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So I'm starting to look at storage vessels now. In particular clay storage pots for wine, which are traditionally made of terracotta. But the question is, what type of clay to use to make the pots, and where to dig it up. I'm in South-East London, so in the area or Kent. So far, all the clay I've se...

Hi everyone I have one of the Testwest Soil Testing Kits, but I don't understand the result. I followed the instructions for the pH test using clear liquid that I got once the solid particles had settled, which infact took about 2 days. The colour chart supplied stops at a green 7.5. Mine is a very ...

Hi everyone I'm sure many of you have come across this before. An alternative to plastic toothbrushes, and probably still today the most commonly used tooth cleaning device on the planet But having started with some hazel sticks, I had some questions for anyone with experience of this. Firstly, how ...

Thanks Maggie, but as my posts suggest, natural is not the only thing I'm looking for. What I can be grown in the UK also, so Tea and probably Lemons are out.

If that guy has some British grown additives I may buy his book

Well, I've been doing some digging myself and this is what I've come up with so far Nutrient – Maybe replace the shop bought powdered yeast nutrient with either sultanas, yeast extract or malt extract? Citric acid – The obvious substitute would be lemon juice, but given that it’s difficult to grow i...

Another brain teaser for you I wonder if in those dusty old french recipe books in a farmhouse somewhere, there is a cheap and cheeful non-precise suggestion for adding acid (tartaric, malic and citric) to wine with local produce? Now tartaric obviously comes from grapes. But adding more grapes won'...

My memory is getting terrible. I just looked back at some photos of the trees I picked on a farm near tunbridge, and they had about 7 trunks coming out the base, exactly like mine. They never had a single central trunk. So I guess this is the right way to grow it anyway. Then shape it as it gets a b...

Hi everyone I've been lucky enough to be given this hazenut tree. It could be hazelnut or kentish cobnut not sure. But in any case, it's about 1.5m high, and probably 2-3 years old. It came off someone elses allotment plot and I've put it on mine. Another plot holder has some kentish cobs, so pollin...

Just thought I would let you guys know that I've had some in depth discussions with the person I referred to who claimed to have made the parmesan with vegetable and nettle rennet. Well it seems that what he has infact been using was microbial vegetable rennet, which he has very successfully used to...

Some really good points.
I need to get to the bottom of the claims made by that person online.
If you boil the leaves in brine to extract the coagulant, why can't you just rinse it in fresh water??

Hi everyone I want to make parmesan from locally sourced high welfare standards milk. But I can't accept slaughtering a calf just for the rennet. And no, I don't eat lamb for the same reason. I need to look at vegetable rennet. Of those on offer stinging nettle, purple thistle, melon, knapweed, yaro...

Hi I'm looking for some oat seeds for growing into oats that I can buy over the internet or locally in Bromley, Kent, UK, but not having much luck so far I see a lot of oat grass being sold as cat grass or for juicing on Ebay. Could this be an option? I gather from other posts, you can't trust stuff...

Firstly, forget the sand. All that will do is retain any atmospheric moisture and rot your nuts (if you'll pardon the expression) unless you keep the sand dry artificially. Now you need to get rid of the ones which will encourage others to rot and you do that by dumping them into water and chucking...

So apart from smoking (I don't particularly want to be burning wood just to dry chestnuts) how did the Romans or other past dynasties, or your typical country french homestead dry chestnuts. I came across a book that said in France, they used to soak in water with a touch of vinegar to kill the weev...

That's great everyone thanks. Well I've posted more photos "Barley end of July" in that folder. It certainly looks ready now. All fully golden, but still tastes a bit chewy. Get very close I'm sure