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Close to Spring
"Jeßus" wrote in message
... On Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:34:07 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given I've jsut been reading Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls cookbooks and am now quite interested in planting Bramleys given how highly he praises them as a cooking apple. He's also into cider apples and has piqued my interest in them too. LOL, one of my nearby neighbours refers to me a 'Hugh'. :-)) I pretty much grow and cook the same things as he does. So now I have a Bramley and two Granny Smiths - should take care of my cooking apples needs. I'm also into cider making (hence the cider trees) , I quickly realised any/all cider kits left much to be desired and that you can't beat cider made from fresh, local apples. I've learnt that higher alcohol by volume isn't necessarily such a good idea, my batches from last year average 12% and any more than a couple of stubbies is usually too much for me... I actually _don't_ enjoy getting ****ed even though I do like to drink I can't see that attraction in getting ****ed either, but a good drink (either alchoholic or non) is well worth doing. I make beer and spirits also, and other stuff like cherry wine, ginger beer and perry. Although this year I've been concentrating on making mead, which is a much longer term proposition - and considerably more expensive. My last 30L batch using local Leatherwood honey cost me about $80... now I just have to wait a couple of years... Well that's cheaper than the 10kg batch of salami I've just hung :-)) I'm going to need a pot still soon, as I especially want to make apple cider brandy and cherry brandy. Also want to put through some alcoholic ginger beer and see what happens. And of course, some spiced mead liqueur once she's aged enough... yum. Although I have a still, its a conventional type which means that it'll strip any colour, smell and flavor from anything put through it, a pot still doesn't do that, hence the need for a pot still. Interesting. What is the difference between a conventional vs a pot and where does one buy such a thing in Oz anyway? I have seen a very neat little still in a brew shop in Mildura, but I wouldn't know it was a pot or a conventional one. We ahd a fantastic year for pears this year and the chooks have only just finished cleanign up the drop from under our last netted tree. Watching the rooster 'telling' the girls about the where they could find the best bits of pear was wonderful to watch. He's such a lovely rooster and worth every penny of his high price tag. Lucky you - my oldest fruit trees are only about 3 years old, though the cherries, prunes and quinces have fruited surprisingly well already. I hope we (here in TAS) don't have another odd spring, summer and autumn... it was quite mild last year and did strange things to some crops. Already many trees here are budding, which is a little early once again. Hmm. That does sound early. I can't see any signs of budding yet, but I'll now pay closer attention. We've had a mild winter really (by local standards), had a few -6's with hard frost but nothing like 2008 and '09. I hope we don't have another mild spring/summer/autumn again, nice weather for humans but not so great for flowering and fruiting plants. We've had quite few low temps and the mornings seen to be worse this year than we've had for a while, but perhaps that is just me getting older and feeling it more. I think I'm becoming more like a lizard as I get older - I now like to bask in winter sun. |
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