Seville Orange Marmalade 17/01/2010

During a cold January, there is nothing better than driving past our local farm shop and seeing the roadside notice “Seville Oranges Now In”. This means the very short season for these wonderful fruits has begun, and then begins the race to get our share, before they go away again in a  few weeks time. These fruits are very bitter and are best used for cooking, so it makes them especially great for making a batch of marmalade. This year I’ve bought enough to make two batches (2kg), and have put one kilogram in the freezer, whole fruits, so I can make the most of the season and still make lovely marmalade in July! The other kilogram has been put to use straight away in order to fill our storecupboard with some lovely amber coloured jars - nice and cheery after the end of Christmas, and until the Spring comes along again. The house has been filled with their lovely citrus aroma all weekend, and brightened us up no end. 

So, here is a little diary of how I got on… 

I found a recipe that looked like it would fit the way I like marmalade, which is very thin shred and lightly coloured. It is from the River Cottage Preserves book but I did adapt it slightly. 

There are only three ingredients and these are: 

1kg Seville Oranges
2kg Sugar (the book says demerera sugar but I used normal granulated – gives a ligher colour)
75 ml lemon juice 

I started by squeezing all the juice out of the oranges into a large bowl. Then the saved peel and pith was all chopped into fine shreds (you can make thicker if that is your preference), and added to the juice. Make sure no pips remain! Then 2.5 litres of water was poured on top and left to stand for 24 hours to help soften the fruit peel. 

The fruit soaking

The next morning the fruit and liquid was poured into my preserving pan and brought to the boil. Then it was covered with foil and slowly simmered for about 2 hours to soften the fruit peel further. 

Once this was complete, the lemon juice and sugar was added to the mixture. It was stirred slowly to dissolve the sugar and then brought to the boil again. This time it was left to boil rapidly for about 35 mins until setting point was reached (to test for setting point take the pan off the heat, spoon a teaspoonful onto a cold plate, put in the fridge for one minute and if it crinkles when pushed with your finger, the setting point has been reached. If not return to the boil for another couple of minutes and test again). The book suggested boiling for 20-25 mins but I found I needed longer. 

The mixture was then left to cool for about 8-10 mins and poured into warm, sterilised jam jars (see my previous blog post for how to sterilise jars) and sealed immediately. The end result? Lovely amber nectar to put in the cupboard (and one or two jars saved for our Mums .

Pouring the cooled marmalade into jars

The finished product - 6 jars of lovely amber nectar!

January 17/01/2010

A lovely fieldfare who visited this week

Last weekend we sat down and had a proper think about our plans, committing our thoughts to paper. The first thing I recorded was the weather as I would like to keep a record of this, to enable me to see trends and how it changes through the years. Then I began to sort through the old seed packets we had leftover in the drawer from last year. Seeds do last a while, so don’t throw away your packets until you are sure they are no longer of use. Even after the recommended sow by date you could still give them a try. However if you are after more reliable results, it may be better to start afresh. We were quite pleasantly surprised that we still have ample seeds to grow the main, staple varieties of vegetables this year, perhaps with a few new and unusual ones purchased from a reliable supplier. 

The other thing we began to have a think about is fruit. Last year we concentrated on growing mainly vegetables, to give ourselves a chance to concentrate on one area of growing properly, adding a new subject each year. So this year (along with obtaining some chickens), it will be fruit growing.  Looking through the D T Brown catalogue we made a list of the ones we would like to try, then made a more realistic list based on the space we have! I would love to ultimately grow the kind of fruit you don’t normally see in shops such as mulberry and medlar, but these trees can grow quite large, not practical at the moment in our garden. So we opted for a range of currants instead (red, white and black) along with some of the more hedgerow varieties (indespensible in preserving), and will try sloes and crab apples. Quince is the only other fruit we will try. I am intrigued by this fruit and hear preserves made from it are perfect with cheese. Should be a lovely addition to my Christmas gift hampers for friends and family this year! 

The next thing to do was work out the areas in our garden in which we would grow everything. Our raised beds are in place from last year, so it is just a case of rotating the crops around. Brassicas will go in the onion & pea bed from last year, then new onions and peas in the old roots bed. This years roots will go in the old potato bed, and the last bed which currently has asparagus growing in it, will have the addition of some strawberries this year. We’ve made much more space for the main staple crops like potatoes and onions too this year, as found our 2009 crops of these didn’t last very long once harvested! A few other marked areas in the garden will have broad beans, french beans, squashes, leeks and edible/medicinal flowers. Raspberries complete the picture next to the leek bed. 

So from all that, a list was made to send to the most suitable seed supplier and here is what we will order: 

purple sprouting broccolli, oregano, chard, kohl rabi, purple tomatoes, coriander, sea kale, yellow beetroot, pumpkin, red chicory, spring onions, purple french beans, thyme, garlic, calendula, nasturtium, clary sage, borage, currants, crab apple, sloe, quince, strawberries 

Not bad to be going on with! 

Lastly we made a plan for the growing year, of what we need to do and when. Here are our jobs for this month: 

1. Dig over ground ready for growing. Dig in green manures sown last autumn and dig over new areas for growth. Add in soil improver such as home made compost, chicken manure etc. 

2. Clean pots, seed trays and greenhouse thoroughly 

3. Fix broken panes of glass in greenhouse 

4. Weatherproof sheds 

5. Prune old fruit bushes and woody plants such as rosemary, lavender 

6. Order seeds and supplies such as fleece, netting etc. 

Well, I think that is quite enough for now, so better get started! I will leave you with an image of our raised beds in the snow, and above is a pictre of a little fieldfare who ventured into the garden this week looking for berries. These are normally found in the hedgerows but have been visiting lots of gardens in the recent cold snap looking for extra food. We were very pleased to have been able to help them  

Raised beds in the snow

New Year, New Self-Sufficiency Plans 04/01/2010

Well 2010 is now well underway and after using the Christmas holidays for some much needed reflection and planning time, we are feeling inspired again at Herne Cottage. After moving to our lovely semi-rural property in 2007, the space and facililites it provided, as well as the area in which it is located, very much inspired us to try our hand at self sufficiency. We recognised the fact that it is hard to be be entirely self sufficient these days (especially if you have a mortgage!), but still wanted to try our hand at as many things we can. In this way we knew we would get a great sense of achievement from enjoying the taste of home-grown food (and stop relying on evil supermarkets), raising our own animals (more fresh food), helping care for the enviroment, and setting up a lifestyle for ourselves that we enjoy and will prosper in. We recognised that we could not do it all at once, so are introducing each element in stages, and this blog is a diary of our achievements and dreams. We hope it inspires you too!

Well, after an excellent first year of growing our own veg, we have decided to build on it further this year, by adding some more unusual veg varieties to our crops, and bringing some livestock into the mix. Yes, we are getting chickens! The seed catalogues are already ordered along with various hen-keeping books borrowed from the library and purchased from the internet.

A few veggies we would like to try have been inspired by some of our visits last year. At Hampton Court gardens in Herefordshire , the excellent farm shop sold purple french beans and round cucumbers, so they will be on our list to find. Also a lovely stallholder at our local farmers market in Tring had a very unusual variety of purple tomatoes. Another reason for this decision is that if you do buy local at a supermarket or farmers market, seasonal vegetables will be in plentiful supply and very cheap anyway. After a year of growing standard veggies and calculating any cost savings, our conclusion is that it would be better to grow some more unusual or heritage varieties at home, and buy local and seasonal for more standard veg, giving us an interesting variety of ingredients to cook with. The excellent Chiltern Seeds catalogue (www.chilternseeds.co.uk) will be a great source for what we are after this year and an order will be going in shortly.

One standard/staple crop we will be growing more of this year though will be potatoes and onions. You can never have too many of these, shop bought or otherwise. We have some overwintering onions and garlic in which should be ready in the spring, just in time to plant some more sets for later in the year. We bought seed potatoes at the weekend of Pentland Javelin (earlies), Charlotte (2nd earlies) and King Edward (maincrop) which should keep us in good supply throughout the year. Time to set these out to chit soon – although I feel we may be a little too keen and slightly early in January!

The new addition to our self sufficiency dream will of course be our chickens this year. We can’t wait for these, as have been told by so many people that they are very rewarding animals to keep. More research is needed before we do take the plunge, such as what varieties to keep, housing etc. This book looks the most useful so far – Henkeeping by Mike Hatcher. But we have made a start by informing our neighbours and checking the deeds on our house, and all is fine on that front. Check back over the next few months for our progress!

Oh, and we also gave friends and family hampers for Christmas presents with our homemade jams and chutneys from last years supply, so looking forward to feedback on those recipes in the next few weeks!

That’s all for now and we’ll leave you with some images of how the veg patch looks today in the lovely frosty weather. Work will start at the weekend on planning, cleaning out and clearing ready for the new growing season!

Raised Beds January 2010

Raised beds looking up to house - Jan 2010

How to sterilise jam jars 18/09/2009

Sterilising your jam or chutney jars is easy

In my recipes I will often tell you to put your jam, chutney etc into sterilised jars. This sounds difficult but is really easy to do at home, without the need for expensive sterilising chemicals and equipment.

You just need to wash the jars in hot soapy water (but not too hot so the jars crack), then rinse and drain. Heat up your oven to a low temperature (about 120 degrees for electric ovens, or gas mark 2). Then put the jars & lids into the oven and leave for about 10-15 mins. When the time is up and either put your mixture straight into the jars if the recipe says so, or leave to cool. Personally, I like to put the mixture into hot jars and leave to cool.

Autumn Veg Harvest 18/09/2009

Went out in the garden just now to see if any of the autumn veg was ready and worth picking. Was pleased to see that some of it was! The squashes are ripening up nicely and the sweetcorn extracted milky juices when pricked so that means that is ready too. Still getting the last of the tomatoes and looks like my second sowings of beetroot and carrots back in July are just about ready to pick also.

Autumn veg harvested today, squashes, sweetcorn and tomatoes

Damson Gin Recipe 17/09/2009

Use wild damsons or sloes to make tasty gin

A great way to make use of wild damsons, or sloes. We have ample of both here in Pitstone, near Tring, Herts. In fact the area is famous for them! The Aylesbury prune I think it is called.

To make about 1 litre:

450g damsons or sloes, pricked
225g sugar (or 450g for sloe gin)
600ml gin

Wash the fruit and prick if not picked after the first frosts (a frost softens the fruit and gives a kick start to releasing the juices). Put the damsons or sloes into a large bottle and tip over the sugar. Pour in the gin and then shake well to mix the fruit in with it.

You will then need to shake daily for about a week to prevent the sugar settling in the bottom. Then shake regularly and taste if you like for the next 6-8 weeks. Once you have a good flavour and all the fruit juices have instilled, strain the mixture through a fine sieve and pour the liquor into bottles.

Try and leave the gin for 12-18 months before drinking, so it won’t be ready this Christmas, but maybe next year. So always have a batch in hand!

Autumn Foraging Notes 15/09/2009

Another thing I enjoy at this time of year is gathering all that the hedgerows have to offer, to make into lovely jams, jellies, syrups and pickles. The kitchen has never been used so much in the past few weeks!

After making some chutneys as reported in previous posts, I’ve also tried my hand at jams and jellies. The abundance of blackberries we have (garden and hedgerow) has been excellent for stocking up our storecupboard with jars of jam and blackberry liquer (looking forward to tasting that!). Some elderberries may have found their way in too! I gathered some rowan berries the other week also, to turn into jelly. The juice has been extracted (although couldn’t resist squeezing the bag to get more juice, oh well, cloudy jelly), and just have to boil up with some sugar to make the jelly. I’m told this is good with game, particularly venison, one of my faves.

Damson gin is also happily getting ready for Christmas (although perhaps not this year). I have tried two recipes, so after some no doubt enjoyable tastings, will let you know which one is best. A few of you may be thinking this is normally made with sloes, but again I am told damson gin is a worthy alternative.

Talking of sloes, I finally found some in the hedgerows last night (whilst on a lovely evening walk). They are very soft and squidgy so will be excellent for gin, but now I have damson on the go I might try and do something else with the sloes. Any ideas? They are in the freezer at the moment, so we will see what they look like when they come out.

The other thing I spied last night that I would like to make use of is lots of lovely rosehips. I’ll be going back shortly to gather some for syrup. This will be good to have in the cupboard for winter colds etc, as is packed with Vitamin C!

Getting ready for Winter 15/09/2009

Been so busy in the garden and kitchen these past few weeks, so not much time to write. So just thought I would report quickly on what we’ve been up to in the garden to prepare for the next season of growing.

We’ve always wanted to have a year-round vegetable garden so after studying several books and magazines, the next to-do list was created for Autumn/Winter 2009.

The first thing to do was to clear away some old summer crops. The courgette plants had finished cropping at last, so they were the first to go. Then cleared away old potato tops, peas and skeletal cabbages (thanks to caterpillars!) etc. Also tidied the trailing squashes which were nicely making their way around the garden. Should have some ready for the pot soon.

Next job was to stake the taller brassicas ready for those autumnal winds. Our curly kale and sprouts are now nicely tied in and seeds sown for spring cabbages. Also planted out were the savoy cabbages I had patiently growing in modules waiting for space. Not seen many white butterflies lately to think our brassicas are now safe(ish) from harm. Just picking the odd one or two caterpillars that we see off and banish to the end of the garden!

So that left the sowings to do. In went spinach and swiss chard into the space of one bed, with radishes, winter salads, and onion/garlic filling the gaps in others. Trying to plant them bearing in mind a crop rotation system, so new sowings went into 2010 positions. Not much room for green manures, but will dig in some of our own compost later.

So all that was about two weeks ago and pleased to see some shoots peeping their way above ground today. At the end of this month, before the frosts start,  I’ll be collecting the last of the tomatoes to either ripen indoors on thier vines, or make into green tomato chutney. Yum! The next thing to do this weekend is to start to cover up the A/W crops with cloches and get those last onion sets in!

Courgette Chutney 26/08/2009

Lovely Fresh Courgettes

Courgette Chutney

A great way to use up a glut of courgettes, making a lovely rich but mild tasting chutney.

Ingredients

2.5 kg courgettes
1 kg fresh or tinned tomatoes
6-8 cloves garlic
450g onions
1.5 kg pale brown sugar
175g sultanas
4 tbsp salt
1 tablespoon each spices of your choice, such as peppercorns, ground ginger, allspice
1 litre malt or white vinegar

Slice the courgettes and cut up into cubes of about 2 cm square and 1 cm thick (dont leave the chunks too thick as they won’t soften when cooking). If using fresh tomatoes, roughly chop, along with the garlic and onions. Put these, along with the rest of the ingredients into a large pan and bring slowly to the boil, and stir well to dissolve the sugar. Then turn down the heat and simmer slowly for the next few hours, until the mixture is thick and syrupy, but not disintegrated. Ideally, this should be like the consistency of jam but not too dry (depending on your type of pan and cooker, this may take a while!). Once ready, ladle into sterilised pots, cover and store.

Welcome! 25/08/2009

Hello everyone

Welcome to my new blog. I hope to share with you all the things I learn about gardening and self-sufficiency. It is our dream to be fully self sufficient one day, but for now we are starting with the veggies!

We live in a lovely railway cottage with ample gardens, the longest part being our allocated veggie patch. Back in March this year we built our 4 raised beds, and sowed the seeds ready to go in.

The results have been fab. We started off harvesting lettuces and spring greens in April/May, then came the beginnings of summer veg – peas, new potatoes, carrots, beetroot and the like.

Some were enjoyed fresh, with the rest being frozen or stored so we can enjoy the summer taste in Autumn/Winter! The pea-pods did not go to waste, with them being made into our finest Pea-Pod wine.

We made a second sowing of carrots, peas and beetroot etc which look like they are nearly ready again now. The main harvest over mid-late summer has been courgettes and runner beans. Too many courgettes cropped to all be eaten at once, so they were made into a courgette and apple chutney. We think the bumper crop is to do with the nettle fertiliser we made back in March. A top tip from Alys Fowler!

Wild foods have been made use of too. We are lucky to have wild plums in Tring and loads were gathered by us to make into jam, chutney and wine. Our latest wine endeavour has been elderberry. That looks like it might be the nicest tasting, but we shall see. Got a long time to wait yet, we will probably be tasting this time next year.

The latest foods to gather in the garden are our tomatoes and blackberries. Am planning to do lots with those – the first being blackberry jam!

So that’s all for now, my first post. Hope you enjoyed and will be back soon!

Rachel