Autumn Creeps Up On Us

The weather is cooler which is wonderful. Work has picked up on the land as I sort out the rampant tomatoes and get some brassica seedlings planted in the polytunnel. Last night we ate the first parasol mushrooms of the year and we have been eating blackberries for some time now.

Some of the trees are turning colour already and my rather fabulous kahili ginger is flowering for the first time, several sweetly scented plumes of flowers. I was rather surprised that it settled here as it is native to India.

I have dried the nectarine crop as they weren't very sweet and had split, they taste much better dried. We have also had our first decent hazelnut crop. Not tons but more than the two nuts we got last year. It is very exciting now that the forest garden is starting to crop. We also tasted autumn olives for the first time, they are not olives but species of Elaeagnus umbellata and they are sharp but tangy and we both like them.

As ever we are overwhelmed by pears and apples. We are picking some to store in boxes and I intend to dry some and make compote from others for breakfast with yogurt. This all takes time and has to compete with all of the other tasks for attention. If the pigs had not escaped they could have helped us manage the fruit better. Finally we now have two sweet white turkeys stalking the orchard. I will get a better picture of them when they are grown a bit.

Happy harvest to you all. Mother nature is indeed very bountiful.