2005 was a very productive year, with the allotments and garden producing masses of crops. We try to grow a wide variety of fruit and vegetables that will give us a succession of things to eat, throughout the year and we only grow things that we like to eat.

That sounds a bit obvious doesn't it, only growing things you like, but I know someone who grew rows of runner beans knowing full well that none of his family likes them, is it me or does that seem like a waste of effort not to mention a waste of good food.

I hate waste of any type, but particularly food, I can honestly say that nothing goes to waste in our house as we recycle everything. Non-meat waste is gratefully received by Katy our spaniel X collie dog (who would rather eat human food than the tinned variety anyway), cooked food not suitable for Katy or the hens goes into the wormery and raw vegetable matter finds its way into the compost bin.

Hells kitchen' Inevitably when you grow your own food, there will be times when you get gluts of certain crops and as we all know everything tends to come together so you end up with pound upon pound of fruit and or vegetables in a concentrated period of time. This is when my kitchen is renamed from "Shell's kitchen" to "Hell's kitchen" as for weeks on end there always seems to be something boiling on the stove and the compost bin fills at an alarming rate with all the waste from preparing tons of vegetables etc.

Previous year's successes prompted us to by a second freezer so that we could ensure plenty of fruit and vegetables during the leaner winter months. We grow loganberries, blackberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries and apples, a lot of which is converted into jam and spare vegetables become pickle and chutney.

We have had numerous forays into wine making, which always seem to end up the same way. The start of the process involves a seething mass of violently red coloured liquid trying to escape from its demijohn, which eventually settles to months of rhythmic blooping, until finally all goes quiet and its time for that all important tasting. I have learnt my lesson now and no longer ask himself for his opinion on the finished product because the answer is always the same "I suppose it will be all right for cooking with", I am not easily put off though and keep trying to produce something drinkable; needless to say we do have a lot of cooking wine.

Giving cider making a try We are fortunate enough to have two very productive apple trees and the last few years have seen us becoming ever more inventive in ways of using the fruit. A couple of years ago, after a particularly heavy crop I decided to expand the alcohol production and give cider making a try. We had no special equipment other than a shiny new five gallon pressure barrel, which meant that our first problem was how to get five gallons of apples juice from the piles of windfall apples littering the garden.

I chunked up the apples including their cores and skins and pressure-cooked them to a soft pulp until I ended up with buckets full of apple pulp. I soon realised that sieving was a non starter and that something a bit more imaginative was required, this was when an old mangle (bought at a car boot sale for £5.00) came into operation. I sacrificed a clean white cotton pillowcase, which was filled with apple pulp and then fed through the mangle. Nobody was more surprised than me when it actually worked, and with a bit of care and mangling a pillowcase a couple of times I ended up with quite a dry pulp and lots of liquid. Thankfully I had the foresight to carry out this operation outdoors, as to say it was a bit messy is an understatement, the downside though was that word must have got round the wasp population as I think every wasp in a five mile radius paid us a visit.

By the end of a hot and sticky afternoon's work I had collected five gallons of liquid, which was ready to start the cider making process.

A large, clean plastic bucket became its home for about a week while it frothed and gurgled in the warmth of the kitchen, the liquid was then transferred to the new pressure barrel and moved to the porch, which is relatively cool, and then we ignored it until Christmas-time.

The moment of truth arrived and it was time to taste the brew. Himself was sent to the barrel with a jug to draw off the first offering. I thought he turned the tap to release the liquid rather gingerly, but he swears differently. The first jug-full certainly looked and smelt like cider and even had a reasonable amount of fizz. The first two glasses were poured with a certain amount of ceremony and after toasting our good health and generally proclaiming our cleverness, we tasted the brew, WOW! It tasted really good and was so moreish. In fact it was a little too moreish and also very alcoholic, which could explain why we had to have a little lie down after a few glasses and why, when we woke several hours later we had thick heads and felt rather fragile.

At long last we had succeeded in producing drinkable alcohol Now before you all rush to your phones to ring Alcoholics Anonymous on our behalf, let me reassure you that we are not nightly binge drinkers, but see this as another money saving exercise whilst utilising a readily available resource, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Buoyed with the success of the "gut rot", the name given to our cider by a friend, who incidentally was the same friend who suggested we keep a couple of gallons in case of future fuel shortages, as he felt it would surely be able to run the Land Rover, anyway, I digress, we were aiming to at least double production the following year.

I'm game for most things, but mangling enough apples to produce at least ten gallons of apple juice was not something I relished, and after much debate as to whether buying a fruit press could technically be classed as an emergency and therefore the only way himself would agree to withdrawing some money from the "running away" fund, he gave in and we were soon the proud owners of a brand new Vigo spindle fruit press. The only other purchase required was a second pressure barrel; this was obtained for £1.00 at a car boot sale.

The new fruit press I am sure you are familiar with the expression "like a child with a new toy"? that was how himself behaved at the first outing of the new fruit press. I still haven't decided whether it was his immense strength or his over exuberance, which caused apple pulp to explode from the vertical slats and create a pebbledash effect across the kitchen. As you would expect he was undeterred and after making a minor modification to a perfectly good product, with the aid of a carrier bag no less, the pressing continued. As you can see by the photo, I was allowed to try out the press but I think that was a one-off and I am sure I wont get another opportunity.

So here I am, full freezers, content in the knowledge that the freezers can't hold another morsel, the shelves are weighed down with jams, chutneys and pickles and the porch contains enough cider to have one heck of a party, if I was to have a glass now I would toast the forthcoming season and another bumper harvest.

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