Hello!

[pskipper]

Hi,

I've been lurking around the board for the last few weeks and think it's fantastic, I found the site by chance and am impressed by the wealth of knowledge and friendlyness.

Hmm the bit on this area says to say how selfsufficientish I am... I'm number 40 on the 60 long waiting list for the Mornington gardens allotments in Trowbridge so at the moment I can only grow things in the tiny front garden in front of my flat, this year it was beetroot, courgettes, the usual herbs (including winter savory for bean dishes) and beans (to go with the winter savory) over the arch I put up over the gate. Thanks to a friends parents whose plum tree went mad this year (and the plum trees in Trowbridge park) I have plum wine fermenting away. I also have some garlic wine (apparently great for cooking) and some cider (courtesy of roadside apple trees on the way home from work) on the go (hoping to make some cider vinegar). I also enjoy jamming (both kinds although mostly the sticky kind at the moment) and have started making my own yoghurt (on to cheese next).

I'm hoping to expand the range of food grown next year as I've planted a blueberry bush in the garden and a friend is moving in over the road and plans on having an edible garden so we'll combine space and increase our crops :)

Look forwards to chatting with you all and contributing :)

Take care,

Philip

[shiney]

Welcome Philip!

Allotment waiting lists are mad in this area. I rang Trowbridge District Council and asked them for more land to be put aside for this as there are so many people wanting to grow their own. You know what the answer was...

Well done with all your projects, you're doing very well.

[2steps]

sounds like your doing great I'd like to have a go at making cheese as well and your garlic wine sounds good. ANy chance of the recipe?

[pskipper]

Hi folks,

Shiney, when I last called them they suggested that if sufficient people wrote to the council then there was a good chance they'd do something about extra land (of course they were incredibley wary of my suggestion that I send them a load of pre-paid and enveloped letters that they could address with the allotment waiting list names and send out about this)
I'm going to try to get everyone I know in the area (and their families) to send letters (hopefully posted on the same day as I think it will catch their eye when they get bulk requests). I'm also considering phoning the free paper and asking them to do a piece on the lack of allotments :)

2steps, I'll post the full recipe (well the link to where I found it) this evening if I can, in the mean time the secret to the recipe is roasting the garlic before using it. Off the top of my head I peeled and roasted about 10 large bulbs of garlic, these were then mashed and brought up to the boil with the usual amount of sugar for 1 gallon of water and I think 100g of sultanas in about 1 litre of water. The resulting mix looks disgusting, really black from the caramelised garlic. I then diluted (while still hot) this to 1 gallon with cold water (giving ~37'c) and added pre-started yeast (non of my homebrew so far has been done with proper brewers yeast as bakers yeast works well enough and you can get fresh yeast for free from the supermarkets if you go to the bakery and ask). I've racked it for the first time and it has settled down to a pale rose colour. (My plum wine is quite an odd dark colour at the moment but tastes okay if a little raw).

Take care,

Philip

[Shirley]

Hi Philip

:welcomeish:

Sounds like you've been having great fun... garlic wine!! Sounds very interesting indeed... perhaps it will go well with the chilli wine that Luath posted the recipe for earlier

[The Chili Monster]

[lindysman]

Bonjour Philip et welcome...........

[Andy Hamilton]

hello there and welcome to our gang.

[hedgewitch]

Hello and welcome to the forum

[digiveg]

Hi Philip,

I heard many many many moons ago that councils were required to provide land for allotments if a certain number (and it was quite small) wrote requesting them. Dunno if it's a fact, but it might be worth checking out. Also, is that a 335?

[pskipper]

The guitar is a friends, I have a Yamaha electroacoustic which I am very slowly learning to play (been at it for too long now).

[hedgewizard]

Hi and welcome! Nice website, but the art page is empty you lazy bugger. Post. What does your garlic wine actually taste like when it's finished? I must confess to a morbid fascination...

[Wombat]

G'Day Phillp,

Welcome to the gang!

Yeah, I gotta echo Hedgie, what on earth does garlic wind taste like (and don't say GARLIC )

Nev

[hedgewizard]

Yeah, but you did say "garlic wind" and I'm not tasting any of that!

[pskipper]

I'll let you know when it's finished, at the moment raw with a garlic aftertaste!