Sloe Gin

I  was planning to make Sloe gin this year but was quite distressed to find that my usual picking ground has been flailed and will probably not produce fruit for 2 or 3 years. Luckily however I have found an abundance of Sloes elsewhere (see photo) and I'm not going to tell anyone where they are as they are mine, all mine. In truth I will of course pick Sloes for other people as given their abundance it would be selfish not to share.

I have been making Sloe gin (and sometimes Vodka) for several years. Once the first frosts have hit  I go off  and pick the big ripe Sloes. Once at home, having eaten a restorative bacon roll I wash the Sloes, put them in a bowl and have a happy few minutes stabbing them with a fork. The traditional method to get the Sloe juice  flowing is to prick each fruit individually with a pin. I have the patience level of a two year old so prefer the fork method. Then the fun begins as the sugar and booze is added. My standard recipe is 450g fruit, an equal measure of sugar and 1.5 litres of gin or vodka. Everything goes into a sterilised demijohn which is left in a dark cool place for a year whilst the magic happens. During the first week the demijon should be shaken every other day but otherwise leave it alone and DO NOT under any circumstances be tempted to remove the bung as this may affect the final  taste. Just let nature take its course. You will be so glad you did.

I always have an excess of Sloe gin so decant it into small bottles and give it away as Christmas presents. This year I have been very lucky in finding a source of attractive but relatively cheap 100 ml bottles on ebay. People I think appreciate handmade gifts and anyway they tend to be cheaper than shop bought "stuff", so a mini hamper of my home produced booze and pickled onions (about which more anon) always goes down well.

Sloes

Making Charcoal

I do some voluntary work for the Countryside Restoration Trust at their Pierrepont Farm site in Frensham Surrey. The farm is very much a  working farm run and managed by Mike Clear, his wife Bev and their herdsman Tony Timmis. Unusually in these days of intensive farming Mike has a herd of Jersey cows. I say unusually as the milk yield from Jerseys is about 20% less than that from Fresians but the trade off is that the milk and cream is far superior to that of other breeds.

The farm includes some 20 hectares of woodland.The dominant species are Sweet Chestnut, closely followed by Silver Birch, Sycamore and Oak and the volunteer group is actively trying to manage this by coppicing and removal of the ever present Rhododendron. The coppiced wood is made into post and rails and the wood that is of little use either becomes firewood or is made into charcoal. The CRT did have a charcoal kiln that Mike, his son Patrick and I made out of an old diesel tank but it failed spectacularly when the lid warped during a burn and became an incinerator rather than a kiln. This was an emotional time and I think I invented some new expletives. We now have a shiny new furnace which has only been used twice but both burns have been successful producing very good charcoal.

Charcoal is not a recent invention and has in fact been in use for 000s of years. It is even mentioned in the Bible (John 21:1-19) and the method of production has changed very little. The basic principle of charcoal production is to extract all the water and oils from the wood in a controlled manner; shutting the kiln down by closing  off the air inlets and outlets before the dehydration becomes an actual burn.

Choosing the correct time to shut down the kiln comes with experience but as a general rule of thumb when the white smoke, which is mainly steam, starts to turn blue the wood in the kiln is burning. If left to burn the kiln when opened will contain nothing but a pile of ash so it is important the kiln is monitored.

Shooting Porn

The 'antis' have launched another so called 'campaign' designed to damage yet again the reputation of shooters and shooting. Details can be found at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/countryside/9500707/Shooting-porn-should-be-on-the-top-shelf-say-animal-rights-groups.html

This latest campaign from the animal rights tofu munching brigade is yet more evidence that they have no clue what they're talking about. They are getting totally hung up on the use of the word 'sport' in sport shooting and are not taking into account wider issues.

They cannot or will not acknowledge that shooters and shooting organisations:

1. Do a huge amount for conservation
2. Employ a vast number of people
3. Provide food

As far as #3 is concerned thanks to the likes of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall game is rapidly becoming a mainstream meat that is now available in butchers and some supermarkets. Rabbit for example is very cheap and frankly eating a rabbit that was shot in a local field is far more ethical than eating soya beans (more on this below)! In addition by shooting rabbits crops are protected. Rabbit damage costs the farming industry huge amounts of money every year. It also badly affects the planting of new trees and hedgerows that provide habitat for other wildlife.

A leading member of Animal Aid was saying on the radio recently  that it is immoral and barbaric that children should be introduced to shooting and hunting. My view is that the sooner people make the connection between plate and field the better. I get as irritated by meat eaters who say 'oooh I couldn't kill an animal' and think all meat comes from Tesco as I do by namby pamby  vegetarians who think the world should revolve round them and their so called ethics.

It struck me yesterday that whilst the veggie brigade are going on about not eating meat they are failing to recognise that vegetable and fruit production is rarely ethical as it often involves pesticides and air miles. In addition the large scale production of food crops such as soya has caused huge issues in terms of animal habitat and the exploitation of labour (Google it) and I won't even start on palm oil - but hey why let awkward truths get in the way of prejudices?

Vegetarianism and veganism are life style choices that are available in the Western World. In some parts of the world people would be very happy to eat meat but due to poverty simply cannot afford it. If it were a choice been starvation and eating a game species I had shot I'm pretty sure even dyed in the wool veggies would ignore their principles. I was speaking to an old boy recently who grew up in Somerset during WW2. He was telling me that his father would often go and shoot rabbits and without this supplement to the family diet he and his siblings would have really suffered. Admittedly no one starves in the UK BUT the animal rights brigade really should take a wider view.

I will continue to shoot and  will enjoy doing so.

 

Toad in the Wood Pile

I know we are finally enjoying some heat and sunshine but I like to be prepared for every eventuality so having cut the grass I decided to sort out the wood pile in readiness for a delivery of seasoned branches that will have to be cut up, split and stacked.

Whilst doing so I found this very handsome Common Toad (Bufo bufo) sitting at the bottom of the pile. He was very relaxed and stayed around long enough for me to get the camera and take these pictures.

Chopping Wood

Exercise as we all know is good for the body and soul but the form that exercise takes can be the difference between ecstasy and utter misery. Pounding away on a treadmill is hard on the joints and going for a sedate non heart rate increasing ride on an exercise bike is a total waste of time. My favourite form of exercise is chopping wood.

Much of the wood I chop comes from my coppicing activities which I have discussed elsewhere. The wood that is not going to end up as posts, rails or other coppice products is loaded into the back of my trusty Landrover 110. The wood I’m coppicing at the moment is chestnut and is loaded in lengths, short enough to fit in the back of the Landy, so they’re sizeable lumps weighing up to 100 kilos. Carrying them is a fantastic all over workout as all the major muscle groups are exercised and heart and breathing rates are raised over a long period of time.

The cord wood then has to be driven to its final destination, unloaded, sawn up into logs and split. This is the fun part. I have a wonderful old axe with a good heavy head and using it has become something of a ritual as it has to be sharpened using a file and a well soaked whetstone. Once it has a decent edge on it I’m ready for action. There is an almost primeval joy in taking a log, standing it on a stump and splitting it. The axe goes through a full arc, the sun glints off the edge and comes down with a force that splits the log in two. I think of myself as being one with the axe as I have used it for so long I know exactly where the balance point is and I have a very well practiced technique. As you can see from the photos below I have a great deal of wood all of which I have cut and split myself. So, now you know how I maintain a healthy weight and keep my fuel bills down.

Free Christmas Tree

In these troubled times everyone is trying to save money not least at Christmas time which as we all know has become a festival of rampant consumerism rather than goodwill to all men. One of the most expensive decorations people buy is a Christmas tree, with larger specimens costing over £40. You don’t need to buy a Christmas tree.

Many wildlife trusts and council countryside management departments will be running a ‘pick your own tree’ event at which the public are invited to come and cut down a Scots Pine. The 'payment' is to cut down more than one tree and leave those you don’t need on the ground for rangers to burn. The rationale behind this is that Scots Pine is an invasive species and has to be controlled.

So contact your local wildlife trust or council.

Fox Strike

 It is a sad fact that owners of chickens will at some point be visited by a blood thirsty Rufus. There is really no point in getting too upset as the fox is simply doing what foxes do. The best means of defence is to erect fox proof chicken houses which frankly is nigh on impossible.

We have kept chickens for some years and thanks to various defence stratagems which have ranged from barricading the hen house with branches to sitting up all night with night vision goggles and a shotgun, have never lost a chicken to a fox. That is until earlier today.

I went out this morning to clean the hen house and immediately noticed a pit under the electric fence, that was not there last night. I had a fairly good idea of what had happened, not least because there was a mass of bloodied feathers nearby (I’m nothing if not observant!). Having opened the house I could see that we had lost a chicken.

Tonight I’m camping out by the hen house with a shotgun to hand. Foxes do what they do and I do what I do which is to nail the bastards!