Take 5 pears

Take 5 pears, British conference pears that cost just £1 for 6 at Booths. This BTW was the smallest of the 6.

Add a chunk of freshly grated ginger, some local honey and a little local orange marmalade

Top with a crumble made from flour , butter , barley flakes, dark brown sugar , allspice and a few left over pecan nuts. 

Bake in oven until golden and you see pear juices caramelising on top of crumble.

Serve it with fresh live yoghurt

Delicious taste of Autumn.

I've been chatting to a friend about colour and its effect on  our spirits, especially during the dark half of the year. I mentioned some merino silk I had dyed and how I was trying it out on a spindle. TBH once I started to spin it I realised I wanted to use a wheel not the spindle as it just felt so gorgeous and was so bright. As its getting quite late in the day the full glory of the yellow doesn't show, its almost fluorescent 

As you can see and for some reason this photo has turned sideways. Very weird. The fibre is 70% merino and 30% tussah silk from Adelaide Walker and I dyed it with procion acid dyes.

Fibre heaven- Adelaide Walker a review

One day last week we took a trip to Otley with Laal Bear.
Why did we decide on Otley? Read further and you will see:)

Mr Mog and I didn't get to Masham sheep fair last year but by all accounts we missed a great weekend out. Many of our friends came back extolling the delights of fibre they had purchased from Adelaide Walker in Otley.
When Laal Bear asked did we feel like a field trip to the mill we of course jumped at the chance.
After a delightful trip over the border and a spot of lunch to fortify us we finally arrived at the mill. Now I will add here that the moggie was expecting a big building and this did not disappoint but my visions of Adelaide Walker occupying the full mill were soon put right.

This one room is their share of the mill but as you can see it is full of wonderful fibre and delightful colours.

Everywhere we looked there was more fibre, much more.
The merino feels like silk and comes in over 40 different shades. What to choose? I wanted merino for batts, Laal Bear had kindly offered a day on her drum carder for making same so it only seemed fair to have fibre didn't it?
Mr Mog was tempted by the various natural fibres and soon had his choices picked out.
Here you see Margaret from Adelaide Walker starting to weigh out some of our choices. In front are some art yarns Laal Bear took to show them what she was doing with the merino
There is everything from coloured merino via Wensleydale, Swaledale,Cheviot and Corriedale. Add in luxury fibres such as mulberry and tussah silk, linen and bamboo.
Then maybe some alpaca, camel and silk, cashmere and silk or perhaps mohair. The choice is all yours.
Ian and Margaret welcome visitors and are usually there Monday to Thursday between 10.15 and 4.15 but they do advise that visitors ring prior to their visit so they can ensure they are there.
The website gives you a taste of the choice but I do strongly recommend you visit if in the area. They don't have an online shop as such but welcome mail order.
In these days of internet shops and the like ,where you never actually see the store owner, it was very pleasant to find a shop where old fashioned courtesy and quality are present. The prices were very cheap and they do a discount if you order certain amounts.

Did we qualify? I'll let you guess;)Mr Mog and Laal Bear could barely carry the stash.
These bags did contain our goodies but also some for Artis Anne who hasn't yet been able to visit the mill in person. I'm guessing when she gets the fibre she will be making plans for an Otley trip:)