The forecast was for 5-10 mm but for the 24 hours to 9am Friday morning we had 30mm and then by 9 am Saturday morning another 32 mm and it drizzled all day. As usual we missed the opportunity to trim edges and mow lawns earlier in the week and now the grass has run away and the ground too soggy to navigate. By the time it is dry enough in a couple of days it should be a nice height. Just when we were getting used to it being excessively dry and getting out of the habit of maintaining the lawn. What little hand mowing we did perform went into making compost. No drama, this growth will produce some excellent mulch for the gardens and around the fruit trees. Always a bright side.
The milk collection was left until this morning. Jean said I should find two smiling dairy farmers. I had to remind them but they dutifully stood side by side and put on broad grins.
We ventured into Raymond Terrace to pick up a garden fork. We have one really good one made from high tensile steel which never bends and it is getting a bit tatty. The prongs have worn down and are needle sharp. There is a second one we recycled from my mother's estate but it is mild steel and any excessive force bends the prongs. The Aldi version said high tensile and a little testing in the shop looked promising and so at $9 it found a home.
Rather than go to the pool so late in the day we dusted off a book on Core Strength Training and followed the instructions. Five minutes of aerobic activity on the exercise bike. Stretches for about 20 minutes and then performed all the Core Strength exercises once just to get the hang of it. It didn't feel like we were doing much but by the end of an hour of grunting, groaning and laughing we were pretty sweaty. An hour later we were feeling a bit sore as well. Just as well we didn't perform the 6-8 repetitions. At least we made a start.
Why do this? Jean ran the tape measure over us this morning and we hopped onto scales. She has a beautiful BMI of 23 which is easy when you are 6'1". I on the other hand bowl up with a BMI of 29 - not good. Shorter and obviously fatter around the middle. One way to address this is work on the middle bit i.e. Core strength. Just clip a few inches off and the BMI starts to look a bit more respectable. Since she raised the issue we will now both suffer while I address my inadequacy.
Well the wine making moves along. The press needed dismantling and cleaning and the Beurre Bosc Perry had slowed to a trickling bubble and was ready for racking. No 15 litre demijohns remaining and so dipped into the stock of 5's filling three plus a 750 ml.
A wet day is a good day to address the cleaning of the Cave. And so it started with knee pads, a scrubbing brush and a bucket of ammonia water. Hands and knees just like in Upstairs Downstairs only I just did a small section. The plan is to do a little each day. It does look a lot better.
Showing posts with label Beurre Bosc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beurre Bosc. Show all posts
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
Vegetable Garden Activity, Composting and Perry
Our work in the garden continues. Seeds for Kohl Rabi, Wong Bok and Bok Choi went into punnets last week and germinated within days. Jean pricked them out of their trays and planted out today. A good early start. With the exception of Brussels Sprouts and Cauliflower all the Brassica are in the ground. We had real success last year with Brussels Sprouts from seedlings purchased at Aldi. Because of their quality we are hanging in waiting for them to come in to the shop.
Now that we have commenced planting out seedlings it always seems that we don't have enough in the way of garden beds but I'm sure that is an illusion.
We also put down a punnet of Onion seeds last week which has been kept in the kitchen. Normally Onion seeds are a real issue with us with only one or two plants popping up - eventually. But not this time. It looks as if all the seeds germinated. Part of the solution is getting fresh seed. After an intense study on the subject of Onions we realised that the seed has a very short shelf life. Now add into that mix the fact that there are early, mid and late varieties and some are suited to cold climates only, you get the impression that this is a complex subject.
In the past years our failure to germinate Onion seeds meant we were reliant on bought seedlings. Well last week we checked in all the stores and couldn't find any. We did find Leeks and took those as we always do well with them. Yesterday Jean was looking through our Garden Diary and saw that we had purchased and planted Onions a week ago last year. So what is happening? Has the weather affected the grower/suppliers?
At the end of last week the final massive vegetable garden weeding exercise was completed and with the last bed, the weeds were just dumped in a pile. Today was the day to assemble another NZ Compost. Layer by layer it was compiled. The hard stick like items went through the chipper side of the mulcher while the long strands of grass and other weeds which were still quite green and soft went through the mulcher opening. The secret here is to not have the exit plate in place otherwise the green material chokes the mulcher. By the leaving the plate off the weeds get a good thrashing on their way, through making them easier for bugs to digest, and shoot out the bottom without clogging.
Another secret is to make sure the bottom plate and its fixing bar are put in a safe place. Last week I managed to accidently put the fixing bar into the earlier assembled compost. Rather than disassemble the compost to find the bar a replacement was manufactured in the workshop. I'm sure the other bar will turn up later.
In the Cave the Beurre Bosc finished pressing last night and we ended up with about 20 litres of juice. The pH was a bit high at 5.03 and Tartaric Acid was added. Also some Potassium Metabisulphite. The pH meter was playing up even though quite some time was spent calibrating with special solutions. At one point in desperation I resorted to the old pH papers. They are useful but getting a precise reading is impossible with the papers I have. Even with finer graduation papers it is difficult with red wine. In this case they at least confirmed that the reading was up in the high 4 to low 5's.
In the end it dawned on me that maybe the battery was weak. A replacement battery soon solved the problem. This has happened to me before with other instruments. The battery still works but random results begin occurring. From now on I'll start each season with a freshly charged battery.
This morning some fresh wine yeast was added to the demijohn and by this evening the airlock was bubbling comfortably. The demijohn is now in a refrigeration unit with the controller set for 12-15 C. This low temperature for a week or so should allow the yeast to bring out the wonderful Pear scents.
The goodly pile of compressed pulp went into the chicken run and delighted the girls.
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| Kohl Rabi |
Now that we have commenced planting out seedlings it always seems that we don't have enough in the way of garden beds but I'm sure that is an illusion.
We also put down a punnet of Onion seeds last week which has been kept in the kitchen. Normally Onion seeds are a real issue with us with only one or two plants popping up - eventually. But not this time. It looks as if all the seeds germinated. Part of the solution is getting fresh seed. After an intense study on the subject of Onions we realised that the seed has a very short shelf life. Now add into that mix the fact that there are early, mid and late varieties and some are suited to cold climates only, you get the impression that this is a complex subject.
In the past years our failure to germinate Onion seeds meant we were reliant on bought seedlings. Well last week we checked in all the stores and couldn't find any. We did find Leeks and took those as we always do well with them. Yesterday Jean was looking through our Garden Diary and saw that we had purchased and planted Onions a week ago last year. So what is happening? Has the weather affected the grower/suppliers?
 |
| Leeks in Troughs |
At the end of last week the final massive vegetable garden weeding exercise was completed and with the last bed, the weeds were just dumped in a pile. Today was the day to assemble another NZ Compost. Layer by layer it was compiled. The hard stick like items went through the chipper side of the mulcher while the long strands of grass and other weeds which were still quite green and soft went through the mulcher opening. The secret here is to not have the exit plate in place otherwise the green material chokes the mulcher. By the leaving the plate off the weeds get a good thrashing on their way, through making them easier for bugs to digest, and shoot out the bottom without clogging.
Another secret is to make sure the bottom plate and its fixing bar are put in a safe place. Last week I managed to accidently put the fixing bar into the earlier assembled compost. Rather than disassemble the compost to find the bar a replacement was manufactured in the workshop. I'm sure the other bar will turn up later.
 |
| Bottom plate and new locking rod |
After a solid afternoon's work the compost bin is over half full and all the material at hand is used. Looks like some hand mowing tomorrow to source the remaining green matter to mix with mulch hay.
In the Cave the Beurre Bosc finished pressing last night and we ended up with about 20 litres of juice. The pH was a bit high at 5.03 and Tartaric Acid was added. Also some Potassium Metabisulphite. The pH meter was playing up even though quite some time was spent calibrating with special solutions. At one point in desperation I resorted to the old pH papers. They are useful but getting a precise reading is impossible with the papers I have. Even with finer graduation papers it is difficult with red wine. In this case they at least confirmed that the reading was up in the high 4 to low 5's.
 |
| pH papers |
In the end it dawned on me that maybe the battery was weak. A replacement battery soon solved the problem. This has happened to me before with other instruments. The battery still works but random results begin occurring. From now on I'll start each season with a freshly charged battery.
 |
| pH Meter |
 |
| Buffer Solution for Calibration |
This morning some fresh wine yeast was added to the demijohn and by this evening the airlock was bubbling comfortably. The demijohn is now in a refrigeration unit with the controller set for 12-15 C. This low temperature for a week or so should allow the yeast to bring out the wonderful Pear scents.
The goodly pile of compressed pulp went into the chicken run and delighted the girls.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Harvesting Beurre Bosc Pears, Gardens Prepped for Autumn, Dragon Fruit
Two weeks ago after looking up the Vintage Book to see when we have harvested the Beurre Bosc in previous years I tested a pear for sugar. It came in at 15 Brix. The records showed that we normally harvest about the 19th February and that the sugar levels were 15 Brix. With the fruit hanging well we agreed to leave it on the tree a little longer. Another sample today showed 21 Brix. Probably an abnormally high reading pear but high enough to assume that it won't go much further.
The fruit harvested was in excellent shape varying in size from small tom exceedingly large. This dry weather Summer has really produced some incredible fruit in the Orchard. The haul came in at just over 36 kilograms. In previous years the harvest has been so small we never even bothered to weigh the result.
Tomorrow after the morning Bee club meet the bulk of the fruit will be processed through the scratter and fermented into Perry. We are currently working our way through two Blue cheeses, a Stilton and a Roquefort. Slices of pear go nicely.
The garden continued to receive attention with the final vegetable bed being cleared of Summer weeds. A little compost spread over it and a coating of Lucerne mulch with a good wetting. It feels great to have prepared all the beds ahead of Autumn making it so easier to slowly plant out new seeds and seedlings. As soon as the temperature is right we'll sow some green manure crops on some sections. In todays bed as an experiment we tried to avoid disturbing the soil. No forking over or removing roots just surface weeding.
We at Dragon Fruit after dinner.
The fruit harvested was in excellent shape varying in size from small tom exceedingly large. This dry weather Summer has really produced some incredible fruit in the Orchard. The haul came in at just over 36 kilograms. In previous years the harvest has been so small we never even bothered to weigh the result.
Tomorrow after the morning Bee club meet the bulk of the fruit will be processed through the scratter and fermented into Perry. We are currently working our way through two Blue cheeses, a Stilton and a Roquefort. Slices of pear go nicely.
The garden continued to receive attention with the final vegetable bed being cleared of Summer weeds. A little compost spread over it and a coating of Lucerne mulch with a good wetting. It feels great to have prepared all the beds ahead of Autumn making it so easier to slowly plant out new seeds and seedlings. As soon as the temperature is right we'll sow some green manure crops on some sections. In todays bed as an experiment we tried to avoid disturbing the soil. No forking over or removing roots just surface weeding.
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| Some of the weeds including massive Parsley plants gone to seed |
We at Dragon Fruit after dinner.
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| It looks like a bowl of Ice Cream |
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Perry
Harvested the Beurre Bosc pears on March 7th, a reasonable crop given the heavy rain. Sugar was a bit down but chaptalized to bring it back to a potential alcohol of 10.0%. Adjusted pH from 4.19 to 3.25 with the addition of Tartaric. There were a few apples ripe on other trees and they went into the mix. Sweet Alford, Stokes Red, Kingston Black and Rich Red as well as a few Williams and Packham pears the cows had knocked down.
Because of fruit fly and birds we bag the fruit in cotton bags just after flowering. This seems to work well although there is a little lost fruit if the bags get wet as it weighs heavily on the branch. Some of the apples mentioned above are true cider apples but we have never had enough of all varieties to make a traditional cider blend but we have managed a few varietal ciders occasionally.
The Beurre Bosc , Williams and Packham pears all do well here as does the Tropical apple and they make acceptable cider and Perry.
The homemade Scratter works well and we had enough fruit to use the big basket press. When time permits I might try to make some finer adjustments to the Scratter to get an even finer pulp but as it is measurements have shown it results in 50-60% juice yield. It looks like we have about 10-12 litres fermenting away in a 25 litre demijohn using NWS Chardonnay yeast.
Spent some time adding extra rows of screws to the Scratter drum. A quick test showed an enormous improvement in performance. The fruit chips are much smaller and resulted in better yields of juice.
Because of fruit fly and birds we bag the fruit in cotton bags just after flowering. This seems to work well although there is a little lost fruit if the bags get wet as it weighs heavily on the branch. Some of the apples mentioned above are true cider apples but we have never had enough of all varieties to make a traditional cider blend but we have managed a few varietal ciders occasionally.
The Beurre Bosc , Williams and Packham pears all do well here as does the Tropical apple and they make acceptable cider and Perry.
The homemade Scratter works well and we had enough fruit to use the big basket press. When time permits I might try to make some finer adjustments to the Scratter to get an even finer pulp but as it is measurements have shown it results in 50-60% juice yield. It looks like we have about 10-12 litres fermenting away in a 25 litre demijohn using NWS Chardonnay yeast.
Spent some time adding extra rows of screws to the Scratter drum. A quick test showed an enormous improvement in performance. The fruit chips are much smaller and resulted in better yields of juice.
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