Far Lands

To most people (including me until I joined the Northern Fruit Group) apples are mainly quite similar. Different to pears, and very different to bananas. Two types, eaters and cookers. Then as I became interested, and the hundreds of different varieties began revealing themselves, growing different cultivars grabbed my attention. Grafting, rootstocks and scions etc. My latest focus is identification. Place an apple in front of me, and I will . . . be very unlikely to be able to identify it. But I am learning the basics. Shape (flat, round, conical, oblong), and what to look for:- shape and length of the stalk, depth and width of the cavity, whether the eye is closed or open or semi-open, whether there are ribs, bloom, a hairline, hammering, russetting, mottling . . . the list goes on and on. The more I know (or think I know) the more confused I am.  To give an example. Our cooker. The tree was here when we arrived and the previous owner said it was a Bramley ( B...

Winter's coming and although there's Xmas I like to have a back up to get me through to the Spring. The answer ( my answer) is sloe vodka. So now is the time to get in the hedgerows, especially down South. I hope one day to be able to harvest bucket loads from our own foraging hedge (planted 2 years ago with plenty of blackthorn - but no sloes yet). So I turned to the local hedgerows. After 2 hours I had a motley selection weighing 400g. But at least that was something. Then last week I went to Whitstable and did a local hedgerow walk towards Canterbury. In about 20 minutes four of us collected over 3 kilos!   Recipe 1 litre bottle 400g sloes (if collected before first frost put in freezer for a few days before you make it) 100g sugar (that's quite dry and how I like it; 200g of sugar makes it far sweeter) fill with vodka (or gin if you prefer) Then leave for 6 months (occasionally turn upside down). Decant and drink. Easter is looking good!

Tragedy struck in the turkey paddock this week. When we first arrived at Farlands our neighbour grazed a few sheep and lambs in the paddock and a legacy of that use is a large circular drinking trough. Over the years I have occasionally emptied it as it gets quite stagnant but it always fills again, naturally with rainfall. At the end of last week I let the turkeys out in the morning as usual. But when I went to check on them at lunchtime, I could only find four. That is very unusual as normally they waddle around in a tight group. I could not find the fifth turkey and I decided to put them back in their house while I looked. As I did so I walked past the drinking trough. There was the fifth turkey. Floating. Turkeys can't swim. Jam sarnies for Xmas.

A while ago (post 230) I wrote about finding a deer on our lawn. Well, it or a relation (at least a distant one) has been back. Several times. My step-overs and cordon line have been attacked. In response I am raising the fence at the far side of the lawn but also I am considering lion dung. Apparently this is the thing to put off deer, and of course, like anything, it is available on Amazon. Any other ideas are welcome.