Hoop House in January & February

A little collection of clips taken in the Hoop House this winter between December 29, 2011 and February 26, 2012.

Under The Lights

Taking a look around the house to see the progress on the plants that have overwintered inside and the seedlings that have been started for the early spring Hoop House garden.

Spring - Just around the corner

Cabin Fever, some forced forsythia and a silly movie trailer was produced in about 10 minutes. LOL

Making Crumpets

I recently bought four metal rings which are used to make Crumpets and English Muffins and this video is my first attempt at home made crumpets.

INGREDIENTS: (Metric)
7 g active dry yeast
60 ml warm water (105 degrees to 115
degrees)
4 g sugar
80 ml warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
55 g butter or margarine, melted, divided
1 egg
125 g all-purpose flour
3 g salt

INGREDIENTS: (U.S.)
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105 degrees to 115
degrees)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
4 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
, divided
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the milk, 1 tablespoon butter and egg; mix well. Add flour and salt; beat until smooth. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. Brush griddle and 3-in. metal rings or open-topped metal cookie cutters with remaining butter. Place rings on griddle; heat over low heat. Pour 3 tablespoons of batter into each ring. Cook for 7 minutes or until bubbles begin to pop and the top appears dry. Remove rings. Turn crumpets; cook 1-2 minutes longer or until the second side is golden brown. Serve warm or let cool on a wire rack and toast before serving.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2012 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 2/16/2012

Ultreia !! Camino De Santiago Buen Camino

A slide show of the photos that I took while walking the Camino de Santiago from Sauveterre de Bearn in the French Basque country to Santiago de Compostella in April and May 2008.

This is one of my earliest videos a slide show of my Camino experience, I have reworked it with a more relaxing soundtrack, as you can see from one of the annotations the original soundtrack has been removed.
The original Oliver Schroer sound track has been replaced with Float Away by Stuart Jones. Public Domaine music from the Gold Collection Vol. III "Sanctuary".

And then it snowed…….

And then it snowed……., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Seedlings under lights, time lapse video and propagating Rosemary cuttings

A little collection of clips taken over the past few weeks in my grow room. Discussion about starting pepper seedlings and what I use for bottom heat, some renovations to my light garden and a time lapse video of Shallots and Artichokes germinating and growing under the lights.

Time lapse video of shallots and artichokes germinating.

Time lapse video of shallots and artichokes germinating., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Special Thank You to Subscribers from The Keeping Chickens Newsletter

Thank you to all of my subscribers with Special thanks to the new subscribers who came from the Keeping Chickens Newsletter.

Le Coup - my Chicken Coop and Chickens (playlist)

One of my chicken videos appeared in an online Backyard Chickens Magazine today which created a lot of interest in the video. This is the complete playlist of all of mu chicken related videos close to 3 hours of video. You should be able to skip through them and watch only ones that interest you, assuming there is one that interests you. LOL

Making Wild Bird Food Suet Cakes

Making your own suet cakes for the birds is not only cheaper but you can put more quality ingredients in the cakes, it's easy to do and you know they are fresh and safe to feed to the birds. I made five loaded with good treats and it didn't cost any more than 2 or 3 of the commercially available cakes.

Coddled Eggs

Coddled Eggs, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

I just bought four Royal Worcester Egg Coddlers on eBay a steal at $15.50 for all four. New they are selling at $40.00 each. They are easy to use and the end product is delicious. the method that I used:

Butter the inside of the coddler.
Crack a fresh egg into each coddler.
Season with salt and pepper.
Screw the lids on the coddlers.
Place in boiling water deep enough to come almost up to the metal rim.
Boil until they reach the desired consistency, personally I like 7 minutes.
Remove from the water remove the lids and enjoy.

Woody - Female Downy Woodpecker

Woody - Female Downy Woodpecker, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

We have various kinds of woodpeckers and they are at my bird table often. This little girl was acting very strange though. That is a suet cake that she is hanging on I don't know how long she might have been there but I watched her off and on for half an hour and she wasn't moving or eating just hanging there. When I was ready to leave for the Sunday afternoon walk with the local walking group I walked right past her and she still didn't move so I became concerned that she might be caught in the wire of the suet cake cage so I walked right up to her and took this photo from about 3 feet away. She stayed there for a minute or two while I talked to her and finally flew up into a tree. I was explaining this and showing the photo to some of the walking group who are birders and they told me that woodpeckers are known to take naps during the day. Problem solved, I guess.

Artichoke Seed give away and some chat.

A thank you to Jerry at Back Yard Homesteaders for his seed organizing system. I'm growing Artichokes from seed a variety that is supposed to produce Artichokes in the first season and I have divided up the seed that I have left over and I'm offering them free to the first 9 viewers to request them. I'm going to use tongue depressors as plant labels because they are much cheaper and larger but I want to read the warning, to you, that is on the label of the brand that I'm using.

Homemade Ice Cream

Just got a new toy and had to try it out.

Ingredients

2 cups/500ml heavy cream
2 cups/500ml whole milk
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbs/25ml vanilla extract

Fan vaults of Canterbury Cathedral

Fan vaults of Canterbury Cathedral, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

I took this photo last April in Canterbury Cathedral. I was never happy with it because it wasn't square or straight. Well of course you can do anything with a digital photo and I just figured out how to straighten it.

A short video of my day trip to Canterbury from London, last April.

Scotch Eggs - Vegetarian or with meat.

Scotch eggs are very easy to make all you need is hard boiled eggs, bread crumbs , one beaten egg and sausage meat either real meat or vegetarian protean substitute . I hope you try these if you have never had them, they are great eaten hot or cold, a great picnic food too.

Pizza di patate - Potato Pizza

Pre heat oven to 475 degrees.

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough of your choice

1 medium potato sliced very thin
1 small onion sliced very thin
grated or slivered cheese of your choice
1/4 cup olive oil (there will be oil left over makes great garlic bread)
1 clove garlic minced
Fresh or dried Rosemary to taste
sea salt and pepper to taste


Mix oil, salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary. Roll out dough and put it on an oiled pizza pan. Withe a pastry brush coat the dough with the seasoned oil. Arrange a layer of the potatoes on the dough and then brush the potatoes with the oil. Top the potatoes with the thinly sliced onions and cheese.

Bake in the preheated over for 12 to 15 minutes.

Winter Greens for my Chickens

Growing greens under lights as treats for my Chickens this winter. Time lapse of the actual growing and a look at the hens enjoying their treat.

Winter Entertainment in the Coop

Minus 17 degrees and the girls in the coop are enjoying a breakfast of hot cereal and a new toy to play with and eat for the remainder of the day.

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