Time with A is slipping by really fast, catching up with all he’s been doing over the last year and discussing the options he’s hoping to take next year but we’ve still been getting on with a few things. A couple of the wall units for the kitchen are now built but I didn’t have suitable screws and plugs to put them up. So today was a trip to get them that we combined with a quick visit to the place selling the baler. The baler is there and it looks fine, a bit of paint worn off as you would expect with used farm equipment but the rest looks fine needing nothing more really than making sure all relevant pieces are oiled and greased. It is being delivered tomorrow along with the ‘turning over’ thing. He also thinks he will have a suitable cutter next week too so hay making here I come.
Today was dry and sunny so an ideal day to pick the elderflowers for elderflower cordial. I made some last year using a recipe from Self Sufficientish and it was really nice. It uses Citric Acid, which you now need to ask for at chemists in the UK since drug addicts now apparently use it. I think it’s the same here too; so I eventually plucked up courage last year and went into a chemist over in the Lot and eventually came out with 90 grams of the stuff. When I need some more I’ll feel a lot more confident going into my local chemist and asking now.
The bush, there is only one in my hedgerow, is flowering prolifically this year so I decided to pick with A’s help (he’s a lot taller than me – well all my children are and have been since their early teens), a few more flower heads and give Hedgewizard’s recipe for elderflower champagne a go. There are still plenty of flower heads left plus some still to flower so there should also be lots of elderberries too this year.
