Woken early and a dreadful start to the day, but despite the headache the day got better. I gathered paperwork together and headed for town to put in a cheque, get out a cheque and pay a bill. I went via Heslington via a gent who offered a couple of rhubarb roots on Freecycle. I took him a sack of compost as a present.
I came back home via the almond tree, which had given up more of it's bounty, and then passed a large skip brimming with logs and mature privet. I knew I'd be revisiting this later. I had lunch and did some work preparing stuff for tomorrow. Then I went back to the skip and there was no problem... a garden clearance with several lilacs, laburnums and cherry trees. I took six trailer loads, including some thick privet trunks which I chopped down with loppers. This made me very happy.
Back at home during the evening I chopped the membrillo into cubes and boxed it up in a plastic tub. Both boys tried some and loved it... it will be an occasional treat, as it's 50% sugar.
I've been thinking long and hard about the upset I partly caused earlier in the week and this evening I sent a carefully worded apology to the two family members involved. I'm hoping that polite and friendly relations can be regained. I don't set out to cause problems.
I had a bath as I need to be shiny and fresh tomorrow.
Showing posts with label making membrillo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label making membrillo. Show all posts
I had a fairly chilled Sunday morning, including half-watching Country Tracks, but I had the York in Transition Alternative Energy Event on my mind, and how I could best contribute to this. I had a phone conversation with Anna Semlyen, who has organised this event, and decided to find or create a placard to stand outside the Mansion House.
I got some cardboard and wallpaper lining paper, and secured a stick handle into the card, and after lunch took that on my trailer, plus marker pens, down to The Mansion House on St Helen's Square, arriving at 2.30pm. Anna supplied two posters which I stuck on each side, and I wrote FREE TODAY above the poster and RENEWABLE ENERGY below it.
My self-appointed task was to stand outside the venue and announce: "FREE ENTRY TODAY TO THE MANSION HOUSE, USUALLY £5 ENTRY, TODAY FREE. ALSO FIND OUT HOW TO GET FREE ELECTRICITY" and similar messages. There was plenty of interest, not just from people wanting to find out more about renewable energy, but a few (tourists) wanting to see the Lord Mayor's residence. At about 3.30 Ivana came down and said that Anna had just finished her short talk so it was my turn to do a talk on woodstoves. I had about 6 people listening intently and asking questions afterwards. I went straight back out and continued pulling them in. At about 4.45 I did another talk to just 5 people this time, but all were potential woodstove buyers. The venue closed it's doors at 5pm, and the chap on the door told us we'd had 241 people through... we were delighted! So were the three solar installers who had their info for people to see. I'd been asking people on the way out if it had been worth going in, and most said it had been really useful.
So, in anybody's terms, a highly successful event. About two thirds of the people who came in did look around the stalls and took leaflets from the Energy Saving Trust, who didn't attend but did let us have leaflets. So between 150 and 200 people got information about putting solar photovoltaic panels on their roof, or solar water heating, insulation, heat pumps, woodburning stoves and more. York in Transition got a load more email sign ups to add to the 500+ we have already.
I came home pretty quickly, picking up two bags and a box from Countyr Fresh which had just closed, and some scrap metal out of their bin.
Carrot soup for tea, and a bit of rice the kids didn't eat, and then I sorted out some beans which I'm drying, and some nectarines, and I sliced the membrillo into thick slices as it has dried off and set sufficiently, although the centre of each slice is soft, so I put each slice on it's side to dry further. I tasted it again and it's wonderful. Despite being time consuming to make, I'm sure it is worth it.
I got some cardboard and wallpaper lining paper, and secured a stick handle into the card, and after lunch took that on my trailer, plus marker pens, down to The Mansion House on St Helen's Square, arriving at 2.30pm. Anna supplied two posters which I stuck on each side, and I wrote FREE TODAY above the poster and RENEWABLE ENERGY below it.
My self-appointed task was to stand outside the venue and announce: "FREE ENTRY TODAY TO THE MANSION HOUSE, USUALLY £5 ENTRY, TODAY FREE. ALSO FIND OUT HOW TO GET FREE ELECTRICITY" and similar messages. There was plenty of interest, not just from people wanting to find out more about renewable energy, but a few (tourists) wanting to see the Lord Mayor's residence. At about 3.30 Ivana came down and said that Anna had just finished her short talk so it was my turn to do a talk on woodstoves. I had about 6 people listening intently and asking questions afterwards. I went straight back out and continued pulling them in. At about 4.45 I did another talk to just 5 people this time, but all were potential woodstove buyers. The venue closed it's doors at 5pm, and the chap on the door told us we'd had 241 people through... we were delighted! So were the three solar installers who had their info for people to see. I'd been asking people on the way out if it had been worth going in, and most said it had been really useful.
So, in anybody's terms, a highly successful event. About two thirds of the people who came in did look around the stalls and took leaflets from the Energy Saving Trust, who didn't attend but did let us have leaflets. So between 150 and 200 people got information about putting solar photovoltaic panels on their roof, or solar water heating, insulation, heat pumps, woodburning stoves and more. York in Transition got a load more email sign ups to add to the 500+ we have already.
I came home pretty quickly, picking up two bags and a box from Countyr Fresh which had just closed, and some scrap metal out of their bin.
Carrot soup for tea, and a bit of rice the kids didn't eat, and then I sorted out some beans which I'm drying, and some nectarines, and I sliced the membrillo into thick slices as it has dried off and set sufficiently, although the centre of each slice is soft, so I put each slice on it's side to dry further. I tasted it again and it's wonderful. Despite being time consuming to make, I'm sure it is worth it.
I had a lie in. And then a fairly lazy day. However I did go to Country Fresh for some potatoes and a cauliflower, via St Nicks with 5 demijohns for cider-making tomorrow. I came back via Freshways, and did a bit of compost heap loading.
I also did a good lot of fruit slicing for drying, pears, apples and a couple of hands of bananas. I turned out the quince leather stuff, membrillo, and it wasn't completely set, so it went back on the stove on a metal sheet to dry off and set a bit more. I hope. However, it tastes FANTASTIC!!
So, a pretty nothingy day... and what has this got to do with water, being as it's Blog Action Day, with the subject of water?
Well, I try to live my life with low levels of consumption of fossil fuels, resources and of course, water. So, as today was a 'normal' day for me, what did I do, or not do, to reduce my water footprint?
Well I have a 'pirate wash' every morning, running the cold water tap over my flannel about 6 times and after each time, wiping my body down with that. I don't really like showers but I have a bath once a week. And this kind of low water use wash every day.
Diet is really important when considering embodied water. Some foods are much more 'water heavy' than others, and meat is a good example of a foodstuff which has a huge water footprint. So if I'd had a burger for breakfast (or equivalent, say a bacon sandwich) then that could have had a hidden water use of 24 litres just for one burger and bap. But with a vegetarian diet, the embodied water is vastly less. See this water footprint calculator for some comparisons. For breakfast, I have a bowl of cereals and soya milk, and a cup of coffee. For lunch I always have sandwiches... nearly always vegan, ie bread, dairy free margarine and/or mayonnaise, hummous, peanut butter, marmite or avocado. However, today one of my sandwiches was cheese and red pepper. Cheese has a higher water footprint than plant-based foods, so a black mark against me here. My evening meal was macaroni and cauliflower with a soya-milk and goats cheese sauce... reasonably low in embodied water, compared to a meat-based meal at least.
The biggest direct water use in most Western houses is the flush toilet. We have two of these in the house but I much prefer to use my home made compost toilet, sometimes known as a dry toilet or sawdust toilet. The only water I use directly is from a water butt to wash my hands afterwards. However, the recycled tissue paper does require water in it's production, but I'm not giving that up!!!
The other activity connected with food is washing up. I do the washing up in our house, and I'm very careful to keep the water use down here too, although I rinse the plates and saucepans with clean water and then leave them to drip dry/air dry, rather than wiping a (dirty) tea towel all over them... a great way to get bacteria all over your washed crockery. I re-use the washing up water in the summer in our conservatory, but at this time of year the plants don't need as much, so today, the water was just tipped down the sink and would get cleaned up at the sewerage works.
Our water use has gone up recently. Both boys now need to wash more, being as they are getting to 'that age' where boys start to emit adult male odours, and therefore they now use the shower more, and the washing machine has a few more smelly clothes to deal with. This means our household of four uses 92 cubic metres of water a year (it's on a meter!), which is about 252 litres a day, or 63 litres each per day (23 cubic metres per year), if shared out equally. This is direct water use, of course, as embodied water use is much more difficult to work out. However, I did a rough calculation using this Water Footprint Calculator and it came up with 479 cubic metres per year for my personal water footprint.
I have written a special 'page' about my water use, as I feel it is a really important subject. This can be found in the top right hand corner of the blog, or by clicking on this. Thanks!
I also did a good lot of fruit slicing for drying, pears, apples and a couple of hands of bananas. I turned out the quince leather stuff, membrillo, and it wasn't completely set, so it went back on the stove on a metal sheet to dry off and set a bit more. I hope. However, it tastes FANTASTIC!!
So, a pretty nothingy day... and what has this got to do with water, being as it's Blog Action Day, with the subject of water?
Well, I try to live my life with low levels of consumption of fossil fuels, resources and of course, water. So, as today was a 'normal' day for me, what did I do, or not do, to reduce my water footprint?
Well I have a 'pirate wash' every morning, running the cold water tap over my flannel about 6 times and after each time, wiping my body down with that. I don't really like showers but I have a bath once a week. And this kind of low water use wash every day.
Diet is really important when considering embodied water. Some foods are much more 'water heavy' than others, and meat is a good example of a foodstuff which has a huge water footprint. So if I'd had a burger for breakfast (or equivalent, say a bacon sandwich) then that could have had a hidden water use of 24 litres just for one burger and bap. But with a vegetarian diet, the embodied water is vastly less. See this water footprint calculator for some comparisons. For breakfast, I have a bowl of cereals and soya milk, and a cup of coffee. For lunch I always have sandwiches... nearly always vegan, ie bread, dairy free margarine and/or mayonnaise, hummous, peanut butter, marmite or avocado. However, today one of my sandwiches was cheese and red pepper. Cheese has a higher water footprint than plant-based foods, so a black mark against me here. My evening meal was macaroni and cauliflower with a soya-milk and goats cheese sauce... reasonably low in embodied water, compared to a meat-based meal at least.
The biggest direct water use in most Western houses is the flush toilet. We have two of these in the house but I much prefer to use my home made compost toilet, sometimes known as a dry toilet or sawdust toilet. The only water I use directly is from a water butt to wash my hands afterwards. However, the recycled tissue paper does require water in it's production, but I'm not giving that up!!!
The other activity connected with food is washing up. I do the washing up in our house, and I'm very careful to keep the water use down here too, although I rinse the plates and saucepans with clean water and then leave them to drip dry/air dry, rather than wiping a (dirty) tea towel all over them... a great way to get bacteria all over your washed crockery. I re-use the washing up water in the summer in our conservatory, but at this time of year the plants don't need as much, so today, the water was just tipped down the sink and would get cleaned up at the sewerage works.
Our water use has gone up recently. Both boys now need to wash more, being as they are getting to 'that age' where boys start to emit adult male odours, and therefore they now use the shower more, and the washing machine has a few more smelly clothes to deal with. This means our household of four uses 92 cubic metres of water a year (it's on a meter!), which is about 252 litres a day, or 63 litres each per day (23 cubic metres per year), if shared out equally. This is direct water use, of course, as embodied water use is much more difficult to work out. However, I did a rough calculation using this Water Footprint Calculator and it came up with 479 cubic metres per year for my personal water footprint.
I have written a special 'page' about my water use, as I feel it is a really important subject. This can be found in the top right hand corner of the blog, or by clicking on this. Thanks!
A much better day than yesterday, much less to do although I was just as busy. I did the usual round of emails etc in the morning, including answering a composting question from Singapore, and other various things... always interesting, although time consuming.
Before lunch I did a quick bit in the garden and again afterwards. Later, I went to Country Fresh as Gill wanted to make some tomato soup, requested by the children. As well as a selection of fruit and veg, I brought back a single sack of goodies for the latest compost heap. One of the more time consuming jobs in the garden was to reclaim a 'turf wall' I built about 2 or 3 years ago, made from turf out of a skip, and these had rotted down to a lovely loam. I got 5 or 6 sacks of loam, maybe 20 or 30 kg each, which I'll use next spring to make potting compost, mixing it with leafmould and rich compost.
Even later, I collected a large number of windfall quinces from the tree above the garage, which has had a good crop this year. I'm hoping to make membrillo, a way of preserving the quince flesh, which my friend Florencia told me about. What a palaver! First I washed the quinces and carefully cut them in half... not easy as they are really tough. Then each half was cut in half again, and then each of those cut again, into eighths, to allow the woody core and seeds to be cut out. I think I spent close on two hours doing all this, and put all the washed pieces into the preserving pan on the woodstove to bring them up to the boil. The next part of the job I'll do tomorrow.
Before lunch I did a quick bit in the garden and again afterwards. Later, I went to Country Fresh as Gill wanted to make some tomato soup, requested by the children. As well as a selection of fruit and veg, I brought back a single sack of goodies for the latest compost heap. One of the more time consuming jobs in the garden was to reclaim a 'turf wall' I built about 2 or 3 years ago, made from turf out of a skip, and these had rotted down to a lovely loam. I got 5 or 6 sacks of loam, maybe 20 or 30 kg each, which I'll use next spring to make potting compost, mixing it with leafmould and rich compost.
Even later, I collected a large number of windfall quinces from the tree above the garage, which has had a good crop this year. I'm hoping to make membrillo, a way of preserving the quince flesh, which my friend Florencia told me about. What a palaver! First I washed the quinces and carefully cut them in half... not easy as they are really tough. Then each half was cut in half again, and then each of those cut again, into eighths, to allow the woody core and seeds to be cut out. I think I spent close on two hours doing all this, and put all the washed pieces into the preserving pan on the woodstove to bring them up to the boil. The next part of the job I'll do tomorrow.
