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BUILDING s e x o b d r i b a camer

John Butterworth takes a short break from fixing stuff to build an ideal and unusual Christmas present for home farmers and BBC Springwatch viewers

his month’s special project topic is bird boxes; all very fine, but how is that a Christmas topic, you may ask? Well, in a number of ways, actually: bird boxes are more bird friendly if they’ve weathered a bit before spring, to allow the varnish/preservative fumes to fully dissipate; in a really cold winter, birds will often roost in what you might consider to be a nest box; and lastly, we’re going to put a camera in one of them, and a ‘camera bird box’ will certainly make a decent Christmas present for someone. Camera-equipped bird boxes can be bought, of course, but they are usually priced at well over £50. The box itself costs next to nothing to make, and a camera on its own can be had for less than £30 these days, so it makes financial sense as well as a nice little project for those dark evenings. I actually made three: an openfronted robin box using plywood, and two tit boxes (one out of softwood and a posher one out of hardwood, which will have the camera fitted). Don’t use ‘CCA pressure-treated wood’ for the project, though, because it can harm birds, according to the RSPB.

THE BIRD BOXES

Cut to fit

Plank of wood, about 1.5cm thick. All measurements in centimetres.

The open-fronted box is made from 1.5cm plywood, and note that for an open-fronted box, the front panel is about 10cm high rather than the 20cm high used for the tit boxes. Finally, for the would-be camera box I used a 1.5cm-thick rough plank from a hardwood pallet, cut to 15cm wide (see CUTTING ROUGH TIMBER). I marked out the above plan on each plank, then cut out the parts with my compound mitre saw. It’s easy enough to do it with a handsaw, but less accurate and much slower. Beware the thickness of your saw blade when cutting out, and make allowances for it – a thick line with a felt-tip pen is about right. The sides need to be exactly the

same size to keep everything straight. Once you’ve cut out the parts, the roof and the front need to be chamfered at this point, or the roof won’t fit properly later (see the pictures overleaf). This is a cinch on a compound mitre saw, as the saw tilts to the required angle – about 18 degrees – but you can do it with a plane if you have not got a saw. An entrance hole needs to be drilled in the front panel, about 5cm down from the roof, so the chicks in the bottom of the box will be well out of the reach of cats. According to the British Trust for Ornithology, the hole should be at least 25mm in diameter for blue, coal and marsh tits; at least 28mm for great tits and tree sparrows; and about 32mm or larger for house sparrows. I used a 29mm hole cutter just to confuse them, as shown below.

MARKING OUT AND CUTTING THE PARTS There are lots of plans on t’Internet, but a good place to start is the RSPB site, where a simple plan is freely published. The one shown above is a slightly modified version. All you need is a plank of wood about 15cm wide and maybe 1.5cm thick. There’s a range of dimensions on the RSPB plan; I had three different woods for my three boxes – the first was softwood, a bit thick, at about 2cm, but ideal for overwintering roosting birds, as it should keep the frost out better than a thin-walled box.

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“THE BOX ITSELF COSTS NEXT TO NOTHING TO MAKE, AND A CAMERA ON ITS OWN CAN BE HAD FOR LESS THAN £30 THESE DAYS…”

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! y p s d Bir

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Above: Before cutting the chamfers – you can see the lid does not fit properly. Inset: Cutting the chamfers using a compound mitre saw.

ASSEMBLING THE PARTS 1 Draw a line across the back panel, about 6cm up from the bottom. This will be the base of the finished box. 2 Mark on the back panel where the sides will go, and drill holes in the back panel for screws to hold the sides in place – countersink them from the back so the screws won’t stand proud. 3 Mark where the base piece will go – it will be recessed so the sides overhang it when the box is assembled. 4 Drill and countersink holes in the edges of the front panel for screws, then stand the two sides in place on the back panel and glue and screw the front panel in place. Use stainless steel screws or they’ll rust. 5 Carefully turn the whole lot over and glue and screw the back panel to the sides. It will be a bit wobbly at this point. 6 Mark out the piece you have earmarked for the bottom so it fits snugly inside the box, with the sides and front overlapping it. Cut it dead square, as this piece will now keep the whole edifice square once it’s glued and screwed in place. Drill a couple of holes in it to allow for drainage. THE ROOF I tried a different roof type on each of

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reessu r p CA se ‘C ’ for the se it u t ’ Don d wood h, becau ing te trea ct, thoug s, accord d proje arm bir h can RSPB. e to th

my three boxes. The simplest is on the ‘robin box’ version, as it is openfronted and the lid doesn’t need to open, so it’s simply glued and screwed to the sides. The softwood box roof is hinged as shown (top right) and then covered with a damp-proof course (DPC) of plastic, stapled on with stainless steel staples. There’s a wooden block glued and screwed to the underside, and a screw through the side into the block holds the lid down. For the camera box I thought I’d get a bit clever (usually a big mistake) and avoid hinges. I made a snugfitting roof with a block screwed to the underside that keeps it accurately in place, as shown opposite. This took quite a bit of messing about, so I’m not sure whether to recommend it as a construction method – it all depends if you’re in a hurry! I made a little dripstrip, glued and screwed on as shown, to keep the rain from going down the gap where the roof meets the back. Lastly, I found a piece of plastic laminate (recovered from a skip – as many treasures are) and cut it to size, then glued it on the roof, leaving a slight overlap on each side. Once the glue had set, I used a hot-air gun to mould the edges over – well, I did say there was a lot of messing about involved…

CUTTING ROUGH TIMBER If you’re fortunate enough to own a table saw, you can make straight planks out of wavy old pallet wood; for economic reasons, hardwood pallets are often made using the edges of the tree trunks that would normally be discarded, and these aren’t parallel cut. You need to make this rough timber parallel, and there’s an easy way to do that. Screw a straight piece of wood along one edge, as shown. Run that piece against the saw fence – this allows you to cut a straight edge on the other side of the plank. Unscrew the straight piece and discard it, turn the plank over, run its newly cut straight side against the fence this time, and hey presto! A parallel plank from a rough piece of pallet. That’s what my hardwood bird box is made from.

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THE BOXES UNDER CONSTRUCTION

THE FINISHED BOXES Here are the three boxes, finished and varnished. The hardwood one with the plastic roof covering looks the best to me, but I doubt the birds will give much thought to the aesthetics. Plywood was the hardest to use (the open-fronted box), as it splits very easily – not recommended.

Marking out the back of the softwood box.

The bottom of the plywood box, prior to drilling drainage holes.

The softwood box, after the different sections have been assembled.

The hinged roof being attached to the softwood box.

The snug-fitting roof of the hardwood box, with the block screwed on.

The hardwood box, with the drip-strip glued in place.

The plastic covering glued up and ready to be attached to the hardwood box roof.

Moulding the plastic roof covering using a hot-air gun.

THE CAMERA My new camera hadn’t arrived in time for the Home Farmer deadline, so I’ll show you my existing camera bird box (pictured overleaf). The camera lives up near the roof. Virtually all these cameras use infrared to illuminate the inside of the box – see the bluish LEDs around the central lens – and as a consequence the picture that you see on your TV or computer monitor is black and white. Some offer colour vision in daylight, but as the only light you’ll get in a typical tit box comes through a tiny hole, expect to see black and white most of the time. You can put little windows (frosted plastic glazing) in the box, and/or paint the inside white, but I don’t know just how much this extra light might annoy the nesting birds; probably not a lot, as the nests they build themselves are more exposed as a rule. I might experiment with windows in the next box. WIRED vs WIRELESS I’ve gone for a ‘wired’ camera, as opposed to a ‘wireless’ one, as I’ve found this type gives a steadier and more reliable picture. The only downside is that you need to get the aforementioned wire from the bird box to inside your house somehow, which usually means drilling down the side of a window frame. Note that you’d have to drill for a wire for the wireless type too – it has a mains power supply that has to go inside the building (such as a garden shed) that the bird box is mounted on! To me, this rather defeats the object, especially as a

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SPECIAL PROJEC T typical garden shed won’t have mains power. The alternative is a battery pack, the life of which is measured in hours, so all in all, a wired camera seems best to me. WHAT YOU GET, AND HOW TO CONNECT IT You’ll get a little camera (obviously) with a bracket, a roll of cable and a power unit. Screw the bracket high up under the roof of your bird box, looking down on the potential nest. Many of these cameras have a very shallow depth of field, meaning that they focus on objects just in front of the lens, starting about 5cm away, with stuff going out of focus beyond about 6m, though some claim to focus right to infinity – it matters not though, as it’s the close-up feature that we’re interested in for a bird box. The cable can be a bit confusing, as the end that goes indoors typically has three plugs on it. One attaches to the power unit that comes with the camera. That needs to go into a switched mains socket near your TV or computer. The others are both ‘phono’ connectors. The yellow one is video from the camera; the other, if there is another, is usually white, and that’s the audio from the camera. But where to plug them? My Panasonic TV is fairly typical, and most people now have similar digital TVs, since the analogue got turned off a couple of years ago. There are sockets on the TV (usually on the back), and on mine, plugging the yellow connector into the socket marked ‘COMPONENT’ ‘Y’ does the trick. There’s an ‘Input’ button on the remote control, which is marked ‘AV’ (it stands for Audio Visual, although on some remotes it might be labelled ‘INPUT’), and when that is pressed, a load of options come up

on the TV screen, one of which is ‘COMPONENT’. Select that and the bird box video appears on the screen. I haven’t actually bothered with the audio lead – I just left it unconnected.

FURTHER INFO ❋ Cameras are widely available on eBay, but be aware that the cheapest ones usually have the shortest cables, and make sure it is a ‘close-focus’ camera. ❋ Plans for lots of bird boxes are available on the British Trust for Ornithology and RSPB websites – www.bto.org/ and www.rspb.org.uk. ❋ I strongly recommend having a ‘compound mitre saw’ if you are into DIY projects. They’re relatively cheap nowadays, much faster and more accurate than handsaws, and are much safer than using an electric circular saw. ❋ For stainless steel screws, try either Toolstation or Screwfix.

If your TV only has ‘Scart’ connectors (sockets about 5cm ∫ 1.5cm), don’t worry, a phono-to-Scart adaptor is readily available on eBay, and might even be included with your camera kit. Note what the label says on the Scart socket that you plug into (e.g. ‘AV1’, ‘AV2’), and select that option with your TV remote control to see the bird box view. Here’s what the screen looks like in the breeding season (top left) with a nest full of blue tits – this picture is courtesy of my mate Dave, and it’s a slightly fuzzy still picture from a video that he made. The live pictures are a lot sharper than this, normally. If you plug the camera into a computer (the instructions that come with it should tell you how), you can save videos, take screenshots, etc., much more easily.

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G IF T IDE AS

INDOOR/ OUTDOOR SLIPPERS Very snug and very easy to knit, these undershoe slippers can either be worn as slippers in the house or kept on beneath your backdoor shoes or wellies when nipping out into the garden to shut the chooks up for the night or to pick a few herbs for the meal. REQUIREMENTS 1 ball chunky wool 1 pair 5.5mm needles A tapestry needle Cast on 29 stitches. Row 1: K9, P1, K9, P1, K9 (this is the wrong side). Row 2: knit. Repeat these two rows until the piece is 15cm long or 5cm shorter than your foot, ending on a wrong-side row. BEGIN THE TOE RIBBING Row 1: P1, *K1, P1, repeat from *. Row 2: K1, *P1, K1, repeat from *. Repeat until the ribbing is 5cm long, ending on a wrong-side row. FINISHING THE SLIPPERS Cut the yarn with a 60cm tail, thread the tapestry needle and slip it through the stitches once, then do it again in the same direction.

Pull the stitches as tightly together as possible to close the toe of the slipper. Seam the front portion of the slipper 2.5cm into the garter stitch section. Seam the heel until you reach the purl stitched edge of the sole. Sew an overcast stitch all around the edge and pull tightly to close the heel. Secure the yarn with a few stitches and weave in the end. When you wash the slippers they will shrink slightly, but as soon as you put them back on they will grow back again to fit perfectly. FINISHING TOUCHES Add a flower to the front or the side to jazz them up a bit.

POSTSCRIPT I first came across these great slippers when my sister-in-lawâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mum, Cathy, knitted me a pair on a recent trip up to the Hebrides. They may not look the trendiest of footwear, but by â&#x20AC;&#x2122;eck they are warm, comfy and very, very practical.

Above: The finished job. Far left: Laying it out flat. Middle: The heel sewn together.

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‘HAVE A GO’ CHEESE MAKING

MILK ALCHEMY e s e e h c ’ e l y t s no t l i t S ‘ g n i k a M

With the Christmas cheeseboard in mind, Ruth Tott creates a home-made Stilton-style round

he beauty of making ‘Stilton’ (apart from scoffing it at the end, of course) is that you don’t need to get any fancy equipment. You will need to press the cheese, but this can be done with two boards and a plastic milk bottle filled with water placed on top to act as the weight. This system works perfectly well on a clean draining-board overnight.

INGREDIENTS 3.4 litres full milk 400ml gold top Jersey milk (or 3.8 litres of full milk in total) 250ml cream 1 /16 tsp Penicillium roqueforti (I’ll call it ‘Rock40’ from now on) 1 /8 tsp mesophilic direct set culture (or starter culture) 1 /8 tsp rennet in 30ml of cooled, boiled water 1 tbsp rock salt Let’s be realistic – measuring out 1/8 , let alone 1/16 , of a teaspoon of anything, is going to be almost impossible, so using your best guess will be required here. Of course, it’s all easier when you are working on an industrial scale.

RUTH’S TIP! Roughly speaking, you can, at a push, make a Stilton-type cheese in 6 weeks, although, of course, you would ideally want it to mature for longer. Shop-bought Stilton is generally only 8–10 weeks old, from birth to date of sale. You could, then, just about make this now in time for Christmas if you got this issue at the start of the month. If not, it will still make a great gift. METHOD 1 2 3

STERILISE EVERYTHING! ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING! Put the milk, cream and ‘Rock40’ in the pan and stir well. Gently bring the liquid up to 30°C. Don’t worry if it goes a tad over – I work on the basis that ye olde 17th-century milk maids didn’t actually have thermometers to work with. However, the 30°C mark (see below left) is a good and reliable temperature to aim for, so keep as close to it as possible. Turn off the heat and add the starter culture, stirring it in well for 4 minutes.

Add the rennet, which is already in the cooled, boiled water. 6 Cover and leave this super-rich concoction to stand for 90 minutes. You need to maintain a constant temperature as much as possible – your embryonic ‘Stilton’ is now busy coagulating. Remove it from the direct heat source, but keep it warm. 7 After 90 minutes, lift the lid and slide a knife through the ‘curds’, which should now have formed. You are looking for what is called a ‘clean break’ (pictured below centre) – this doesn’t mean that the curds are solid blocks but that they have formed. Cutting the curds in a grid format will help ensure that you have done it thoroughly. 8 Line a colander with cheesecloth and place it over a bowl, then scoop the curds out of the pan and into the cheesecloth – be warned, there will be a lot of whey to collect, especially if you are able to do the full 1-kilo round, so you will need a very big bowl. You also don’t want to lose any of the protein-packed whey, as you can now use it to make ricotta. 9 Leave to drain for another 90 minutes, then tie up the cheesecloth and leave to hang (see below) for a

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“THE BEAUTY OF MAKING ‘STILTON’ (APART FROM SCOFFING IT AT THE END, OF COURSE) IS THAT YOU DON’T NEED TO GET ANY FANCY EQUIPMENT”

A BRIEF NOTE ABOUT EQUIPMENT Most of the equipment needed will already be in your kitchen, and any extra requirements are inexpensive to buy. EQUIPMENT CHECKLIST ❋ Large stockpot ❋ Slotted spoon ❋ Thermometer ❋ 2 plastic cheese mats (or you can use bamboo mats) ❋ Cheese mould with a bottom (9cm deep and 11cm in diameter) ❋ 2 cheesecloths ❋ 2 boards ❋ 6-pint (3,408ml) plastic milk bottle filled with water ❋ Colander ❋ Knife ❋ Knitting needle (or a clean bamboo stick) Sterilise all the equipment before you use it and scald the cheesecloth by running boiling water through it. I was limited to the amount of ‘Stilton’ I could make due to the size of

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A simple DIY double boiler.

the stockpot I possess. If you have a larger pot, then double up the ingredients, to make a full 1 kilo of ‘Stilton’. To do this you will need either a bigger mould or two moulds. You can convert your stockpot to a double boiler by placing it on top of a large pan of water. I used bamboo mats in place of plastic cheese mats. Whilst the press itself can be cobbled together, the cultures and moulds can’t be picked up quite so easily. I got mine from The Cheese Making Shop (their contact details are at the end of this article), who were very helpful in getting me started.

‘HAVE A GO’ CHEESE MAKING

further 30–60 minutes over a pan to catch the drips. (We hang it from a kitchen cupboard handle, which is perfect.) 10 Build up a press using one of the boards as the base – ideally propped up on one side to form a slight slope, which can hang just over the sink. Unlike harder cheeses, Stilton-type cheese does not need more substantial pressing. 11 Place your curds, wrapped securely in cheesecloth, on the board (you may feel happier wrapping them up in a second piece of cheesecloth), then place the second board on top. 12 Fill the 6-pint plastic milk bottle with water – now begins a bit of a balancing act as you place it carefully on the top board so that you effectively sandwich your curds, which should now be pressed overnight to remove as much of the remaining whey as possible. Leave this to stand overnight (see above).

THINGS THAT CAN GO WRONG SYMPTOM

REASON/REMEDY

Curds do not form.

Was the heat in the stockpot too great? Is the rennet fresh? How has it been stored? You could try a little more rennet, or reheating the milk and leaving it for a bit longer, but there is usually little you can do to remedy the situation, other than learn for next time.

The cheese smells of ammonia.

Do not eat it! Get rid of it!

The crust is white with slightly furry bits.

Simply scrape them off.

The cheese tastes slightly acidic.

That’s OK – it’s a new cheese. Let it mature a little more to acquire a creamy texture and taste.

RUTH’S TIP! This next bit of the process is referred to as ‘milling’ – crumbling up the cream cheese and adding rock salt. Some books call for cheese salt – a bit of a rip-off, according to Jaap at The Cheese Making Shop. Rock salt has no caking agent and has not been ionised, making it perfect for the job. It is also considerably cheaper than ‘cheese salt’. To be honest, I think, given the low quantities you are making here, that you may get away with using household salt, but we preferred to use rock salt in line with professional advice. 13 Break up the cheese (yes, it is now ‘cheese’) and add the rock salt.

REMEMBER By visual inspection and by smell, a grader can determine whether a cheese is ‘up to the mark’ and able to be sold as Stilton. Any cheese that is not up to the mark will simply be sold as ‘blue cheese’. http://www.stiltoncheese.co.uk/making_stilton.

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17 18

Mash it all together so that the salt is as distributed as possible. Line your cheese mould with cheesecloth and pack the cheese into it, pressing it down with your hand as you go. You need to remove any gaps or air pockets from it. The next 2 hours of your life will be given over to ‘cheese watch’. Much like tending to the needs of a very hungry day-old baby, you will have to be available to turn the cheese over every 15 minutes, sandwiched between the two bamboo mats. That’s 8 turns in 120 minutes. Turn it 4 times a day over the next 4 days. A slight amount of liquid will still come out from the cheese, so make sure you keep it standing on a tray or similar. After 4 days (pictured above left), take the cheese out of the mould and unwrap it carefully. Smooth the edges of the round, taking great care with your precious cheese. The smoother you can get it, the less likely it will be to crack. Spend time over this – the smoother you can get the outer, the better the final effect will be. Using a sterilised knitting needle (or a clean bamboo stick), push 10 holes into the top and 10 into the bottom of the cheese, about 2cm from the edge (pictured below left). This will allow air to get to the centre of the cheese, helping to create the characteristic veining throughout the round.

“NOT MANY SEMI-DETACHED HOUSES IN PRESTON COME COMPLETE WITH A CHEESE CAVE”

Extra THE ‘STILTON’ TIMELINE

DAY 1 Heat the milk, add the culture, ‘Rock40’ and rennet. Cut the curds and drain overnight. DAY 2 Mill the cheese, pack it in the mould and turn it 4 times an hour for 2 hours, then 4 times a day for 4 days. DAY 6 Blue veining should now be starting to form. Remove carefully from the cheesecloth, smooth the sides, prick holes in the top and the bottom of the cheese and store in a cool place uncovered. DAY 7 Turn 3 times during the following week. DAY 14 Remove and scrape off the initial crust, then return to mature. The longer you leave it, the creamier it will become.

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‘HAVE WOOLA LYGO’ MAMMOTHS CHEESE MAKING 20 Store the cheese in your ‘cheese cave’ (see below). I covered mine up at first. It did weep profusely after the third week, so I put holes in the cover to allow air to circulate. Store it on a mat so it doesn’t sit in any of the liquid, and inspect regularly. 21 A crust will start to form – scrape this off on about Day 14 using a knife (pictured below). This initial crust looks far from appealing – in fact more like something from a 1950s horror film than the familiar and recognisable Stilton crust. Rest assured that, over time, it will gradually begin to take on the crusted look we expect to find on a Stilton.

! r e b m Reme

t to ortan ipment p im equ ery It is v all your and e it, sterilis you use ald the c e befor orget to s nning f ru t ’ y don cloth b h it. e roug s h e t r e che t g wa boilin

RUTH’S TIP! Not many semi-detached houses in Preston come complete with a cheese cave. Many say to keep the cheese at 10°C. The top part of the fridge fluctuated from 9.6°C to 12.4°C. In the end I stored it in our ‘larder’ under the stairs. It’s cooler than the rest of the house but above the 10°C quoted. Whilst not ideal, it is possibly as good as I can get without moving house or finding a cave. The temptation at this stage is to have a look at how it’s progressing, and this desire is going to be impossible to ignore. I had blue veins (in the cheese!) after just 6 days, and what an exciting moment it is when you first pull back the cheesecloth to check on your progress. It was a real ‘whoopde-whoop’ moment in our household, mainly because I was unconvinced that the few grains of ‘Rock40’ I had used were sufficient to work.

RUTH’S TIP! You will have an enormous amount of whey to use up, so you can make a simple ricotta cheese. To do this, heat the whey up to boiling to create the curds. Keep it on a high simmer for 20 minutes, leave it to cool, then scoop out the curds. Collect them together in a cheesecloth and leave to hang overnight.

NEXT MONTH At the time of going to press, my Stilton-type cheese is only four weeks old. In next month’s issue I shall update you with a further photo after eight weeks. Over the next couple of issues I will be making other cheeses, including Camembert and Lancashire cheese – and because I am making it in Lancashire I can officially call it Lancashire cheese, not Lancashiretype. Anyone feeling inspired should turn to page 75 of this issue of Home Farmer to transform that inspiration into cheese! Many thanks to Jaap at The Cheese Making Shop for all his advice, support and encouragement. Visit them at www.cheesemakingshop.co.uk, or phone them on 0121 744 4844.

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RAG WORK CHRISTMAS WREATH At Yarndale I attended a workshop led by textile artist, Jane Rushworth, which showed us how to make this Christmas wreath out of rags. I’ve made rag rugs before, but only with a specially designed ‘progger’. This method uses an adapted, old-fashioned wooden dolly peg, and was worked from the back. It’s strangely therapeutic, very thrifty, and the final decoration is really effective; I feel quite chuffed with the result. REQUIREMENTS ❋ Old-fashioned wooden dolly peg ❋ Stanley knife ❋ Sandpaper ❋ Hessian or sacking material ❋ School-style compass ❋ Felt-tip pen ❋ Ruler ❋ Scissors ❋ Loads of scraps ❋ Cardboard

METHOD 1 To make your peg, cut one side off the dolly peg and sharpen the other side to a point using a Stanley knife. Smooth the point off with sandpaper so it doesn’t catch on the fabric. 2 To mark out your pattern (see the diagram above), draw a circle

A prepared dolly peg.

Making a big hole with the peg.

Always work your pattern from the back.

Making good progress.

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measuring 23cm in diameter using the compass and felt-tip pen. This should be done on the back of the work. 3 Measure out an inner circle 11cm in diameter, leaving a band (the wreath part) 12cm in width. 4 In the band, mark out 10 circles all equidistant from each other. 5 To prepare the hessian, sew zigzag stitch around the outer circle and the inner circle to stop the material from fraying. 6 To prepare your rags, cut your material into strips roughly 8cm in length and 2cm wide. This need not be precise! Cut the strips with a diagonal slant at each edge. It’s also always far more interesting to have materials of different textures and shades. As a rough guide, you will need at least 3–4 times the fabric of the space to be filled. 7 To get rag working, make a big hole in the fabric with the peg from the back, then take your strip of material and your peg and ‘stuff’ one end through the hole. 8 Make another hole 3 strands of hessian away, poke the other end through, then take another piece of fabric and do exactly the same to build up the picture. Turn the fabric over and just pull each end to make sure it’s tight. 9 Continue working the pattern until it’s complete. 10 To finish off once the material is fully ‘ragged’, cut the centre so that you can turn the hessian over onto the back, then do the same with the outer edge. You can then back it using cardboard for strength.

SE ASONAL FOR AGING

FORAGING in December

David Winnard highlights a delicious mushroom and a peppery plant, and puts out an alert for the unpleasant Yellow Stainer and the iconic Fly Agaric mushroom

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bruises chrome yellow when rubbed on the cap, and when damaged in the base of the stem, it also smells of ink. When you cook with them this ink smell becomes more and more intense, to the point where you should be asking whether or not they are ‘edible’. All of the people, within just a few hours, were being sick and having to sit on the loo. One was ill for three days, although for the others it wore off after just a few hours. In other cases it has actually put people in comas, although some who have eaten it have shown no ill effects whatsoever! For that reason – and the fact that this year the Yellow Stainer seems really common – re-familiarise yourself with this mushroom; we have covered it on one occasion previously, but after this year I want people on the ball with it. I would also advise you not to pick Field Mushrooms unless you are 100% sure what they are. Bruising chrome yellow, an inky smell and a large floppy ring on the stem are just some of the features to the Yellow Stainer. This mushroom is without doubt the one that causes the most poisonings from eating wild mushrooms, so get to know it and

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h, my wonderful Home Farmer ‘foragey’ friends… we are into a new month, with new things to look out for, but I am afraid, dear comrades, that the foraging gods have shown us both sides of the coin this last month, and have both excelled and infuriated at the same time. On the plus side, it seems like one of the best years I can remember for berries, sloes, rowan, elderberries and hawthorn, with all of them putting out a bumper crop, and my freezer is literally overflowing with berries ready to become something tasty – hawthorn vinegar and elderberry syrup are my two faves at the moment. On the downside, there is a more sinister and altogether more evil side to the proverbial coin, and even as I am writing this I can hear the weather report on the TV in the background: “…the driest September since records began…”. That’s probably the very worst thing anybody with an interest in wild mushrooms could possibly hear. This is no doubt the reason why I have been curled up in a ball in my office sucking my thumb and praying for rain, but I fear that whatever comes now may be too little too late. I have found just a fraction of the species and numbers I would have expected to find at this time of year, and my usual couple of months spent replacing all my dried wild mushrooms from the previous year looks to be increasingly challenging. The mushroom season seemed to get off to a really impressive start, with lots to find, but as it stopped raining things simply dried up and no new growth appeared. The gods giveth and taketh away. One unusual thing has happened this year: four different people have contacted me and brought me

The Yellow Stainer – the mushroom responsible for more poisonings than any other, and sometimes mistaken for a Field Mushroom.

mushrooms that they have all eaten and as a result of which they have become sick – and all were unrelated instances. Mushroom poisonings are actually very rare, and when you do it right (as I have been preaching in this magazine) it should be almost impossible – stick only to what is safe and what you cannot misidentify. However, all four had not read the articles (shame on them!), and none had been on my workshops, either (shame on them!), and so picked and ate mushrooms from the wild… and got it wrong. All of them ate the same mushroom believing it to have been the Field Mushroom (Agaricus campestris), but what they had actually eaten was the Yellow Stainer (Agaricus xanthodermus). ). The Yellow Stainer, which this year I have encountered much more than normal, can look like the Field Mushroom, but it

Remember !

Mushroo m poison ings are actually ver you do it y rare, and whe n rig preachin ht (as I have be en g in this magazin it should e) be impossib almost le.

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“THE MUSHROOM IS A FIERY ORANGE WITH PALER GILLS AND A LOVELY DARK VELVETY LOOK TO THE STEM”

Velvet Shank (Flammulina velutipes).

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SE ASONAL FOR AGING

“…A FEW LEAVES HERE AND THERE ADD A HUGE PUNCH TO ANY SALAD” know what to avoid – it is actually very distinctive. So, now that we have established what not to pick, let’s move on to two species that definitely should be picked:

Right: Water Pepper (Persicaria hydropiper).

WATER PEPPER (Persicaria hydropiper) This is a fantastic plant; not only is it relatively common, it also really tantalises your taste buds. One bite of the leaves and within just a few seconds you will get the strong, peppery notes and quickly realise that this is not a plant you would want to eat a lot of, but a few leaves here and there add a huge punch to any salad. Water Pepper is found in a range of habitats, from the edges of ponds and riverbanks, to damp meadows, but the place I get mine from is my local reservoir. In the second half of the year, when the water level drops, this plant emerges from the newly exposed mud and quickly covers the area. It is a member of the Persicaria family, which includes plants like Redshank ((Persicaria maculosa), ), so it does have some lookalikes. Water Pepper has pale-pink flowers that droop, leaves that are narrow and oval (but do not contain a dark spot, unlike Redshank), and the leaves have a strong peppery taste (but do not taste it unless you are 100% sure you know what it is). Sadly, keeping this plant can be difficult; it does not dry well, and when you cook with it, it loses most of its peppery notes. Fresh in salads is probably the best way to enjoy it, or chop the leaves up and add them to things like soup for an extra pepperiness – see the recipe at the end of this article. This plant also flowers well into the early part of winter, so long as the frosts do not damage it too much.

Below: Velvet Shank (Flammulina velutipes).

the darkest months. The cap of this mushroom is fantastic, although the stem is a bit tough and I often throw it away. The mushroom is a fiery orange with paler gills and a lovely dark velvety look to the stem. Velvet Shank grows on rotting deciduous wood – never pick anything that looks like it off conifer wood, as there is an orangey mushroom called Funeral

VELVET SHANK (Flammulina velutipes) A most delightful mushroom that can often be found growing right through winter, which provides the mushroom hunter with something to look for even in

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WATER PEPPER AND PEA SOUP This month’s recipe is a very simple one – I am now back on my diet and this recipe contains only good stuff.

NEXT MONTH We shall have a really good look at some foraged winter drinks, and a few cocktails and ‘mocktails’. In the meantime, I am off foraging in Berlin and going to the Berlin Bar Show, so no doubt I shall be back inspired with even more cocktails to impress your friends!

Above: Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria).

Bell, which is poisonous. Velvet Shank has its own unique look, and usually, if you are finding these mushrooms, most other mushrooms will already have gone over. This is the actual mushroom that has been cultivated to produce Enoki mushrooms. Grown slowly in dark conditions, they are much smaller capped and generally white in appearance. It is thought that extracts from this mushroom have big anti-cancer properties, but much more research is needed.

FLY AGARIC (Amanita muscaria) Well, I can’t exactly not include this mushroom at some point, can I? It’s the ultimate fairy-tale mushroom, and definitely one to avoid! The Fly Agaric is a common mushroom around birch and pine, and this year seems to be a really good one for it. It can produce fruiting bodies from August right through the wintry months, so long as there is not too hard a frost. This particular mushroom is absolutely loaded with folklore and mythology – for starters, it is the reason why reindeer fly at Christmas! Not only is it hallucinogenic to us, but also to

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reindeer, and when they eat it they start to jump over things which are not there. The Sami people looking after them in Northern Scandinavia are said to drink the urine of reindeer that have feasted on these mushrooms, and they hallucinate – before you know it they are seeing flying reindeer. There is even a book written about this mushroom, which states that Christianity is based on the worship of it, and that early references referred to it as ‘Christ’ – the book has since been debunked, but it goes to show the power which some people think this mushroom has! It is the ultimate ‘toadstool’ – a truly meaningless word I dislike intensely, which underpins just how poorly we know our wild mushrooms; the word ‘toadstool’ is all too often used when referring to poisonous mushrooms, and when referring to edible ones the word ‘mushroom’ is used. Toadstools are mushrooms, but at present the only way to know if it is a mushroom or toadstool is to know if it is edible or poisonous! The word ‘toadstool’ needs deleting from the dictionary – we could then just refer to them as mushrooms!

INGREDIENTS SERVES 4 1 litre vegetable stock 500ml frozen peas 1 onion A handful of Water Pepper leaves (to throw in at the end) Salt and pepper (to taste) METHOD 1 Chop the onion into small bits and add it to the pan, along with the stock, then boil. 2 Once the onions have softened, add the frozen peas and boil for a few minutes. 3 Transfer to a blender, then blend until nice and smooth. 4 Pour into bowls and add pieces of the Water Pepper to the soup – some mixed in with the soup and some as a garnish on top – then add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy this soup, and be prepared for a kick whenever you get a piece of the Water Pepper!

This month, as a challenge, why not go and see if you can find your own Fly Agaric mushrooms? This is often a gateway into the exciting world of mushrooms, and once you have found something as iconic as this you will often start to look for other species, and then, before you know it, you are completely hooked – Happy Foraging!

SOF T FRUIT

BERRY NICE ! y t s a t d n a h s e Fr Mike Clark looks at the requirements to get the most from all your soft fruit

ou have just harvested a wonderful crop of berries; you have made crumbles, pies, jams, jellies, and, knowing Home Farmer readers, probably wine. By now, only the blackberry family will still be offering fruit – that’s the blackberry way. Now is the time to give your soft fruit a helping hand to ensure another juicy harvest next year.

RASPBERRIES Raspberries fall into two groups: summer-fruiting and autumn-fruiting, and each require very different pruning regimes. Summer-fruiting rasps produce their fruit on canes which have sprung up from the stool the previous year. Once established, canes can grow to a considerable height, and need to be tied to horizontal wires for support. Stout posts and strong wires are essential, as a mass of canes in full leaf is not only heavy; it also acts like a big sail when the wind gets up! Aim for a framework at least 1.8m high. Firstly, remove all those canes which have borne fruit this year to ground level. Next, remove new canes that are weak or short or way outside the desired area – the older the rasp stools get, the further the roots spread. New canes can appear anywhere within the root spread

p i T p To

at ork of rt w e m r a fra suppo Aim fo m high to g .8 least 1 mer-fruitin canes. f m the su ry’s mass o r e raspb

(in other circumstances, we would describe them as ‘suckers’). If there are gaps in the row, dig up some of these remote canes and transplant them where they will be more useful. But be ruthless – overcrowded rasps may produce quantity, but will be poorer in quality, and more susceptible to fungal diseases. Aim for no greater density than one cane every 20cm, and go for wider spacing if you really value quality over quantity. Cut out all the rest. Tie the selected new canes to the horizontal wires, which should ideally be no more than 40cm apart. If the canes are taller than your structure, tip them back to just above the top wire, cutting just above a node (leaf-joint). Now, mulch with your own well-rotted compost, and retire for a brew. Autumn-fruiting raspberries produce fruit on canes which begin their growth in spring of the same year. That makes them much easier to deal with, in pruning terms – just cut all the canes to the ground after fruiting, then let the next generation come up and do its own thing. Don’t try to restrict autumnfruiting rasps to a regimented row like its earlier-cropping cousins. Don’t thin the canes, and only remove canes if they are seriously outgrowing the allotted space. Give them room to grow as a thicket and let Mother Nature take her course. Also, don’t tie them in – they don’t grow as tall as summer-fruiters and the stems are more flexible, so wind damage is rarely an issue. Autumn-fruiting raspberries are arguably the easiest soft fruit to grow – all you have to do is cut them down every winter. If all fruit was this easy, people like me would be out of a job. However, fortunately for me and my income, there are other soft fruits which do need rather more attention.

CURRANTS The stems of blackcurrants grow from virtually ground level, and the best fruit is produced on stems that developed last season. As the stems get older, both the quality and the quantity of fruit declines, so remove about a third of the oldest stems to the base every year, which will encourage young stems to emerge. Also, remove any which are crossing or rubbing against one another, or are sprawling on the ground. The remaining fruited stems should then be cut back to an upward-growing lateral. Whitecurrants and redcurrants (pictured above) are a completely different proposition. They are normally grown on a short leg with a more-or-less permanent framework of branches. The fruit is produced on spurs, not unlike an apple tree, so only remove entire stems if the bush is overcrowded; otherwise, cut all the leaders back by about a third, always to an outward-facing bud. Then trim all the laterals back to a couple of buds to create the spurs which will bear the new season’s fruit.

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“FEWER BUDS WILL RESULT IN A LESSER QUANTITY OF FRUIT, BUT OF GREATER SIZE AND QUALITY”

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SOF T FRUIT

GOOSEBERRIES Like whitecurrants and redcurrants, gooseberries are grown on a short leg or clean main stem about 15–20cm high. The framework of branches is permanent and the new growth made annually by the leaders should be cut back by at least half. Prune to an outward-facing bud unless the stems are drooping, as is quite often the case with gooseberries. In this situation, trim to an upward-facing bud. Don’t allow the bush to become overcrowded, and remove complete stems if necessary to permit good air circulation. Trim laterals back to anything from two to six buds – fewer buds will result in a lesser quantity of fruit, but of greater size and quality; more buds will give more, but smaller fruit. Because we want a clean leg, prune out any new growth below 20–25cm.

! r e b m e Rem

erries s, tayb eed to ie r r e Blackb anberries n ework g m and lo ed to a fra in . s a r e be t tal wir n o iz r of ho

There is a school of thought which suggests that soft fruit pruning should be left until spring, on the basis that after fruiting, the leaves will continue to feed the plants until leaf-fall. I have an open mind on this, and gardening techniques differ from gardener to gardener. My approach works for me, so that’s what I do, and I am simply sharing the technique that suits me. But feel free to disagree, and please let me know if a different approach works for you.

SUMMER-FRUITING RASPBERRIES – PRUNING STEP-BY-STEP

BLACKBERRIES All the hybrids and cultivars of the blackberry (tayberry, loganberry, etc.) are treated in the same way. The blackberry is a bit of a thug and will attack you at every opportunity. Full body armour may be desirable, but stout gloves are absolutely essential. Some of the thornless introductions make handling much easier. Blackberries, tayberries and loganberries need to be trained to a framework of horizontal wires. If left to its own devices, a blackberry will become impenetrable and unmanageable. First, remove all the fruited stems, then untangle the mass of new stems, selecting the best to tie into the wires. The stems are flexible enough to twist around the wires, which helps to support the weight of fruit and reduces the amount of tying needed. Tip back the stems when they reach the end of the allotted wire. Finally, remove all the other new stems to ground level.

Remove last year’s fruited canes.

Thin the new canes.

Tie them in tightly to supporting wires.

The old canes removed, leaving next year’s canes.

Remove the tips to suit the height of your framework.

All thinned out and tied – job done!

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