Via Wikipedia: Sloe gin is a red liqueur flavoured with sloe (blackthorn) berries, which are a small fruit relative of the plum. Sloe gin has an alcohol content between 15 and 30 percent by volume. The traditional way of making sloe gin is to infuse gin with the berries. Sugar is required to ensure the sloe juices are extracted from the fruit.

I have read up on a few different recipes for making it and took the bits that suited me to make my own. Some people say to pick the sloes after the first frost of autumn, but our weather of late has been all over the place. Who knows how long it could take for the first frost to appear. The sloes looked ripe and some had started to wither so I wasn’t going to wait any longer. (16/10/11)

Here is what I did:

Get a kilner jar, gin and sugar.

Pick enough sloes to half fill the jar.

Poke a hole through each sloe with a toothpick or fork.

Put them in the jar and add sugar. Some people say half the berries weight, some say to match the weight, I went for 3 quarters of the weight of the berries.

Fill the rest of the jar to the top with gin.

Shake once a day for a month, then once a week for 2 months to help the sugar dissolve.

It should be ready around the new year. Strain it off into bottles and drink when you like. Supposedly the longer you leave it the better it tastes.

The unusually warm September weather has me making hay and haylage this week in an around Eadestown and Kilteel on the Kildare/Dublin/Wicklow borders. The area is plentiful with deer, rabbits, pheasants, buzzards and yummy mummys in their jeeps so there is always something of interest to look at through the windscreen of the warm, noisy, dusty cabs of the old massey fergusons.

This stag was following a doe up the fields. He wasn’t too phased by the tractor through the hedge. The hill in the back-round is Arthurstown landfill where all of South Dublin’s waste goes.

Turning hay on Badger Hill, looking down over the M7 near Kilwarden. (The gardai like to hide behind the sign with their speed camera at the motorway exit for Kilwarden/Castlewarden)

An old Leyland baling small squares.

This is a really cool thing to make for a party because it provides heat, light, a focal point and looks cool.

What you need: Log, chainsaw, kindling, fire, base.

How to make it: Find a dry log or in my case, the end of an old ESB pole. The straighter it is the better. Cut it to a length of between 2 and 6 feet. The taller it stands the longer it will burn.

Cut 3 slots down the middle of the log in a pie shape, leaving 1 foot at the base un-cut to keep it all together.

To prop it up, either dig a hole in the ground for it or make a holder. I used an oil can with two boards screwed to the bottom.

Light a fire on the top of the log with kindling. Once the fire takes hold it will burn down through the log on it’s own.

The tree had to be pulled towards the field as it was being cut because there was more weight on the house side of it. We used straps which are usually used to tie loads down on trailers. It worked to a point, until it snapped. The tree ended up falling on the hedge line and breaking a bit of garden fence. If the strap had broken earlier, the tree would have fallen on the house so we were lucky.To get the tree out from the hedge, we borrowed a long chain, cut the tree into manageable sections and pulled them out with the tractor. All is well now and the neighbours are happy. I used the JCB to rip off the ivy from the felled tree. It makes it a lot easier to cut with the chainsaw then. The cutting and splitting of timber will keep me busy for a while. At least the log pile for Winter is expanding.

“You’ll sweat more cutting it than you will burning it”

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