A good year for the Black Currants

[Uilleachan]

Bit of a gale blowing yesterday so perfect for cropping the currants. I've 4 bushes out back that put out around 5kg annually and I use them to make jam

Last year it was so midgie the daughter and her wee pal refused the bribe of a run to the village for sweets in exchange for doing the picking, so thats an 11 on the midge scale as the berries were starting to drop I had to do it myself, murder, can't go contaminating and tainting the berries with nasty repellents so I had to man up and get on with it.

This year the berries were a wee bit later and fewer, I thought. So with the kids back to school it fell to me again, wind and rain kept the midge down to manageable levels whilst in about the shelter of the berry patch.

The berries whilst thinner in the bunch were more numerous than last year on account of there being more bunches and were if anything fatter than I've seen them for a while.



I had some company too, if you can see him



For his part he was onto good feeding under those bushes and whilst initially shy, he soon got accustomed to me sharing the space. Try as I might though I couldn't manage a snap of him perched on my boot or knee.

A new fledged bird by the look of him;



In the end and despite the cold start to the season it proved to be a bumper year, 8kg is the best yet



and as I was able to be more thorough with the de-stemming at the picking stage, due to manageable midge numbers, I actually had the whole lot processed into jarred jam by dinner time, although I had difficulty finding enough jars and compatible lids, plus I had to dash to the village for more sugar, such was the bounty

The jam



All in all a satisfactory day.

 

[British Red]

Great day!

Try blackcurrant wine if you have an excess - its very nice indeed!

 

[Uilleachan]

Great day!

Try blackcurrant wine if you have an excess - its very nice indeed!

I was thinking that yesterday but just wasn't prepared. I might give it a go next year though

 

[Toddy]

Nice haul
I got mine done a fortnight ago, and made jelly and syrup I like the jam, but the elderlies find it a bit of a bother with their teeth.

The syrup is lovely as a kind of hot ribena and is brilliant over cake and ice cream.

Cute wee bird; it was the big cushie doos that were starting to make inroads into the berries that made me pick mine in a hurry.

Thanks for the photos

cheers,
M

 

[Uilleachan]

Cushie doos, I haven't heard that expression in quite a while

 

[Toddy]

Ah, we get the flying rats too, so they're called the old name to seperate the two.
The ones round here are enormous great things. They land like incoming bombers the bird feeders rock under their weight.
Himself is eyeing them up and reckon that two would make a very decent pie

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Uilleachan]

Aye Toddy, two for a pie indeed.

We have them here too but they're few and tend to keep to the woods on account of the various hawks falcons etc. Also we don't have the big fields stuffed with arable crops that encourages the numbers found in other areas, so I guess that between food availability and predation they're kept in a natural balance. Plenty on the east though, round here the arch pest of the moment are the geese, you get a few pies out of one of those