Fresh Chilli Season Draws to a Close.

It's been a bountiful chilli growing season here at Foragers (our best yet). We have one more week of Fresh Palivec Chillies available at Stirling NeighbourFood, Milngavie Food Hub and Linlithgow Neighbourfood. We only have a few kilos left so get your orders in soon. We have a great "end-of-season" deal if you want to freeze some for Christmas.

Hang those Chillies

As well as freezing chillies for the winter why not try hanging them out to dry in your kitchen. They make a lovely decoration too! Here's a guide on how to make a CHILLI RISTRA.  #chillies #foodpreservation

Palivec Chillies hanging out to dry.

Red chillies beat indigestion and ulcers

This interesting article from the Daily Record was passed on to us by a familiy member.  Another great reason to buy Foragers Chillies.  We've found that many people equate chillies with "painful" heat in the mouth.  THERE ARE MILDER VARIERIES AVAILABLE!  At Foragers our main chilli is Palivec which is mild - medium.  We like our chillies to enhance your culinary creations not overpower them.

From Daily Record article, “Strange health cures that will save you £££s”. 21st Aug 2018

Clearing Snow on Polytunnels

This winter we are getting more snow that usual.  Here's a method we use for clearing snow from the top of our larger polytunnels. 

A rare visitor to our polytunnel

A solitary Red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) spotted on the chives. I counted another 30 on the same bed all Buff-tailed or possibly White-tailed I think.

Bombus lapidarius

The apple trees are growing.

It's now 16 months since our orchard was planted. Most of the trees are thriving with some slower growers too. This year we had to increase the height of the tree guards to combat our tall sheep. It was a time consuming task but an important investment for the future success of the orchard (we hope). 90% of the timber used was recycled from donated pallets. A big thank you to local businesses; A&M Timber, Reid and Robertson, Fraser C. Robb and Stirling's Low Carbon Future.

The birth of a cider orchard

FORAGERS’ ORCHARD TAKES SHAPE

231 apples trees (9 cider varieties augmented by some desserts, cookers and crabs) were planted in late March 2015 on an old, long-established wildflower and grass meadow.

The planning stage was a vital part of the process

Newly planted trees - March 2015

To stake or or not to stake - that was the question??

Our grass management team of 3 blackface ewes and 1 texel/mule wether were decanted (for obvious reasons) until the vital tree protection was installed - a task we hoped would be completed in two or three months...  In the end it's taken almost six!  It's a long story, but I (Gary) had to take an enforced two month break from more physical tasks due to an outbreak of Polymyalgia rhematica (no that's not the latin name of one of the tree varieties).

"Gonny hurry up!" Florrie one of our black face ewes
looks longingly towards the orchard.

Thankfully I'm on the mend and thanks to the meds and some extra hands provided by friends near and far (as well as our 3 magnificent sons) the tree guards are completed and the orchard is finally ready for the sheep again.

Our next task in the orchard will be the first pruning over the winter.  It'll be a few years before before we get a decent crop of cider apples but so far we're encouraged by the health and growth of the young trees.  We anticipate our first batch of blended craft cider will be available in 2017/18.

Stages of building tree guards.

1. Order materials
2. Use jig to mark out holes for posts (pinch bar and watering can are vital tools when forming the holes)
3. Place jig above holes
4. Position posts and drive in approx 50cm
5. Screw in bottom and top rails
6. Fit galvanised wire mesh ensuring good tension (helps strengthen the structure)
7. I made a simple timber platform to raise the roll of wire mesh and the pinch bar was useful for keeping it vertical
8. Completed tree guard

Now for the boring bit for all the anoraks out there (I'm now one too)...

Tree protection;
231 Rabbit guards
231 Sheep guards
693 posts
1386 rails
4620 screws
690m galvanised wire mesh
about 8000 staples

"Lambchop," our adopted wether is glad to get back into the orchard
with "the girls" after 7 months to inspect the job.