THE FIRST POST

Where to start? Well, it's Monday evening, 6th April - so let's review the weekend.
Saturday, I woke in a rather twee B&B in Knighton, having travelled down the evening before so as to not have to get up too early for the annual "Radnor Ramble" challenge walk. I like Radnorshire; it's an irony that you have to go to Mid Wales to experience what we think England used to be like. Rolling country with blue hills beyond, hedgerows, copses and small fields. Streams, rivers, birds and the first Spring flowers - violet, celandine, wood sorrell and primrose. It had raiend a little overnight so the air was washed clean to give limitless views in the sunshine.
A steep climb up from Knighton to Offa's Dyke, north for a few miles then down to Lloyney. Up again along the lovely broad ridge to Beacon Hill and then down to Llangunllo. More up and down over the Radnor Hills and down to the last checkpoint at Dolley Green. This was in the Baptist Church Hall. I don't know what sort of Baptists they are in Dolley Green but they seem to be Creationists and they've got the posters and leaflets to prove it. Home made cakes whilst browsing the tracts on display and then a few miles more on Offa's Dyke to return to Knighton - 25 miles in all.

I had some of Matt's home made soup and a cup of tea and then drove home. I only intended a couple of pints in the village pub (quiet as it always is on Saturday) but the Jenning's Lakeland Stunner detained me. A combination of the beer and the 25 miles had me struggling to get up on Sunday morning, but I was anxious to have a look at the cider.

You make cider (fairly obviously) in the Autumn and leave it to ferment over winter. I just use natural apple juice, with a few crab apples thrown in, and leave the natural yeats to do the work. Nothing added. It ferments at a pretty low temperature, about 15c or less, but remains dormant throughout mid winter, then kicks off again in the Spring. I'd racked it (syphoned the clear liquid off the fermentation sludge - the lees) a month or so ago, but I now wanted to bottle about 4 gallons of it. This should produce a sparking cider (as opposed to the still stuff in the jars) which should also keep well - I've made more this year.

In the kitchen garden the new stuff is starting to show. No sign of the potatoes yet, but the shallots are well established as it the garlic and the onions are showing. The peas and broad beans (sown direct for the first time this year) are appearing - but last year's curly kale is beginning to bolt and the leeks won't last much longer. I think this is the time of year that the old cottagers called the "hungry time" - the winter veg was disappearing and the spring stuff hadn't arrived.