das loft

Here's an update I wrote to Matt about a week ago:

I built another cold-frame for winter greens right outside the kitchen. We moved the other cold-frame from the sweet potatoes (which we harvested) over to the existing greens in the garden and I built the new cold frame off of that one. I then transplanted a bunch more greens seedlings into the bare spots, mostly kale. I have no idea if there's enough warmish weather left to allow the kale to grow before winter, but the plan is to at least keep them alive during winter so we can harvest from them for salads. Mike harvested a delicious salad this evening from random greens he found across the property. I think there was arugula from the front yard, some kind of choy that had self-seeded in the garlic bed, and watercress that is totally overcrowding the banks of one of our creeks.

I'm making 7 gallons of plum wine. It's probably day 5 or 6 by now, and I tasted some of it. It tastes a bit like sangria - very fruity and sweet still. Obviously there's much more fermentation that still has to happen. It's actually a recipe for a plum port that I'm following, so it will end up being sweet. I'll show you the winemaking equipment on my webcam next time we chat. I decided making wine was a good idea considering how expensive liquor is out this way (I'm not sure why; I would have expected it to be cheaper, seeing as I'm so close to wine country).

I spent Thanksgiving in Nelson with Meta, Chris and Quanah. We were invited to Kate & Leon's place for dinner. They are endlessly generous people. They've given MCQ so many useful things for their apartment already. I'm not sure what to say. Well, I did say thanks to them before we ate dinner. I brought a spelt plum cake that I had made, and also made an spelt apple pie while I was there. (M&C are all about spelt.) They were deeelicious. The next day MCQ and I wandered the streets of Nelson, but mostly the neighbourhood back alleys uphill. They are so charming. That's what I love most about Nelson. It's ridiculously charming in places. There are back alleys everywhere, and in them you find overhanging fruit tree branches pouring ripe fruit onto the pathway. It's almost like being in a small country town up there - no sounds from the busy downtown streets seem to reach that far. We picked armfuls of plums, pears and grapes because otherwise they would have just gone to waste. Meta made a dessert from them when we came back.

In summary: I'm still having a great time out here.

Labels: gardening, meta, nelson, thanksgiving, winemaking, winlaw