Pumpkin Jam

I've made pumpkin jam twice now and I quite like it. I have plenty of jars worth to last untill next Halloween!
I've followed the same recipe both times but both times I've had completely different results.

The one on the left is the newest batch and the bit on the right is the last batch. The first batch I made (right) looks like melted toffee or caramel but is very thick textured, I mashed it all and it does not have any large bits. The new batch is very runny but tastes exactly the same. It's quite strange.

I hope that I haven't forgot to do something and if you know why my pumpkin jam tastes the same but looks different I'd be very greatful.

Would love to hear from you!

Martin

Happy Halloween

Today I was back at school for the first time after half term. It was quite a good day and the assembly we had was all about halloween which was quite cool. I don't usually make a masiinve hype over halloween but this year has been great. With lots of inspiration from various blogs and forums a pumpkin is not just for carving it is for soup and jams. I made lots of them today with the flesh I scooped from the inside.

Doesn't look tasty does it! The first one is the jam and the second is the soup. It looks better now and is stored in the fridge. However these days I can't get much into the fridge it is full of preserves and homemade lemonade etc. Take a look for yourself. This is now my half of the fridge.

So I bet you are wondering what I did with the main part of the pumpkin well I put this scary man onto it.

Sorry it's short but Happy Halloween.
Martin

Runny Preserves

Today I got up early again and because I had a teacher training day decided to make some jam, curd and lemonade. First of all I made some Pineapple Jam, next time I make it then I'll try to do some step by steps for you all to see. The pineapple jam is very thin and quite runny but tastes delicious, not bad for a first attempt at this type of jam. After I made 3 pots of this I then made 4 jars of lemon curd, it was really runny at first and it made me quite dissapointed but then after an hour in the fridge it is perfect, so that has made me smile today.
After the curd making I checked for eggs and Lesley did not fail to provide an egg, which was great. We've had 3 from her in the last 3 days.
After making the curd I still had 3 lemons left so I made some bitter lemonade, this was another thing I made for the first time today. It is absolutely delicious even though it is not fully finished even yet.
With all this cooking I took the time to use my oven glove and wooden spoon my mum and brother brought me back from Disneyland they are really cool and brighten up the kitchen.

I hope you will join me tomorrow for the blog halloween special. I'll be carving a pumpkin for the omlet competition and hopefully making some soup/jam/both with the flesh I will not need.
Although it was a teacher training day I did take the opportunity to catch up with some coursework ready for the new half term which starts tomorrow.
Just a quick note that since this blog has started Carly has laid 3 eggs and Lesley has laid 5!

Thanks for reading,
Martin

An extra hour does go a long way.

Today I woke up at about 9.26am and was then thinking I was washing the eglus at about 10.30am! WRONG I was up at 8.26am and was washing the eglus at 9.30am! I had remembered that the clocks had gone back an hour but had presumed my Mum or Dad would have already turned back all the clocks, I was wrong again. I suppose I'm the most casual chicken cleaner in the U.K wearing a pair of Jeff Banks jeans to do the cleaning, those Jeans are slighly more dirty than before now, and I think my Mum has washed them, which is good.

When I was cleaning the eglu I used the hose because althoug cleaning an eglu is very easy doing it this way is even easier! It took me about an hour to power wash and waterlog the garden, and of course chang ethe bedding in the rablu, give the chickens a wash and a few treats. Whilst I cleaned out the eglu and rablu he cleaned out his rabbits which are in the wooden hutches at the side of the house. Whilst I was cleaning Sean took this picture of me washing the rablu.

I think the eglus and rablus are looking even better than on 18th May when the eglu arrived and 12th August when the rablu arrived. They are so clean and are shining in the sun.

You may be able to see on the picture above that the eglu door is closed, I did this whilst I hosed the roosting bars and laying area, but I forgot to open it again afterwards and about an hour later I returned to a huge crater in the middle of the run which Lelsey had made. Maybe she wanted to lay again? (A plus of taking the clocks back is that I should get an egg from Lesley at about 9am like I did today and not 10.30am!

I let the chooks free-range until about 3pm when I went out to my Aunties, they love scratching around the garden but sometimes it can get on my Mums nerves when they poo on the step or scratch up the flowerbeds. They didn't do too much damage which is quite surprising seeing as the ground was very damp.

When I arrived at my Aunties house my cousins were preparing for a Halloween Party they had been invited to so they were not looking their best but were still a perfect picture standing next to their pink rablu. You can see all 3 rabbits huddles up at the front of the run.

This picture is currently my Desktop Background.
They left for the party and my aunty cooked my brother and I a spicy free-range chicken pizza! Very impressive, especially from Marks and Spencers.
When I came home I continued my Technology Coursework and produced a birdhouse made out of card. When it is made properly it will be made out of wood and plastic. Their will be a plastic arc on the top and this is based on the eglu.

I've had a good day and tomorrow is a teacher training day. I'll be making some lemon curd and pineapple jam.
Just off to read Kooringas blog and then off to do more coursework.

Goodnight
Martin

Capital of Culture "My A**e"

That's what the banner read as I entered Liverpool City today, driving past the burnt down and battered houses. Some people have the idea that all of Liverpool is like that, if it was why would it be European Capital of Culture?

The reason I was in Liverpool was because I was travelling to Anfield to watch the "unbeatable" Villa take on the once mighty reds. It was very tiring and unfortunately Villa fell to a 3-1 defeat.

I'm very tired so that's it for my blog today, just letting you know. Enjoy the pictures!

Thanks for reading,
Martin

Match Sh0t

My scouse Bichon Friese wearing a Villa Scarf

You'll NEVER Walk Alone

Break Away

I've just got home from my trip to St.Ives in Cornwall. I stayed there in a challet from Monday to Friday and I had a really good time. The weather was very good for us most of the time but on Wednesday it was gale force winds and heavy rain.

I'm going to start todays posting by looking back at last Saturday, 21st October. I had been staying at my Nans house whilst my Mum and brother were in Disneyland. I woke them up early to go to the local Farmers Market. I took them and one of my school friends for the first time and I think they really enjoyed it! Everybody bought something and it was really good to get out and breathe in the morning air.

I took a picture of what we bought, the pumpkin you can see is still downstairs and ready to be turned into Jam and Soup!

The apples were made into an Apple pie, and the soup is in the freezer I think!

Saturday afternoon normally means football. As it did on the 21st. Villa were at home to Fulham and we remained unbeaten, by scraping a 1-1 draw to take a point. I got a few photos but this is probably my favourite.

In the background you can see (from left to right) Ridgewell,Barry, Davis, Baros and Mellberg.

Tomorrow I'm off to Anfield to watch Villa take on Liverpool and hopefully take a point or three.

Anyhow I'm sure you are bored of the football! Next topic- Cornwall.

It's a very nice place to visit, but I think that if you go for a week you would struggle to find much to do. There are many enjoyable sights and experiences but most things only take half-a-day max to look around them. The first day was mainly travelling and cornish pasties. However the second day was very exciting. I'd always wanted to go to visit the Eden Project, and I was very pleased to take up the opportunity. I think we'd gone a little late in the season, and some of the fruits had already fallen and they were beggining to plant the bulbs for next year however there were still some fascinating things on show. I would not have believed that the loacation of the project is infact a former quarry site. This is the first picture taken. It shows my brother and I above the biodomes.

This next one is very original but one of my favourites.

Inside the Tropics biodome I was fascinated at the wonderful crop of all the chillis, I couldn't resist taking a picture of this one it was over 30cm long! It definately puts my ones to shame!

I think the photo I took inside the warm temperate biodomes deserves a place in their guide or even a cornwall brochure it's fascinating! At least it can prove my photography skills are getting better.

On Wednesday it was a hidious day, we took a trip to lands end and it was not a wise move. The weather was so grim it really did put a downer on the day. I also thought it was a rip off that they charge you about £20 to complete and take part in the activities and experiences. It was very expensive and I wouldn't go again really.

This photo is of Sean and I standing approximately 850 miles away from John O'Groats.

Yesterday I managed to fulfil a long time ambition. I went to the National Seal Sanctuary, it was amazing but a bit of a walk. I loved seeing all the seals and sealions rehabilitating so that they can eventually return to the wild, where they belong! I took many photos, far two many to post on the blog so I have chosen two random ones. One of a sealion which was rescued from a zoo and is now getting ready to either move to another sanctuary or in with the other sealions. The other is of a common seal which is almost ready to go back into the wild.

Sealion(above)

Seal(above)

Well that is almost it, it has taken me well over half an hour to sort out todays posting, so I'm just about to pop downstairs for some tea. Although the clever girls must have knew I was coming back today and they wanted to impress me.....

Clever girls.

I think it's Lesley 3 - 2 Carly, something like that I'll confirm tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and have a nice weekend,

Martin

The starting of a real blog.

Today I have the feeling that this is going to be the real start of my blog. I now have pictures to share, and more to talk about! I've had a very relaxing day, I was sent home slightly ill from school at about 9am, because I was burning up and started to feel feint, I waited for about 2 hours for my Mum to pick me up, because she was working in Birmingham. So at the moment I'm very tired, but excited to tell you about my day.

So after I got sent home, I began to read my book based on the popular BBC series "Dragons Den", It's all about how to set up your own business and all that kind of stuff, it's very interesting. Talking of books, I bought "The Big Allotment Book" (something like that) today using my WHSmiths gift cards I got for my birthday, I also bough a game for my playstation!

After my Nan picked up my brother from school she came around for a cup of tea, and a slice of the homemade cake I recieved from Dave the day before. This is when I let the chickens out to free-range. I have problems with letting the girls out before 4o'clock because that is the time Carly usually lays, so if she is out and about in the garden she hides the eggs from us or Jess, my dog gets to them first. I gave them some corn and I managed to take some pictures of them running after me with the corn bag. At the time the pictures were take it was very windy, that explains the weird feather formations!



For those of you that didn't know Lesley is the Ginger one and Carly is the black one! Carly's feathers look amazing in both of these pictures.



I thought I'd let you see a picture of me, my brother took this whilst I was giving Carly a quick check over.




Whilst out in the garden with the chooks I checked up on my confused chillis. One of them is almost bright red now! It should be ready for harvesting tommorrow. It should make a fiery edition to my next batch of homemade soup.




After finding a recipe for both Pumpkin Jam and Pumpkin soup I gave them both a go this evening and they were both devine. I made 5 full jars of pumpkin goodness. 3 of which were soup, and the other 2 a fiery jam. Most importantly my Mum, Dad, Brother and I all agreed they tasted marvelous. I tried to get every sing last bit of soup and jam from their pans, there is no point wasting anything that delicious.
I took a before and after picture(s). The first one is of all the ingredients I had to use during the process of making both products.



It was a very good recipe, but a chef never tells his recipes. So sorry if I dissapointed you.
Here is a picture of the final product (after)!


....and errmm.... well, alot of washing up is called for!




They're both amazingly tasty and I hope to distribute them amongst my family this weekend along with any eggs, homemade bread, lemon or orange curds.

I hope you enjoyed todays account,
Goodnight,
Martin

Still NO Photos

No eggs again today! Silly chickens, it's definately the winter weather in my opinion, and Carly seems to be going through another mini moult! The second this year, she shreds huge amounts of feathers all of the garden and then goes back into her usual form of egg production!

I recieved a lovely home made cake from one of my Nan's friends today and it was really tasty, and I also got another £15 in Birthday Money towards my eglu fund!

I'm now up to £82.87 in my eglu fund which is very good, hopefully I'll have a mk2 soon.

I'd also like to thank everybody for the Birthday Wishes I recieved.

Unfortunately I still haven't managed to work out how to upload photos from camera to computer. Hopefully Tomorrow!

Thanks for reading,
Martin

Happy Birthday to me!

I did say I'd have photos on today but unfortunately the camera has to charge for awhile! I've had a great day, but I've been really busy. I got loads of presents including endless football shirts and £50 towards my eglu fund!

Eglu Fund - £67.87

The chickens forgot it was my Birthday so they decided not to lay me any eggs.

However some good news is that the letter I wrote to the Town Clerk was in the post box at 8.05 am as I passed it on the way to school! Hopefully I'll be able to get my allotment soon, when I do get my allotment the blog will also be much more interesting.

Another "confused" (very very late) chilli is almost ready for harvesting, and the strawberry plants need to be cut down and all the brown leaves cut off and put onto the composter.

That's just about all I can bare to write after such a tiring day!

Martin

Visit to London

Today I went on a school trip to the Houses of Parliament in London. It was a great day out, better than school anyway. I won't have my camera untill tomorrow so no pictures unfortunately.

I came home to a Lesley egg so that is:

Lesley - 1
Carly - 0

I now also have £17.83 towards my new eglu!

All the best.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

No eggs today from Lesley or Carly, I think it is the cold weather which is effecting them.

Maybe the mk2 eglu I'm saving up for may change that. Yes it's true I'm back to boring you all with my funds total. The decision to to get a new eglu came around when I desperately wanted to get a yellow eglu and one came available for sale. I was nagging both of my parents and they didn't understand why I wanted to spend so much money on just changing the colour of the eglu and not the size or mk. So Mum came up with the ingenious idea and said that I could have a brand new one for Christmas. Brilliant. But... I'm still saving up for it, because if I can buy one before Christmas it means more Christmas presents doesn't it? Well now I have a dilemma, green, blue, red, pink, orange, green or purple! If you have any advice please leave a comment!

Also I have now been promised a 3rd (I'll try and get a 4th through bribery) hen in the new year! Imagine having a 3 or 4 egg day! It would be amazing.

Today I also wrote my letter to the Town Clerk to apply for an allotment. I'm really excited that I'm going to be put on the waiting list and I just hope that it is not a long one. I don't think it is a long one round here, most people who apply in November generally have one by April. Which of course is very positive to here. When I get my allotment I may be able to get another eglu and keep some more chickens up there or maybe quail or bantams! It's very exciting.

I'm off to The Houses of Parliament on a school trip tomorrow so I won't be able to post untill late.

---Martin---

Start Again

Although I think I've been living "The Good Life" since I was born, on May 18th this year my first eglu was delivered and that was when I really did want to start a greener, more organic and maybe most importantly, active life.

I have grown various "garden" veg since I was small, these include aubergienes, strawberries, tomatos, cucumbers and this year chillis and herbs. On May 18th my second hand green mk1 eglu was delivered with 2 chickens. Both chickens are hybrids based mainly on the Rhode-Island-Red, a traditional meat and egg laying bird. Due to part laziness I never recorded the tally of eggs from the chickens, so from tomorrow October 16th I will update you with how many eggs they have laid since today everyday.

The blog will be used as a general blog, and I hope to update it every single day. I will try to allicate 10-20 minutes of my day to look at and improve this blog, most importantly posting new topics and reading your comments.

I really do hope both you and I enjoy this blog.

Sorry no photos untill Tuesday when it is my Birthday! I will then reguarlly post photos.