Grover and Mrs perch in the apple tree for the night.

Introducing the new rooster Grover and his new Mrs! He's moved into the orchard with a Mrs. Its evening and they are perched in an apple tree. You can see Grover through the rooster shaped window in the apples. Mrs is harder to spot. We were walking all around the orchard enclosure looking for her and thought she'd left and gone to join Foghorn and his crew. Finally we saw her, sitting quietly next to Grover in the apple tree! You can see her there, rather better camouflaged than Grover.

I hope they are happy together. Grover certainly seems to have calmed down a lot and is less fussy than when he was in a little cage waiting for his enclosure to be finished. Mrs seems ok in there so far. There are so many plums for them to much on, and grubs in the apples and pears. Next year the fruit will be healthier if those chooks eat all the grubs...

The all new all recycled solar dehydrator!!!

It looks like a cross between a children's slide, a rocket launcher and an outside shower.  A big welcome to the solar dehydrator that we just built from all recycled materials based on the very informative videos on permies.com. Its for drying all the fruit which is coming thick and fast this time of year.

The dehydrator works in a counter-intuitive way. The sun facing, glass fronted solar collector heats the air and it rises up the sealed black gutters into the top of the box. Then the air becomes humidified and drops to the base of the box. While this is happening the mat-black chimney which enters at the base of the sealed box heats up in the sun and also makes the air rise; effectively sucking it out of the bottom of the box. So air rushes over the thinly sliced fruit and dries it out! 

Well, thats the theory! Its night time now so, sorry, can't test it yet. Plus, as the more astute of you will have noticed the door isn't on the back yet.... But when we were building it the metal at the back of the ramps and the chimney were getting hot in the sun.  The minstrel insists that we put an insect blocker on each end to prevent invasion and the Captain wants it sealed from the inside. As for me, I think insulating the ramps will make it work even better.... and of course a gutter to collect rain caught on the roof and glass...

All I can say now is, watch this space!!!

The colour purple

Deep purple leguminous fingers hung from the vines this afternoon, ripe and crunchy. They writhed in the bucket as I dropped them in one by one and clambered over eachother trying to escape. Here they are, clumped and wriggling in the baking tray. 

Bean medusa

They're not poisonous despite the inky black appearance. I'm holding one now.  Its quiet and the room is very still.  It doesn't even quiver. The skin feels soft, and my fingers slide between each gravid bulge.  Without the others watching I crunch it and the thin string sticks between my teeth.  The taste lingers on the top of my palate, more green than purple,  and festive, and fresh.

Beans trying to escape. Don't worry, none got out

Suprises

Plum lines

It has been so hot and dry, day after day. I looked at the fallen plums lying under the tree and some had become wrinkled like old hands. When I bit one it was an incredible sweet and delicious flavour! I had discovered the wonderful taste of a sun-made prune. I picked a few bucketfuls and placed them on drying racks away from the birds.

The shade house had another big surprise for me. I had given up on the coffee that I had planted and was with some friends. Is that coffee? one said.  I was about to say "no, it never came up" but... how did she know I was growing coffee?? There they were; little sprouts with a coffee bean balanced on top! It was months since I had planted them and finally they had come up!!

Coffee beans lurk amongst the carob seedlings

Hidden in the vege patch are some onions too. We fried them with garlic in our own olive oil then mixed them with roast tomatoes, put the mix through the mouli and added a big bunch of basil. I put one teaspoon of the new pasta sauce into my mouth and the taste lingered for hours...

Lovely red onion waits patiently on the block