2026

• August 7th: Ground some 250g from 2025 | 2nd Grind of 350g: Added at least 45ml oil (rape, olive and sesame) as it seemed very dry �
• August 5th: Ground some 320g from 2024 (170g with some raw 60g plum 'seeds' from 2025 in the first 170g) and (with 50g of raw nuts from 2025 in the second.

---

2025

• 29th Sept: Burnt another lot and ended up with 50g. ✘ Will try a few as some don't look too burnt. �
• 21st Sept: Collected 116 and have 60g roasted kernels. Previous two burnt lots composted. Tried making 'cofi' with the first burns, but no not what I want. 50g to jar 10g to shelf. ✅
• 19th Sept: 60g of nuts gathered. Burnt again as chatting on the phone . . . again � ✘
• 18th Sept: I burnt the last lot, � just got distracted by planning issues for Laura. I got a bit excited looking at law = should realise when I think things are going well something is getting burnt. Will try grinding a few by hand to see how edible they are. Roasting to near black takes 235g down to 135g ✘
• 17th Sept: 600g nuts gathered: 235g kernels: Drying in oven . . .
• 16th Sept: 132 nuts produced 145g kernels; However when weighed with the lot below only adds 80g � Scales are clearly not accurate. Further the 300g have lost 60g in drying so the current weight awaiting roasting is 380g: 276g after more drying and roasting.
• 15th Sept: 800g in shells and a bit wet: 375 nuts 90% with kernels. Kernels weight 300g: So 37.5% drying. Roast tomorrow or Wednesday
• 14th Sept: 145g of roasted ✅
• 12th Sept: 142g of roasted ✅
• 11th Sept: 130g of roasted ✅
• 9th Sept: 270g of roasted ✅
• 6th Sept: 300g of roasted nuts✅

Total Roasted: 1321g Four jars of 326g, plus 17g ✅ and 245g burnt ✘

---

2024

• Collected none
• June 26th 2024
  ERROR 1: Left a jar full for so long as they started going off a bit , I mean some little white strings of fungus appeared and clear moisture on the jar internal walls. Nevertheless have made up some spread and will do both the 450 and 230 gramme jars
  ERROR 2: Tried 'roasting' in InstanPot but didn't allow to cool or remove husks
• January 31st 2024 Roasted and blended up some 300g to nut spread with maybe 50g or raw nuts.

---

• October 8th Collected some 560g. It seems a bit late in the 'season' �
• September 27th Collected some 1Kg+
• September 18th Collected some 650g and shelled to get 260g of nuts. Some 5% may have been empty ✓
• September 8th Collected some 1Kg+ and shelled 540g to get 100g of nuts. Some 60% may have been empty ??
• September 17th Collected some 1.7Kg to get 170g of nut-butter, which I burnt :(

---

Hazelnut Spread 2023

July 17th 2023 I had made some from some roasted nuts and today blended it with an equal amount of ground raw nuts, as they didn't release as much oil.

---

Given the weight of the edible product, some 16% once shelled and dried or roasted, then the almost 1.45Kg required some 9Kg of nuts to be collected (some 6% maybe unusable). 25th Sept 2022 another 160g roasted 23rd Sept 2022 + 230g kernels > Roasted 160g 22nd Sept 2022 Now 600g fresh > Roasted > 495g 18th Sept 2022 750g kernels > 650g when dried : Another 500g not yet dried 3rd Sept 2022 It seems as though some have escaped the squirrels attention. I managed to collect 1.54Kg yesterday. (there were some that never made it to the scales) Those salvage from the ground were 'empty' and probably one that came off very early or maybe some just don't make 'nuts' Once shelled I have 320g of nuts > now they are left to dry. 9th Sep: 250g

---

With sadness I remember when I thought i could collect hazelnuts, that was before I embellished the land with a more exotic environment that wild creatures would thrive in their new found succulent food takeaway. And yes the squirrels have their feasts on pears, apple, corn and of course hazelnuts, to name but a few. But this is about a realisation that was brought to my attention by Gavin. I had noticed the shear number of half eaten hazelnuts on the ground, saying half is generous as many only had small parts of the nuts eaten. The following two images show what looks like a half hearted attempt at eating the kernels. I had thought the holes in the middle were part of the growing strategy of the hazelnut as ripe hazelnuts often have small gap in the centre.

However Gavin open some untouched by the squirrels and discovered a 'pip', the real kernel. Similarly I have opened a couple, which are shown at two stages in the images below. So the squirrels are not lazy as I imagined just very picky.

Diary of Cobra Beans: Soaking, Potting and Planting out

Cobra (light)

• June 4th: Soaking 24 | · June 7th: 18 | ❜ June 11th: 6 | June 12th: 15
  June 13th: 16 | 🌱 June 14th: 16 ✅

Cobra (dark)

First lot

• May 4th Soaked 24 Dark Cobra beans
• May 9th ·  12 | May 11th +3 | ❜ May 15th 3 | May 16th 4 | May 17th 5 | May 19th 8 | May 20th 11 | May 22nd 12 | 🌱 May 22nd 14 ✅

Second Lot:

• June 9th Soaked 24 | · June 13th 7 | June 16th 12 | June 19th 15
• 🌱 June 19th 6 | June 21st: 8 | June 23rd: 9 | June 24th: 11

Robert . . . sent me a parcel with 2 Yacón, (variety Red Inca), a root crop which Rob said "are similar to sweet potatoes". As 'Earth Apples' there is the idea that it can be skinned and eaten like an apple or pear . . . �

Sadly the next week is a bit cold at nights and early mornings, so will cover as dusk approaches for the week.

"The yacón (Smallanthus sonchifolius) is a species of daisy . . ."

"Their texture and flavour are very similar to jícama, mainly differing in that yacón has some slightly sweet, resinous, and floral (similar to violet) undertones . . ."

"Another name for yacón is Peruvian ground apple, possibly from the French name of potato, pomme de terre (ground apple). The tuber is composed mostly of water and various polysaccharides. "

". . . the juicy tubers provide a welcome source of refreshment during field work."

Wikipedia: Yacón

Planted first to the east of Pea Plot 3

Planted second to the far west of Pea Plot 3

Covered with grass as tonight is predicted to be around 4°C