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... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...
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Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 18 1:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

For Mistress Rose

Karinshu (Japanese Quince Liqueur) Recipe

karin (Japanese quince): 1kg
35% shochu ‘white liquor’: 1.8 liter
sugar: 300g to 1kg

Rice shochu (komejochu) is recommended, mugi (wheat) or imo (sweet potato) have too strong a taste. Vodka is an acceptable substitute. Normal shochu for drinking is 25% alcohol, 35% is required for making Japanese style liqueur because after steeping the alcohol content must be around 15% to prevent spoilage.

Wash karin with hot water and wipe well on dry towel.
Cut fruit into slices 1cm in thickness. Do not discard seeds, they are nutritious.
Layer karin slices and sugar in non-reactive container (preferably glass)
Pour in shochu into container and seal.
After 6 months, remove karin fruit.
Allow to age for another 6 months.

https://kyotofoodie.com/karinshu-japanese-quince-liqueur/
March 7th, 2009 by Kyoto Foodie

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sun Nov 04, 18 8:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Thank you Jam Lady. I have never heard of shochu; but will see if it available in the UK. I usually use brandy and find the quince absorbs any 'roughness' from it and the result is lovely. I haven't make quince vodka either, so may give it a go.

gz



Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8576
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 18 9:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've made Japanese Quince vodka...smooth, strong, very good flavour

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 18 7:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Perhaps I will try that. Vodka isn't a thing I have really tried.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 18 2:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I am glad you are feeling better, MR., don't rush back to hard work too soon.
I'm back in circulation after an interesting weekend. Very pleasant; my idea of fun if I am honest. Christmas will be different there will be 3 minors there to be entertained; the boy needing most, and has to be "doing" all the time and I am getting too old to get up off the carpet, I want to sit at the table where I will be half up way already!
We went to a firework display in the local village, for an hour and had dinner in the daughter's house, a new build, in a village where I lived for a few years in the early 80's. (I had 7 acres of upland land, let to a local farmer). Left to get married, and regretted it in the end. I think they did the do well-no bonfire-so much less dangerous.

We didn't see my friends' other child and his wife they were at a party for a friend's boy. They will be around at Christmas. Their boy is a demanding boy and I seem to be charged with playing with him as a bit of respite for others! We 'do' Leggo. He has a low attention threshold and can be quite violent with his toys. He is expecting to inherit my Hornby Dublo 3 rail, but I don't think it will survive very long, so I'm planning on selling it sooner rather than later whilst it still has value. There is around 400 ft of track, 200 trucks, 80 coaches and around 30 locomotives. I made some stations and so on, with airfix being the provider of most of the lineside 'stuff'. I will sell my Dinky toys as well, 30-40 of those left, mainly of the farming types, but I will keep the army and agricultural vehicles, the cars can go!

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Wed Nov 07, 18 7:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I managed to do some more log sacks yesterday Gregotyn, and am feeling a lot better thanks. I thought you had gone to friends for the weekend, and glad you had a good time.

We have some 3 rail Hornby Dubly too, but not as much as you by the sounds of it. It doesn't sound like the sort of thing for your friends child at the moment if they are likely to wreck it; hopefully he will improve as he gets older and be able to channel his energy more. In the meantime, you may be better to sell it and your Dinky toys.

I was admiring the beautiful leaf colours yesterday, but we have had rather a wild night, so afraid most of the leaves will be on the ground now.

The quince jelly I made on Monday has set, although I was afraid it wasn't going to at one stage. Made 51/2lbs and a glorious colour.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 18 7:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Today was very wet and rather windy, and son had the day off, so husband and I took our time doing the shopping. I managed to get the quince brandy going in the evening which meant getting rid of the last lot from the jar, changing the lid seal and cutting up the quinces. The last lot wasn't too good, but I had very few quinces last year and used a mixture of the old ones and some new, so hoping this years will be good.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 18 2:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It is this last w/e that I went to Bridgnorth. The boy will certainly wreck the train if he has it too soon, which is why I want to sell it and give him the money that way when I visit I won't see the state of the train and its diminishing value. I was surprised by the student lad at work telling me how much it is making-I thought I would be selling to a dull market, but not so. I will get it out and assess it, to see how much of it works. I have a few rarities in the oil tankers. I have to find some spare tyres for the Dinky toy armoured personnel carrier I bought, it really needs all 6 but I can manage with 4. I paid about £6 for a quite good clean model but with duff tyres-a fool and his money etc.

Our leaves have done their utmost to fall this last 3 days. I wish now I had built a suitable container for compost and scraped them off the top of my garage-they are about 5in deep! It won't happen next year as the tree will be "harvested"-it has started to grow towards the wall of the house so it has to go!

Best of luck with the brandy, the test will come next year some time I expect or is this for the festivities?

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 18 8:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

You may still make money on the Dinky toys Gregotyn; if they are old ones, they are probably worth more than you paid for them even a few years ago.

We have lost a lot of the leaves over the weekend, which is rather sad as they were lovely. There is still a lot of colour, but the trees are looking a lot thinner than they did.

I have read that the best leaf mould is made by putting the leaves in rubble sacks and they break down really well. Might be worth a try if you have so many. I should try that as we have enough in the garden, let alone the woods. I was trying to knock some of them off the log store yesterday, and there is already a good coating on the ground each side.

Made a load more log sacks yesterday, husband and son delivered 10 and there are 20 more to go today as well as 10 extras in store. I have to keep making them now as they will be going pretty fast I am sure if the weather is bad.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 18 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The place to sell toys is in your neck of the woods MR-well the South East they say. But I don't know where the best prices are to be found. I don't know many people now who still have their model Dinky any Hornby OO trains from childhood.

When you say rubble sacks is that those really big bags that we call dumpy sacks round here sort of big with four lifting straps? The sort of thing they put sand or gravel in for builders and fertiliser for farmers. My neighbours collect sawdust from a mill in those and then re-bag it into smaller bags and sell to horsey folks, like themselves, but their feet are on the ground as they are not rich! They entertained me for my birthday, with a present of new wellingtons the thick heavy soled type by Dunlop. They will, I expect, see me out as it has taken me 30 years to get through the first 2 pairs! I feed the nags and cats when they go away, her mother has the dog! But they keep an eye open for me when they are about-which I appreciate.

I am doing the anti-freeze in the tractor tomorrow. It needs to be checked, as the stuff in there is still blue but been in it for around 10 years, so should need checking at least. I am not very mechanical so the friend will come and supervise-and hopefully do the job for me; I bought the tester kit from work for the process!

I expect you to be having a lot of log orders, MR, as the weather is changing rapidly up here to wet and cold with several frosts last and this week, I got a good store of defrost spray in last year and it came in handy. Certainly the kindling is flying off the shelves at last, which is pleasing, having been slow so far this season, I usually catch the last of the weekenders, but they are over now. My neighbour is hoping to do some logging soon for himself, he favours larch and oak mixed, but he has been burning some spruce which is only really suited to enclosed fires, his is an open fire!

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sat Nov 10, 18 7:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I think the prices for most things are higher in south east England, and even higher in London. It is well known in our business that taking stuff to London, even with transport costs is frequently worth while.

No, I didn't mean fertiliser sacks; I meant thick rubbish sacks. I think you just make a few small holes in them to let out any wetness and let the worms in. Put in a quiet corner somewhere and let it rot. Tell neighbours which corner you put them in in case you forget.

We are working our way through our orders quite well now, but still refusing new customers at the moment, although that may change. We had a flurry of activity through August and September as people realised summer was coming to an end, but it is steady at the moment. Most of our regulars have had at least one load, so they are happy for the year, but we may have some come back to us later. We have one that has already booked 3 more loads, and one who has had 16 loads to cover 2-3 houses as their main heating.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Sat Nov 10, 18 10:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I will attack the leaves tomorrow. I'll make a scraper to get them off the roof today. We don't have thick rubbish sacks this way it is all sent in containers and separated into its recyclable bits first by the householder. I will think of something to put the leaves into to make the compost. Telling the neighbours is a good idea as they do watch over me-luckily!

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sat Nov 10, 18 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Four pallets stood on end and wired together make a compost bin. So does plastic coated fencing wire in a circle, with two or three metal fence posts to stabilize it.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sun Nov 11, 18 12:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We can still get thick plastic sacks round here even through we have wheelie bins for rubbish and recycling and a box for bottles.

Yes, you are right Jam Lady; anything like that makes a good compost bin. I will see what I can do this year, although the first thing we need to do is remake the raised beds as they are falling apart. We used oak, but some of it was sapwood, and even oak doesn't last forever.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Nov 13, 18 2:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Pallets are my "thing", I do a lot of my firewood from pallets and want only the driest and straightest grain for the job, it makes the hand chopping easier. So I select 4 pallets, four feet square-(1.2 m square) and wire them together; do I need a base and lid-solid or slatted covered in polythene? I funnily enough gathered a lot of plasic coated wire a few weeks ago at work-something arrived with it held together by green wire I scraped the roof on Sunday morning and have a large pile to transport to a suitable place. The weather was such that leaves on trees now are a much less, but those left look wonderful-a sign winter is upon us even though the weather today is lovely and sunny, if a little cool. I am not wearing a jacket yet.

I would have thought that oak was preferable to soft wood however well treated. My former neighbour used to do veg in 2 raised beds that I made for them over 20 years ago, and they are only now showing their age and starting to rot, and all with no treatment. I still have quite a lot of that timber left. If I get round to finishing the kindling early and have enough stock for 3 months I may just start a set of raised beds for me, about time I did a bit of gardening again. I did spuds, tomatoes and beans when I lived under the barn. Time to start again. I am planning on retiring soon-12 months max- and want to knock my place into shape and get rid of all my scrap. I want a small bungalow with a suitable veg patch, garage and workshop and I will be happy for the rest of my days.

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