Ripe Near Me, NZ Compost Twin Bin, Parmesan

Accidently came across a useful web site Ripe Near Me which helps you find fresh produce in your locality. By clicking on the link you will see how easy it is to use. I suppose everybody else already knows about its existence and I'm just a bit slow. Jean got all excited when I showed her one entry for Black Australorp Fertilised eggs at a very good price and located not far away. Black Australorps are supposed to be very good egg layers bred for Australian conditions.

Finally getting a few backlog jobs out of the way. The wine press last used three months ago got its annual coat of paint. Just the base which is in contact with the acidic fruit juices needs to have a coat or two of non toxic paint otherwise the metal rusts and taints the juice (wine, Cider, Perry). It really doesn't take long just a quick rub with sandpaper to dislodge any loose old paint and a few brush strokes. But you know how it is, need to find a few spare minutes.

Basket Press Base

Getting very close to finishing the NZ twin compost bin. Today the dry assembly was completed to see if it all fitted together - which it did. The last steps are to relocated each section to the final resting place and apply a coat of oil for protection. The only part which hasn't been fully assembled is the rear panel. Because it is so large if all the boards were screwed on it was going to be too heavy to move. It will have the last five or six 9' boards screwed to it when in the final location. Once in situ and painted the various panels will be bolted together.  I'm busting to get started building the compost itself. This dual bin is a little larger at 4' 6" cubed rather than the usual 4'. Doesn't sound much but by my calculations that will be 50% more volume. Hope my expansion plans are not regrated when it comes to assembling the raw material.

The assembled Twin Bins

In the background the back panel has the middle section missing to reduce weight for transporting

And finally, made two more Parmesans using a slightly different recipe. Rather than make one large 3-4 kilogram cheese a smaller or in this case two smaller cheeses are moulded. The change in the recipe is quite minor. After cutting the curds there is 15 minutes of stirring, then stir for another 15 minutes while the temperature is raised to 42 C and finally another 15 minutes of stirring while the temperature goes to 51 C.

Small Parmesans

Because there were no small inserts for these moulds, two glass containers were used, Need to be gentle with the pressure though. The weight up top is to carry on with some pressure if the cheese compacts and the screw threads cease to apply pressure.