Canning Night

All week I'd been excited about Friday night. 

I wasn't going out, I was going canning! 

A friend, Sarah, and me were going round to Kirsty's   house to try out her new pressure canner that she'd had for Christmas. 

We were going to be adventurous and try canning meat for the first time. We'd decided on a spaghetti sauce with mince beef in it, Kirsty had found a recipe we like the look of a few weeks before hand, so we all brought some ingredients with us and we set to it. 

Things went well, the only slight hitch we had was the fact that the electric hob wouldn't get the canner hot enough, so Kirsty had a brain wave and got her gas BBQ dragged inside. Propped up with a chair this was perfect to keep the cans at 11 pounds of pressure for the 60 minutes needed. We did leave a window open so we didn't die from poisonous gas as well! 

In the end we had ten jars, with only one that failed to seal properly. 

I can see this being a very addictive hobby! 

Anyone else been canning meat or does using a pressure canner put you off?

Rough Hands

Just before bedtime, sat on the sofa my eldest daughter was playing with my hands, she stops looks at me and asks:

"Why aren't your hands like mine daddy?"

"What do you mean sweetheart?"

"Smooth and clean"

I'm proud of every scar, callus and cut on my hands, each tells a story! 

Garden Harvest

There's still plenty to be had in the garden at the moment and I was quite please with this little collection for our roast on Sunday. 

Managed to have leeks (although there isn't many left now - another couple of  meals), jersualm artichokes, New Zealand Yams ( I love these more and more each time I eat them) and the last of the parsnips. 

Few things more satisfying than going out and digging up the food for tea! 

What are you harvesting at the moment?

Rotten Galvanised Rabbit Wire

Well yesterday I manage to find out how those pesky rabbits had managed to get into the garden the other day. 

I spotted a game trail going across the garden next to another damaged tree.

Game trail under the wire

 The most annoying thing is that the trail seems to go under the wire, but four years ago when I put this wire in, I spent a lot of time digging it into the ground a good foot or so so the rabbits couldn't dig underneath it. 

The trouble is it's rotted off at ground level. So far it only seems to be one section but I'm more than a little disappointed with the galvanised wire that I bought. I always thought that the posts would give out long before the wire. 

 So I did a repair on the fence, digging in some more wire and attaching it to the old wire. I'll have to keep an eye on the rest of the wire now as well, I'll probably only realise I have another problem when I see more rabbit damage.

Anyone know a solution for stopping wire rotting off like this or have a better solution for a rabbit proof fence. Maybe if I ever get all my other jobs finished I'll build a wall around the garden! 

Garden Apprentice

Few things make me happier than having one of the children help me in the garden. I managed to get out in the greenhouse after work one night this week with the lighter evenings.

Between us we managed to sow a few seeds and pot on some cuttings I took last year. The cuttings were of some of my more expensive plants, so I was quite pleased, having another 5 cocktail kiwi plants around the smallholding will be great in a few years time, as will some more blueberries and Chilean Guavas. Just need to find places to plant them all now. 

Each and every night when I get back from work she has to come and shut the chickens in with me (wearing my hat - not the one in the picture), she's not worried about the dark at all. I think I've got myself a little apprentice in the making (although the wife says she's too young to learn to shoot yet)!