, preserve, freeze and pickle so where to start? Let’s kick off with one of the two patches known as Joshua’s garden so these are really his vegetables.
1396 days ago
Today’s arrival is a new addition to the new orchard, that is to say a Nottingham Medlar or Dog’s Arse, or Open Arse fruit tree. These were apparently popular with both the Greeks and Romans and again in Victorian times and what follows may disgust you and explain why they are now rather rare.
1516 days ago
The two bigger jars were made earlier and already my damson and rhubarb gins are starting to take on a colour. The smaller, later batches of apple and pear are not colouring yet. In fact, I am not sure they ever will. The next steps: shake each jar once a day for a week so that all the sugar dissolves. Then store in a cold dark place, not hard to find here in Wales, until Advent when all four batches should be ready.
1596 days ago
Today it is Haile Selassie who gets de-statued. This confuses me. Then Nigel Wray gets confused as to the value of the FTSE 100 and of Apple. I share his confusion, can you help me. I discuss Burford (BUR) and then go to town on Totally (TLY) where the balance sheet is a joke and today’s results statement needs to be rewritten and re-issued. Finally I have just filmed the first main stage presentation for MineProphets on July 18. It is almpst an hour long and, I learned a lot from it, it really is most excellent. Book your seat HERE
1681 days ago
I seem to have messed up on the social distancing of my planned orchard so will be out with my tape measure repegging it this afternoon. But the first of 20 plum, pear, eating apple and crabapple trees has now been planted. The whole batch is pictured below. Because they arrived a bit late in the season, some are already flowering.
1710 days ago
I had a long chat with Lucian Miers who is right now in Cambodia ( cue cheap Gary Glitter jokes from morons on ADVFN). We discussed coronavirus and the state of the markets. What to buy in the FTSE 100 and his shorts: De la Rue (DLAR), Versarien (VRS), Easyjet (EZJ), IQE (IQE), Apple, Tesla and Purplebricks (PURP) and also the ethics of bailouts and what Governments will be allowed to do., I also comment on Finablr (FIN) and panic selling in Big Sofa (BST)
1717 days ago
I have two guests in this week’s show which is sponsored by Open Orphan PLC (ORPH) .I also discuss Coronavirus and the markets an d my own experiences as a (failed) whistleblower. My first guest is Petrick Abbott, formerly head of Versarien’s US operations who sets the record straight on why he left and spills the beans on what is really happening, or not, at his old employer. Then I chat to Lucian Miers about the markets, his top 3 US shorts, Apple, NMC Health (NMC), De La Rue (DLAR), IQE (IQE), Tullow (TLW), Telit (TCM) and Versarien (VRS). I am walking 34 miles for Woodlarks with Lucian and others this June 13 and I ask you to sponsor we rogue bloggers HERE. If you like this podcast and can’t wait seven days for more of the same and are tired of being a cheapskate you should listen to my Bearcast and enjoy our cracking writen exposes and analysis every day HERE.
2149 days ago
Oh dear. Oh dear. For those beguiled by the shoddy analysis of thirsty Paul Scott into buying shares in IQE (IQE), things are set to go from bad to worse. Much worse. Last night Apple issued a first quarter sales warning.
2219 days ago
Apple boss Tim Cook has won massive applause from legions of Godless liberals. The sort of folks already working out how they will celebrate happy holidays around December 25th in a way that offends no-one of religion bar Christians, love the billionaire for suggesting that the Almighty does actually exist. How is this possible? Simple Cook has proclaimed in his latest sermon on the mount that the Greatest Gift God gave him was making him gay. Where to start?
3004 days ago
So the Evil Empire is forcing Eire to claim back £11 billion of back taxes from Apple and nearly all conservative commentators say the EU is 100% wrong. At one level it is and I hope that Ireland invokes the spirit of Easter 100 years ago, tells the EU to feck off and goes for Irexit. But this will shock you, in a sense there is a valid moral point that the EU is making. Gosh much though I loathe and destest the EU I offer it some praise in this podcast. There is a first time for everything.
