Hello again!

Hello all,

It's been a while since I was able to browse boards properly (having two kids under two + life will do that!).

Delighted to see this forum up, I think it's long overdue. For those that know me, I'm big into the idea of self-sufficiency to the greatest extent possible - even if it varies from individual to individual.

Anyways, just to give a grounding on how I achieve what little I can -

1. Do some hunting (mainly rabbits) and fishing (mainly fly and sea) for the pot.
2. I make a couple of hedgerow "Home brews" a year - nettle, elderflower, damson, elderberry etc. Currently have a demijohn of birch sap wine fermenting out. Always keen to try something new. The dream is to one day have the space and money for brewing beer and ale.
3. Foraging - for whatever I can, be it mushrooms, berries, plants etc. Get great enjoyment out of this. The wife makes jams out of some of the fruits I collect. Make stuff like elderberry pontack too. Preserve as much as possible.
4. Growing our own - am currently setting up a veg garden from a piece of previously unused land. I'm writing a blog about it (if you're interested) - http://paddy-halligan.blogspot.com (as a matter of fact, the blog will be almost purely about self-sufficiency, but at the moment the allotment is the main focus. More stuff will follow).
5. Building on the equipment I have. I've a hot smoker I built out of an old bread bin, and plans to build a cold smoker out of our old oven. Couple of nice "boy's toy's" - kelly kettle, decent knives etc. Could go on here for a while!

That's what I can think of from the top of my head. Hope to be here a lot more in future.

bonniebede

Thanks for the reference to your blog. REad all your posts on getting the allotment started, its fascinating. You make it the most interesting story, adn its exactly what I've been looking for. So often peoples blogs about their allotments start somewhere in the middle of things, and presume you know all about what had gone before. Its great to see it all unfolding piece by piece. Please keep it up!

bonniebede

bonniebede wrote: »

Thanks for the reference to your blog. REad all your posts on getting the allotment started, its fascinating. You make it the most interesting story, adn its exactly what I've been looking for. So often peoples blogs about their allotments start somewhere in the middle of things, and presume you know all about what had gone before. Its great to see it all unfolding piece by piece. Please keep it up!

Thanks for your interest, I'll do my best to keep things fresh. We've Bren very lucky, the person who offered us use of the land is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

Doc Ruby

Welcome Druss (Paddy?) theres a Fresh Rabbit stew bubbling on the hobo stove, with a loaf of bulrush bannock seasoned with wild onion on the stones beside it!

Doc Ruby

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Welcome Druss (Paddy?) theres a Fresh Rabbit stew bubbling on the hobo stove, with a loaf of bulrush bannock seasoned with wild onion on the stones beside it!

I go by Druss on boards.ie, that's how other users know me! ;o)

Stew sounds delicious, a glass of my sloe gin would go beautifully with it...!

hardCopy

Deleted User wrote: »

I make a couple of hedgerow "Home brews" a year - nettle, elderflower, damson, elderberry etc. Currently have a demijohn of birch sap wine fermenting out. Always keen to try something new. The dream is to one day have the space and money for brewing beer and ale.

There shouldn't be much difference in price or effort to make beer, even if you want to go the all grain route it's relatively straight forward if you already have demijohns and a metal pot. Check out the homebrewing forum here.

EDIT: Unless you mean to grow and harvest your own grains, that would indeed require extra space!

Maudi

Druss Rua wrote: »

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Welcome Druss (Paddy?) theres a Fresh Rabbit stew bubbling on the hobo stove, with a loaf of bulrush bannock seasoned with wild onion on the stones beside it!

I go by Druss on boards.ie, that's how other users know me! ;o)

Stew sounds delicious, a glass of my sloe gin would go beautifully with it...!

memories....i made sloe gin back in the winter...alas didnt last long...hic

Maudi

Druss Rua wrote: »

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Welcome Druss (Paddy?) theres a Fresh Rabbit stew bubbling on the hobo stove, with a loaf of bulrush bannock seasoned with wild onion on the stones beside it!

I go by Druss on boards.ie, that's how other users know me! ;o)

Stew sounds delicious, a glass of my sloe gin would go beautifully with it...!

memories.....i made sloe gin back in nov..alas all gone....but the dandelion brew is fizzing away..

Maudi

Maudi wrote: »

Druss Rua wrote: »

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Welcome Druss (Paddy?) theres a Fresh Rabbit stew bubbling on the hobo stove, with a loaf of bulrush bannock seasoned with wild onion on the stones beside it!

I go by Druss on boards.ie, that's how other users know me! ;o)

Stew sounds delicious, a glass of my sloe gin would go beautifully with it...!

memories.....i made sloe gin back in nov..alas all gone....but the dandelion brew is fizzing away..

I've two bottles of sloe gin that I made the winter before last. Have another two from this winter still infusing in a Kilner jar. Last week I decanted a bottle of damson gin from September last, I'll leave it till Christmas at least before touching it. Two bottles of raspberry vodka infusing to. Foraged the raspberries from beside where I work.

bonniebede

What about preserving fruit in alcohol?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22appe.html

I'm just thinking, start with birch sap (Free sugar) and wack in some superyeast to get a high alcohol ferment, and something to add some flavour, and then use it to preserve fruit in my kilner jars.

Perfect.

It would be interesting to try - I'd be inclined to go for something more like maple sap though, as it has a higher sugar content than birch.

It'd be a process that required refining though - the aforementioned damsons that we infused in gin for several months were perfectly preserved. I ate one, but found that the sweetness of the flesh had been ruined by the gin (40% BTW).

On the other hand, sloes that had been infusing taste lovely - but I attribute that to a combination of the fruit having far less flesh, and the fact that sloes start out as bitter as is possible, so anything is an improvement!

Maudi

Druss Rua wrote: »

Maudi wrote: »

Druss Rua wrote: »

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Welcome Druss (Paddy?) theres a Fresh Rabbit stew bubbling on the hobo stove, with a loaf of bulrush bannock seasoned with wild onion on the stones beside it!

I go by Druss on boards.ie, that's how other users know me! ;o)

Stew sounds delicious, a glass of my sloe gin would go beautifully with it...!

memories.....i made sloe gin back in nov..alas all gone....but the dandelion brew is fizzing away..

I've two bottles of sloe gin that I made the winter before last. Have another two from this winter still infusing in a Kilner jar. Last week I decanted a bottle of damson gin from September last, I'll leave it till Christmas at least before touching it. Two bottles of raspberry vodka infusing to. Foraged the raspberries from beside where I work.

i have a issue with patience when it comes to home made wine...especially blackberry..elder..lol

Doc Ruby

Deleted User wrote: »

Last week I decanted a bottle of damson gin from September last, I'll leave it till Christmas at least before touching it.

That stuff is huge in France, it's called plum brandy there, and many households have their own vintage. There are guys who run distilleries specifically for the purpose of making plum brandy, you show up with your plums and come back a while later. Tasty!

Doc Ruby

Doc Ruby wrote: »

That stuff is huge in France, it's called plum brandy there, and many households have their own vintage. There are guys who run distilleries specifically for the purpose of making plum brandy, you show up with your plums and come back a while later. Tasty!

Yes, I've heard that alright, and also that they enjoy beech leaf noyau (Something I'd like to try this year!)

I'm always up for household vintages - myself and my old man have something of a competition between us as to who makes the best sloe gin!

- Druss.

http://paddy-halligan.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/#!/druss_rua

krissovo

Nice blog Paddy! I have a nice bit of land and would like to do something similar.

On a side note amazing that with all the good information the thread turned into creating alcohol concoctions:D

Sloe gin is the best! Anyone try vodka and M&M's (not peanut)

Edit: Could be skittles not M&M's