One of the oldest members of the Fellowship- Katherine and Greg at Rufus’s often put up the most glorious drinks on their blog. Plus they are wee bit partial to a glass of champers- darlink. So this one is for them. My new favourite drink is Champagne and Honey Mead. Lots of champagne -a little bit of Honey Mead. Quite Divine. And it is the perfect drink when alone in the house listening to music and marinating home made cheese (I will let you know how it turns out before I share!) And if I can remember what I did.
Hic!?
Berit has been working hard on fixing up the old chook house. I told him to think like a mink. Later, he said, now that I am thinking like a mink I am thinking we have a lot of work to do to make this mink proof.
He has gone to spend the weekend with his family in Chicago. Hope he comes back. 
Timatanga Moana is the most photogenic pig. I must call the man and find out when we are to collect the little boar kunekune. Hopefully after I have been to New Zealand the first time. 
Daisy my ungrateful cow. She has such an attitude this cow, but I do love her. You should see her with strangers. She bobs her head here and there .Up and down, side to side as they try to touch her face. They think she is trying to knock them out but really she is just trying to get their hand onto the top of her head above the ridge. That is her favourite scratching place. 
I opened up the bee hive again. Almost a month ago I put on a super filled with round forms meant to create round comb honey that I then cut out in their plastic containers and put lids on, creating perfect gift sized pots of honey. But once I had the lid off I could see that the Russians have completely scorned the plastic, preferring to be cramped into the super below. So to avoid swarming I have taken the failed plastic super off and replaced it with a conventional wooden honey super. I think I need to do more research. I guess the Russians are just not round peg bees. 
We have had a curious summer so far. Very cool ( I am still wearing long sleeves in the mornings and evenings) with more cloud cover than the last few summers. So the tomatoes are just not ripening. And the few ripe ones we have harvested do not have a full summer flavour yet. Hopefully it will warm up a bit soon. 
It is humid too and the dews are heavy, so the most recent cut of hay will take a few more days to dry. I am hoping to bale on Monday.
The cucurbits though are doing exceptionally well. Not in volume but in quality. We definitely have food to eat.
The buttercup is my favourite. What is yours?
I hope you all have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
33 responses to “My new Drink”
Good heavens! I wish I could ship or deliver a truck load of tomatoes to you! I have never had to call up neighbors and friends to give away tomatoes before! Other years I had scant enough to make enough roasted tomato sauce for winter use. This year I have nearly 3 times the amount I’ll need… I will have to pawn off some of the frozen RTS on other folks by the time FD hunts wild meat in the fall season or I won’t have room for meat in the freezer! We have been very fortunate in the South this year. Ample rain, no real devastating storms, and lots of lovely sunshine have made for a bumper crop of nearly everything. This is the first year I can recall not having to drag hoses all over to keep plants alive. I’m not complaining… but even Daisy deer has had her fill of tomatoes. She turns up her nose at the surplus! I have found though, that the scavenger squirrels and birds are hauling off the discards I put down below near the feeders. I am glad someone is enjoying them!
I make a honey mead with champagne yeast. It is heavenly. Dry and bubbly like champagne. The cucurbits are doing well here, too. 🙂
What kind of squash are you growing in that picture? My favorites kabocha squash and lumina pumpkins (the white ones you find at any Halloween pumpkin patch). Bake with salt, pepper, and plenty of butter, and you got some good eatin’s!
Perfect! Somebody gave us a bottle of mead a while back, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Now I know!
My question is: once you open a bottle of champagne and pour some, how to you close the bottle so that the bubbles don’t dissipate?
I have a special champagne cap, though the bottle never sits long enough to go flat! c
I have been falling in and out of love with champagne all my life: well, it is the period of ‘in’, but it has to be dry, dry, oh so dry – so have fun with the mead but methinks I’ll have it my way! And have to laugh at Ronnie Hammer: you mean you have some left after the first glass . . . . never ever happened here 😀 !!! [Actually some special contraptions for bubbly wine are for sale!!!] . . . . hope you had a happy weekend . . . I’m off to a 100th b’day!!!!! LOTS of champers methinks!!!!!!!!
I also prefer the very dry, very very dry actually, and that drop of mead is just the perfect lift… have a lovely evening.. c
And you . . . . I am just slowly getting you used to the feeling that I may just ‘drop in’ [no fear, not this year!!!!!] and that with a few bottles of stuff from which we could choose . . . dare say you will have some homemade cheese, perhaps ham . . . and so on a so forth . . . . with the pups and a very special pig at our feet . . . oops, am zipping up a dress . . . dentist tomorrow . . .talk to you after . . . ni-ni Miladyt!!
I am running into the same problem with my tomatoes. I just read in a local farm paper that putting a row cover over them would help keep the heat in so they ripen. I have just put one on, hopefully it’ll work. Sadly wine does not agree with me, white fights with a hernia and red is a migraine in a bottle. Guess I’ll always be a cheap date and stick to beer!
Tima certainly is photogenic. I have become remarkably attached to Percy, what a character! (And what volume he has).
They never stop talking do they, I can hear her all over the garden – grunting through the foliage.. c
I smiled when I saw the buttercup in your garden and felt completely at home. How curious are the Russian bees, definitely not into complying with your plans.
Late to the party. Yeah, what few tomatoes I have are being stolen by that (^%#$^%$#) squirrel just as they start to turn pink. At least I’ve a few cherry tomatoes that, for some reason, the squirrel avoids. I hope Berit’s successful and seals that chook house. You don’t need another Winter like last one. I’m off to bed. Hope you have a great day tomorrow, Celi. Good morning!
I’m late reading this, as it’s Sunday morning. We were out for lunch and when we got home, we both fell asleep. Our friend barbecued magret de canard (duck breast) with a delicious hint of burnt on the outside I’m still feeling full!
It looks like you’re going to be making green tomato chutney! Or maybe you could try that old trick of putting the fat tomatoes in a drawer to ripen in the dark.
When are you going to NZ? Will you take us with you?
Have a good Sunday,
love,
ViV
I like the idea of champagne and mead…which drink I haven’t heard about for so long. You’ve awoken forgotten desires……:)
Oh, lovely green tomatoes. I had my first green-fried tomatoes on Thursday. Delicious.
Think like a mink. Made me laugh.
Butternut! Tim plants a lovely mound down by the barn, was just a pile of rotting manure he was making into soil for me and he threw seeds int it one year and now it is a tradition. Such sadness this year though. When the guy came to pick up the wheat in the bin he just drove right over top of it and dragged the bottom of his truck through the squash and destroyed it all. No more cucurbits for us this year. Such sadness. And my tomatoes are all green too. Finally picked one yesterday, beautiful big orange one, some heritage plant. Delicious. Such a late year for us too.
That would make me SPit! our tomatoes have suddenly started reddening today, hopefully yours will soon too!