Today has been a nice dry day so I decided to have a bit of a tidy up in the garden and a good weed of all my raised beds, its looking decidedly better for a mornings hard work.
I’ve also been sorting out some of my other gifts. I got loads of camping equipment ready for my week’s extreme survival in June. Going on this course is my brothers and mine bit of extravagance, where we will spend a week in Northern Scotland being trained by an ex-Royal Marine Commando with a minimum of kit. We’ve done things like this before but not for a week, hopefully we will both carry on to do the next course after that as well.The kit list isn’t massive but I want it all to be good quality stuff as the OS map of the area we’ll be camping in only has two houses on the whole map, so no chance to buy any more!
Claire brought me an excellent self inflating mattress that’s tiny when deflated, her Nan brought me a compass, and from my mum and my brother I got a small dry bag (to keep a camera and phone out of the wet in), a mossey head net, small screw shut bottles for salt, pepper & cooking oil and a Spork (I’ve always wanted a Spork – not a fork and not a spoon! The best of both worlds!)
Claire and I both got to try some homemade yoghurt today by using the kit my best mate had brought us for Christmas. I don’t think I left it to set long enough as it is quite runny but tastes really good (had it on my muesli for breakfast), next time I’ll make sure I leave it a bit longer. With this kit you don’t use milk but bags of powder you have to buy, it works out slightly cheaper than yogurt and its meant to be better for your digestion (which I have plenty of problems with).
Claire and I both got to try some homemade yoghurt today by using the kit my best mate had brought us for Christmas. I don’t think I left it to set long enough as it is quite runny but tastes really good (had it on my muesli for breakfast), next time I’ll make sure I leave it a bit longer. With this kit you don’t use milk but bags of powder you have to buy, it works out slightly cheaper than yogurt and its meant to be better for your digestion (which I have plenty of problems with). 
Christmas day was lovely, we spent it at my mum and dads on the farm and there was still snow on the ground. Claire and I went for a lovely walk down to the river (so she could take pictures with the camera I brought her) with a very lame dog (Milly is dads dog, and she caught her paw when jumping out of a tractor two days before, but we think she’s faking it as she keeps holding the wrong leg up).
I’ve got so many new things to play with/read/watch that I’m not sure what to do first. Mum and Claire both got me books on wild mushrooms (so if I kill myself it’s their fault) as well as lots of seeds and other goodies. I also got a big Victorian style glass bell cloche (something I’ve been hinting at, this should look really good in the garden). As well as this I was given a wood turning course, cookery books, camping stuff, DVDs and clothes but I’ll talk about some of those in another post or I will make people think I’m really spoilt!
Last week I picked up my mum and dad from the airport after their trip to New Zealand and then worked on the farm Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It was nice having them back (they also brought me a couple of hunting books back, hunting in New Zealand looks good).
Whilst I was wrapping up the wire I was next to a little woodland and I noticed some Jew’s Ear Fungus (One of the only ones I can remember from the fungal foray I went on earlier in the year). I was pleased I could identify it and its also a fungus you can pick all year round, all the fallen wood was covered in it. I think if I learn an edible fungus a year I'll be doing quite well (maybe wise to learn about the ones I can't eat as well!).
After Christmas I plan to go back there and gather a load of these mushroom to add to stews and to dry to make mushroom powder for stews etc, if I do I’ll post it on this blog. Not sure what they'll be like, they feel like rubber!
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