Search found 114 matches
- Fri Nov 29, 2019 4:36 pm
- Forum: But what can I do?
- Topic: Black Friday
- Replies: 14
- Views: 429
Re: Black Friday
My wife and I had a discussion yesterday about who buys on Black Friday and neither of us view ourselves as "consumers". We purchase what we need when we need it but going to stores to buy anything (including buying anything "online") is not something we do for fun. Cannot imagine anything that woul...
- Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:16 pm
- Forum: The ish Local - (Chat)
- Topic: Lessons in how not to be self sufficient
- Replies: 14
- Views: 923
Re: Lessons in how not to be self sufficient
Lesson number 4 - make sure you know where you put the mobile phone. I can hear it ringing and receiving texts but I darned well can't see it. So it's a good thing that the old one is still there with a small amount of cash on it. Can you use the second phone to call the missing one? If you switch ...
- Thu Nov 14, 2019 12:52 pm
- Forum: The ish Local - (Chat)
- Topic: Lessons in how not to be self sufficient
- Replies: 14
- Views: 923
Re: Lessons in how not to be self sufficient
The seeds I used were from store bought vegetables and not saved from last year's harvest. Lesson learned. (Perhaps these vegetables are irradiated, though I thought they were grown locally
- Sun Nov 10, 2019 5:59 pm
- Forum: The ish Local - (Chat)
- Topic: Lessons in how not to be self sufficient
- Replies: 14
- Views: 923
Re: Lessons in how not to be self sufficient
Tried to grow some tomatoes and cucumber from seed this year..Managed to harvest a handful of cucs but after about three months I had a few tiny fruit but then the frost set in and that was the end of that experiment. So an inexpensive experiment that turned out to be quite unsuccessful.
- Fri Nov 01, 2019 7:55 pm
- Forum: Eco Parenting
- Topic: Does anyone NOT have a television?
- Replies: 107
- Views: 64881
Re: Does anyone NOT have a television?
We have a TV set but we use it only to link a computer to it to watch Netflix and Amazon movies and the like. Mind you, here in Upstate NY, the only access I have to the internet is through the same company that offers cable TV so my internet fee is about 100 pounds a month (about $70) and they woul...
- Tue Sep 24, 2019 12:57 pm
- Forum: Home Brew and other Country Skills
- Topic: The cellar !!
- Replies: 18
- Views: 2356
Re: The cellar !!
I'll try to help, as you both have wrote some books and people say country wine can't be drunk for two years :angryfire: absolute rubbish i'm afraid, i drink mine a couple of months after fermentation has finished, i do agree if you have the willpower to leave your wine (i don't :oops: ) it will ma...
- Fri Sep 13, 2019 1:02 pm
- Forum: Wild Foods and Foraging
- Topic: How do you consume your blackberries?
- Replies: 25
- Views: 8349
Re: How do you consume your blackberries?
What in fact is blackberry whisky? Is that whisky in which blackberries have been infused? Or a whisky made with blackberries added to the malt and then distilled? or ???? If it's "simply" an infused whisky then I wonder if you could not make this yourself - using either an inexpensive whisky or a v...
- Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:36 pm
- Forum: Home Brew and other Country Skills
- Topic: Country Wines
- Replies: 17
- Views: 2319
Re: Country Wines
One of the easiest ways to make a first country wine is to start with apple juice to make either a hard cider (about 5 or 6% alcohol by volume (ABV)) - or an apple wine (about 12 % ABV). For the cider you simply look for store bought (or orchard bought apple juice (best is the opaque juice that has ...
- Mon Sep 02, 2019 2:58 am
- Forum: Home Brew and other Country Skills
- Topic: Country Wines
- Replies: 17
- Views: 2319
Re: Country Wines
Don't consider myself an "expert" but I just did win a double gold and a bronze medal at this year's New York State Fair for two different honey wines (meads) I made. Here's what I consider are the secrets for making good country wines. 1. Use lab cultured yeasts and not bread yeast (unless you are ...
- Mon Aug 26, 2019 1:17 pm
- Forum: The ish Local - (Chat)
- Topic: We must all be self sufficient
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1469
Re: We must all be self sufficient
I like both solutions, but I think I will try the oil solution largely because I don't have a roof from which I can easily collect water: a barrel will be collecting from the rain as it falls from the sky so I cannot think of any sound way to seal this barrel so that it would create a barrier to mos...
- Sun Aug 25, 2019 7:38 pm
- Forum: The ish Local - (Chat)
- Topic: We must all be self sufficient
- Replies: 7
- Views: 1469
Re: We must all be self sufficient
Okay, I'll take the bait. My yard in upstate NY is small and I try to grow some vegetables on a few raised beds (potatoes, onions, basil, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, courgettes etc. To grow them efficiently I need to water the plants regularly but to water them I need to use a fair amount of water...
- Thu Aug 15, 2019 1:34 pm
- Forum: Home Brew and other Country Skills
- Topic: Random wine
- Replies: 33
- Views: 6747
Re: Random wine
Hi Ina, Hope you find your energy again very soon. I am in upstate NY about 180 miles north of NY City - and our temperatures are in the 70's - 80's during August (about 25 C) but temperatures of 15 C or thereabouts tend to be OK for yeast. They may perform more slowly but their performance at such ...
- Wed Aug 14, 2019 3:30 pm
- Forum: Home Brew and other Country Skills
- Topic: Random wine
- Replies: 33
- Views: 6747
Re: Random wine
Actually, too warm temperatures create too fast fermentations and those can create poor flavors and off flavors from the yeast. You really want cooler temperatures for wine making - perhaps 18 -21 C. Perhaps even lower.
- Tue Aug 13, 2019 2:01 pm
- Forum: Home Brew and other Country Skills
- Topic: Random wine
- Replies: 33
- Views: 6747
Re: Random wine
Well, I'll certainly make more of an effort to make wine in future... For various reasons I didn't do that this year. Truth is that wine making is incredibly simple and takes virtually no time from a busy schedule. You can use fruit you forage or buy, juice you press or buy, edible flowers you fora...
- Mon Aug 12, 2019 1:18 pm
- Forum: Home Brew and other Country Skills
- Topic: Random wine
- Replies: 33
- Views: 6747
Re: Random wine
What might happen as taxes on alcohol rise is that more folk may turn to making moonshine... Certainly not advocating this...merely making the observation. In the USA this is still illegal in every state as far as I know and the cost of licensure is prohibitive both in terms of time involved and cost.