Onions

Harvested the onions today. Very disappointing. I had planted more than last year but seem to have only a fifth of the crop. Very roughly about 3 weeks worth. On the other hand I have a lot of onion seeds so may next year will be better.
The tomato plants are doing well. i planted them in a new plot so hopefully they won't get blight this year. The biggest is starting to fruit and if they grow as big as last year I'll have tomatoes for months!

Pickles

I spent the morning getting hay in for Steve's goats. Steve gave me a half litre of home made cider vinegar.

In the evening, I used the vinegar to make a pickling brew for some of the walnuts, for the rest I used plain white vinegar. I dated one of the jars and gave it to Hobo in the evening. The Hungarians don't really have a word for pickle and the closest, "pácle" can also mean a walnut coloured paint which led to an amusing conversation in the pub!

Pickling

Well, according to my favourite weather site, it was going to rain at two this afternoon so I decided to fire up the wood-stove to do some washing up and to prepare the green walnuts for pickling.

June, a photo by A John Walters on Flickr.

I haven't checked to see if I've written about this before but the process involves pricking the green walnuts and then soaking then in brine for about two weeks (changing the water at least once). Walnut juice stains just about everything it touches, including plastic so I wore gloves. Took about 2 hours, including coffee breaks, to do them all. It'll be worth it though, I thoroughly enjoyed last years which is why I picked so many this year.

2pm came and went with no rain and the forecast changed to the evening. Typical.

Strimming

Did some strimming today. I noticed that the Walnut tree's fruit were a lot bigger than last time I looked, in fact they looked a bit bigger than the lot I harvested last year for pickling. When the strimmer ran out of petrol I took the opportunity of harvesting the walnuts. I got about 8L (last year I had 3 half-litre jars of pickled walnuts so this is a big increase). I just got all the ones in easy reach thinking that I can get the rest as walnuts when they fall off later in the year.

I then went back to strimming after mixing up a fresh batch of 2 stroke fuel and oil.


It was only after I finished that I realised that today was Friday and not Thursday so I wouldn't be going to Körmend tomorrow after all. Bugger! Means I'll have to pedal there Sunday to get some cash.

I got a nice collection of bites and nettle stings, hard to tell which is which to be honest.

Painting Finished

After_1, a photo by A John Walters on Flickr.

After_2, a photo by A John Walters on Flickr.

Much Better!

During

During, a photo by A John Walters on Flickr.

Hobo hard at work

Rhubarb Wine

Rained today for the 1st time in weeks but only in the morning and fairly lightly. I did some weeding and the ground was bone-dry underneath.

Picked some more rhubarb with the intention of making rhubarb wine. From the recipes it seems I don't have enough to make a 1 gallon batch so I scaled back to about a third. Next year when I have 2 plants to harvest, I should be able to make up a proper batch.

I looked at my Quince trees on the way up. A couple of weeks ago the one tree was in bloom and I could see tiny fruit develop. Now, nothing. Like they all fell off or something.

On the other hand all the apple trees are bearing fruit and so is my pear tree. It didn't blossom last year so looking forward to fresh pears. The walnut tree is fruiting too so I have to remember when to harvest them for pickled walnuts. Best thing I made last years so I'll have the lot pickled this year!