Saturday 14 October 2017

Nothing like a good barter . . .

When you live deep in the countryside, bartering is a way of life.  I love to make jams and chutneys but they nearly all get given as gifts or, as today, bartered towards something else, or as a BIG thank you for something else.  The guys who have the Shoot on Next Door's land (and shooting on ours too) have been promising us some venison for a while.  Today they arrived with it, and in return I sent them off with a bag of windfall apples (more to follow, little do they know!), and a dozen jars of jam I made when I was clearing all the old brambles from the freezer to make room for this year's pickings.  The venison is a big haunch from a Fallow Deer, and will feed us heartily over Christmas and then what's left will be made into casseroles to go back into the freezer.

I have been feeling a bit yuk all day (several nights of sleeping badly, or waking at 3.15 a.m. and not sleeping thereafter).  I gave myself the day off and did some hand sewing and tried my hand at a pretty patchwork pin cushion I had been using at my Patchwork class (made by our teacher).


I should have put this on a light background as the flash didn't go off.  Ah well, you get the general idea.  It is stuffed with sheep's wool.  Only after I had sewn the last stitch did I realize I should have use the much coarser staple wool and not the nice soft one (Shetland I think) I found in a bag in the Junk room, so I may unstuff it tomorrow and use some from the other hank.


I had sewn these hexi's (to finish an unfinished 1970s quilt I bought a while back) over several nights, then realized they should have had velvet or different special fabric centres, so had to unpick the centres and replace them.  The blue material was a quality one and SO much easier to sew with!


Two bags of crab apples from a friend's domestic trees. She helped me solve my dilemma for making crab apple jelly, since the tree I always used has been chopped down and the roots grubbed up.  No reason except that someone bought the land and "cleared" it . . .  These are currently defrosting.


Above and below: I finished the afternoon making the first batch of Country Mincemeat which I make every year using the windfalls (though I normally start earlier than this).


Recipe below:



I also added the juice of the lemon and orange I used the zest from. This can be added to with layers of more chopped fruit, sugar and dried fruit as it gradually sinks in the jar.  I find mine keeps well in this earthenware jar, though I know this doesn't work for everyone, so by all means add suet and cook and bottle it.


Finally, two gifts from Keith on his return home.  He knows me well . . .

4 comments:

  1. Thanks BB for putting the mincemeat recipe up (I have misplaced my book) but I will point everyone in your direction as I still refer to it as BB's Christmas Mincemeat. The best Mincemeat ever. I also like the little pincushion love the colours. Glad you are getting to do your needlework. I am still not getting time either to play with either machine or any of my UFOs. I have not told my cousin that I have bought an embroidery machine and I am due to go and see her shortly. She is insisting that we have a play with her embroidery machine and produce something. I have been instructed to take some fabric with me. I still need to get sorted in the computer/craft room. My firm have raised the option of me working from home but I have a lot of clearing to do before that can happen. I know that they are keen for it to take effect. It would be better for me in the long run however is going to take a major effort to get there as my back room is used as a storage room! I am sorry you are having sleeping issues again. I have had nights where I have not slept too well and one night at 2:15am was texting my cousin in Lincoln who was having the same issues; I did not manage to settle but managed to settle him down and in the end he got a goodnight's sleep. So at least one of us did. Right had better get a wriggle on. Catch you soon. Pattypanxx

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  2. Looks delicious I must say!

    I must also say I adore the shot of Pen Y fan that backs this blog

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  3. I like the sound of your mincemeat and will try it using the last of my homegrown apples (it has been a disastrous year for apples in the south east this year) and one of my mum's stoneware crocks. I have local honey too gathered a stone's throw from my allotment and locally foraged damsons in the freezer (I'm hoping that on defrosting it will be easy to remove the stones?). The velvet-centred hexies are adorable and look so tactile, and I have some green velvet scraps from cushion making and some really tiny metal hexagon and square templates and will have a play one evening. The books look ideal to me. I've had a horrid flu-like cold all week and my thoughtful husband brought home from the library the new novel by Alan Hollinghurst and the blackest Italian grapes. I felt spoilt rotten!

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  4. I have been instructed to take some fabric with me. I still need to get sorted in the computer/craft room. My firm have raised the option of me working from home but I have a lot of clearing to do before that can happen. I know that they are keen for it to take effect.

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