Plans afoot

We have no choice - we need a shed.  I have far too much gardening stuff, and preserving stuff  - all of  which is used regularly so cannot be downsized. 

The dining room currently houses my new fridge, the large chest freezer, the upright freezer which houses OH fishing bait, a large pine dining table, 8 chairs two of which are carvers, two 6 foot pine dressers, a corner pine dresser, a large chest of drawers which houses most of my CD collection, and a pine dresser top.  

I have seen a shed I am interested in an 8ft by 12ft one, but before I purchase this we need to get a slab base down in the back garden.  I am hoping to get that sorted soon.

This is the shed I am currently looking at.

The plan is then to place the chest freezer into the shed with the upright freezer. I will then be able to get my wine chiller and small dehumidifier for experimentation on the Charcuterie front which I am very keen to get started on and which is something I have wanted to get going on for a while.  I was listening to a Jamie and Jimmy cooking programme the other evening and I caught part of a section on home cured charcuterie by Jimmy of Jimmy's farm fame.  Their guest was Kirstie Allsopp.  So I am hoping to catch it again.  What I did see was a simplified version of making your own home cured charcuterie.  I also want to have a go at making salami and the wine chiller together with the dehumidifier is apparently the ideal environment for curing them in.  I want to watch the programme again just to check a few things for my own satisfaction.  Hopefully all of this will happen well before Christmas so that I will be able to get started with the Charcuterie and my Gravadlax as well as experimentation with jerky and biltong.

I have since located the programme and have watched it.  Very interesting and I like the concept as using a wine chiller and dehumidifier for drying the meat means that it will be kept in optimum condition and temperature which is something I have been concerned about.  The link is here for those of you wanting to have a go as well.  OH seems to be interested in this also.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/jamie-and-jimmys-friday-night-feast/on-demand/57010-004

Since doing further research on this I have also found this article by Jamie on how to make your own drying/curing chamber which is similar to the link above.   I post the link on this for reference.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/jimmycharcuterie/dmc.pdf

I then intend to get new flooring down in the dining room, and to decorate - needs new wallpapering will probably go for a patterned  Anaglypta type paper one that we can just paint to freshen up. 

All my empty preserving jars and bottles will also be transplanted from under the stairs into the shed as well, which will free up the under stairs area probably to pop my cleaning equipment as well as still use as my jam store.

The new shed might also be an ideal place for my wine making equipment and also the plans to have a go at beer and cider making as well as a place for storing my sack of spuds and my nets of onions.

The plan is then to buy another new fridge the same as I bought the other week as in practice I do use a fridge an awful lot and there are also some long term preserves mostly oil based which can be volatile unless stored in a regularly chilled environment.  OH is particularly keen on sun kissed tomatoes.  The second fridge should give me the capacity to prep up fresh food and be able to store it properly.  In effect it will give me the capacity to store a lot of fresh fruit etc. when on offer until I can process it.  Not to mention that I need the new fridge for my planned attempts at making cheese.

So a lot of plans and hopes afoot.  I just hope that they come to fruition.  It will not be for the lack of trying.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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