Monday 21 April 2014

Bees and Stuff

We decided to make up some frames for the Top Bar Hives to sit on, raising them up to a more comfortable working height, we had some old timber sitting at the side of the house so put it to use, at some point we will make some nice looking stands for all the hives, all that bending over plays havoc with your back, and you can be bent over a hive for about 20 mins at a time just checking them. 
One of the hives on the stand compared to the other what a difference that extra foot makes.

As the weather was playing ball, I emptied out all the aquaponic trays and gave the pebbles a good wash down in readiness to be put to use again
I knew those plastic veg boxes from the farm shop would come in useful, they were great for putting the clay pebbles in so they could dry off in the sun and get a good airing.

Also got some crisps made today, so we can have a well earned snack tonight, I do prefer home made crisps, this bowl full was from 2 potatoes
And we have a selection of flavours to choose from
we usually put some crisps into a bag sprinkle on our chosen flavour and give it a good shake, the crisps would keep up to a month in an air tight container, although there is no chance of them lasting that long.
I use Crisp and Dry cooking oil for making crisps, I much prefer it, I slice the potatoes on a mandolin so I can get really thin uniform slices, leave them in water for a few hours to get as much of the starch out as possible, then dry them off then fry in the hot oil a few at a time and keep turning them as soon as they start to colour lift out and drain. 

Hope you have all had a good day, back to work tomorrow.

7 comments:

  1. Wow! you even make your own crisps! never seen those seasoning thingys before, they sound tasty.

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  2. I bought them on Amazon, I dont have time to trawl the shops so I am looking for something Amazon is usually my first port of call, I have some other flavourings as well, sweet ones from the same range and use them on popcorn.

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  3. Making your own crisps sounds great. I love thick and chunky ones. I might have to give this a go at some point. I've added your blog to my side bar so you might be getting a few more comments from me!

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  4. Thank you Kev, crisps and popcorn is something you can do with the kids, you do the cooking they can help with the washing and drying, then its outside for a picnic.

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  5. I love your blog Dawn, I always make a cuppa so I can have a good look at your pics. I'm a little nervous about getting our bees but it makes sense not to have to squat down to the hive so lesson one learnt before we even get them!

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  6. Hi Dawn , Thanks for visiting my blog.
    I hope your planned move to Wales happens soon - being in limbo must be awful.
    Just being nosey but what are you doing with your shop when you move?

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  7. Thanks MSM the shop will continue I have been putting hours of staff training so they will run the ship for me, I plan to come back for a couple of days each month to check on things, and I will be in regular contact via skype, email phone, it will be a case of try and see if it works, they all know the situation and the staff and customers want the shop to continue.

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Thank you for taking the time and leaving a comment I do appreciate it, I may not always answer comments but I do read them all.