Autumn in the Allotment

Last week, we thought we ought to visit the allotment to see if any autumnal produce was coming through.

The raspberries (safe in the rustic fruit cage) were bearing fruit. Nothing in the world tastes as good as a freshly picked ripe raspberry.

The rampant squash patch was still looking pretty productive but some of the large leaves looked as if the cold nights had scorched them.

I picked out any courgettes and squash that looked big enough to cook and realised that the substantial squash that I had picked previously was actually a colossal courgette! When we got home the head chef cooked up a tasty squash-based risotto.

This week we popped down to mop up any survivors and on the way back we zipped over to our favourite walnut tree; we were somewhat unprepared, so we had to use spare hats to gather them in.

On our return, we proudly displayed; two hats full of walnuts, two courgettes, a few big raspberries, two chestnuts and a solitary medlar, picked off a tree in the university that I had rattling around in my pocket.

I had been puzzling about how to store walnuts and, in a moment of inspiration, realised that I could upcycle the net bags that oranges come in...