Tuesday, January 13, 2015

It's that time of year.

It's at this time of year that the Seville oranges arrive and marmalade gets made.
It's this time of year when snow might arrive, (although to listen to the forecasters you would think it is unusual)
It's this time of year that predators are at their worse.
 and it's this time of year you think spring will never come.
Removing the pith takes time, this goes into a muslin bag with the pips to add natural pectin to the jam.
The first two batches of marmalade have now been made, I had bought a boxful of Seville oranges before Christmas but realised I did not have time to start making any marmalade so the oranges got frozen into 2kg bags. Friday and Saturday was spent making the first batch,
Then the skin has to be shredded, a Stanley knife makes a good job of it.
I have found that the two day process gives the best results with a good set and great flavour.
First lot done.
After making the first batch I realised that what I had in the freezer would not be sufficient to make an entire years supply so on Monday we popped to our local green grocer to pick up another four kg. Two kg makes eight 1lb jars,
Had to make sure it was OK, just checking!
and as we have marmalade most days for breakfast I calculated that we would need at least forty eight jars for the year. The second batch was started yesterday and finished today, four more batches to go and our years supply will be done.
There is nothing on the market to compare with home made marmalade besides being much cheaper than the shop bought we know that the oranges are all organic and fairly traded. It seems that in this area at least, all the Seville oranges are from one Spanish organic cooperative.
One jar = one euro.
The cost is just one euro per one pound jar, I doubt that even Lidl have marmalade that cheap.
Today we awoke to a light covering of snow. To listen to the forecast or the forecasts in the papers you would think we were about to enter another ice age with Orange warnings being given. Get over it forecasters, this is winter, this is Ireland, we expect to have some snow. The problem is if they give Orange warnings for something that is no big deal just -1c and 3cm of snow, people will ignore warnings of -10cand 30cm of snow, that is worth an Orange warning.
* Weather update, it's now midnight and two inches of snow has fallen and it's still snowing, maybe we will be snowed in by the morning.
Predators. Today we finally got a mink in one of the traps, she was large, 2 foot long from nose to tail, they might look beautiful but they are vermin, and have no place in our ecological system, they are not a native species.
Such  beautiful fur, but a lethal animal. This one can do no more damage.
I hate to see any animal killed but this mink, and yes we do think it was this particular one, has killed a total of twelve of our poultry in less than a month. The traps will remain in place, we are sure there are a lot more in the area.
 Mink like foxes don't just kill for food, they kill for the sheer hell of it, but give me a fox anytime, foxes can be controlled and your poultry kept safe by electric fencing, mink seem to be immune to even two layers of electric poultry fencing .
Even when we had the commercial laying flocks we can count on just one hand how many birds we lost to foxes and that would be over a decade or more, the hens were always protected by proper poultry fencing. I just don't want to think how many birds we have lost to mink and in Spain, Pine Martens.
Bulbs are poking their heads above ground but it will be a few weeks more before we see any flowers,
A bit of spring cheer.
I do like fresh flowers both in the garden and in the house so cheer the place up I finally succumbed and bought a bunch of springtime.
Megan, Meg for short, now acts as though the owns the place, she has her own bed complete with a nice comfortable cushion and blanket,
Only the best for Meg.
however her place of preference is an antique chair, we have still not seen how she get up onto it, why she prefers this chair is anyone's guess but I'm sure her own bed would be more comfortable.

22 comments:

  1. Such a lovely post. Meg is adorable and im picturing you in your kitchen surrounded by bottles of marmalade. Such a comforting image. Buying flower??? Well, i never. Well actually i have but i didnt think you would. LOL. Our forecasters have been telling us we are going to have a deluge of rain but so far its just pitter patter.

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    1. Two lots made now with the third lot started, I ended up zesting the skin as my wrist is giving out from removing the pith but we both prefer a thicker cut. Yes I know, buying flowers at least they have only come from Holland, and I just felt I needed some colour around.

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    2. That's funny. You are in Ireland and the flowers have "only come from Holland". Do you know what that sounds like to an Aussie. Its like they came from the moon. We are so isolated that any country seems like another planet. I dont even have a passport.

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    3. I had not realised that Aussies were an insular people, I knew that Americans were, we have had many helpers from Australia over the years and like Americans possess a real work ethic.

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  2. Oh, since its dead anyway, do you skin the mink?

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    1. Simon wants to skin it, but I don't know what I would use the skin for and it's quite a lot of work curing skins.

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  3. Definitely going to use the 2-day recipe for marmalade 'next time' but actually we still have some 2012/3 marmalade left (done to the one-day method which never set, so it gets used as cake ingredients or porridge 'glaze'). We are forcing oursleves to use that lot up before we make more.

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    1. I'm still not sure Matt if it is the two day process that makes for a good set, I think it is more the case of making sure that the peal is soft and that all the pith and pips have been boiled up in a bag for at least an hour if not longer and making sure that when the sugar is added it is well dissolved. I also don't think you can get away with less than 50/50 fruit to sugar unless you use pectin.

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  4. I really like your log shed and outbuildings. So airy and convenient to get to and fro on windy days like today Anne. You never have enough sheds on a smallholding do you?

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    1. We still don't have enough Dave, we have built the straw bale shed as well, used today for the first time for a friends new bird that we have picked up for her. We could really do with a fuel shed the other end of the cottage nearer the kitchen door but there would be no where to build one.
      The wind seems to have calmed down a little now but the rain has been very heavy.

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  5. Okay, I have an unfair advantage, I live in Florida. But my neighbor and I improvised with our neighbor's citrus and did a marmalade with a 50/50 mix of lemons and oranges. The result was a bit watery, we suspect because of the acid lemon, but it was so tasty we did not care. It really is amazing how easy it is make good marmalade, you wonder why anybody would spend so much money on it at the store.
    Could you do anything useful with the mink's skin? Seems like it owes you at least a warm collar for the damage to your flock.

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    1. I wouldnt want it around my neck, id want to chew it for all the damage it did. It should be skinned only so that even dead it still suffers. So Simon can swear at it as he pulls the skin off and tans it. It should live in purgatory. Those poor chookies that gave of themselves for the good of many. Can you tell i hold a grudge really well.

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    2. Ooh, Rob just said to skin it and put it in one of the nests for the chooks to poop on. He also said to make a little bag to warm something naughty. MEN!!!!

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    4. I love the idea of giving it to the hens to poop on Lynda, and yes, I also hold a grudge to things that kill our birds.

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    5. Hello Amanda and welcome. I'm not sure using the lemons would have stopped a good set, there are recipes for three fruit marmalade, orange, lemons and grapefruit. I use two lemon to 4.4lbs of oranges. One recipe I have come across uses 7ozs of cooking apple to 2.2lb of oranges I guess because apples are high in natural pectin. I agree homemade is light years ahead of the shop bought stuff.
      I know I should do something with the mink skin but I would not wear it, maybe make a toy for the cats!
      I love the sampler you have done, I will have a closer look at your blog when I get a moment.

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  6. Your marmalade looks lovely Anne, I will definitely be making more now I know how easy it is. So much nicer than shop bought.

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  7. Yes Chickpea, it is easy and in fact I miscalculated the cost, it works out to just under 75 cents per 1lb jar.

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  8. Looking forward to meeting Meg. She looks a right cutie! Started me second batch of marmalade today. Lovely juicy oranges.

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    1. Meg is a real sweetie, you will love her. I still have one lot of fresh oranges to do and enough jars, the two lots in the freezer will have to wait until I have more jars.

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  9. This post has me and Jason cooing over Meg, so cute! Jam looks delicious, what a bargain too. Is it something you could sell at one of the fair or is it just for you to enjoy?

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  10. Yes, we could sell it at the fairs, I know marmalade sells well, my problem is lack of jars, I can buy jars but the only ones in the village are the 12 oz ones, also we are now at the end of the season for the Seville oranges so I might have left it a bit late. There will still be marmalade for you two when you come.
    Meg is a sweetheart, so willing to please.

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