September

[bunn]

It's that time of year when suddenly the disappointment of August rain, damp heat and biting flies clears away, the air is comfortably cool and pleasant and the sun shines.  I had blackberries and hazelnuts for breakfast on our morning walk.   I don't think the nuts are going to hold out much longer, but the blackberries are particularly generous this year.

When we walk past the pigs, I always pick a handful of blackberries for them, although getting a berry to an individual pig is somewhat hit and miss.  Pigs seem to have appalling eyesight and are not as good as I'd thought they might be at finding small items of food by scent, either, though they become very excited and run about squeaking delightedly. I'm not sure if this is in the nature of all pigs, or if perhaps these particular pigs are of a commercial variety where ability to scent food and see has been bred out in favour of swifter growth.

I didn't manage to pick enough whortleberries this year to make whortleberry jelly, mostly due to the need to travel fast and light across country in order to adequately watch what Rosie is getting up to.  I just grabbed handfuls in passing and ate them there and then.   But I have picked some crabapples and rowan berries, which are currently in the freezer.   Rowan definitely needs freezing before you jelly it, or the flavour becomes overwhelming. It's a good year for apples, here. 

Comments

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

The blackberries here have been very disappointing :-(

[bunn.livejournal.com]

You should come down here! It's one of the best blackberry years I can remember. Mushrooms too, although my mushroom-collecting is probably too outdated to trust now, I keep seeing some very tempting-looking fungus.

[penichops.livejournal.com]

One day I hope to taste one of these mystical rowan berries

[chainmailmaiden]

Our little apple tree has done very well again this year too. The crop of Cobnuts isn't quite ripe yet. I'm also looking forward to picking my crop of sloes. This will be the first year we've had sloes, I plan to make sloe gin (of course!) :-D

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I have to admit they aren't very delicious raw (although perhaps the mystical powers make up for that!) but they do make a nice savory-sweet jelly.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Your cobnut tree must be later than our wild nuts, I think, but probably it makes bigger nuts, so perhaps that explains it.

It's a good year for sloes too: I don't tend to bother as I'm not a big ginnie, I just like to admire their purpliness in the hedgerows. :-D