So More Rain

February 16th, 2010 AndrewD

In fact over the 14th and 15th The official Yass fall was 117mm, the most in 21 years.

So of course my first thought was lets check out the river, which was a little swollen, so then we thought lets go to the dam. Well in Yass it is really just a big weir. So the 1st photo is on the 15th, the second day of rain. Note the overflow on the far right is not being used. But is still looks good.

Now by the 15th the rains eased but all the water was still flowing into the dam from the Yass River.

Now note the far right overflow. Also there was a tonne of branches being wased down.

Now further down the river has busted its banks

And now down at the Riverside park. (Near the old railway bridge). Right here there is an actual path that allows one to cross the river (normally).

Now here is the other end of the park. There is an actual road crossing here and to the right of the posts a footpath. The riverbank here has come up at least 15 metres. Also in the background you can see the street sign.

Now finally behind our place you can access Yass River prior to the dam wall. Now there is a bridge under that water and it is usually 2 metres above the bridge to the water. As you can see no bridge and the water level would be at least 1 metre above.

And a final one of Yass River once again before the dam wall and were there is a boat ramp.

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This is what I love to see

February 5th, 2010 AndrewD

Water flowing into the tanks.

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Jam Away

February 4th, 2010 AndrewD

One of the advantages of living in the country is that we have an orchard farm in Yass, probably the last in the area. Basically they produce Peaches, Nectarines, Plums and Apples. All seasonal, once the sign is has been taken down, the fruit season has ended (usually the last apples are approx June each year). What this means for us is that we try to get most fruit seasonally and not get those cold storage apples from Woolworths (to be honest we do get some in the off seson).

So two weeks ago the sign outside the farm let us know that they were open for business again. So what did we get. Well a flat box of approx 30 peaches for the high price of $10. But then the real bargain, Lee-Ann mentioned that we want to make jam.  For that we got a box of nectarine 2nd’s for the high price of $4. Not sure how many but when we peeled and removed the seeds we had 3kg.

So the weekend was jam making. The result 9 jars and in the fridge two more containers of jam (so 11 all up). The idea being that we don’t buy jam for the year now (well once we get the plums that is – and we already have a few jars of peach jam made).

The other bargain was limes at $4.99 a kg so we bought some. Now what to do with limes. Basically there was only one option I could think of, lime cordial.

Take 10 limes (juice and zest), 1 tblsp citric acid, 1.4kg sugar and 4 cups boiling water.

Add zest, citric acid, sugar into a bowl. Pour over boiling water and stir until sugar is disolved, add lime juice. Bottle and place in fridge. Easy. This will make approx 2 litres of cordial. Now while it makes a fantasic cordial it is great for making a gimlet (which of course we did straight away).

My Gimlets

Using Gin or Vodka

• 2 shots gin or vodka
• 1 shot cordial
• ice

Place ice, gin/vodka, cordial in cocktail shaker. Give it a shake. Pour into cold cocktail glasses (any  glass will do) add wedge of lime and a dash of soda water (add soda water only if you like) and presto.

mmmm so nice – and we are getting another bottle of vodka for tonite

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