What to do with Rose Hips?

It's been a busy couple of weeks.  Since my last post the Yarrow Soup was a complete success, and now I know what I am looking for, I really didn't need to go so far as up the nearest mountain to find this once elusive plant.  I am spotting the stuff literally EVERYWHERE.  Free Food is out there people you just need to know what you are looking for! She says, stating the obvious.

With this in mind Georgie, Lauren and I have become foraging queens!  Albeit blackberries (we know they're safe) but, all mushrooms look the same so that's a minefield.  My next challenge was in the pipeline.  My first idea was to go through the book 'All Good Things Around Us' recipe by recipe, but as the book is seasonal this was proving difficult.   Therefore, I decided to stick with seasonality and pick some Rose Hips at least they were in season.  Now, when I was a child, these pesky little blighters were usually opened up and the pips chucked down someones T-Shirt, all in the name of good fun, unless of course you were on the receiving end (believe me, that ain't much fun!)  But who knew there were so many possibilities!  Rose Hip Syrup, Rose Hip Soup?!! Rose Hip Jam and even a recipe from 1671 (in the book) for 'A Tarte of Rose Hips'  don't fancy that one much, probably picking pips out of your mouth for the next two years...that recipe is for another day. 

I chose to make wine.  And as Benjamin Franklin said 'Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.'  How can you argue with that?!

From this...

After an hour of picking, and the added bonus of finding a football, I became the proud forager of about 500g of beautiful orangey red Rose Hips.  Then I checked the recipe - yes I did it again.  The No 1 rule of making anything - READ THE BLOODY RECIPE!!!!!!  I needed a kilo.

...To this!

You may've guessed it... I made it up.  I chucked a load of wild plums in the mix, which I had previously foraged and horsed in the freezer, not knowing what the hell to do with them.  And I still have about 2kg of the damn things left.  Still, I lobbed all the ingredients in a bucket and put the lid on top.  I have had to stir that crusty bucket everyday for two weeks.  But today was the day was the day of the great decanting.  After using pretty much every colander and saucepan I owned, I finally got the pink/orange liquid in the bottle and have put it away to do its thing. 

The last lot of wine I made was, in my usual style, a complete disaster.  It had this sort of manky film floating on the top, so that vintage was reserved for the fine sewerage system of Great Britain. 

Its going to be a good couple of weeks until its ready, so hopefully there will be Rosé all around this Christmas!  Such fun! Til next time kids...

Love Melissa x

Madness at home.... and how to cope (sort of!)

Where to start? At the beginning I suppose. This month has been pretty hectic as our homeschooling begins in earnest and, not being shy of a challenge or two, I start some DIY. I think I might be a little mad after all - I mean what was I thinking starting a new DIY project at a time like this?! Oh. I know, I wasn't thinking... I was a little cross at the time and thought it was an ideal time to release some tension and strip the wallpaper up the stairs and landing. Well it did help release the tension but now I have to live with the consequences. Yes. I confess our house has turned into a bomb site as bookshelves and filing cabinets had to be moved and dumped temporarily in our bedrooms. I am falling over myself every bed time and pray I do not need the loo in the night in case I risk my life stumbling through the dark to reach the bathroom. Not to mention the lego, dolls, puzzles that seem to multiply and disperse throughout the house each day. Ha. So far I am alive and I thank God for that!

As we start our adventure learning from home it has come to my notice that as usual the stereotypical British are actually quite polite. I was not sure how people were going to react to our decision to homeschool. It feels a bit like 'coming out' to our schooling friends but, as a testament to them they have all been rather smashing. Lot's of "Oh that's amazing, good for you!" and "So how's it going, you're so brave!" comments. In truth I don't know how to reply to these well meaning questions. Do I tell them the house is in chaos and the children take it in turns to have melt-downs every few hours on some days or, in true British style do I put on my best smile and tell them it's going GREAT, we're having SO much fun and the girls are loving every MINUTE of it. In truth the real answer is somewhere in the middle. We are still finding our feet. Some days are fan-dabulous and some are a test to my patience to say the least.

September Fun!

We have so far had a 'few' mishaps that might amuse you. I am keen for the girls to find some other local HE children to play with and have found some groups to meet up with weekly. All seemed well, I checked the address and time they were meeting on Facebook, set the sat nav on the phone and away we went with high expectations of fun and laughter. What we found was an empty building with a lone care-taker painting inside. Apparently they meet on Fridays now. Ha.

I am also meeting new people and have so far embarrassed myself by mentioning that we were looking for some 'normal non-hippy' people (cringe....dig...dig...) to be friends with to a lovely lady that I then noticed was dressed rather hippy-like now you come to mention it. Oh God what a nightmare - I'm good at putting my foot it it like that! Bless her, she paused and replied that you had to be a little 'out there' to even consider HE. Well I can't fault her on that. Crazy is as crazy does and all that. Sorry Emily you are lovely!

On a P.E / nature bike ride darling daughter number two had her very own mishap - by cycling herself and the bike into the canal. Not a happy girl! I was soooo good and did not laugh - even though pretty in pink and dripping in pond weed is quite an amusing look! The walk home wailing was not so fun though. Hey ho at least there were no accident forms to fill out!

So, how to cope with madness at home? Keep a sense of humour and remember what's important in life. That's it!

     :-)

xxx Georgie xxx