Jars standing on a stone shelf in a dark cellar
Batch 0241 to 0421 · opened to the public in 2019

The ledger

Every run we have made since the yard book went digital, with what went in, what came out and where it went. Nothing is deleted when it sells out.

Batch 0288
11 Nov
140 jars
7 left
Cellar
The cold store at Oathill. Runs held back from 0288.
181Runs recordedSince batch 0241, March 2019
11,408Jars out of the panMean run 63; median 58
11GrowersAll inside twenty miles of the yard
14Runs we threw awayScorched, under-set or wrong pH

This season, line by line

Read it like a stock book. Every fifth line opens into the picture that was taken that day.

Batch
Run
Made
Size
Left
Went to
0421Windfall apple butter28 Sep84 jars44Market
0420Quince cheese25 Sep48 blocks19Yard hatch
0419Discovery apple jelly23 Sep60 jars12Post
0418Forced rhubarb & bay21 Sep60 jars12Post
A hand pulling a rhubarb stalk from the plant
0418Pulled, never cut, so the crown keeps.
0417Greengage & vanilla15 Sep54 jars0Market
0416Bramble & apple09 Sep72 jars0Market
0415Windfall chutney05 Sep90 jars27Wholesale
0414Bramble & raspberry02 Sep26 jars3Yard hatch
A hand picking blackberries from a bramble
0414Three hours on the lane for 9 kg of brambles.
0413Damson, second run20 Sep74 jars0Wholesale
0412Damson & sloe14 Sep96 jars31Farm shop
0410Redcurrant shrub24 Jul36 bottles14Post
0409Redcurrant jelly22 Jul40 jars6Farm shop
Hands stripping redcurrants into an enamel bowl
0409Stripping redcurrants at the kitchen table.
0407Bilberry & bay vinegar18 Jul30 bottles9Post
0404Mulberry02 Jul22 jars0Yard hatch
0391Dilled beans02 Aug120 jars0Wholesale
0288Quince, held back11 Nov140 jars7Cellar
Counts written up Friday 09:00 from the yard book. Earlier seasons are in the paper ledger in the office — ask and we will read it to you.
Stacks of empty wooden orchard crates beside a hedge
0422Empty crates standing at the gate before picking.
Four jars of preserves standing in a row on a dark wooden table
The other column

Fourteen runs went in the bin, and they are in here too

A ledger that only shows what sold is advertising. These are the runs that did not leave the kitchen, with the reason written the day it happened rather than reconstructed afterwards.

0403Scorched. Pan left on the high ring while the hatch was open.58 jars
0398pH 4.9. Too high to keep without a preservative, so it went.44 jars
0372Never set. Greengages picked three days early, no acid in them.61 jars
0344Seals failed in the water bath. Thermostat out by 6 °C.39 jars
Four runs at eye level on the long table before the seals are checked.
Copper pans and moulds hung on an old kitchen wall
0422 goes in the pan on 12 October

Follow a number, not a newsletter

Tell us a batch number and we will write once, on the day its count changes. That is the whole service and there is nothing else attached to it.

Follow a batch →
Batch 0288
11 Nov
140 jars
7 left
Cellar
The pan wall in the old dairy.