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#16
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It's never to late to cultivates plants for these season. Might as well start it up to be to see the fruits of labor.
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#17
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Close to Spring
On Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:08:23 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given
wrote: "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'll bet! I've been wanting to get some proper proscuitto happening but the initial outlay has put me off somewhat - I've experimented with using lamb and duck breast (at least its cheap if things go wrong), which works quite well. I'll get around to it, probably next winter. 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. This page explains the basic differences: http://homedistiller.org/types.htm 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. No sun here lately, we're flooded in for the fourth time this year. All the locals say they've never seen weather like this before, what with record snow falls as well. At the same time ironically this winter has been relatively warm. I need to go to Hobart this Friday, so hopefully we won't get much more rain this week... |
#18
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Close to Spring
"Jeßus" wrote in message
On Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:08:23 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote: 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. This page explains the basic differences: http://homedistiller.org/types.htm Aaaah! Thank you - a very interesting site. No sun here lately, we're flooded in for the fourth time this year. Bugger! All the locals say they've never seen weather like this before, what with record snow falls as well. At the same time ironically this winter has been relatively warm. I need to go to Hobart this Friday, so hopefully we won't get much more rain this week... IIRC, you're somewhere up the nth east coast??????? |
#19
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Close to Spring
On Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:17:41 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given
wrote: "Jeßus" wrote in message On Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:08:23 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote: 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. This page explains the basic differences: http://homedistiller.org/types.htm Aaaah! Thank you - a very interesting site. No sun here lately, we're flooded in for the fourth time this year. Bugger! All the locals say they've never seen weather like this before, what with record snow falls as well. At the same time ironically this winter has been relatively warm. I need to go to Hobart this Friday, so hopefully we won't get much more rain this week... IIRC, you're somewhere up the nth east coast??????? Yup, in the NE but inland somewhat, hence the heavy frosts. One good thing being in a mountainous area is that whilst we do get what seems to be fairly regular flooding here (at least these days it seems), it also drains away quickly. Flash flooding, snow/ice and fallen trees on the roads can make things rather interesting though, especially if you're trying to get home after dark... all part of the adventure of living here I suppose |
#20
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Close to Spring
In article ,
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote: "Jeßus" wrote in message On Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:08:23 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote: 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. This page explains the basic differences: http://homedistiller.org/types.htm Aaaah! Thank you - a very interesting site. Basically, with a pot still (used in Cognac), the first and last over (heads & tails) is discarded. This distillation is done 2 or 3 times. With a continuous still (coffee still?) a thermometer is set into a column above the liquid being distilled, just adjacent to the discharge to the cooling coil. IIRC about 201 F (94 C) is where you should start taking your cut. Very volitile substance will exit the top of the column, and less volitile substances will re-condense and and fall back into the boiling chamber. No sun here lately, we're flooded in for the fourth time this year. Bugger! All the locals say they've never seen weather like this before, what with record snow falls as well. At the same time ironically this winter has been relatively warm. I need to go to Hobart this Friday, so hopefully we won't get much more rain this week... IIRC, you're somewhere up the nth east coast??????? Wanted to thank you for the suggestion of Donna Leon. Lovey-poo is enjoying them immensely. We were very pleased that Guido Brunetti et al are out in video format as well, from Germany mit Unter Titles. So far we've seen Episode 1, Vendetta; and Episode 2, Anonymous Venetian. http://www.mhznetworks.org/shop/ The DVDs are a little pricey for us, so we'll continue to extract them off the TV. The Irene Huss mysteries, based on the best-selling crime fiction of Helene Tursten looks good too. -- - Billy Both the House and Senate budget plan would cut Social Security and Medicare, while cutting taxes on the wealthy. Kucinich noted that none of the government programs targeted for elimination or severe cutback in House Republican spending plans "appeared on the GAO's list of government programs at high risk of waste, fraud and abuse." http://www.politifact.com/ohio/state...is-kucinich/re p-dennis-kucinich-says-gop-budget-cuts-dont-targ/ [W]e have the situation with the deficit and the debt and spending and jobs. And it¹s not that difficult to get out of it. The first thing you do is you get rid of corporate welfare. That¹s hundreds of billions of dollars a year. The second is you tax corporations so that they don¹t get away with no taxation. - Ralph Nader http://www.democracynow.org/2011/7/19/ralph_naders_solution_to_debt_crisis |
#21
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Close to Spring
"Jeßus" wrote in message
... On Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:17:41 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote: "Jeßus" wrote in message On Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:08:23 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote: 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. This page explains the basic differences: http://homedistiller.org/types.htm Aaaah! Thank you - a very interesting site. No sun here lately, we're flooded in for the fourth time this year. Bugger! All the locals say they've never seen weather like this before, what with record snow falls as well. At the same time ironically this winter has been relatively warm. I need to go to Hobart this Friday, so hopefully we won't get much more rain this week... IIRC, you're somewhere up the nth east coast??????? Yup, in the NE but inland somewhat, hence the heavy frosts. One good thing being in a mountainous area is that whilst we do get what seems to be fairly regular flooding here (at least these days it seems), it also drains away quickly. Flash flooding, snow/ice and fallen trees on the roads can make things rather interesting though, especially if you're trying to get home after dark... all part of the adventure of living here I suppose LOL. |
#22
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Close to Spring
"Billy" wrote in message
Wanted to thank you for the suggestion of Donna Leon. Lovey-poo is enjoying them immensely. We were very pleased that Guido Brunetti et al are out in video format as well, from Germany mit Unter Titles. So far we've seen Episode 1, Vendetta; and Episode 2, Anonymous Venetian. http://www.mhznetworks.org/shop/ The DVDs are a little pricey for us, so we'll continue to extract them off the TV. Excellent! I'm glad that Lovey-poo is enjoying them. Wait till she discovers Patrick O'Brian who is an even better author :-)) The Irene Huss mysteries, based on the best-selling crime fiction of Helene Tursten looks good too. Not heard of her - will do a request at the library. |
#23
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Close to Spring
On Wed, 10 Aug 2011 07:28:06 +1000, Jeßus wrote:
snip No sun here lately, we're flooded in for the fourth time this year. Now we're going for the fifth time... only a week later. All the locals say they've never seen weather like this before, what with record snow falls as well. At the same time ironically this winter has been relatively warm. I need to go to Hobart this Friday, so hopefully we won't get much more rain this week... |
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