Unbought Delicacies

Sunday, 10 June 2012

How to make elderflower cordial

This one is well worth making - summer in a bottle,and will keep for a long time, either processed in a hot water bath or frozen in eg plastic milk containers. Drink it with soda or plain water and lots of ice, drizzle it over cakes, use to flavour stewed fruit. icecream, whipped cream etc, mix with gin or vodka..........endless uses :)

1 colanderful of flowers, as much green removed as possible, but I don't worry too much

water to cover

sugar

Place flowers in pan and cover withcold water; simmer for about 15 minutes or so, strain, and measure the liquid. Return it to the pan and add 12 ox white sugar to each pint of liquid. Heat getnly until sugar is thoroughly dissolved. Leave to cool, then store/process/drink as desired.
Use diluted as squash; also makes lovely summery ice lollies

Saturday, 9 June 2012

First rose of summer

Well, the first one I have cut for the house :) Simply beautiful, wonderful scent..........

Friday, 8 June 2012

Think different...............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX9GTUMh490

Fabulous :)

Thursday, 7 June 2012

The Corncrake and the Croft

A lovely way to spend a good half hour with knitting and a cup of tea :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSJNAFfX_K0

(image from http://www.skye-images.co.uk/gallery.html#thumb)

Very welcome visitors

Just been watching an adult male greater spotted woodpecker and one of his offspring feeding on the nuts outside the kitchen :)

(pic from http://www.birdfinders.co.uk/news/morocco-2006-pics.html

Flaming June................

................. closest I've got so far is to crank up the Rayburn to take the chill off; and it's raining again! lol Oh well, got to love the summer :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_June

Monday, 4 June 2012

How to make elderflower champagne

That time of year again :)

1 gallon hot water
1 1/2lbs white sugar
7 heads of elderflowers
2 lemons, sliced thinly
2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Dissolve sugar in water, and leave to get cold; add lemons, flowers and vinegar. Cover loosely with a tea towel and leave for 24 hours. Strain and bottle, try after a fortnight.

I've made this every year for over 20 years, not a grain of brewer's or baker's yeast in sight. This gives a lovley fizzy drink about the same alcoholic strength as ginger beer apparently. Good as a mixer too

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

Pages