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At last we've had some snow! Which is only fair, I think, after the bitterly cold winds these last few weeks.

I went for a walk around my local nature reserve this morning. In between the whiteness and the withered fruits which still hang on the branches, I spied a few signs of new life. Not confused flowers or Winter plants this time - but green leaves on the Elder and the Hawthorn.

We may get more snow yet, and it's still too dark in the evenings for allotmenteering or foraging, but I'm ready. I've had enough of the numb fingers and toes now. Come on Spring!

Another attempt at homebrewing...

Last weekend Matt and I collected 2.7kgs of Haws:



I'm attempting to turn most of them into wine, following the recipe in Roger Phillips' "Wild Food". Stage one was to cover them in boiling water, and leave for a week, stirring daily. Stage two was to strain them, add the liquid to a sugar syrup with oranges and lemons, then introduce the yeast. I did that this evening. Now I have to wait for 24 hours before transferring to a demijohn then fermenting for... however long. I'm not convinced it'll work (as I've already done lots of things wrong!) but I'll keep you posted on my progress :)