Autumn Apples – making Easy apple juice

I’m sitting here, writing this blog post with a pot of apple cores and peels on the boil on the stove , deliciously wafting an apple scent into the room, and a bowl of vanilla ice cream and warm apple compote sat beside me just begging to be eaten. So, excuse me just a minute….

Nuts about Hazelnuts

I am nuts about nuts. I love to eat them, but even more so I love to cook with them ~ then eat them. Given the chance, I could spend on nuts what others spend at a coffee shop, easily and regularly. I can’t decide if walnuts or hazelnuts are my favourite*, so when we discovered last autumn that we have both in the garden I felt like a kid in a sweet shop with the biggest smile on my face.

Dandelions – Love or Hate Relationship?

Anyone reading our blog, gets the idea that we love re-using, recycling and not letting things go to waste. Now take the humble (or pesky, depending on your point of view) Dandelion. 

Making Maple Syrup in Vermont – a shared moment

I met John, aka Movin’ On, when we were both walking the Appalachian Trail. With the wonders of internet, we’ve managed to keep in touch over the years, though homes have moved.  John set roots down in Vermont and recently posted about harvesting maple syrup on Facebook. This took me back.

My family regularly spent weekends in New Hampshire, when I was growing up, where we had a small cabin (think ‘Little House in the Big Woods’ one of Laura Ingalls-Wilder’s first books if you haven’t read it). The area had no shortage of maple trees and each winter we would see buckets hanging from trees collecting the sap. It’s a scene that has painted itself into one of my fondest childhood memories.

I know many people don’t actually know where Maple Syrup comes from (answer: maple trees, hence the name), or if they do, how it is done (essentially the trees are ‘tapped for their sap’), so  I asked John if he would write about his experiences, as I felt this something quite unique and worth sharing.

What’s In Store – From Us To You

We have been travelling the world for the last few years, making wine. In 2014, we took a leap, to follow our dream and make our own wine in France. To assist in supporting this dream, and with true entrepreneurial spirit, we are also putting our creative juices (or should that be wine?) to the fore in making a variety of additional items, crafted from the world around us, to sell in our shop Pumpjack & Piddlewick.

Walnuts!

We are very lucky to have an amazing walnut tree on the property. We were able to collect a large basket of them over a couple of weeks in the autumn. The trick was then to dry them out as we didn’t have much space that could also be kept dry.  We had them resting everywhere.

And once dry, then began the process of shelling. It became my daily treat to take the basked of nuts down to the rabbits and shell them there. They of course enjoyed the odd nibble, sometimes even cheekily stealing one.