All posts by Stephen Cullen

This Blog is a record of my love of the countryside, all things in it, especially old tractors, growing good food, drinking good tea and taking time out to enjoy life.

What A Scorcher!

 

Parked up at my local lake around 06:20 and after a ten minute walk across a couple of farmers fields I was at the waterside, where I was greeted by a mirror like, flat calm pool. There were no signs of any fish feeding at all. Normally as I trudge along the bankside, I will sometimes ‘spook’ the odd fish, but nothing today.

Presented with an azure blue sky, punctuated only by a perfectly formed cotton wool like, thick, small cloud that drifted nonchalantly towards the horizon, then out of sight.

Nobody else was present at the pond, I had it all to myself. Armed with my Edgar Sealey ‘Octofloat‘ rod today and the usual 3.5″ Aerial, I quietly tackled up and threw a handful of sweetcorn close to overhanging grasses. Fishing lay-on style, using the classic ‘lift method’, I cast a single grain of corn on top of the free offerings, sat down on my creel, and opened my flask.

Almost immediately the float lifted and I hooked a Roach.

By now it was around 07:00 and the day was getting very warm indeed. After about an hour the float lifted once more and I thought I had hooked into one of the small Carp in the lake but after a 5 second fight I knew what my prize was as a Bream came to the net like a wet cloth after a spirited 5 second battle.

Cleaning the slime of the hook link, I recast to a different area and again baited with a handful of corn.

I was joined after an hour by 2 local lads, who although they said they fished the lake, were definitely not members, non-the-less, I unusually made time for them as they were knowledgeable about their fishing. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my float ‘zipp’ away and I was in to a small carp. When I got it closer one of the lads, who was standing higher up the bank watching the action, said it was a Crucian, just then it rolled and I too could see what it was. No doubt, it was a Crucian. I could not believe it. I had no idea all the time I had fished this lake that there were Crucians’ present. I was absolutely over-the-moon with the catch.

The sun was still blazing down when I left the lake around 12:30, what a day!

2014 Tomato List

After ordering my tomatoes in February this year they have just arrived! I wont be doing that again. July is really too late to be planting tomatoes. However, planted they are and hope fully with the very good weather we are currently having it will push them on a bit. Hopefully I will get a crop from them.

Cayenne chilli’s have their first flower on them and the other chilli’s I am growing are coming on well, but no signs of any flowers on them yet. Other varieties are Ghost Scorpion and Butch T.

List of varieties: Anna Aasa, Black Krim, Pink Pink Pong, Bonnie Best, Grandpas Minnesota Hardy, Green Grape, Cosmonaut Volkov, Marizol Purple, Cuban Yellow, Frosted Green Doctors, Summer Cider, Cluj Yellow Cherry, Beefmaster, Kosovo, Cherokee Red.

 

Red Letter Day

Today, “working from home” ,I snuck away to my lake this morning, arriving around 08:30 armed with 2 tins of Sweetcorn and my old Mark IV. Amazingly there were 2 people at the lake which I did not expect, but thankfully no one else.  Neither were fishing near my favourite swim.

I fished close in and landed yet more Tench. After years of not catching any, I have caught more this season since I started fishing many years ago. I also stopped counting at 15 the Roach I caught today.

What a day, warm, over-cast, with a little rain in the air. There are not many days like this-magical. O, and I also saw a Kingfisher today!

July Jam 2014

2013 saw me reserving the few fruits we had from the young first year strawberry plants I had recently planted. Saving them up in the freezer until I had around 2lb in weight of fruit.

Obtaining a fool-proof jam recipe, I set about adding the same amount of sugar to the strawberries, along with the juice of half a lemon. Bringing this too the boil and then turning down to simmer. I kept a close eye on the mixture for some time, stirring occasionally. Foolishly, I left the mixture for perhaps 60 seconds while I made a cup of tea and when I returned I could see it was over done. I still potted the mixture up, but upon opening some days later to try the jam, we required a jack hammer to get anything out of the pot it had set that hard. Gutted would be an understatement, I had wasted all the fruit we had for the year.

2014 has seen a better crop of strawberries in their second year, and I set about making a Rhubarb, Raspberry and Strawberry Jam.

Same recipe, same method, although this time I did not leave the stove!

Hedgehogs back in residence

After well over 2 years hedgehogs are back in our garden. A very welcome resident indeed as we get a lot of wood lice , slugs and beetles that ravage our plants. Now I know the hedgehogs are back I know they will be keep the pest population down and away from my plants.
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First Visit To My Lake 2014

Fishing for small carp in my local pond I could not believe it when I landed 2 Tench and a Crucian. I had no idea Crucian carp were resident in my lake.

Remarkably the bailiff has not been round with his petrol cutters and the whole edge of the lake has become overgrown-fantastic. Taking advantage of this I fished very, very close in under some overhanging giant grasses.

Winter Onions

Finally lifted my winter onions.

I planted these in September 2013. Very slow to grow but now I have them drying on a bench in the greenhouse. This is the perfect location for onions as there is a  vented window right under the bench pushing air upwards, and the onions get a direct blast of sun from the roof.

Although from the same family, the opposite must be remembered for Garlic – keep them out of the sun and in cool conditions to dry them off and store.

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Summer’s here with a Bang!

For years now I have talked about brewing Elderflower Champagne, and now following a kind recipe given to me I have finally produced a batch. I have added my own ingredient which is a handful of Lavender. Lets just say the resulting concoction is explosive. I have left it for a fortnight but am having to crack open every bottle morning and night as it still seems to be fermenting. Oh and by the way, it tastes delicious.

Deepest Darkest Wessex

16th June beginning of the 2014 fishing season, I have been very fortunate to be able to fish a small lake deep in darkest Wessex, steeped in history.

I cannot remember the last Tench I caught and could not believe it when the float ‘zipped’ away and I landed the Tench pictured. I was very lucky to land another in the morning as well as 2 Roach. I also fished that evening and caught another roach – magical place.

Traditional Farming

The farm at Beamish is actually a working farm, it is not simply there for show and originally belonged to the Shafto estate. A lot of old traditional methods, long since died out in modern farming are kept alive on the farm.

‘Chitting’ potatoes

This year I am chitting the early potatoes. I made a mistake last year when I bought my potatoes for the season I kept them in their bag in the dark. When I cam to plant them they had all sprouted. Never-the-less, this did not seem to affect the yield I got from them.

This year I am planting the same as last. Arran Pilot as first early with the addition of Pink Fir Apple as part of my main crop along with King Edward for the Christmas dinner table.

More Snow

Although the weather has been really mild of late this snow snap came and lasted for a few days halting the continuation for rubbish extraction and sifting of the soil as the ground was rock solid.

February 2013 Arrival of The Greenhouse

With a week of good weather this February, I took delivery of my 12×10 greenhouse, what will become the hub for everything I intend to grow.

The raised beds have been levelled out and are ready for planting in the spring. I have added organic fertiliser to beds that will need it, and left it out of beds where I intend to grow such things as carrots as they do not require feeding.

Water barrels have been installed at either side of the greenhouse to take rainfall from the greenhouse roof, very effective they are too.

Automatic vents are in place in the greenhouse to open and close the windows in warmer weather.