Spring has sprung
Spring has sprung so fast this year that we have forgotten to post pics of most of our fruit blossoms. The cherry, plum, almond, apricot and pear are already on the way out, the quince is looking really good and the courtyard is filled with the scent of orange blossom, only a week or two from picking our last oranges.
The best of the wild flowers is in May but already we have cistus and snapdragons showing off. Jackie does a tremendous job of picking the wild flowers and replanting them in our garden so we see both of these while out walking and in the garden.
Following on from last month’s mention of the orchids, this month has seen a few more including the woodcock, conical, mirror and sombre.
I’ve been busy in the courtyard. I’ve made another bowl…
and also been busy making beer. We can’t run out of beer in these troubling times. Although this is my eleventh all-grain brew, I haven’t as yet described or put up any photos of the production. I’ve got a sack of barley malt which provides the bulk of the beer. To this I add some speciality malts depending on the type of beer I want. This is then steeped in warm water (mashed), the sugary liquid (wort) drained out into my Robobrew and then boiled for an hour and hops added. When the liquid has cooled to 20 degrees, I pour it into the fermentation vessel (a large plastic bin), add the yeast and leave it to do its job over a few days. Once fermented, it is bottled, conditioned and drunk. From sack to glass the whole process takes less than a month.
Jackie has also been busy trying to make best use of the ever increasing number of eggs produced by our small flock. A new one for us but a staple of pubs throughout the UK – pickled eggs!
2 thoughts on “Spring has sprung”
Those bowls look amazing, do you use a lathe, or hand turn? Also, where do you source your barley malt from, is there a supplier in Portugal? Great photos by the way.
Actually I use an angle grinder with a carbide attachment: like this: https://www.saburrtooth.com/p-11-2-donut-wheel-round-face-coarse-grit.aspx. It’s certainly not delicate work but gets the job done. Barley malt I get from Ireland thehomebrewcompany.ie I think there is a supplier in Portugal but they are more expensive. It’s amazing that by courier a 25kg sack of grain (plus speciality malts, hops etc) is about 25 Euros from Ireland. I’ve also looked at suppliers in Germany but this is the best deal I could find.