Lester's sore thigh, his sawing efforts, and jamming.....

Lester is upset.

He has a long red weal along his upper thigh,

which has the merest drop of blood in one corner,

but not enough to do a good trickle,

just a small bright bead of blood,

that is all it is.

 

It was the big black cockerel that did it, Lester said,

came up from behind as he was feeding the hens,

With spurs raised and claws outstretched did the cockerel charge

 

Lester is not pleased.

Said that the cockerel would be going in the pot.

Said "Why did he do that?!" he said,

as he lifted his shorts to show me the extent of the wound.

 

But it was not a mortal wound,

so I could not help but smile,

no sticking plaster, no bandage needed,

and my offer of spraying the weal with a vinegar potion

was not accepted,

and so I said that perhaps the cockerel charged

because he thought that Lester was a cockerel as well.

 

Lester is wearing shorts today.

Between feet and shorts are his legs,
which to a cockerel this could look like the legs of another cockerel.

Cockerels have big feet, long legs,

then what looks like feathery pantaloons at the top of their legs.

I think that the sight of  Lester in his shorts

must have got the cockerel confused,

and thus he took it upon himself to go into battle,

but not by making a full frontal attack,

the coward,

but then Lester is much bigger than him,

so he did an attack from the rear.

 

 

Meanwhile....

Today's camp.....

 

 

....doing a bit of spinning

keeping Lester company while he starts the long job of getting the wood cut for the coming winter, because living the life of a smallholder requires that we work ahead of ourselves.
He used the chain saw. I kept an eye on him. Lester and me do not like the chain saw. I only let him use if for an hour, just enough for his concentration to still be reasonably sharp, after that it would possibly dwindle away. Chain saws are mean machines. Any errors of use would not easily be forgiven by it.
However, all went well, and the log pile was started.

 

 

And in the kitchen......

 

the greengages have been picked....

 



....two trays of them....

 

which made twelve pots of jam.

I normally use jam pot covers to seal the hot jam,

but I thought I would have a go at sealing the jam in canning jars,

which is the way the Americans make jam.

It was quite a lot of faffing around,

because I had to hot water bath the jam filled jars to seal them.

I find that using the canner to seal jars is no problem at all,

but having to fill a large pot full of water and then bring it to the boil just scares the life out of me.

Apparently you can't can jam in a canner, it has to be done in a water bath,

but fortunately Lester was around to help,

and the job was done.

 

During the process I did think that it was taking a lot of effort,

but feeling the seals stuck tight to those jars makes me feel confident that the jam will stay mould free. Using the jam pot covers was a bit hit or miss, with the jams starting to show signs of mould the longer they stayed in storage.
 

The rest of the plums I dehydrated....

 

 

and they made 500g of dehydrated fruit several hours later. These will be added to cakes and desserts instead of shop bought dried fruit.

 

Lester's leg is getting better, so I think he was more upset about being attacked by the cockerel  than about the wound itself.

I now need to go and wash up the jam making things because he has just brought in our next plum harvest......

 

Bye for now,

 

Vx