Wulf's Webden

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1 September 2023
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Scraper

Last year I got a multitool, which was just the thing I needed to pare away some wood and create the space I needed to get in and fit a new kitchen tap. It has been a good purchase and I’ve found multiple uses for it (and the batteries, which power the chainsaw) but I’ve mainly used the serrated blade attachment.

I was recently looking over the other attachments that came with it and, today, I found a use for the scraper tool. Kev and I were taking down some plastic cladding we fitted last year to add some extra insulation and the scraper attachment worked so much better at removing the remnants of the silicon sealant than trying to pare if off with a Stanley knife.

31 August 2023
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Back Garden – August 2023

I took this photo a couple of weeks ago but there’s just time to get it posted in August:

Looking Down on the Back Garden - August 2023
Back garden – August 2023

You can’t really tell in this photo but some of the flowers seem to glow as dusk turns into night, particularly the yellow Rudbeckia, which are having a particularly fine year. In the polytunnel, the tomatoes are ramping up production and we’ve been trying to figure out what to do with so many cucumbers for over a month now! Hurrah for summer!

30 August 2023
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Pitchforks

Jane and I were out with the ‘Green Gym’ team again this morning, helping with some work near Dishley Pool. To start with, we were trimming down some of the dog roses and hawthorns — not all of them but enough to stop that growth becoming too dense a thicket and allow more light to the understorey.

Later, after the long grass had been cut using a device called an auto-scythe (a bit like a hedge trimmer but mounted horizontally near the ground), it was onto raking the cuttings into piles. That’s where the pitchforks came in, lifting the piles onto the back of a vehicle to be transferred to where they could be safely left.

Like most jobs involving lifting and moving, the best technique seems to be smaller loads which can be transferred quickly and easily rather than trying to hoik up an oversized mound. Anyway, job done and it will be interesting to visit next spring where, hopefully, a wider diversity of plants will be poking their heads up rather than just grass and the odd nettle.

29 August 2023
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Cider 2023 #2

I got my second batch of cider for the year underway yesterday. It was the same general approach as last time: chop the apples, stew them in a pot until soft, mash and strain and then bring the resulting liquid up to a gravity of about 1.050 before setting the fermentation going.

Jane chopped them up this time and was a bit more selective than me about what she included, which means the leftover pulp will be useful for other purposes. I also strained it in two stages – first in a metal colander and then through the juice bag. That meant we got both a thick pulp which can be used for pies and crumbles and also a finer puree that I’ve sealed in heat treated jars and can be used as a spread, seasoning or condiment.

I also made sure to fill the demijohn less full although the fermentation, although well-established by this morning, has been less explosive. Perhaps that was because I allowed less time for rehydrating the yeast and poured it on top of the liquid instead of the liquid on top of the yeast? The latter would oxygenate it better, fuelling the reaction. The proof will be in the end result and that won’t be ready for a few weeks in either case.

28 August 2023
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Turning Tables

I had a different woodwork project in mind for today but Jane wanted me to get on and do something about our dining room table. We bought it probably about 12-13 years ago from a place near Oxford. It is constructed from solid oak. The wood is good but the construction is a bit basic. Normally we use it as a square but you can fold it open to a rectangle… as long as you don’t mind three exposed hinges at the fold.

It is a bit large for our dining room so I finally got round to pulling my circular saw and router out. Now it is a squarish rectangle, a little less wide. The original plan was to reduce all the edges but that would mean resetting the hinges and, if it comes to that, I’d rather work out a way of putting in a better mechanism.

Edges sawed off and rounded, it looks pretty good. The job isn’t flawless. There were a couple of holes in the side, linked to how it was constructed with dowels, and that also meant a couple of blips when the bearing on the router bit dropped into them, but it works pretty well overall. Hurrah for the tools and experience acquired over the last decade or so of woodworking projects which meant it only took half a morning to get a decent result rather than all day for a poor one!

27 August 2023
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Café Live – August 2023

Since band rehearsals haven’t started up again yet, I was able to pop down to Café Live (7:30pm, fourth Sunday of the month at Sileby Methodist church). I decided to go lightweight and just took the ukulele down, with a few different ideas of what to play.

In the end, I rejected just rehashing the songs I did yesterday, not least because, by the time we got started, quite a few of the people who were at yesterday’s session at The Plough Inn had turned up. Instead, inspired by the fact Windows informed this morning that Saturn is opposition (is this something to do with it being slightly more visible than normal), I kicked off with Fly Me to the Moon and followed it up with Folsom Prison Blues.

If there had been time to do a third song, I might have gone with Free Falling and the audience might have twigged that I had been playing through the F section of the little collection of lyric and chord sheets I keep on my iPad! As it was, I passed it off as one song about space and then a second about a place with not much space.

I’ve also got one or two things to follow up from the session – watch this space for a re-write of Da Doo Ron Ron, into You Can Do One, Ron, a tale of love gone wrong!

26 August 2023
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Uke and Tuba

Having taken the double bass to the previous couple of singarounds at The Plough Inn in Thorpe Acre, I decided I’d go with the ukulele instead. Then, at the last minute, I decided to take the tuba along as well!

The tunes I led (all on uke) were Reynardine (another attempt at this British folk song), 20th Century Boy (simple glam rock although I added a couple of extra chords in the chorus) and Mona, which is great as a one chord song that everyone can join in with.

The tuba was difficult for playing along when I needed to figure out the chord progression or keep very subtle but grand for things like When the Saints Go Marching In. Root / fifth patterns with the occasional extra note and just throwing myself into it seemed to do the trick. It isn’t the ideal singaround instrument but I’ll probably take it again from time to time and try to keep progressing my skills.

24 August 2023
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Boom!

Fermenting Cider
Fermenting Cider

This is the cider I set going on the fermenting stage last night. As you can see, it has made an enthusiastic start. I’d been wondering how I could get a greater volume of liquid in my next batch but I’m now thinking about reducing it instead to give more headroom inside the demijohn.

I’ve cleaned up the outside of the demijohn and replaced the bubbler valve with a fresh one but there is no doubt that cider #1 is underway.

23 August 2023
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Cider 2023 #1

Apples seem to be ready a little earlier this year. In fact, one of our neighbours brought round a batch of windfalls a few days ago so, after ordering in some more yeast, I’ve begun this year’s round of cider making.

As last year, I’m chopping out any obviously mouldy or insect eaten bits and stewing the rest in water until soft. After mashing, that gets strained out. For the first batch I was trying to remember my method but I think for the next lot I’ll work through progressively smaller meshes so that I’m pouring a slightly cloudy liquid into the jelly bag I use to finish up.

That leaves me with a batch of juice. I check the gravity with a hydrometer and stirred in a couple of batches of caster sugar to bring the original gravity up to 1.052 (I was aiming for at least 1.050 but that was close enough). It is now in a demijohn with some yeast (pre-fermented as instructed) and starting to show signs of fermentation although not quite enough to set the bubbler valve going just yet.

We’ve had more apples in and we’ve got plenty on our tree that are starting to be ripe for harvest so I’ll have a few more batches going soon as well as other methods for preserving the fruit (including dehydrating — my favourite way to eat apples).