Bumper Chilli Crop

As promised here are pictures of the variety of chillis we grew this year. Having a greenhouse has been an absolute godsend, meaning that the fruit had plenty of opportunity to get big and juicy.

My chillis!

Seasonal Recipe

So, we collected literally dozens of apples from our tree last weekend, and everyone knows that the best way to eat apples is with oodles of sugar as part of a weight-loss programme?! NOT!

The Fairer Palmer has provided her very own recipe for Apple Crisp (American Apple Crumble). Here you go... enjoy.

Ingredients for filling

400g/1lb apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm/½in pieces

50g/2oz unrefined brown sugar

1 tbsp plain flour

1 tsp of ground cinnamon

Ingredients for topping

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1/2 cup (65 grams) all purpose flour

1/4 cup (55 grams) light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fresh or ground nutmeg (optional)

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons (84 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/3 cup (30 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup (40 grams) chopped walnuts (optional)

Apple Crisp: Preheat oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F) and place rack in the center of the oven. Butter or spray with a cooking spray, a 9 inch (23 cm) deep dish pie plate or an 8 x 8 x 2 inch (20 x 20 x 5 cm) baking dish. Set aside.

For Topping: Place all the topping ingredients (flour, sugars, spices, butter, oats and nuts) in a food processor and process until the mixture is crumbly and there are no large pieces of butter visible. (This can also be done with two knives or your fingertips.) Set aside while you prepare the filling.

For Filling: Place the apple chunks in a large bowl. mix in sugar, flour and cinnamon being carfull not to break up the apples. Transfer to your prepared baking dish Spread the topping evenly over the apples.

Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes or until bubbly, and the topping is golden brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 30 minutes before serving.

Serve with softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Refrigerate leftovers and reheat before serving.

Seasonal Foods - September

Harvest Month... plenty to gather and plenty to eat, i will post some images later this week of appales pears and chilli peppers that were harvested this month by the Palmer's fair hands. This month gorge yourself on the following sumptuous offerings.

September Vegetables
Artichoke, aubergine, beetroot, broccoli, butternut squash, carrots, celery, chillies, courgettes, cucumber, fennel, garlic, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuces & salad leaves, mangetout, marrow, onions, peppers, potatoes, radishes, rocket, sweetcorn, watercress.

September Fruit
Apples, bilberries, blackberries, blueberries, damsons, pears, plums, raspberries, tomatoes.

September Seafood
Clams, cod, crab, grey mullet, haddock, halibut, john dory, lemon sole, lobster, mackerel, monkfish, pilchard, pollack, plaice, prawns, scallops, sea bass, sea bream, shrimp, squid, turbot, winkles

Images to follow :~)

Appropriate Energy Saving Technology

This should give you all pause to think about what technologies you currently use and whether you could move from Priority 3 fuels to Priority 1 & 2 fuels. If you want to view our table you will need to click on the images. I've yet to work out how to copy and paste tables into Blogger... if it's possible at all!

1. Consider the energy you use in your activities and the sources from where it comes. Create a table similar to the one below and fill in the appropriate information. Identify strategies for using more priority one sources of energy and fewer priority two and priority three sources based on behaviour, design and technology considerations.


As discussed in previous assignments, we are keen to trial any “green” technologies in order to find our best fit. Due to the fact that the site is YET to have a building put on it, it makes for an attractive, experimental location for all manner of Priority one technologies. If properly planned the need for Priority 3 sources can be minimised. The site is currently off the grid, but this is probably temporary and realistically the technologies we select will offer a means of reducing our dependence on the grid.

Wake up!

Back in my more innocent days, when I was trolling through the information available about the future of life on earth, I emailed Ernest Partridge following an article i had read by him, asking the simple question; "Is this as bad as it gets?" He kindly responded that he believed it would get a lot worse, a lot, lot worse, before we collectively woke from our slumber and acted in our best interests... at last!

I paraphrase as it was some time ago, but it appears from Ernests most recent writings that we still haven't gotten to the stage where we all wake up. For fucks sake, people better wake up soon!

"Are we, like the fruit flies in the bottle, predestined to meet a horrible fate due to forces beyond our control – beyond our control because we cannot overcome the blind economic interests which dominate our political processes and which own the mass media that misinforms the public?"

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26331.htm