Mary-Jane
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*Phew* Gathering in the harvest is hard work......when you have to pick 40lbs of damsons, 15 lbs of tomatoes and dig up 40lbs of potatoes. Which is what we did today 
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sean
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Well done you. Damson jam for Crimble presents then?
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BahamaMama
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I am sick of the sight of tomatoes!
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AnnaD
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That is a lot of fruit and veg!
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Jamanda
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Impressive. We picked two smallish, but perfectly formed pumpkins 
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Mary-Jane
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| Jamanda wrote: | | Impressive. We picked two smallish, but perfectly formed pumpkins |
Size isn't important. So I'm told...
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Jamanda
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| Mary-Jane wrote: | | Jamanda wrote: | | Impressive. We picked two smallish, but perfectly formed pumpkins |
Size isn't important. So I'm told... |
No - I can't think of anything to reply that isn't smutty.
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Gervase
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Cheques?
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Bebo
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Just come in from bagging up our spud crop. Four hessian sacks about three-quarters full. I reckon must be approaching 100lb. That's about two-thirds of what we grew as we've been lifting and eating them since late June / early July.
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gil
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Sounds like a good day's pickings.
I find the hardest / longest part is processing the harvest : cleaning, weighing, preserving, storing.
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Treacodactyl
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Managed to gather several pounds of hazel nuts yesterday, all I've got to do is crack them all now. 
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Gervase
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There are another eight rows of maincrop spuds to go (probably around 160lb, but the haulms are still in the process of wilting, so it'll be a while before I lift those.
At least a quarter of the damsons are earmarked for wine, so that's next weekend's chores already earmarked.
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Bebo
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Damsons here are either jam or are soaking in two litres of gin.
I picked two buckets full of red peppers at the beginning of the week and looking in the polytunnel there is almost the same amount ready now and still loads more ripening.
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marigold
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Sounds like very rewarding hard work - enjoy the fruits of your labours
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sean
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| Gervase wrote: |
At least a quarter of the damsons are earmarked for wine, so that's next weekend's chores already earmarked. |
Freeze them first. Otherwise the stuff never clears and you end up pouring it away.
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Treacodactyl
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| sean wrote: | | Gervase wrote: |
At least a quarter of the damsons are earmarked for wine, so that's next weekend's chores already earmarked. |
Freeze them first. Otherwise the stuff never clears and you end up pouring it away. |
Or you have several demijohns slowly clearing behind the sofa for a few years. 
I noticed the same problem with sloes and though about freezing them this year, sounds like a good idea?
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Behemoth
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I harvested sweetcorn and Brussels sprouts today. It doesn't feel right.
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sean
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I reckon it's worth freezing just about any fruit first before making wine. Gil recommended doing it, so I have. You definitely get better extraction and faster clearing.
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sean
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| Behemoth wrote: | | I harvested sweetcorn and Brussels sprouts today. It doesn't feel right. |
But Brussels sprout chowder is delicious. Possibly.
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Mary-Jane
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| sean wrote: | | I reckon it's worth freezing just about any fruit first before making wine. Gil recommended doing it, so I have. You definitely get better extraction and faster clearing. |
The damsons are already in the freezer
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jocorless
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We picked about 10lb's of blackberries and probably the same in elderberries once stripped from their stems yesterday plus our friend found some more sloes and I found about 3lb of Rose Hips
Tonight I've got to extract the juice from all the elderberries and the blackberries - some of which is going to make Jam - the bulk though is for wine
I've also the grapes and the rest of the sloes I found lurking in the freezer to deal with plus the peach & strawberry concoction I extracted yesterday as well as 2 gallons of Chez's Plum Mould Wine to take the mould off and put into Demijohn's - I just hope we've got enough!
Oh I've also got to buy vast quantities of Sugar, Gin and Vodka on the way home - I am going to look like an alcoholic with a strange sugar fetish!
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yummersetter
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do you actually weigh your stuff? I've only got small cakemixing scales
We measure in volume> wasn't worth picking, handfuls, then various sizes of clickclacks, small basket, bushel basket, barrowloads and trailerfuls.
Just discovered a new unit of measure - I picked one and a half underbed storage boxes of white grapes yesterday. And a bushel basket of black plums for drying.
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Blue Peter
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| sean wrote: | | I reckon it's worth freezing just about any fruit first before making wine. Gil recommended doing it, so I have. You definitely get better extraction and faster clearing. |
Is that with or without using pectolytic enzyme?
Peter.
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gil
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| Blue Peter wrote: | | sean wrote: | | I reckon it's worth freezing just about any fruit first before making wine. Gil recommended doing it, so I have. You definitely get better extraction and faster clearing. |
Is that with or without using pectolytic enzyme?
Peter. |
I'd do both.
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