Mid Summer Bits and Bobs - 2016.

[peter]

The Falklands have a few inches of snow right now.

[Ricard with an H]

When I was still involved in watersports I was in touch almost daily with people from various parts of the world and comparing our weather and other differences, amazing.

My carrot crop is now doing very well thank you Westi, also winter salad potatoes. Cauli and sprouting broccoli seedlings are vulnerable at about six inches tall with a storm arriving on Friday. This will be the first year I'm seriously growing into autumn/winter.

Bread making, it's taken me three years to get this far with sourdough breads giving me confidence to repeat my often heard criticism that rather than being easy it is actually a black-art. Not only the ingredients being important but various techniques are not always talked about by different tutors or books on the subject. This loaf was fermented over 48 hours but the prep and baking times are exactly the same as with a yeasted bread

Have a look, it's supposed to be open, its a French style country bread. Lovely eating and is good for four days before being relegated to crisp-bread or whatever the Italians call tomatoes on toast I had at Carlucios.

[Westi]

In the supermarkets next week no doubt Pa!

Westi

PS: At least they are growing in soil not hydroponics, a wee bit more taste!

[Pawty]

Thanks pa snip for the photo - really interesting and quite a site!

I get the train to Chichester quite regularly - a highlight is looking at the tomatoes growing in the huge glasshouses along the route which always amazes me ... Not quite the same.....

Bread looks great - I usually go 'free style'. My husband however takes great care and a couple of days.... He bought a copy of 'Flour, water, salt, yeast' by Ken Forkish and bread making has never been the same in our household.

home made bread with allotment dips .... Courgette dip, bean dip.. Or soup... Courgette soup, bean soup (can you tell I have a glut....).

Weathers not great this weekend - which means a day of pickling green beans and making chutney.

Pawty

[Geoff]

Weathers not great this weekend

As you say, seriously soggy out there, over 1½" (38.9 mm) in the last two days and two heavy showers already this morning.

[Ricard with an H]

We woke up to a sunny morning so I dashed out to do a few garden jobs, yesterday I managed to get those broccoli and cauliflower plants in the ground and under nets. Problem is, I can't tell one from the other by the leaves and I did want to keep them together. Tidy, see.

I baked lovely pyclets and Welsh cakes, both get done on a griddle over the gas hob. Photo coming up. Store-bought pyclets and Welsh cakes are horrible, just not enough artisan bakeries around here. In Scotland ever village had a small bakery.

[dan3008]

I baked lovely pyclets and Welsh cakes, both get done on a griddle over the gas hob.

Ah, the only way to cook them. I inherited a large cast iron griddle and don't use it enough. Sod of a heavy beast it is too

[peter]

As you say , seriously soggy out there, over 1½" (38.9 mm) in the last two days and two heavy showers already this morning.

The ground here is still dry as a bone, loads of windy drizzle yesterday and the odd heavy shower, but not much benefit to plants.

[Monika]

One of our grandsons was married yesterday - what a weather day to choose! All outdoor plans had to be cancelled but luckily the hired village hall had plenty of space to accommodate all and when bride and bridegroom emerged from the very ancient and pretty Dales church, there was a brief glimpse of the sun, albeit accompanied by some strong gusts.

Well, a few of the sunflowers on the allotment will have bitten the dust ......

[Ricard with an H]

Even though we did have a good downpour or two and the top fields grazing looks very green and healthy the ground is very dry here as well.

Dan, that griddle is an aluminium-alloy with a non stick surface that isn't non stick unless I keep it seasoned like an iron griddle though it is very light and easy to put away. I noticed that a range of baking tools is now on sale under the auspices of Paul Hollywood, one piece is an iron griddle sheet that is two sided and probably suited to bread baking as well.

[Geoff]

Haven't you got a glut of Courgettes to enjoy Courgette Fritters and Chilli Jam?

[Ricard with an H]

Courgette fritters sounds good Geoff but I pulled all the courgette plants out, I wasn't eating them and I needed space for stuff growing through autumn. Even so, I have much more kale than I can eat or give away. I must practice succession growing more effectively.

I finally got rid of my BT landline that cost me £21 a month with calls, caller recognition and 1571. I have replaced with a VOIP service from Vonage that so far is proving to be very-very good though they do use an international call centre. It's the lack of vocabulary and scripted dialogue that irritates rather than dealing with people from countries very different from ours. The new service connects to my router, my old landline phone plugs into the new service and I downloaded an Application that works seamlessly with the iPhone phone app so I can also use that as a handset. We now have a new phone number so I can unplug the call-blocker. I'm on quite a few sucker-lists and because of calls directed to my partner it's clear that her bankers have sold number lists so some of this will start again though the Vonage app has its own call blocker.

£8 a month for all landline calls uk plus £10 connection and a fiver postage for the box. I'm happy.

I just got tired of paying for that old copper cable that spends some of the winter in the hedges and when we the service goes Down OpenReach don't treat us seriously because there aren't enough habitated properties on this leg of the cable. Are they really going to dig the road and bring fibre to us in this valley ?

I now have 30 to 50 Mbps download speed, a clear phone service, can watch backup TV and all for a total of £23 a month.

But no courgettes. (Smile)

[Geoff]

You should have mentioned your Vonage plan earlier - if you had quoted me as having referred you we would each have got 2 months free. My last referral is running out so I'll have to start paying again! The great fun is when somebody leaves you a voicemail and they send you an automatic transcript though they do send you a wav file as well. I ported my old number across before cancelling with BT.

[Ricard with an H]

Ahhh Geoff, not enough communication between us and at the time I was scratching my head for someone to talk with about Vonage. Considering the effort you've already made with your internet service and the weather station I should have guessed you as a suspect.

I'll make note in my head (doesn't work mostly) to call you if I need help, that's assuming you may have already solved the same problem.

We were undecided about porting our BT landline number because of the spam and in our case the little effort it would take to contact people that we use a phone with so we decided to go for a new number.

I'm not really "Billy-no-mates" most of those we keep in touch with swop e-mails until a phone call is needed, when dealing with purchasing and business transactions e-mails give us a record and the opportunity to call/reply when the other party can't respond.

[Westi]

Lottie was pretty dry today despite a full day of drizzle on Friday, but yesterday's 50mph gusts probably dried it out quite quickly. The wind snapped about 1/2 of my yellow courgette stem, left it to see if the 1/2 left will continue to grow if the wound seals.

Bit of blight on my Cara's so dug the last lot up - some mega beasts unearthed, well chuffed! Mr Mole has been a bit busy in my leek beds & under my aubergines but caught that in time as got some small fruit on them! First ripe tomatoes on my 'Special One', which is still clear of blight & a big bag of runner beans to take to work, plus some to freeze for home & loads more to come! Not to mention, kale, chard, berries, lettuces, beetroot & cabbage & flowers for home. Chickpeas nearly ready and late sown peas in flower and broad beans looking happy!

From an inauspicious late start all is good!

Westi