When im out and about amongst nature of late im seeing more and more little tell tale signs that the seasons are about to change Its almost like some left over caveman perception is working in my subconcious The wild strawberries i was eating yesterday have started to lose the edge of there sweetness and the elderflowers have long gone and the berries are starting to form It will soon be time to start stocking up on firewood for the winter and not long till i pull up the potatoes Im looking forward to picking blackberries to make a winter warmer for the cold days out beating and also looking forward to the crisp mornings out ferriting for rabbits I love autumn and winter as the countryside gets less visitors and i have more of it to myself What seasonal change signs have you noticed and what are you looking forward to in the coming months?
wild cherries all got picked from the adventure playground in the last couple of weeks of july Today there were plums on the trees by the side of the road tipped out our pathetic potato crop - only managed a colander full on the way to the pool yesterday Enzo said " look at all this lawn " i said that's the peak district. he said " do they keep pigs here." : bek
Its coming into the foragers busiest time soon becks i hope you get plenty of natures bounty hun You mentioning cherries made me chuckle as we were eating them from a tree in the supermarket car park the other day And when we went into the supermarket there were people buying cultivated ones I wish i had an apple press as theres 3 mature apple trees in our garden here and id love to make a load of cider The presses are so expensive to buy though and im flat out with other stuff so cant womble the bits needed to fabricate one There cooking apples and i hate cooked apple so most will go to waste
hhhmmm I know you live in the middle of no where but is there anything like this http://www.growsheffield.com/pages/groShefAbund.html the one in sheffield brought their press to the home ed meet up so the kids could all make apple juice or allotment group someone might have one bek
Not that im aware of hun but what a fantastic idea that is My wifes got orders for a few bagfulls at work for the older women that like to bake so at least some will go to good use I may put a box full out at the front of the house with a sign saying free cooking apples so passers by can make use of them
Well let's see. Today it's still in the mid to upper 90's and violently humid, just as it has been for months and will be until October. The cicadas are certainly singing like it's late Summer. It goes so nicely with the occasional shrieks of passing hawks. It brings to mind scenes from old westerns with Clint Eastwood crossing Death Valley on foot, canteen full of dust. The mosquitoes are swarming and the alligators are on the move. But I can feel my mood lifting, as it does this time of year, just from the knowledge that the temperatures will finally begin to drop in just 6-8 weeks.
We've had another bumper crop of cherry plums this year, from the garden and the roadside - my jam thermometer is into overdrive. Bought a book on fungi last year so I could tell what I was picking in the woods but am still to much of a scaredy pants to eat the ones I'm not too sure of.. (which is possibly why I'm still alive)!
