Winter is coming

One thing I love about having an allotment is how close it brings me to the seasons.
Yes, I know that I live in a country where I can buy fresh produce - even out of season - virtually any time... But my allotment tells me otherwise.

I love the urgency and business which this time of year brings.
Yes, at the moment I am still picking a small but steady amount of autumn raspberries. The apple tree is still laden with apples and a lot of plants are still in the ground.

But as the squirrels - who have been burying my broad bean seeds up and down the plot for weeks - know, winter is not far off.

In this part of the country frosts aren't really expected until November. But even then, November is only a couple of weeks away.
Once the frost arrives, the raspberries will stop fruiting, the apples will drop and - apart from the hardy winter vegetables such as cabbages and leeks - all produce will need to be protected somehow - either covered or picked and stored.

Winter is getting nearer.

I love the mix of having to busily plan the final jobs (picking and storing the beetroot, harvesting the apples, taking down the runner beans, processing the last tomatoes etc) and at the same time knowing that a time of quiet and rest is coming, and looking forward to it.

Winter also means shutting off the shed, letting the allotment rest, curling up in front of the fire with a freshly baked apple crumble and a blackberry wine. And perhaps next year's seed catalogue.


Winter is coming. ENJOY!

Apple harvest

This beautiful apple tree stand on our allotment plot ... and apple season is upon us!
We are not quite sure what variety of apple it is, but we like it.
It can be eaten raw (although it is not terribly sweet), but it also great for cooking and baking. And it stores pretty well too.

This week I climbed into the apple tree to try and get the best fruit.

The unblemished apples are in the shed for storage and should keep until the new year or so.

The others are turned into apple puree and apple rings.
Here is the handy dehydrator which my clever husband built. It runs on two light bulbs and a computer fan.

Praying thank you

I guess harvest time is a time which makes me aware of the need to be grateful. And how much there is to be grateful for!
The many daily provisions and encounters and blessings - many of which I simply take for granted.

So I have decided to make October my month of gratitude and thanks-giving. Making myself aware of the things which give me joy and which I am grateful for will be my main form of prayer this month.

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” 

– Meister Eckhart

Growing, harvesting and food processing

Now the growing season on the allotment is in full swing. For the rest of the year I try do keep a low profile. 
Digging just isn't for me! A little weeding here and there, perhaps, but not much more than that.

The rest I leave to my husband who seems to like that kind of thing.

When it comes to harvesting, I come into my own. Checking for cucumbers every day? Picking daily over the Runner beans and French beans? Spending hours picking the gooseberries and currants? And all evening shelling peas?
That's the kind of job I find quite therapeutic. Hubby find it tedious!

So we make a good team, it seems.

Over the last month or two we have bought very few in the line of potatoes, vegetables and fruit. All is provided for!

Amongst many other things, so far this growing season we have harvested:
10 kg strawberries
7 kg peas (and more to come)
6 kg broad beans (many have been dried)
25 cucumbers (and many more to come)
20 kg new potatoes (still more to come)
2.5 kg  courgettes
25 patty pans
3 kg currants
1.8 kg gooseberries

Our storage shed is already full with jams and pickles and the freezer full of frozen beans, peas and soft fruit.

The tomatoes are only just starting and it looks like we will have a bumper apple crop!