Too much rain

I’ll be building an ark soon. Although the animals will not be going two by two! Last night I was kept awake by rain hammering down on the skylights. Worrying about whether the lambs would be alright kept me awake for longer.
My poor chickens are floundering in mud. I need to find a better solution for their run. Bless them they are all laying like mad and I am giving eggs away to people who make cakes!
There were pools of water lying all around the yard this morning. Feeding the sheep I got soaked. it is lunchtime and I’m only just dry. The dogs don’t mind the wet of course, but the sawdust in their kennels gets soggy underfoot. Trained Breac briefly again yesterday, I am worried he is too good, I’m going to break him!

Making nettle beer

Now is a great time of year to make some nettle beer. So here is a recipe I have found. It may take me some time to pick 10 carrier bags full of nettles, so I’ll let you know of my progress!

Nettle Beer Recipe
Ingredients
10lb young nettles (the top six leaves or so, easy way to measure is 10 carrier bags full)
40 pints water
10 lemons, (juice them and then cut off the rind)
5lb demerara sugar
1lb white sugar
5oz cream of tartar
1.5 oz yeast (baking yeast is fine)

Method
Rinse the nettles (if you can be bothered!), drain and boil in the water for 15 minutes. Either do this in a six-gallon brewing boiler or do it in batches if you only have smaller pots.

Strain the liquor into a fermentation vat, containing the lemon juice, lemon rind (no pith), sugars and cream of tartar. Stir vigorously and allow to cool to blood temperature.

Sprinkle the yeast over the top, cover the vat loosely with a cloth and leave for 24 hours. Replace the cloth with an airlock and leave to ferment for a further 3-4 days.

Strain and either bottle or keg. If using a keg, it’s worth adding another half pound of white sugar to help get the pressure up.

Leave for at least seven days before drinking. Serve chilled.

Sounds lovely!

Hello world!

I have decided to start a new blog.  This will be about my life outside work.  So it will be mostly about my dogs!