This week we have been working on several projects simultaneously, a few hours of each job alternately over the course of the day.

I start at 6:00 am each morning straight after I wake up, I walk over to the pottery and switch on the electric kiln. I need to start early as the days are short at this time of year. The kiln starts it’s firing program running on the battery supply of yesterdays sunshine. The kiln only draws a small amount of energy at the start of the firing, but ramps up over the day, such that it draws the maximum power at the end of the firing. I want the firing to finish when there is still some good sunshine available. 2 to 3 pm is a good time to finish.

I have programmed the glaze firing schedule to take 8 1/2 hours, more or less. Each of the electric kilns has a different and individual capacity to achieve any particular temperature rise at high temps. Depending on the age of the electrical elements. As the elements get older, they loose power, so the firing takes longer at high temperatures. One of the kilns, the big fibre kiln, has brand new elements that I have only just wound and installed, so is capable of 200+ degrees C per hour. However, one of the smaller kilns is quite old and the elements are pretty much worn out, so can only just manage 30 degree per hour at the top temps.

I like the firings to finish in the afternoon while there is still sufficient sun shine to recharge the battery before sunset. I’ve been doing a lot of firings this last couple of months. Firing my 20 or so moon jars, first to bisque, then stoneware glaze, and finally to 750oC for lustre, gold or enamel firings. To make sure that I stay within my energy creation budget limits, I only fire one glaze kiln each day. However, I can fire two small bisque kilns or two gold firings, and still have plenty of solar power for everything else. I was recently given a very old, and very large ‘Hilldav’ brick lined electric kiln from my lovely friend Robin. Thank you Robin! It certainly drains everything out of the system when it is fired. It needs 33 amps on 3 phases to run. That’s a lot of juice! Not many potters have that much power available in their studios. I save firing this kiln for times when I need such a big capacity to fit in larger work. When I got it, it has a broken door lock, that needed welding back on, it also needed a decent bit of work to control the rampant rust, repairs to the top, new insulation over the arch and work on the left front lifting lug and a new door seal. But it’s all good now.

On the left, the small and large fibre kilns. On the right the Big Hilldav and small Rhode brick kilns

While the kiln fires automatically, We get out in the garden early, straight after breakfast to beat the heat. There is so much that needs to be done at this time of the year. Autumn is the time for a big ‘end-of-summer’ clean out and replanting. The compost heap is now full to the brim again, but it will soon rot down to make more space for ongoing additions.

After lunch it is often too hot for us to be working out side, if it is a sunny day, so we retreat inside. Sometimes to help our son with his fruit cordial business, by peeling fruit, or processing herbs. Yesterday, Janine and I spent the afternoon outside on the verandah, Janine stripping lemon myrtle leaves from their branches, and me milling them down to a fine powder, before freezing them to preserve the lively, zesty, lemon fragrance.

Lemon Myrtle and Lemon Verbena are both deciduous, so the leaves need to be collected now and the plants cut back, ready to over-winter, before they re-shoot in the spring. They are hung under the verandah to dry. There is always plenty of citrus fruit ripening over the winter, for citrus fruit cordials. We grow 16 different varieties of citrus trees in the citrus grove. However, we need to collect, dry, mill and freeze the Myrtle and Verbena leaves into powder, now, while we have them, to fill out the flavour profile, as needed, when that time comes, later in winter. 

Milling dried Lemon Myrtle leaves into a fine powder, before freezing it to preserve the Zing!

After dinner I made an apple tart tartin, as we have plenty of apples at the moment.

An beautiful autumn desert.