September's catchup ...

Toadstools in the woods

 (Belatedly) September saw everyone heading back to school and one to college and us getting used to a different, quieter routine with plenty of work in the day and family time squished into busy evenings.

We scrounged medlars from a friend which are now happily maturing on the driveway ...

Medlar

Canned green beans and a token egg :~)

 I had another go at canning allotment produce, this time it was green french beans. I tried raw packing them and it was so easy! Basically, just heat the clean jars in the oven, wash and chop the beans straight into the hot jars. Fill with boiling water and process in the canner. Simples :~) I haven't tried them yet but they look wonderful ... every time I look at them I think of winter stew and dumplings.

I'm really pleased about the beans after the goldengage (not-quite-a) disaster because this was exactly what I bought the canner for ... to preserve our allotment gluts cheaply, easily and not worry about it taking up precious freezer space. Have you ever frozen homegrown beans? Bleugh ... the canned ones look far better!

Next year, I'll be growing about five times the amount at least!

September seedhead

Blue sky and autumn sun

 We've had plenty of woodland walks and foraged plenty ... one walk saw two buckets filled to the brim with crabapples! If you fancy trying out some crabapple jelly, look here.

So, far there have been about three lots of crabapple foragings and about 11 or 12 jars of jelly. The last lot was combined with rosehips in a beautiful autumnal mixture of goodness :~) The recipe was baed on the usual crabapple one (mentioned above) but just used part rosehips weight for weight.

Rosy crabapple

Crabapple nibbled by a grateful mouse ... so sweet!

Rosehips

Sunset

 We've had some splendid autumn storms with rainbows, the tail end of a hurricane and torrential rain.

Rainbow after the storm

Stormy sky

Stormy sunset

Rain-drenched lane

Watercress soup

 I visited a local farmshop to buy ten bunches of watercress (yes, ten) and found that they sold raw cream ... wonderful, so buttery.

We've also been frantically seed saving ... peas, borlotti beans and wartime heirloom beans. There's something deeply satisfying and soul-pleasing about seed saving and generally squirreling the harvest away :~)

Wartime heirloom beans ... love the colour!

 We also scrounged a fair few damsons off a friend to make damson jam. It took many hours to make but was so worth it! Perfect in rice pudding ...

New young lettuce plants

August's catchup ...

Home-produced eggs

 (Belatedly!) August was so hectic! It was the Summer holidays so we had all five children at home which was wonderful ... the best time of the year :~) This year, were decided not to go away as such but to have lots of days out, spread out over the holidays which were interspersed by mornings of swimming and a few days at home and the allotment. We did our work in the evenings, sometimes stretching into the night and we all fell into an easy rhythm. I must admit, we were all pretty sad when school and college came along in September and broke our happy little routine!

Dragon cloud in a woodland lane

Golden wheat field

Eyebright ... note the allotment fingers!

We celebrated a special birthday :~)

Picnicky days out ...

Printing with inks

Creating a printed bag

Wild juniper berries

Allotmenty lizard :~) A rare find!

Allotment slow-worm ... a long one!

Allotment harvest

The heavens opened on a day out!

Wow! What a fantastic summer! It was the best ever :~) Thanks kids!

Harvests of golden and green ...

Beautiful goldengages

 (Belatedly!) July saw wonderful harvests of the goldengages and so, so many broad beans along with the usual seasonal crops.

I tried to can the goldengages by following the instructions for plums but I'm pretty disappointed to be honest. It's the first time I've tried canning any allotment produce so a bit of a learning curve! I chose to hot pack them because I read that the look of the fruit/veg is far less likely to deteriorate but based on this experience I'm inclined to disagree! Basically, the instructions said to par-boil the plums (goldengages) in the prepared syrup, then to put them in the jars, fill with the syrup and pressure can them. By the time I'd got them to the boil they were starting to disintigrate so you can imagine the mush by the time they'd been in the canner :~(

Honestly, they're not even worth a photo (unusually for me, I'm known for photographing everything!) but I've kept them with the plan to use them in crumbles with some chunky apple or something similar ... :~/

Broad bean feast

Allotment harvest

We came back from the allotment today, suitably exhausted and laden with produce: a trug full of broad beans, rhubarb, a bagful of curly kale, a bagful of potatoes and half a dozen onions and shallots.

Lovely day!!

Redcurrants and raspberries

Allotment blackcurrants

We have been swamped with the most delicious berries from the allotment this week .. blackcurrants, raspberries and redcurrants. The blackcurrants are now in the freezer waiting patiently to be make into crumbles and goodness knows what and I'll tell you about the redcurrants and raspberries below :~)

Redcurrants in the pan ready for jelly-making

Redcurrant jelly recipe

3lb redcurrants
1 pint water
Sugar

Strip the redcurrants from their stems. Put the fruit and water into a large pan and simmer gently until the berries are very soft. Strain through a jelly bag and measure the juice. Allow 1lb of sugar to each pint of juice. Stir the juice and sugar together over a low heat until completely dissolved. Increase the heat and boil hard to setting point. Pour inti small hot jars and seal. Great with meats.

Garnet-coloured jelly

Finished redcurrant jelly

Raspberry jam made this week and going down rapidly!

Raspberry jam recipe

1 3/4 lb raspberries
1kg jam sugar (with the added pectin)
Knob of butter

Wash plenty of jars and place on a tray in the oven at gas mark 1/2 - 1 to heat through. Place the washed and drained raspberries in a large pan and crush with a potato masher. Add the sugar and heat gently until completely dissolved. Add a knob of butter. Increase heat and slowly bring to a rolling boil (it will continue boiling even when stirred) and boil for 4 minutes. Pour into hot jars and seal immediately. Leave to cool.

Sunday morning cake baking

This week's cake baking session led to a big batch of fairy cakes ... I used the recipe kindly posted by Ren at the Fairysteps blog and it's the easiest method ever. Completely foolproof too. Thanks Ren :~)

Fairy cakes before ...

... and after

Wild Sag Aloo and woodland walks *Pic heavy*

Wild strawberries in flower at the woods

 I love this time of year! It's as if summer's come early at the moment and the wild flowers have come on so well. We've had a few lovely strolls in the last couple of weeks and each time you can see a difference in the plants.

Yellow Archangel

 

Dandelion seedhead

Woodland raspberries forming

Vetch

Wood sorrel

 Wood sorrel is quite a distinctive little plant and the leaves taste just like apple peel. Take a look at the leaves and remember them ... you'll see them again, lower down this post :~)

Woodland lane

Ramsons patch lit up by the sun

 Ramsons are wonderful. You can see the way this patch was lit up by the sun ... it almost seemed to glow and "show" itself to us. As if that wasn't enough, the scent of garlic all around told us where to look.

Ramsons flowers

 The leaves of the ramsons can be shredded and added to food for a delicious garlicky taste which is pleasantly strong. The flowers can be eaten raw in salads and have a much stronger, sharper taste with a hint of honey. 

Ramsons flowers and leaves

Wild queen bee

 

Crabapples forming ... they'll be headed for my preserving pan in the autumn :~)

Bluebell wood

Albino bluebell

Wood sorrel "weeds" at the allotment

  Oh the irony! Remember the photo I said to look at further up this post? Well, the lovely man who had one of our allotment plots before us said the "weeds" above were some sort of clover and it came in on a load of soil he had delivered. He could never get rid of it and we've been pulling it up for years now ... it finally dawned on A the other day that it's wood sorrel! It has the same distinctive apple peel taste and everything!

Fat hen

 Today I finally gathered fat hen which has been on my "to do" list for several years now. It grows in abundance at the allotment and we know it's organic from there took advantage of it in between hoeing this morning. I'd always stress that, before you gather wild food, you should be completely sure of what you're collecting with the aid of a good identification book. If you can find someone to show you what you're looking for that's even better! 

To help you along the way, I've tried to show fat hen quite clearly in the pictures. Above, you can see the grey-green colouring and the slight silvery sheen that the leaves have.  

Fat hen side view

Fat hen seed head

 The seed head of fat hen, shown above, is quite obvious at this time of year. The plant is related to quinoa (amaranth) and you can see the similarity.

Broad bean rows

Baby slow worm at the allotment

Gooseberries swelling

Redcurrants

Goldengages

Allotment raspberries forming

Poppy

Medlars forming

Fat hen bunch for lunch

 We gathered a bunch of fat hen from the allotment and then scooted up to the woods to gather some fresh ramsons. On the wander through the trees we found an abundance of pignuts and dug just a few, leaving the rest untouched.

Pignut

Pignut flower

Today's foraging basket: Left - Ramsons, right - fat hen, front - pignuts

Gathered fat hen

Gathered ramsons leaves

Shredded ramsons

 We arrived back home just before lunchtime so washed and shredded the ramsons leaves and fat hen, boiled some spuds, sliced some onions and created wild sag aloo which is probably even better than the original version :~)

Wild sag aloo ingredients (plus onions which were already cooking!)

Wild sag aloo

 Wild Sag Aloo

Floury potatoes, peeled (if you want to) and cut into pieces
Onions, halved and sliced
Fat hen, leaves taken off the stalk and shredded
Ramsons leaves, shredded
Curry powder to taste (I used vindaloo, enough to taste good but not be overpowering)
Black onion seeds (optional)
Oil
Salt 

Bring the potatoes to the boil and simmer until softened but not falling apart. In a separate pan, gently fry the onions. When soft, add the curry powder and black onion seeds. Stir and warm the spices through. Add the ramsons, fat hen, potatoes and a little salt. Stir though, adding a little water if needed until everything is warmed through and coated with green leaves and spices. Serve. 

Wild sag aloo