Fruits of my Labour

I've racked off the Plum wine to remove all the fruit pulp and to let it continue fermenting in a lidded bucket with an airlock. It seemed a shame to throw away the pulp as it smelled lovely and was full of yeast sugar and alcohol. I tried mixing it with flour, a bit of sugar and a pinch of salt and kneading it into dough to see if it would rise. It did after a few hours so I made half a dozen fruit bread rolls... gorgeous with butter while still fresh and warm.

Yesterday was beautiful weather and I felt like shooting a few arrows, I'd not been up the club for ages so I went up and shot round the 3Ds with a group of people I'd not shot with before. Most enjoyable. My shooting was a bit scrappy, drawing a bit short and missing left or right. I settled down and pushed my bow hand out with more purpose, this lengthened the draw and added some left right stability. I was trying to settle my form a bit, have some fun and get back to the feel of the bow. There's a shoot at Avalon at the end of the month, must book up, it's always a great shoot. It's an hour's drive which is a little tiring these days. (that'll make anyone from the US laugh, as that's 'just down the road' to them).

Rain is due this afternoon so I tidied up on the roof (still not quite finished the pointing). Make hay while the sun shines I though, so I strolled down the cycle track to see how the apple trees are doing.
Not bad, a good few wind falls and giving the branches a bit of a shake brought down some more. There are three different trees in close proximity, big sweet ones, small yellow tart ones and some dark red ones that have pinkish flesh.
I got 25 pounds which is a good start. By the weekend after some rain wind and sun there should be enough to start the cider making.
That means I've got to get the garage tided up now... it's all go.

It irritates me that some people moan about Harlow and run it down as an urban post war concrete jungle. They are often people who don't live here and think themselves superior. Yes there are run down areas, yes there are some miscreants, but that's true of any group from the poshest to the most humble.
I can walk up to the town centre in 10 minutes, I can forage bow making timber, blackberries, apples, sloes and plums. If I'm lucky I may even see a Kingfisher.
Gotta keep our eyes open and appreciate the good stuff.