Frost on the pond

The temperatures have dropped to -4 and it has made the Stackyard Nursery look like a scene from the 'Snow Queen', it's magical.

This is a picture of the Hawthorne tree overhanging the frozen pond, it's berries have frozen in the ice.

Medlers and what to do with them!

These are the fruits of the Medler tree, many people ask what to do with them.

You can either let them blett on the tree, this is so they start to go very soft, cut the top off and scoop out the pulp. The other option and I must say my preferred method is to make a Medler Jelly. The recipe below is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, I also add some crushed Cardamom in a muslin bag, and remove it at stage 2.

Medler Jelly

Ingredients

• 1kg medlars (quartered but not peeled)
• 500g Bramley cooking apples
• About 650g granulated sugar

1. Quarter the medlars. Peel and chop the apples and tip the fruit into a preserving pan, or any heavy-bottomed, deep, wide pan, with just enough water to cover.

2. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30-45 minutes, until the medlars are soft and pulpy.

Tip:

If you have freshly picked, unbletted medlars, remove any leaves from them and place them in one layer in a shallow bowl and leave them in a cool place until they turn brown and soften slightly.

3. Strain through a jelly bag on a stand set over a large bowl. Don't be tempted to poke, squeeze or force the pulp through the bag or you'll get a cloudy jelly, just leave it to drip over the bowl for several hours or overnight. Don't discard the pulp though – it’s perfect for adding to ourchutney.

4. Measure the juice, pour into a clean preserving pan and bring to boiling point before adding the sugar (for every 1l of juice, add 650g of sugar). Stir, in one direction only to reduce foam, until sugar is totally dissolved then boil rapidly for 8 minutes or until the setting point is reached. If you have a preserving thermometer, it should read 104.5°C; if you don’t have a thermometer, drop a little jelly onto a saucer which you have chilled in the fridge. Let the jelly cool for a minute then push it gently with your finger. If it crinkles, it has reached its setting point. Remove from the heat and skim off any scum using a slotted spoon.

5. Decant carefully into a warm jug and pour into warm, sterilised jars.

© River Cottage

Poppy's World December 2010

Poppy’s world
What a lovely day, I started with a walk around the big field with her who should be obeyed, she has this thing about checking the trees, I don’t know why they all seem very happy to me. I saw a few rabbits but decided that I would play hard to get and ignored them for the time being. The leaves are falling on my head and it is fun to bounce around in them, I found some small mice asleep in the log pile and work them up.
The Master has been in with the pigs for a very long time so I decided to remind him that I was waiting to play tractor girl, he told me to be quiet or he would send me to my bed AGAIN! He was very interested in the piglets and stood counting them again! I keep telling him that there are 50 left,
they seemed to think that the man from Woodbridge with the cheeky little girls would like 6 of the ginger girls, I tried to tell them that their mummy’s would prefer them to stay. The girls were lifted into the wooden crate on the tractors forks and they were moved out to the middle gate. I stayed with them for a while but then I decided that the pigeons in the old oak trees needed to be reminded who was boss. She who must be obeyed was telling the Master which of the pigs were going on their holidays, something about Christmas time and customer orders, the Master decided to move the pigs around so I decided that I would investigate the new netted area.
The boys have not been around for a few weeks and I have missed playing with them, they also when she who must be obeyed is not looking give me treats, so I was very pleased when we went on a road trip and went to see them. The house where they are now playing has a Jack Russell that comes to visit so I told her that any treats were mine, she told me where to go and went off in a huff. I was able to play tractor girl with the digger and dumper for a while, they had the picture that she who must be obeyed drew and were talking about it. The man in the lovely house said he was very happy and brought us all a cup of tea.
When we got back to the Stackyard I was very good, the man from the butchers had been and delivered meat and as a special treat some bones for me and my friends, Harry came by and collected his, I tried to kiss him but he seemed more interested in the bones. I have found a very good place on the side of the pond to dig a big hole, although it did take a few holes to find the right place to hide my bone. She who must be obeyed was very good about the holes especially as I also caught a mole. Now where to bury it!

Karon's thoughts 4th December 2010

Hip hip hurray it has started to thaw, the snow and ice on the polytunnel roof is sliding into large piles at the sides. Poppy is fascinated, she has been sitting watching the icicles defrosting and I am pleased to say keeping out of the way when a large slab crashes to the ground.

Simon has spent the morning sorting the electric fences in the pigs and trying to get the water flowing, although he has just been up for another container of water for the sow and 5 piglets, it looks like it is going to be a long day for him, his only comment is “This is depressing”.

I am loving  not being wrapped in great thick layers of fleeces and jackets and braved the cold and washed my hair this morning, it’s the Stowmarket Golf Club Dinner Dance tonight and I don’t want to be late so I hope it stays relatively mild and I don’t need to put my hat back on!

I have just been told by a customer that the temperature tonight is due to plummet. I have checked both UK weather and the BBC and both say 0 degrees tonight but -5 tomorrow. I wish that we could guarantee the weather.

Karon's thoughts 3rd December 2010

Well I hope you are all warm, we at the Stackyard Nursery are keeping warm in the office. The Mike and Tim are at home and the only one happy with the snow is Poppy our dog she is jumping, playing and loving it.

The customers that we have had this week have been very brave souls, but as we are so close to the village most have walked. Simon braved the roads on Tuesday to go to East Harling to pick up our Norfolk Horn lambs from the butchers, quite a trip but worth it. We have put a heater in the farm shop to keep the temperatures correct for the fridge and freezers and it has make it feel quite cosy. We spent Monday and Tuesday ripping out the old shelving and installing new, what a difference all comments are very positive. Thank you!

We have been carrying water up and down to the pigs, we insulated the automatic drinkers well, but the bowls are metal and the water has frozen! I spent two hours on Tuesday when Si got back picking at the ice with a screw driver and managed to get the water flowing in all the pens but the temperature has dropped since then to -6 at night and -2 throughout the day so not a hope of them defrosting for some time.

The piglets seem to love the snow but the Mamas are keeping their heads down and snuggling up in their arcs. Pork Chops our boar is developing a lovely thick coat of hair to keep him warm and he is no longer lying across the arc door trying to keep his ‘wife’ out, typical man, I hope she has cold trotters to but on his back.

We took advantage of the ground being hard and moved a few thousand saplings into the wind proof holding area on the back field, so if you are wondering what all the green netting is, it is the sapling area where I hope they will not be blown over by the wind. We needed the ground to be hard as the tractor and mud make a dreadful mess, not a pretty site. Tim did a great job but after a day of sitting on the tractor and carrying the saplings he gave up at three and went home for a hot bath. Mike battled on welding and getting a job ready for when the weather breaks, but after an hour yesterday morning decided that he would go home to his new wife!

I must admit to loving the site of the sun coming up and reflecting off the ice crystals it’s like living in a fairy land.

Just a reminder that we are open 7 days a week 10am – 4pm

Take care

Karon x

Poppy's World November 2010

What a lovely day, I started with a walk around the big field with her who should be obeyed, she has this thing about checking the trees, I don’t know why they all seem very happy to me. I saw a few rabbits but decided that I would play hard to get and ignored them for the time being. The leaves are falling on my head and it is fun to bounce around in them, I found some small mice asleep in the log pile and work them up.

The Master has been in with the pigs for a very long time so I decided to remind him that I was waiting to play tractor girl, he told me to be quiet or he would send me to my bed AGAIN! He was very interested in the piglets and stood counting them again! I keep telling him that there are 50 left,

they seemed to think that the man from Woodbridge with the cheeky little girls would like 6 of the ginger girls, I tried to tell them that their mummy’s would prefer them to stay. The girls were lifted into the wooden crate on the tractors forks and they were moved out to the middle gate. I stayed with them for a while but then I decided that the pigeons in the old oak trees needed to be reminded who was boss. She who must be obeyed was telling the Master which of the pigs were going on their holidays, something about Christmas time and customer orders, the Master decided to move the pigs around so I decided that I would investigate the new netted area.

The boys have not been around for a few weeks and I have missed playing with them, they also when she who must be obeyed is not looking give me treats, so I was very pleased when we went on a road trip and went to see them. The house where they are now playing has a Jack Russell that comes to visit so I told her that any treats were mine, she told me where to go and went off in a huff. I was able to play tractor girl with the digger and dumper for a while, they had the picture that she who must be obeyed drew and were talking about it. The man in the lovely house said he was very happy and brought us all a cup of tea.

When we got back to the Stackyard I was very good, the man from the butchers had been and delivered meat and as a special treat some bones for me and my friends, Harry came by and collected his, I tried to kiss him but he seemed more interested in the bones. I have found a very good place on the side of the pond to dig a big hole, although it did take a few holes to find the right place to hide my bone. She who must be obeyed was very good about the holes especially as I also caught a mole. Now where to bury it!

Tony came to help today!

Tony came to help today and we achieved lots:-

• Orchard area picked over and seeded with grass.
• Dug over and started planting out the other side of the pond.

Tim and James worked on the tree display area.

Karon supervised!

Caroliona weeded the trees on the lines.

Day 2 - Simon

Sunshine and showers.

Tim and James completed the roof on the two substations and then put up the barbed wire to prevent Miss Nasty (One of the Managlitza pigs) from chewing her way completely through the stock proof fence.

Karon and I did some filming for the website.  Including Rubies new babies.

I had a lunch out at the pub with Jeremy and his family and left Karon to look after the shop.  Then when to the office to do some editing.

Day 1 - Simon

For all those expecting this to be Kaorn I have a disappointment.  She is asleep on the sofa.  I have been catching up with Emails after our second power cut in a week.

As you can tell from the above I am at home since we are still waiting for power on site 15 months after paying EDF over 21K.

So what has happened at the Stackyard Nursery today.  I guess that is the point of this Blog - to let you know!

Well, James and Tim took one look at the weather this morning  and called Karon to say that it was not worth coming in.  What a Summer we are having - Blistering heat a the start, before we had our irrigation system in and now seemingly constant deluges of rain, post irrigation system.  I guess life always seems like that when you are dealing with elements.

I started on the roofs of the power substations, but did not get very far, due to mud and Tony who kindly turned up with family and an enormous box that he thought that we might use.  We tried Karon's surveying tools in it and concluded that, although not ideal, would be far better than the current practice of lumping them around in the back of the van.