Marmalade galore

I have now made over seventy jars of marmalade over a couple of days using 10Kg of Seville Oranges. That meant a lot of chopping, boiling and washing up. All I need now is somewhere to sell it. I think I am going to make a few more preserves before forking out for a market stall to sell things. I think I might try out a small batch of Cauliflower chutney next and see what that is like, before making industrial quantities. It's a shame we have nothing grown here to make jams or chutneys but it's not really the time of year for much to be growing right now. I thought I might take along a load of pastries too if we have a stall. I reckon I can get out about fifty croissants in a morning. So the Leconfield Grange enterprises are starting slowly to lift off. As part of this I am completing an online food safety course. I find that Zoe's temper seems very short when I tell her all the interesting things I have learnt about food safety and the “correct” procedures and safety measured required for commercial cooking. To be fair I had a visit from the council's food safety officer and she was very down to earth and helpful. Harriett did say I cheated for her visit because I cleaned the kitchen. She said I should have someones lunch on the table, pans on the stove and ingredients on the side so she could see what the kitchen looked like “in action”.

Music is starting to take off as well. I go once a month to a local pub with my guitar to play a few song. I usually do a few things I have written myself and a couple of covers. There is a nice supportive group of players there and it makes for a great evening. This week a guy was there listening who does a folk hour on local radio so I have an invite to send in some tracks or play a session there. As my current recording equipment consists of a mobile phone I think a session there might be the best options. This means I need to get practising and adding some final tweaks to my songs. A great idea but I re-strung my guitar last night, snapped the top string so now it's only a 5-string!

I've been avoiding too much outdoor work over the last few days due the very low temperature, surrounding dampness, snow and icy breeze. There has been plenty of other jobs to keep me busy. I was hoping tomorrow to get a few more holes dug ready for the arrival of the fruit trees, but I seem to suddenly have a list of other jobs as long as my arm to complete first so I am not sure how much digging will get done. The holes I dug last week are now just like small ponds due to filling with snow melt. 

After I published the last blog I later added a video of the sheep following the tractor. Peek back at the last blog entry if you want to see it.n