Saturday, December 15, 2012

The end of the world

So apparently the Mayan calender predicts that the end of the world is nigh on 21/12/12. That we are possibly expecting a cataclysmic event or annihilation; that aliens will be present to take a chosen few to a safe haven (as long as you can get to the top of a, now closed off, mountain in a little village in France).

 People have died in the name of this event, killed themselves with fear.

 One American shop owner has made huge profits in sales of 'end of the world' supply boxes, the sales of underground shelters in China has tripled!!!

BUT, maybe we are missing the point!

A conversation I had a few days ago with a teenager about the 'end of the world' on 21/12/12 led me to try to explain to her that surely 'the end of the world' is a relative theory. That somewhere as we were speaking, the world had ended for someone who had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer, who had just seen a loved one die suddenly, who couldn't put food in the mouths of their adored children who were dying of malnutrition, whose baby was born sleeping...the list is endless

Then only yesterday, too close to home for me personally as I know Newtown, 28 innocent lives were lost to a mentally unstable young man with a vendetta. Newtown was the first town that Mr Beehive and I visited when we did our 'look-see' visit back in 2005. We stopped in this beautiful, quintessential New England town partly drawn in by the view over the trees and valley and partly to get an amazing sandwich from the deli on the main street. There was a Montessori school close by that we were also visiting and it could so easily have been the place we chose to live. It IS an idyllic place, until yesterday at least. Instead we chose to live just some 12 miles away,  In one short hour, those poor babies and their carers went to school or work as normal, not to see lunchtime. The whole of Connecticut went into lockdown in the schools, parents' hearts hit the floor as the news unfolded. The world ended.

In China, a mad man entered a nursery and maimed 27 innocent babies. Their parents' dropped their children off, maybe on the way to work, to receive a very similar phone call as those parents in CT, some 6000 miles away.

A mall in Oregon saw more people killed this week.
In Syria lives are lost on a daily basis, a conflict killing thousands, mainly innocents.
Belfast appears to be returning to the days of old with car bombs and shootings.
I could go on and on and on.

President Obama has promised 'Meaningful Action' in the wake of the Newtown massacre.

Let's just hope THIS is the point.

Let's just hope that the 21/12/12 sees a coming of a NEW AGE, a new world within which free access to guns in the US is heavily restricted, where sticking plasters of enabling schools to have concealed firearms is NOT the answer.

I hope that 21/12/12 brings a dawning where people begin to understand that we are humans first and foremost, it doesn't matter what religion people are, that we can live in harmony rather than using religion as an umbrella under which to fight each other. Religion should enhance, not destroy.

21/12/12 needs to bring an era in which children are safe to cross the road, go to school, walk to the shops, be at home with their loved ones without the fear that they might be kidnapped, killed, raped, attacked.

For so many, the end of the world has already come, it has claimed all that they have known and loved within it. For the majority, that wasn't Mother Nature, or their god's doing, it was the doing of another human being - a drunk after a night out, the son of a teacher in an elementary school, their neighbour in Northern Ireland or Syria.

The end of the world theory on 21/12/12 is a wake up call. Nothing is coming to destroy us.

WE ARE DESTROYING OURSELVES!

To everyone who has lost a child/partner/sister/brother/loved one today in the awful shooting in CT I extend the hand of love and friendship to you all and know my heart bleeds with yours.




Sunday, December 09, 2012

Two weeks on and Advent day 9

Well, I have learned a lesson from our misfortune and that is how, despite feeling everything is going downhill, you can and must always try to find the positive in the negative.
Oddly this is something I always try to tell the children, particularly when they find it difficult with someone at school who is maybe not being kind or friendly towards them, but it was good for me to take an enormous spoonful of my own medicine for once!

So, we don't have a downstairs as such to live in, however, on the upside this has meant that we are eating meals together at the table all the time and this has meant that our family table has, once more, become the focus of our family and the candles and mindfulness that this is bringing back into my approach is warming me greatly.
It means that the children are crafting more and we have gone out this weekend as a family as we can't really sit in the house for long periods.

It has also given us a blank canvas to start again on the home that we are creating, this time we will be able to do the things we had wanted to do initially but time and money to an extent, were in the way. We will put down a proper wooden floor rather than laminate, the ghastly attempt at Tuscanesque/1950's pub plasterwork, will now become clean white, flat plaster, that just shows the leans and bends in the quirkiness of the house, rather than looking like a rather grim attempt to plaster when inebriated. The rug that I loved so much from the USA, will now be replaced by a very traditional braided Blue Mountain rug that really screams USA to me and we 'may' take the fact we're in a mess to get the black beams stripped back as
NOT our house, but wouldn't that be nice....just the rug I want
well...but I may have to work on Mr Beehive for that!

We may not have a tree or decorations in the house this year, but we went on the train early this morning to try to lift our spirits and get in the festive mood. We decided to visit the Birmingham-Frankfurt Christmas market.
007, eat ya heart out!
It was Mr Beehive's birthday yesterday and, given that we'd spent the day taxi-ing the boys and the Little Miss here there and everywhere (including Master Beehive the elder's first ball  - yeah, tux and a small tear, my boy, growing up so fast!), we decided that today was daddy's day and we'd spoil him with Gluhwein and Bratwursts!



Little Miss bought him a gorgeous snowflake candle spinning decoration. Many years ago my grandmother had one with cherubs on it that she would (or rather I would) put out on the mantelpiece each Christmas and it was the highlight of my days after school, to run home and fight with my sister to be the one to light it. As the heat rose from the candles it spun around making a cute ting, ting as it hit the little bell. When she died I think it went to my sister (I was sad!) but somehow we managed to find an identical one, so I now have that one and there is this little one for Mr Beehive too. He also bought a wonderful wooden carousel that does the same, only it is wood and has little figures. We won't be using it this Christmas, but it'll look lovely in our 'renovated' home next year!
So here are some photos of our day


So much candy, so little time!


.

I hope you're getting in the spirit of Advent, Christmas, Yule!

Monday, December 03, 2012

Update

Just a quick update on life in the Beehive.
We are feeling a little like the Borrowers at the moment - only we are the family living upstairs!

It appears - due to Mr Beehive's diligence and perseverance rather than any help from the Water board, that the issue was caused by a Storm drain that was blocked. This then caused a backup of water that of course found our well as the only escape route - that in turn was then bulging to capacity and presumably spilling out into any possible areas, and that may be over the top of our damp proofing and in under the floorboards in the den and flooding out onto the lower level hall and lounge.

So where does that leave us:

after many nights of worry and potential costs building and thoughts of neighbourhood wars, as one thought we had had was that our neighbours had recently pneumatic drilled up their cement front garden and could they have cracked a pipe. They aren't planning on staying, they buy, renovate and move on, would they want this issue, would they care...oh it's amazing what you can think at 2am.

Fortunately (there are great reasons to being married to a man with a law degree!) Mr Beehive had all our drains checked out and they were clear and now we knew one pipe ran under next door before heading to the storm drain. So, he checked out liability etc and apparently since 1st October 2011, if a drain that feeds to a sewer (storm drain - not private drain off your roof to a soakaway), runs under more than one property then it is the responsibility of the water board, even if that storm drain is on private land! So, hooray!

As it happens, the water board this time, once Mr Beehive told them that the storm drain had caused a flood in our living area, were out like a shot - 20 minutes after being called on the phone - I mean...bloody hell, you can't even get fast food that fast!

They confirmed what we thought - however, they were not going to completely hold up their hands, no, apparently as the storm drain in question is on the road - it 'may' be the Highways agency's responsiblity - so watch this space as I fear this could be a niggle between them both for a few more weeks yet.

The rest of it is much as it was - black, smelly, just a shell.

Things are moving slowly.
A skip is coming on Wednesday to take away the destroyed wood and furniture and carpets.
Loss adjusters have agreed to all of it, but not settled - so we have to see what happens there.

Still, after falling down the last four steps on Sunday afternoon and having a damn good cry, I feel more up beat this week and am even taking the kids and Mr Beehive to the German Christmas market in Brum at the weekend - The Gluwein might still kick some Christmas spirit in me yet!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Flood





Not what we were expecting at 4am on Sunday morning 4 weeks before Christmas.
I can't blog right now as there are a lot of emotions whizzing around and I'm struggling with perspective.
I'll be back at some point

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Birthdays and Birthday Traditions


 Today has been LMB's eighth birthday and I thought I'd share a few pictures of her day and of the traditions we have as a family.

She has been incredibly excited about her birthday this year, more than I have remembered her being in the past. This culminated in her bringing her dad and me a cup of tea and coffee in bed at 12am this morning, thinking it was time to get up and open her presents (softening the blow!) We didn't get up then, just in case you were wondering (in fact, I'm afraid we didn't even drink the tea or coffee!). Six hours later and she was snuggled in with us, I would like to say she was soon sound asleep again, but sadly, she was keen to play footsie with me to remind me of her presence (and presents!), whisper loudly to ask what time it was 30 seconds after asking before, roll around a lot and play with my hair. By 6.40 the dog had joined in, so we gave it up as a bad job...the coffee was reheated and the day began!

 I think we had perhaps caused some of her restlessness in the night by sneaking in to remove her old desk that came from the underneath of my sister's cabin bed and exchange it for this absolutely gorgeous old writing desk. Yes, we removed a 30 year old cabin bed desk and replaced it with a 50+ year old writing desk...it's character ;-) She loves to write and draw and all authors and illustrators need a beautiful desk with a story of its own in order to get the creative juices flowing. Her chair was just lost before, as was the beauty of her little room...now, it just sings with joy, just like its owner!

We always set up the table on birthday mornings with the birthday ring, the crown and, for her, the Rainbow Bridge story book that we read each year. These traditions, particularly for her, stem back to her days in the Steiner Waldorf toddler community and we love them so much, we have kept them as part of our traditions ever since. The Rainbow Bridge is an adaptable story that we tell each year, adding the most current year. There are adaptations of the tale on the internet, but this one explains it most beautifully I feel. 
For us it connects the meaning of a birthday with birth and life rather than just it being a day for presents and lots of sugar (although there is usually that too!). It's a nice reminder to them of the day they were born and what has happened in their lives to date.

We have also always used a wooden birthday ring. I love the simplicity of them, but they also have an added bonus that when the child blows out their candles, there is less likelihood of the latest cold going home in the party bag alongside a slice of cake !!
They can be as elaborate or simple as you like. Ours is a relatively simple one. We have the number the child has reached, the moon on one side and the sun on the other to represent the world. We have two bees...do I really need to explain that? and we buy a new figure each year either chosen by the child or to go with the theme of the party. This year our new figure was a pink flamingo...the theme being....


Alice in Wonderland!

 





An awesome Mad Hatter !



















Not only was today a celebration for the smallest of us, but Master Beehive the younger won a silver medal today in his age group in Tae Kwon Do. We were just so pleased he had decided to take the plunge and enter the competition on the advice of his TKD teacher. What a proud mama !








Do you have any birthday traditions? If you do, please let me know!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Pumpkins...



Today's flower arrangement, seeing what I could
do with a bunch of Tesco's flowers and what was
in the garden.
Well, after yesterday, pumpkins are no longer the good ol' jack o' lantern in our house, although I am being pushed to create this weekend!

A pumpkin is now a vase for Halloween and harvest flowers. The innards are pumpkin and chilli bread and pumpkin cake and pumpkin pie (recipes below)! Oh and the chickens had the seeds - although I have been known to roast those with salt in the past, but it is rather like eating cardboard, however good they might be for you.

So sharing some recipes today so that you have things to do with the middle of your pumpkins!

Pumpkin and Chilli Bread:

  • 120floz warm water with one tablespoon of good quality yeast (leave to activate for around 20 mins before using)
  • Around 6oz of pureed pumpkin (I just let mine soften with a little water in a pan, then puree with my hand blender)
  • 9oz wholemeal bread flour
  • 9oz white bread flour
  • tsp of salt
  • 1 chilli chopped finely and de-seeded.
  • oil for your bowl for proving and for the baking tray.
  • spray mister with water in.

So, my bread has never been the biggest success in my life, but that is probably because I am impatient with it. It needs time to rise and be kneaded and prove again before you even entertain the idea of showing it the oven. The oven also needs to be hot around 200c and the bread (according to the lovely Mr Hollywood) is better wet on the outside - hence the spray mister (you can alternatively mist your oven throughout the cooking process)

So let's see:

Your yeast needs to activate.
Whilst you're waiting, weigh out your flours and put them into a bowl with the salt and the chopped chilli.
Just before your start to blend it altogether, put the pumpkin into the bowl and gradually add the warm water/activated yeast mix.

Now, the more you knead, the better your bread.
This is not a quick bread to do, it will take at least 3-4 hours with rising times.

Knead it altogether, knock it out onto a floured work surface and knead until it becomes elastic. This can be 20 plus minutes of anger management therapy and is MUCH cheaper!

You'll also find that the better kneaded it is, the shinier the surface of the bread becomes (obv. using wholemeal there will still be a little grainy effect)

Put oil in your bowl, then put your bread mix back into it, cover with a clean tea towel and leave it to stand for at least an hour or until it's doubled in size. Now, it may be quicker than that, mine rose fast this morning because I left it on the back of the stove whilst the oven was on, so it was warm.

You will need to knock it out again after the first rise.
Then put it back in the bowl and leave for it to rise again.

On the second turn out, put it onto your oiled baking tray, mist well with water and pop in your hot oven for around 20 - 30mins.

To check the bread is done properly, take it out with your oven gloves, turn it upside down and knock on the bottom, if it sounds hollow, it is done.




Pumpkin Spice cake:

This is a victoria sponge style version with lemon butter cream

  • 8oz self raising flour
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 1tsp ginger and 1tsp cinnamon
  • 10oz dark muscovado sugar
  • 6oz pureed pumpkin
  • 2 large duck eggs (they are ultimately the dog's wotsits for baking over chickens- sorry girls!)
  • 125mls rapeseed or vegetable oil + oil for the parchment that lines your tin
  • around a 8inch rectangular tray-bake tin lined with parchment and then oiled.
  • oven to 180c
So, put your eggs and sugar in your mixer or if you're doing by hand, the bowl and beat until the colour changes slightly. This is SO important, it makes the difference between something you can fill your walls with and something light and fluffy to show the WI* what you're made of!, add the oil and the pumpkin and slowly mix in.

Now add your flour and baking powder by SIFTING it - again, high sifting introduces air to your mix, which gives you a lovely sponge rather than a dense brick! Add the spices and fold them in gently.

The batter is a runny batter, so don't freak out (I did!)

Pour it into your lined, oiled tin and put in the oven for around 18 - 20 mins.

Test it in the middle with a knife to see if it comes out clean.

It's lovely as is, or with custard - it's that kind of sponge, OR...

Lemon cream cheese topping:

Oh yes, guys and gals - let's send the waistline on holiday and do this in style!
You'll need:
  • Cream cheese 250mls (plain - don't go buying the stuff with chives in - it ain't pleasant!)
  • Icing sugar
  • 2 lemons juiced and zested
Put the cream cheese and lemons and zest into a bowl and stir well, gradually add sifted icing sugar.
You'll note I haven't put an amount because this is where your tasting capabilities come in!
Some cheeses are stronger than others, so you'll require more sugar or lemon. Some lemons are bigger than others, so you'll require more sugar.
You want enough so you have a tart, kick-you-in-the-pants flavour without any one thing being overpowering. So that is why you add, you taste, add some more, taste some more...you get my drift!


This is the tray bake version without the lemon cheese topping


 Pumpkin Pie 

Now, before I start, let me just tell you, Pumpkin Pie is NOT the national dish of the USA. Apple pie is! So, despite the fact that our US friends can do everything walking with pumpkins, it still has not claimed the top spot as the national dish -ha! So there you go, you don't need anything except my blog to help you win that pub quiz!
You need:
  • Pumpkin middle - cubed
  • Sugar - molasses if you like the flavour, or dark brown or muscovado, around 6oz
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 6oz butter
  • 1tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • Pastry or pie base

Okay, so you're gonna need to make up some pumpkin puree again. Of course, you can buy pumpkin puree or pie mix in the shops these days, but this blog entry was trying to help you use up the insides of all those jack o' lanterns, so you are going to make yours!

Put your pumpkin cubed into a heavy duty saucepan with some dark molasses sugar - this is quite strong, so if you prefer to use dark brown or even light muscovado, it's up to you.
Let it really gently simmer for around half and hour to 45 mins, it takes a while to soften some of the pumpkin up. Once it's softened, let it cool, then puree.

Now add the 6oz of butter, the cinnamon and the ginger and stir until the butter is melted. You don't need to boil it.

Using either a pastry dish, your own pastry or shop bought, roll out and bake the pie base.

I use shop bought - I know, I confess, I am no good with pastry - I think because I have hot hands ;-)
I put pie weights in over my greaseproof paper and then bake on 180 for around 10 - 12 mins, it won't take long because my base is generally quite thin.

Once your base is out allow it to cool a little, don't let the  pumpkin/butter mix cool completely otherwise it'll set.

Pour the mix into the base and put in the fridge to cool.

It 'should' set!

You can then either eat as is, or you can do what I'm going to do and add meringue on the top to make pumpkin meringue pie! I'll add the rest of the recipe and the pictures later as mine is currently setting in the fridge!

Enjoy!

* I realise that I mentioned the WI in a competitive way in my last post, you may be wondering if I have some thing against them, the answer is, 'no, I just lack imagination!'. 





Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Flower arranging

With luck and some trepidation I am returning to work. I think I have managed to secure a Montessori teaching job and will be returning after half term. With this in mind, I have decided that the final two weeks of the children being off school will be spent doing as many of the things I love doing as possible and learning new things too. So, with a glorious autumnal morning under my belt, I drove over to Bay Tree Cottage for a morning of Halloween and Harvest flower arranging (or floristry). 
I have NEVER, repeat, NEVER done this before and, to be honest, I think it moves me into serious WI or Margo Leadbetter categories than good old Barbara and her wellies (that's where I like to think I am anyway!) 
I was a touch nervous about going. My history of flowers and arranging is firmly embedded in the ... you buy a bunch and they're arranged in the packet, so if you're careful, you can lift them out and dump them in a vase as is and the original arrangement is barely disturbed (such a heathen!)

How wrong was I? 
Not a Margo, not even a Stepford Wife in sight (phew!) and, although I left my wellies by my back door, I wouldn't have been out of place wearing them!

This is Janet

 Janet is a florist

 She does fantastic things with flowers and pumpkins (actually any receptacle really!)

 She's rather good isn't she? This is my note taking by the way. I didn't write a thing - why would you 'write' about the flowers...all the notes you need are in the beauty of the arrangement!


This is the finished piece - isn't is wow! Look at all those colours and textures. The whole intensity of the piece, blows me away.

Okay, so the picture on the right is my starting pile!

and our pumpkins...




Starting off....
Noticing the bits that got missed!
Tweaking





  Ta Da!

So it's not quite as good as Janet's but I am thrilled with it and am going to shop for more pumpkins and other things tonight so I can make another one tomorrow!

This was all the group's efforts up for their photo shoot. I'm back left as you look at it.

Aren't they fantastic?

It was a great day, really worth the money as you'd not buy this arrangement in the shops for the course fee and now I have a skill I can reuse with a bit of oasis and some floristry wire, I will NEVER buy and dump again! Ever!


Sunday, October 07, 2012

Simple Bramble and Apple Jelly


What you will need:

Fruit - the more the better for jelly
A Maslin pan or similar large, heavy duty, flat bottomed pan
Clean and sterile jam jars or kilner jars with new seals.
Muslin cloth
A hook or someway of securing a hanging parcel of wet drippy fruit to drip into a bowl
A big bowl
String
Sugar - granulated or jam sugar (which has added pectin)
Possibly some liquid pectin
Patience.

What to do:

Cooking part I

  • Collect your fruit
  • Wash the fruit - you don’t need to be picky about taking out the stems or peeling (if you use apple too - blackberry and apple jelly is even easier as it sets so well because apples have lots of pectin in) 
  • Chuck it in a pan WITHOUT sugar at this point (this is where jam and jelly differ - if you use sugar at this point, you’ll set your jam and it won’t strain)
  • You ‘may’ need to add some water, but see how much juice comes from your berries as you gently simmer and soften them.
  • Once they’re mushy (see, not an exact science), you need to strain.

Straining

This is where a muslin cloth comes in handy - ALL mamas have muslin cloths lying around - obviously make sure it’s not a baby puke one and it’s clean wink
I use a big bowl underneath and then use a sieve to get me started.
  • Lie the muslin over the sieve and gently load in your fruit - if you have someone to help you it might be easier.
  • Once you have your fruit in the muslin you need to tie it like a Dick Whittington sack with string. Then hang it over the bowl and you can remove the sieve. There are contraptions you can buy on the market to do this, alternatively if you don’t want to put a hook in somewhere, I use the cupboard handle over my counter top - the Women’s Institute it ain’t lol!
  • Leave it to drip through for 24 hours.

This is the bit where I do often get a little disheartened as when I come down the next morning there never seems to be as much juice as I’d like for jelly, but there’s the rub. We make cider and from 20lbs of apples you can likely get around only 10pints of juice, so there’s a lot of fruit mush left over too and not so much on the juice front. Still - it’s a nice change to jam sometimes.
Right,

Cooking part II

  • Get your juice back in your pan and you need to add around the same quantity of sugar as you have juice 
  • Let it gently come to the boil, stirring continuously until the sugar has dissolved so it doesn’t crystalise. 
You can, by the way, get sugar with added pectin in it so if you want to be sure it sets, alternatively you can buy liquid pectin which I sometime just pop a quick shot in to ensure setting.
  • Let it boil gently for around half an hour - ish - you need to take the plunge here and play it by ear unless you want to go down the route of thermometers - but to me, it takes the fun out of messing about with jam making and makes it really prescriptive.
  • To test whether it’s ready you need a cold plate and a tea spoon. take a small amount out and put it on the plate, tip the plate sideways. If the jelly doesn’t budge cos it sets - then the job’s a good ‘un. If it still runs, you need to continue boiling a little longer.

Get your sterilised  jars. I sterilise mine in the dishwasher, but there are many other ways of doing it.

Now, this bit IS important - I learned the hard way.
  • Because you HAVE to put the jelly in when it is hot, otherwise it’ll set in your pan, you need to put your sterilised jars onto a tray and put them into the oven for a few minutes to warm up. This will ensure they won’t crack when you pour in the jelly.
  • Put your lids on and tighten.
It’ll then cool and set.
So, a little more laborious, but delicious for a change to jam. You can then get really clever and start doing stuff like mint jellies.  Have fun and don’t worry too much - it’s only the die hards that have made it seem so difficult. xx


* Please note that I DO NOT follow recipes and my ideas are not prescriptive, they are trial and error. The idea behind these recipes is so people can enjoy in the simplicity of making their own rather than being scared by the fear of cooking. Please take care when cooking - if you burn yourself because you are a berk and don't wear oven gloves for example, it is not my fault, it is because you are a berk and probably shouldn't be allowed in a kitchen, let alone be allowed to cook. Just be sensible!

Cider making

One of the great things about growing your own is...well, frankly...eating your own and turning your own into something particularly yummy.

Throughout the year we've happily made chutney and jams and jellies, however, our huge supply of apples this year had us a little stumped for over wintering until I had a brainwave for Mr Beehive's early birthday present...

A cider press!



It's a little gem that will squeeze the juice out of our apples so we can either store it as the most delicious juice we've ever tasted, or...better still...cider.

So Mr Beehive has doned his lumberjack shirt, not trimmed his beard and embraced the local knowledge in a neighbouring village as to the skills required to make 'zyder'. He quickly came to the conclusion, having noted the swift and happy consumption of last year's cider, commencing at 10am in the morning, that you're likely be pretty hammered whilst making cider, thus it can't be 'that hard' a task.

Having presented the 'apple day gang' with 20lbs of our own apples for a nominal fee (which probably would have been waived as the day progressed and the cider flowed), we came back home with 6 gallons of juice!

So he has spent much of the weekend turning my kitchen into a scrumping and scratting zone. We now have 3 demi johns fermenting away for next spring and a gallon and a half of juice, half is in the freezer and quarter in the fridge and the remaining quarter...well, let's just say, I always choose the job of 'quality control' I swear it's a freakin' steal!

As one of the jolly cider gang said - it's always a nice day on cider making day and belive you and me...it's been beautifully sunny. Let's hope next year yields a good quality 'Thornhill Scrumpy'.


Start with your chopped apples


Use your Black and Decker Drill to scrat the apples!
Scratting! Creates a pulp that makes the press happy!


Juicing the scratted apples and in the bucket on the left is the remaining Pomace.



Pomace leftover skin
Cider in the making - yeast to go in two and one we're experimenting to see if our apples are good for natural yeast. 




As for the rest of the weekend;

I have been on an adventure of my own up to Leicester to discover The Fabric Guild - say no more.
Master Beehive the elder and I went to Chippy to the Autumn fayre and learned how to weave...and bought a small loom...say even less
Then we went to A & E as Master Beehive hurt his finger playing in goal on Thursday and it got progressively more swollen over Friday, so by Saturday afternoon we decided to just get it checked out. I didn't think it was broken due to the fact he could move it, but a hairline fracture could have been on the cards. So, four hours later *yawn* and we went home with the same bruised finger as we went in with but my conscience duly clear.
Finally the Little Miss wanted to go to Canal Day, so we took a swift visit there over lunchtime today.
Now we could do with a weekend to recover lol! I love weekends like this!