Thursday, December 24, 2015

Summer Pudding, Christmas Eve 2015

It's well and truly berry season. Everything is early this year due to the warm and very dry ( drought) Spring perhaps. I have been picking raspberries, loganberries, blueberries, strawberries, jostaberries and gooseberries. I have always wanted to try making a Summer Pudding when we had fresh fruit so yesterday I actually got around to doing it.
I forgot to take a photo last night before we had our first try so this is a close up of the remainder this morning. It was pretty easy to make. Heat the berries in half a cup of water with a quarter cup of caster  sugar. Line a bowl or cgame nation er with some slices of bread, crusts taken off and the edges soaked in the berry juice so that they join together. Pour the fruit in. Cover with more soaked bread. Cover with plastic wrap then weight it down with a couple of tins and refrigerate. Easy and delicious!  Merry Christmas everyone!

Thursday, December 10, 2015

It's Summer in the Patch. Thursday December 10 2015

The gusty winds of yesterday have died down and the sun is shining after a few drops of rain this morning. It has been the driest Spring I have ever seen here so regular watering had to start early this year. The farm irrigators were switched on in early October which is really unusual so we just have to hope our reserves of water in the dams and river are enough to keep the dairy herd going until the Autumn rains.
Meanwhile in the patch, it is all go....or rather ...grow! 


The berries seem to have starting ripening earlier this year so I have already started picking raspberries, strawberries, loganberries and even the odd blueberry in the last couple of weeks.


It looks like I am going to get my best Jostaberry crop yet. This cross between a gooseberry and blackcurrant makes a delicious jam. It is a bit sour to eat fresh unless you wait until the berry is really black. The hard pruning I gave the bush a couple of years ago seems to have done the trick in boosting the crop. Last year I only got a handful of berries but last night picked that amount in a few minutes and there are plenty more to come. There is even a self sown Jostaberry near the chook shed which has fruit on it. As that one is not netted, the birds might get those ones though.