Orchard Update

In August, the kids and I whizzed down to the Mansbridge Community Orchard, on our bikes.

We wanted to check out the progress of the apples and they are looking very good this year, we also wanted to pick some blackberries.

On arrival we set about filling our boxes with blackberries and this did not take long. All along the edges of the field the bramble bushes are covered in sweet fat fruit and the children were soon covered in juice.

We continued to check out the fruit trees, which seem to be benefiting from the extra care now being provided. This coming year we aim to start pruning some of the neglected trees properly. This will improve their health and yield  as part of our on-going plan.

We did spot some fly-tipped rubbish in the bushes, it is such a shame to see careless people spoiling the few parks and wild areas that we have left. Ruining your own environment is so stupid, if you can be bothered to carry your garbage to the park, why the hell can’t you get it to a bin or recycling area?

We got back on our bikes and carried on up the Monks Path, crossed the Monk’s Brook, (some idiot had thrown a bike in here). We saw some more nice apples at the delightful St. Mary’s church, before returning via Woodmill and a game of what we like to call (but probably no one else would) tennis, in the park.

Eventually it was time to get home and cook dinner. Tired and happy we headed back home; we had definitely had our recommended dose of daily exercise and sunshine. Needless to say, we had Blackberries for pudding…

Iron Age Elderberries

It was the last Bank Holiday in August and the sun was still beaming it’s joyful rays onto the parched earth. 

Get Busy With the Fizzy

We decided to go to Danebury Iron Age Hill-fort for a summer picnic. We packed our bag, sandwiches, snacks and a bottle of vigorous home - made Elderflower Champagne and set off along the Test Way.

A Big, Fat Fish in the Test River

Danebury is the perfect spot for a run about with the children, but first we sat down to feed our poor starving mites and treated ourselves to some sparkling English Fizz, with one of the best views available in Hampshire.

and Relax...

After we had eaten, I set off with my son to hunt for Elderberries, I wanted to make port again; I have done this successfully for the past 2 years. As it turned out, we filled our boots with a sufficient quantity from the first small tree we came across. You can also make Elderberry cordial, jam and many other hedgerow recipes from this eldritch provider.

Elderberries

Later, we  found plenty of Blackberries and a crop of Raspberries, which we simply scoffed, as quickly as we could pick them. We also found loads of Juniper bushes, which was something of a revelation.

Ruby Red Raspberries

Juniper berries have a three year cycle (flowers, green berries, dark-blue berries) and they can all be present on one bush at the same time. These prickly bushes are related to Pine trees and the berries are actually tiny pine-cones.  The blue berries are used as herbs or spices when dried. They have many herbal uses and are also a significant part of the flavouring used in Gin!

Juniper Bushes

Sadly, like the Ash, Juniper bushes are currently under siege by a fungus, which is threatening their existence all over the country. Let’s hope that the arboricultural experts can do something to save all these trees. I’d hate to go through Summer without a cold G&T.

Ripe Juniper Berries

At one point the peaceful background hum of the countryside was shaken by the thumping of a Merlin engine and the iconic shape of a Spitfire roared into view across the trees. When it appeared, I had been thinking about the role of hill forts during the Roman invasion; the mysterious legend of the Angels of Mons crept into my mind. The plane vanished into the distance, like a ghost from the past, leaving nothing but blue sky. Looking back, the moment was so dreamlike and anachronistic that if I hadn't photographed it, I might doubt my own memory.

A Spitfire Over Danbury?

Loads at the Allotment

When the Summer sun is shining, there’s nowhere better to be than deep in the UK countryside, and we were lucky to have a fantastic fortnight in Devon. After returning from our holiday we knew we had to get back up to our allotment, to see how the weeds were growing.

We were a tad concerned that no one had been available to water our vegetable plot during all that scorching hot weather. However, on arriving, we found to our delight, a burgeoning crop of Super veg; well we thought it was super (not too bad for our first year) but it wouldn't win any agricultural show prizes.

We rummaged through the undergrowth and found Squashes, Runner beans, Cucumbers, Potatoes, Beetroot, Onions and Courgettes, some of which had turned into massive Marrows. The fruit cage had a few raspberries available and there were masses of blackberries all over the place, not that we had propagated these.

One of the huge marrows was finally transformed by the Head Chef into six jars or scrummy Chilli and Courgette Chutney.

I also used the Raspberries and a couple of stray Blueberries to make another bottle of summer fruit liquor, which will be ready later on. So far I have tried Cherry Brandy, Sloe Gin, Mulberry Gin, Blackberry Vodka and Summer Fruit liquor. I’m not sure which will be my favourite but it should be good fun finding out…

Hazelnuts Ahoy

Green Hazelnuts are beginning to fall now and they are also being snacked upon by the grey squirrels. 

Although I far prefer the nuts when they are ripe and dropping to the ground of their own accord; these signs are always a smart way to detect where the best, biggest brown backed beauties will be falling in a couple of weeks’ time…

Bramble Bushes Bursting with Beautiful Big Blackberries

It’s that time of year again!

Big, fat juicy Blackberries are currently ripening on the commons, parks, hedgerows and gardens all over the place.

Most of the year Brambles are nothing more than a pain in the… Well, it depends on where they have snagged you really.

But come the hot and hazy days of Summer, especially during August the briers suddenly become our nation’s favourite plant.

Conveniently this splendid event occurs during the school holidays and wise families all over the country set out with suitable boxes and bags, often backed up with a picnics and bottles of drink.

They return later, tired and happy, smeared in juice, proudly displaying their battle scars of stinging nettle and thorn assaults.

The rewards are full boxes and bags, now bursting with berries, ready to be eaten, frozen or cooked into some delicious pudding or preserve. The best way to freeze blackberries is to lay them on a baking tray in the freezer, then transfer them into bags once frozen hard. This keeps the individual fruits separate and easy to apportion for future use.

What’s not to like?

Get out there now!

P.S.

It looks as if there might be a bumper crop this year of Hazelnuts and Walnuts some Hazelnuts are already ripe.

Mulberry Murder Mystery

While on holiday in sunny Devon recently, we visited Greenways – Agatha Christie’s House, near Dartmouth. We got a small ferry over the Dart river from Dittisham (another lovely place) and clambered up the hill to the house.



A Jay's Feather and a Mulberry

 I was wandering about the massive garden with the children when we spotted a Mulberry tree. Closer inspection revealed that many of the fruits were ripe, and so, purely in the spirit of the National Trust’s (who  own the house) 50 things to do before you’re Eleven and Three-quarters – we set about picking and eating as many of the sweet juicy fruit as we could lay our fingers on. Later we checked out another big Mulberry tree, in Salcombe too. 

These fruits are easy to find under the leaves of the tree but they can be tricky because a) They do not all ripen at once. b) The ripe ones are likely to drop off as soon as you shake the tree. c) The blood red, honeyed juice gets everywhere can make it look as if you might, just have slaughtered someone with your bare hands! 

The reward, for those who recognise the trees, bother to find the ripe fruit and risk the suspicious stares of passers-by, as they note the incriminating evidence, guiltily smeared across your mouth and fingers; is an incredibly luscious berry, tasting something like a syrupy blackberry/raspberry cross.

When we got home we found another tree in Winchester and I decided to try creating Mulberry liquor. I used gin and my surplus berries but I had to fight the children off, to prevent a Mulberry massacre; they would have scoffed the lot straight away if I had relented. I will report back on this project later but I do already have a very good feeling about it. 

Murder She Wrote!

 There is a Mulberry tree in the Southampton parks too, for those who know where and when to look…

Definately Guilty!



Elderflower Champagne – The Rules

After my initial bacterial disaster, my new batch of Elderflower Champagne is like a force of nature; it is the perfect drink for an English summer heat-wave. Personally, I think that if it opens with a big bang, a lost cork and a 2 metre frothy fountain, leaving only half-a-glass-worth to drink at the bottom of the bottle; then it is probably ready!

I had to unload several bottles into a bucket in the back garden, just to stop them making a dangerous mess. My neighbour Sue helped me with this procedure and both of us got a little bit wet in the process. In fact, I hear that her kitchen got a little bit wetter later on, when she cracked a bottle open at home. Flip top bottles can make easing the pressure easier but the potential for mistakes becomes greater due to their slippery and fiddly nature.

Important rules for Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne.

• The first rule of Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne is that Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne does not exist.
• The second rule of Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne is that we never openly discuss Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne.
• The third rule of Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne… open it outside, unless you want your house decorated with Urbane Forager Explosive Elderflower Champagne.
• Rule 4. Pressure safe bottles!
• Rule 5. Ease the pressure regularly!

We are still getting many a sandwich box full of Hedge End cherries safely delivered home, from work in my bike pannier. I just pop out at lunchtime and pick a fresh load each day and they are avidly consumed by our hungry children. You would think they had been starved by the way they gobble them down.

Blackberries are just about to be ready; my daughter grabbed her first black one yesterday and it looks like they will be more than abundant this year. Plums are slowly ripening on the branches but they seem to have not fared so well, due to the late spring. Hazelnuts are looking bountiful this summer too. I have seen vast amounts weighing the branches down near me; I think they may be early this year too.