Propolis

I read a very interesting book a couple of months ago about the health benefits of propolis. I am usually slightly skeptical about amazing health claims but these are well researched. The problem with propolis is you can’t patent it, so the drug companies are not interested….and it’s the drug companies that fund the vast majority of research in the western health care sector. I teach nursing, and medical ethics among other things at Uni, and I found the book well documented. This prompted me to look into producing my own. For those of you who don’t know what propolis is, it’s a kind of glue bees use in the hive and it has antiseptic and antifungal properties among others. In a world moving towards the post-antibiotic era I really don’t feel this sort of thing should be overlooked because of commercial interests.

Consequently I bought some propolis screens for a couple of my hives. The bees take one look at the mesh and start filling all the gaps (bees dont like gaps!) At this time of year I use Apistan to reduce the number of varroa mite and I suddenly realised that perhaps I shouldn’t be leaving the propolis screens in there while chemicals were being used. So today I removed them, you simply put them in the freezer for 24 hours and remove the propolis when it gets brittle. I will clean off the propolis and use it, I thought it quite interesting to see how much the bees had produced in a couple of months. Not a lot, but then it’s a value added crop to honey production.

After I have finished the varroa treatment I will return the screens and leave them there for the winter. I don’t think my bees need an autumn feed but if they do I will put it on afterwards.

A quick request

If you are visiting this page, particularly from the US, please could you visit Boristhewondercats blog. You will find the link if you scroll down on the right. The purpose of this blog is to campaign against the Chinese fur trade. That said it is an entertaining site with some excellent humurous youtube videos and has no graphic images, the aim is to spread awareness. 50% of all Chinas fur is exported to the US and the Chinese skin animals WHILST CONSCIOUS. Please support this site and boycott ALL fur as much of Chinas fur is deliberately mislabelled to overcome objections to the methods used.

Thank you

Fungi update

Well, I seem to still be here. Having apparently survived the ‘test taste’ I will eat  a few this evening and I am drying some.

Autumn fungi again

Emboldened by my survival eating puffballs and shaggy ink caps, I decided to go for a walk this morning looking for more edible fungi. I was amazed at how many Poles were out looking for them – I gather its a national pastime. I am kind of ambivalent about that, I suppose I worry if too many people pick them they will become endangered. Apparently in the olden days Cornwall was covered in wild daffodils, and then in the thirties, I think it was, the rail companies put on the ‘Daffodil Express’ and large numbers of people from London went down to spend the day picking daffodils, with the result that they disappeared from the landscape. So now you dont see the miles of daffodils that apparently were a common sight in Cornwall. It would be a shame if the same thing happened to fungi. I do realise they drop their spores but deleting stocks of anything cannot be a good idea. On the other hand they were only doing what I was doing! I suppose I convince myself that its very much a minority pastime in the UK so that makes it OK. I found what I hope were Bay Bolete. I say hope because I am still inexperienced. I spend ages cross checking the identification. These seemed to pass all the tests, sticky, blue when cut, spongey pores rather than gills.

Even though I am pretty certain I thought it wise to eat a ‘test dose’ so I ate a very very small amount and the rest are in the fridge. Hopefully I will survive till tomorrow with no adverse reaction. It doesnt help that people keep ‘wishing me luck’! It feels as though I am teetering on the brink of doom! If there is anyone looking at this who is a great expert on this and they take one look and know its the worlds second most poisonous mushroom, let me know asap! And if there is anyone out there thinking they can use my picture to positively identify these fungi for Gods sake don’t!

Bay bolete - sticky, yellow pores etc!!! Found by pine!

 

blue when cut!

Ever onward in the spinning department

Having taught myself to spin with a drop spindle I plod on and on with it. I am beggining to wonder if a spinning wheel might not be such a bad idea. I am rather ambivilent about it, a spindle is so much more portable, cheaper and takes up less space, but I only do a small amount of spinning in between all the other things I do and it does seem very slow. My hunch is I shall be shelling out in the future for a wheel.

I am very lucky as I get a fairly constant supply of fleece from freecycle. I dont mind paying for fleece but I DO mind the cost of postage, which is totally disproportionate. The fleece I usually get is from Lleyn sheep. For  a description of this breed click here

http://www.lleynsheep.com/ For a list of other British breeds or US breeds scroll down to the spinning link on the right.

I have bought other posh fleece but I actually find this easier to handle, if its too fine I find it rather slippery. Its probably my inexperience. But there is something very rewarding about starting with a raw fleece and ending up with something to wear. I need a lot more experience before I become competent.

lleyn fleece

On another matter, I have finally decided that the ‘indeterminate’ wine is apple and ginger, except its a bit more gingery than I was expecting! That will teach me to label things in future!

A pleasant weekend bottling wine and making banana liqueur.

The weather was so gorgeous last weekend I felt almost human. I don’t know about you but I feel so much more energetic when the sun is out but its not too hot. I have been meaning to bottle some of my home made country wines for ages. As I prefer to do this out of doors I took the chance while the weather was nice. I can certainly think of worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon than bottling, and simultaneously drinking (!) some wine.

I had some bottles of lemon wine left and when I opened one it had become sparkling. It was a little sharp, probably because the last of the sugar had converted to alcohol so I added a few sweeteners. This turned it into a pleasant light sparkling drink.

I never stick to the rules and sometimes it catches me out. Berry suggests you should keep accurate records of what you have done, but I never can be bothered. Now normally I know what is in a demijohn, but although I knew one contained honeysuckle wine, I have no idea what on earth the other contained as I had forgotten to label it. In any case neither are ready to drink so I bottled them, labelling one set ‘indeterminate’. As some of my cider was starting to clear I syphoned that off into a new demijohn.

indeterminate, cider, honeysuckle and sparkling lemon wine

In a fit of enthusiasm I also carried on with my liqueur making binge and made some banana liqueur - heres the recipe .

Banana liqueur

7 medium ripe bananas

750 ml brandy

400g sugar.

250 ml water.

Peel and slice bananas thinly

Place the bananas in a clean glass container with a tight fitting lid. Add the brandy, close tightly and leave to stand for five weeks in a warm spot. Shake regularly.

Pour the mixture first through a clean, dry sieve and then through four layers of cheesecloth. Set aside. Mix the sugar and water in a heavy bottomed pan and stir until the sugar has melted. Bring to the boil and boil for 12 minutes. Remove the syrup from the stove and leave to cool. Add the flavoured brandy to the cold syrup. Pour into a clean dry sterilised bottle and store for at least a month before use.

My sunflowers are enormous!

I am not sure why……but they are much bigger than everyone elses and I didn’t feed them. I put it down to chicken poo…….I tried to take some photos today but the sun was in the way, in the end I got this one…its slightly on the turn, but if I tell you I am standing underneath it it will give you some idea. I like sunflowers, they are such cheerful plants, and very  useful. When I put the seeds in I put them in the same time as some dwarf ones and forgot they needed to grow so tall. As a result they were late out but the bees have been busily working them, they are great pollen plants. Last time I tried feeding some of the seed  heads to my chickens. John Seymour said you could just chuck them the head and they would pick at it, his were obviously more intelligent than mine. They hadnt a clue,they looked at them as if they had come from outer space. They do enjoy some fruit from the trees though and like raspberries when they can get their hands (or feet?) on them..

smiling down

I am sacking whoever is responsible for this….

when I track her down!

Do you think we could make a bit more of an effort?

update on edible/poisonous fungi/mushrooms

Well, I have made a bit of progress since my last post. Firstly I have now at least heard of spore prints, which no one has ever mentioned to me before. I went out today armed with my book and followed some previous advice I had been given to only eat a very small amount first, even though I am only choosing fungi which are pretty distinctive from now on!

Secondly I have found a good site to help with identification. It seems very comprehensive!

http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/

Eating wild mushrooms/fungi

I hear a woman has died after eating death cap mushrooms and another is very seriously ill. Now I really fancy eating wild mushrooms they are so much tastier than anything found in the shops.

Rather unnerved I considered growing my own wild mushrooms in the garden and in discussion have found this excellent site which has loads of contacts and ideas. In fact I am so impressed I am going to make it a permanent link…I have been on a foray with a local group but they went round the cemetery, which I found rather off-putting!

http://www.mycologue.co.uk/xcart/home.php?cat=3