First wine making adventure 11/02/15

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So, my friend has two cherry plum trees (yellow and red) that went a little nutso this year.  ON two separate occasions she invited us to come harvest plums and we could keep what we picked.  And particularly the first trip where a number of us showed up at once and we picked with our kids running around and husbands standing nearby chatting, I have to say it was a lovely experience.  Both times we came away with 10kg of cherry plums.  The first time i made cordial, jam, chutney, froze some because life happened, and i even attempted but failed in making fruit leather.

This second time though i felt that i had enough jam, and chutney to last me for awhile so I decided to make something a little different.  I decided to have a crack at plum wine.  I'd carefully kept the yellow and red plums separate this time so I figured why not try a red and a white.

I've done beer before, so i had a lot of the equipment already, and the fruit was sitting in my baskets in my lounge.  It was time to research wine making from fresh fruit.  I have to say youtube is my best friend, I've learned so much from that medium. It's been a long process and in all honesty it's not done yet, i'm not sure if this will even work, but i want to keep record of what I've done so that IF i decide to try it again I have a guide.

To begone with i washed and sorted through the plums, they'd been sitting in the house for a day and as they had been very ripe on the tree i wanted to make sure i had none rotting.  While i did this I weighed them, resulting in 7kg of yellow plums and 3 kg in red plums.  This meant i was going to need to use the 5 gallon brewing keg for the yellow but I felt the need to acquire some glass demijohns for the red.

IN the mean time though i used my own brewing keg and my fathers to prepare the fruit.  Cherry plums being the size they are pitting them would have been a pain so i needed some other way to do it.  I went down the path of soaking essentially.
Pour the plums into the keg, add water, pectic enzyme and a campden tablet and let sit for three/four days.
So...

Red plums                                       Yellow plums
3kg plums                                        7kg plums
1 camden tablet, crushed                 3 campden tablets,crushed
1 tsp pectic enzyme                         3 tsp pectic enzymes
3L Water                                          8L water

Stir on occasion is you wish.  I will note that at one point if dropped a rubber grommit into the yellow plums, and as such found myself up to my elbows in it fishing it out, this served to get many of the yellow plums actively squished by me because, while i was there, why not.

Three or four days later i managed to acquire my glass demijohns and move don to the next stage.  They smelt good when i opened them sweet and fruity.  This bit took awhile, in fact i spend a whole day doing this next bit.  They musk (I think it's called a musk i'm not sure) needed to be strained through a sieve with a single layer of muslin lining it.  I started with the red first, a smaller quantity, quicker results and a sense of achievement before heading into the massive task that would be the yellow plums.  Carefully fed through the muslin lined sieve gently pushing it through with a spoon and then gathering the muslin up and squeezing it gently util I was happy i has as much juice as i could get form it, i worked my way through the red plums.  At one point i drops the sieve and all the pits form it went into my carefully strained juice, so i continued on as i  had been, and made sure to put it through the sieve a second time and get what i'd dropped in it out, the second time through went much more quickly and was much less hassle.
Once I'd gotten through that I puzzled over the next part for awhile, making up my recipe as i am, combining methods I found on youtube I watched the videos again and finally came up with what i decided was reasonable.  I needed to dissolve the sugar in some water before adding it to the juice, i had a rough estimate on how much sugar (for every 4lb of fruit, we needed 2lb of sugar, yes i had to convert it too), but the measurement on the water was vague and unhelpful.  Who wants to put too much water in their wine?
In the end i decided to just have a go and match the numbers.  I needed 1.5kg of sugar for the red, ok i'll use 1.5L of water.  At this point it was easy and when i had reached thi same point with the yellow plums i was so releived.  (those plums took me 5 hours of near constant processing time to sieve).

To the juice add

Red plums                                                                     Yellow plums
1.5kg sugar, melted into 1.5L water                              3.5kg sugar, melted into 3.5L water
1 tsp yeast nutrient                                                         3 tsp yeast nutrient

Once it's cooled, cos you don't want ti kill the stuff add 5g of yeast.  Both got the same amount of yeast, the sachet said for use in UP TO 5 gallons of liquid.  I had less so i used one packet in each batch.  Let the yeast sit for 15 minutes or so then stir it in.  Seal those babies up with your airlock in place and put it somewhere it can bubble away safely.
Now I've seen and heard a lot saying that 6 months down the track it's time to drink it.  A friend of mine who makes her own fruit wines says a couple of months ought to do, so i figure i'm going to wait 2 months, test it, rack it, and leave it for longer if i need to.  A lot of info out there also says leave it for 12 months before drinking.  Not sure if that'll happen.
A few things i need to note here.
I know that one needs to wait to put the yeast in because, well it was midnight by the time i'd finished sieving the yellow plums, i was tired and impatient.  Therefore i did not wait as long as i ought to have.  The next morning as it is right now I notice there is not bubbling, the red had gotten quite excited quite quickly so i'm thinking perhaps I put the yeast in too soon, as a result, i'm going to add some more if there is not further evidence of action from the yellow stuff by this afternoon.  I've read that this is ok and i figure, well if it just sits there and does nothing it's not good to me so i might as well try.  I also forgot to use 3 tsp of yeast nutrient in the yellow, adding only the 1 tsp i added to the red, i'll put in the other two when i add the yeast.
I used the hydrometer in  both of them before sealing them away, they both measure at dessert wine level, if on the upper range of it, i think the number on both was around the 100 mark, so quite close to tipping up into the table wine range.
Starting potential alcohol - approx. 13%

This is an experiment and i'm going to keep track of how it's gone, where things go right, and where they go wrong for my own record.  I would like to make my own brews often if possible.

P.S.  Just one more side note, I steralised everything i used, just thought I ought to mention that

Summer 2014/2015

A lot has been happening.
The peach and nectarine grew some fruit.
It hailed, and rained a lot, the fruit rotted on the tree or in the bowl after i picked it green and waited for it to ripen in the bowl.
The apples have a whole teo apples on them but i admit they've not been watered as much as i think they need.
The crab apple is nice and bit and bushy not, no fruit though.
My next door neighbor has an amazing fruit producing garden in such a small space and i'm utterly inspired to do the same in out yard.
My friend gave me an elder berry tree which is going in the ground today.
Another friend has allowed me to pick a whopping total of 20kg of cherry plums from her two trees and there's pears yet to come.
I've doe my first ever preserving, jams, chutney, cordials, Worcestershire sauce.  So far pretty successfully although the fruit leather was a rather significant fail.
 Needless to say i'm quite inspired and energetic about bringing more goodness to my own yard and goodies to the table from just outside my door.

My existing fruit trees are going to be getting a lot of love through the winter, the leaf curl will be hit hard and lots of fertaliser shall be administered.
IN addition to the Peach, nectarine, rhubarb, crab apple granny smith and golden delicious and the single sole strawberry plant I have left that already grow here i'm going to add.

Elder
Lemon
Black Current
Cherry
and maybe even a  dwarf Almond
I'd also love to get a dwarf apricot but that's not a priority

I'm investigating whether or not a greengage plum is a viable option too.

Anyway that's where gecko block is atm i'm going to do a cherry plum wine making post soon, starting that today.

My top favourite flowers

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Just for fun
my top 5
favourite flowers and ARE THEY USEFUL?

Rose
 classic, divine aroma, beautiful, a range of colours, although i love my hybrid tea rose.
Are they useful?  They sure are, mine give some great rose hips, I've yet to sue them but i'm planning on doing exactly that soon.
some of the uses.

Passion Flower
This is a hard one.  there are some amazingly beautiful passion flowers out there but not all the vines produce useful fruit.  The most boring flower is the one that produces our fruit, but wow they can be pretty.  To be fair though, even this boring old version of it is really quite a fascinating flower to look at.

blossoms crab apple/cherry. 
I have a crab apple to get my blossom fix, but cherry blossoms are dear to my heart.  So why don't i have a cherry blossom?  Because a cherry tree is HUGE!  I don't have the room for it.  So i went for a smaller option and i can use the crab apples in crab apple jam/jelly.

Carnations 
 I've always loved the aroma, and I've recently found that they are edible which kind of sky rocketed it them this list.

Australian Bottle Brush
I don't like many of our natives but this is one I've always liked.  as for uses, to my limited knowledge they are perfect for attracting bees...that would be the sun of it, but I've not done research into it either.  Still bees are pretty important.

Plans for next years school fair

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Next year i want to contribute towards the school fair and the best way I can see to do that is hit the tip shop up for jars and tins, and then grab some of the extra plants form my yard.

I've left a strawberry in the patch with the rhubarb hoping it'll propagate itself for that very reason.  I have a succulent that i think already has a few babies and hopefully there will be more next year.  And i'm hoping to learn to propagate rosemary and lavender as well.  I also have these hothouses for growing herbs in, i might put them together and use them to sprout herbs for the stall too.  I'm also wanting to establish an aloe patch in the yard somewhere too which of course will provide babies.

It's a lot to learn in 12 months, because I've always found propagating kind of intimidating and if it's going to be a cost effective I need to be careful.  It's exciting though, the idea of being useful and contributing towards something that really was an extraordinary experience.  Their school fair is quite spectacular.




Wish me luck!

Gecko Block Update Oct 2014

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So spring has sprung and i'm still trying to sort things out here.
There's some good news though.
My peaches and nectarines are growing.  These pictures aren't form my tree  butt his is about the stage they are at.

Peach

Nectarine

They are both suffering from leaf curl unfortunately and I've been pulling the leaves off but that doesn't seem to have helped an awful lot.  Treatment seems to need to be done during the dormant stages so we're enduring it for now and hoping the fruit won't be effected adversely by it.

My apples flowered recently too, they too seem to be showing signs of some issue on their leaves, i need to get it to a nursery to see what they say.  But both the golden delicious and granny smith have flowered, i'm excited to maybe get some fruit from them this year as well. 

Last night at my kids school fair i managed to acquire some more edible options for the garden.

Some African Violets which are going to be repotted soon and take up residence in the bathroom.

Here's some Health benefits of eating violets.  

And I've heard candied violets are good.  Pansies being part of the violet family works too.

And some miniature pansies which i'm going to pot for the back porch area, although i need to look up their sun preferences yet.  But i'm excited to try some of these, and other thing.

Pinterest pansy recipes

Beautiful Delicious Pansy Flower Recipes

I also managed to acquire some geraniums for tge girls, nice and cheap and while not edible, my girls  will appreciate the easy to grow nature of them and their flowers

I'm thinking in  pot maybe or perhaps over on the far side of where i want the drive way to be where they can get nice and big.  Perhaps in a pot t begin with, I have some nice unused big ones that they'd look nice in.

I know they don't fit my usual guidelines for a plant in my garden, they aren't in any way edible but heck we all have to bend and break, even on our own rules sometimes.  These will hopefully get my girls to stop asking to buy flowers simply cos they are pink (mostly cos they already have them) and when they get their Christmas presents, being their own garden beds and tools to work it, maybe i'll be able to steer them to more edible flowers or even veggies.

In the beginning.

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Block

In the beginning there was an 'empty' block of land, purchased by a small family back in 2008.  Mum dad and one daughter, another on the way, leaped on the economy crash bail outs that their local govt offered and made moves towards moving into their own place.  With another daughter on the way and their current residence being too small anything bigger seemed like heaven.
After daughter number two was born and time passed the house seemed small, particularly with mum out of work and dad working from home.  The girls had to share a room to make way for an office, and there seemed to be no hint of that dreamed of library in the near future.  But when the topic of moving to a bigger place was raised one thing came to light that made me, the mum, decide that staying where they were was the best option.
"We'd have to start again with the fruit trees."

It's a bizarre story but it's mine and there are a number of facts involved in me choosing to forgo a bigger more roomy house, to stay here and build up the resources we can on what property we have.  We live on a suburban block on what i call a small block, although i have seen people put two houses on a block our size, to my mind it's still small particularly when you have children.  Nevertheless, there does, with some careful planning seem to have worked out to be enough space on our black for me to build what i hope will one day be a mini homestead.
"Homestead: noun, a house, especially a farmhouse, and outbuildings."
OK i can't have a farm, i guess thats why the 'mini' is important to note.  However i can do what i can to provide what i can for my husband children in the most economical manner.  I don't have a job, and while i'm not 'bludging' off the government, this social status of stay at home mother begins to wear thin once both the kids are in full time school which is next year.  
So, what am i going to do to make life easier for my family, financially, seeing as i'm not contributing to its financial health by adding to it?  
So far we have, a peach tree, nectarine tree, golden delicious tree, granny smith tree, strawberry bushes, rhubarb plants, mint, and a massive rosemary bush.  
I've attempted to establish some aloe but  i think in an over zealous attempt to rescue it i may have drowned it, and i have roses, which on their own might not seem terribly helpful but they produce a lovely quantity of rose hips every year.  Newly planted is a lavender plant from which i plan on propagating more.

I've decided to keep a record of how things go from this point on, the different projects we embark on, the trials and tribulations of what i'm affectionately calling gecko block.