Autumn Arrives

This year we have seen one of the longest and hottest Summers on record, but now, finally Autumn is upon us. We are having cooler mornings with dew on the grass, the wind is whipping up and the long awaited rain is arriving, cheering allotmenteers, gardeners and ducks alike.

We have been busy hunting down Hazlenuts, Apples and Pears, in all our familiar and favourite locations. 

It seems that all the lovely snow, bought to us here earlier this year via the Beast from the East, must have affected the pollinators and blossom of the trees because the fruit count is relatively low.

This massive and sustained Spring storm, followed by the long hot dry Summer may have caused the trees to change their normal patterns. Many trees also appear to have smaller than normal fruit that is ripening and dropping earlier than I would have expected.

I'm quite sure that there will be some trees that have managed to overcome the trials of the weather, but a cursory glance around our normal haunts shows a distinctly diminished harvest.

Having said this, we do know where a lot of trees are locally, over time we have located and monitored hundreds. As a result we are still managing to gather enough apples to store for the winter, press for juice and to create a good stock of cider.

Apple Experts

Around this time of year, it is not unusual to spot families picking blackberries from the hedgerows. Occasionally you may see someone collecting hazelnuts off the floor or from a tree; you might even see a person thrashing away with a stick at a wall of brambles or stinging nettles, attempting to improve access to a solitary apple tree.

But how can you tell when the apples on the tree will ripen?

You do get Summer Apples, they will ripen in late August, they tend to be softer, sweeter and can be eaten straight off the tree but they will not keep or cook well. We have picked a few in readiness for pressing into juice.

More common Autumnal Apples will ripen in late September or October. The simplest way to check them for ripeness is to cut an Apple in half and inspect the pips; if they are brown or black, the fruit is ripe, if they are white, green or yellow it is unripe.

Some apples will naturally fall from the tree prior to the bulk ripening, especially if it has been windy; this is quite normal and you can assist nature by picking off any under-developed, diseased or vaguely runty fruit. By doing this, you help the tree, by allowing it to put its valuable energy resources into the better quality fruit, which will fatten up as a result. Each tree will produce a certain weight of fruit – it can be fewer larger Apples or lots of smaller ones.

People do ask me how to identify Apple types and specific “heritage varieties” but to be frank; I leave this kind of thing to the “Experts” or pedants as I prefer to call them. Every time an Apple pip grows into a tree, it develops a completely new type of fruit, a totally new variety is born (How exciting!).  The original Granny Smith tree still lives and all other Granny Smith fruit is grown from cuttings grafted onto root-stock. Crab Apples are actually the only native UK Apples; the others were introduced by the Romans, along with a few other things!

To me the most important Apple questions are these…

• What do they taste like? Are they eaters or cookers?

Followed closely by…

• Will they keep well?

If not…

• Will they make nice juice or good cider?

Simple!

Apples Pears & Amber Nectar

On Friday my train to work broke down in the station. Despite the guard and driver's best attempts to reboot the train (seriously), it would not budge. I had my bike with me and duly set off down the Bursledon Road, toward Segensworth. En-route I saw a big Pear tree on the roadside that was laden with fruit, my neighbour had recently suggested I check this place out.

On Saturday morning the kids and I got up early to pick some pears before they set off for swimming, it was the start of a very busy day. While the children were sluicing through all their watery lengths, I was lugging all the buckets and bags of fruit (about 120 Kgs) out of the shed and the greasing up the cider press.

After lunch the garden began to fill up with enthusiastic children, all wanting to have a go at turning the mill to grind the apples, or wind the cider press down to crush the pulp and squeeze out the scrumptious juice (is that word related to scrumping?).

There was, admittedly, a massive amount of fruit to process but thanks to the help of friends and families we processed all of those Apples, then added a few freshly picked Pears - the children also bunged a few Blackberries into the mix for good luck.

The juice from the red swimming pool apples always comes out slightly pink and this gave the final juice and delightful amber tint, it also has the very best, gorgeously tangy, sweet/sharp flavour. The children were constantly diving in to slurp down as much as they could before it even reached the bucket, but they truly deserved all they got because we could never have managed to complete the job without them.

The weather was holding out, so we polished the day off with a BBQ that carried on until the Autumnal light faded. The children were scampering about playing and fighting with whatever they could lay their hands on - hopefully they all slept like logs that night, I know I did.

There will be much more Apple picking and pressing fun coming up... 

N.B. Apple Day at Mansbridge Community Orchard 

The event will be held at 2:00pm on Sunday October 11th. If you have any spare apples, bring them along for crushing into juice. Octavia Road Open Space is basically a field and wilderness area, so wear suitably robust clothing, wellies etc. This is a free community event, run by volunteers and all are welcome but everyone one is responsible for their own (and their children's) health & safety.

Awesome Autumnal Update

Trick or Treat

We might well be heading for a cold/wet/windy/frosty Winter, but no one complained about the sizzling summer that ripened everything, ready for the bumper Autumnal harvest this year.

Crab Apples at Mansbridge Community Orchard

Elderberries were abundant and we picked a sufficient amount to make a gallon of Port from one tree, during a Picknik at Danebury Iron Age Hill Fort.

Red Devils at St Mary's

It’s hard to get across just how many Apple trees there are on public land, loaded with free fruit. We live busy lives like everyone else, yet the children and I collected over 200 Kgs of delicious ripe apples this October and that was before we even ventured into Mansbridge Community Orchard.

Apples by the Bucket-load

Our Apple store is filled to the brim, a stock which should easily last us into next Spring. We created 11 Gallons of Cider, so that  should last longer, even after talking thirsty friends and Christmas into account. It beats me why anyone buys apples from the supermarket.

Autumn Beeches and Holly

A couple of brief but timely visits to local Walnut trees yielded more than enough to see us well past Christmas. Hazelnuts were also prolific this year, these I mostly gathered by filling my pockets during lunchtime forays around Hedge End; I didn't need to look anywhere else but I'm sure there were plenty everywhere.

A Great Year for Shuffling Through Dry Leaves

Some of our favourite pear trees have been shamefully destroyed but fortunately friendly neighbours came to the rescue and we poached some and added a load more to the cider; judging by the taste, this was a good idea.

Plenty of Nuts for Xmas

We seemed to be too busy pressing apples to collect many chestnuts this year. I visited Telegraph Hill, but spent most of my time simply soaking up the special atmosphere.

Squash Army!

My son scrambled up the Medlar tree in the University grounds and in about 10 minutes we had picked enough to make a new batch of wine. I also picked enough Sloes, during my lunchtime wanderings around Hedge End, to make Sloe Gin and Sloe Wine.

Crackling Lightning

We are still eating our way through the army of squash that we grew at our allotment; it was a very good year here too and my shelter and fruit cage are still standing after all those exciting storms. 

Selling Mistletoe for the School Xmas Fayre

This Winter, if I find time, I will be building a compost heap, from up-cycled pallet wood on the site (that's how exciting my life is). 

Bye Bye Office, for a While Anyway...

Enjoy your Christmas holiday and let's hope for a brilliant New Year.

Deadman’s Plack: Skulduggery in Harewood Forest

Ever since watching a charming documentary on the A303; I have wanted to hunt down the Deadman’s Plack. I have frequently travelled the length of the A303 but urgency has often prevented me from turning off and exploring. The evocative name of this monument was enough to pique my interest but the legend behind it is even better and gives a fascinating glimpse of the intrigue constantly underpinning England’s monarchic history.

Autumn is always a good time for an adventure and a vague objective makes it more interesting (I knew our target was somewhere in Harewood forest). If you know where you are going, the trek to the monument from the road is actually a short walk through mixed woodland. We did not know where the path was though, so we took a rather scenic route and arrived, more by luck than judgement.

The memorial, in many ways reminiscent of Rufus Stone, is constructed from stone and has a large plinth supporting a tall cross; it was thoughtfully commissioned in 1825, by the entertainingly named Colonel William Iremonger. The inscription on the front is much worn and states the following epitaph.

About the year of our Lord DCCCCLXIII (AD 963) upon this spot beyond the time of memory called Deadman’s Plack, tradition reports that Edgar, surnamed the peaceable, King of England, in the ardour of youth love and indignation, slew with his own hand his treacherous and ungrateful favourite, owner of this forest of Harewood, in resentment of the Earl’s having basely betrayed and perfidiously married his intended bride and beauteous Elfrida, daughter of Ordgar, Earl of Devonshire, afterwards wife of King Edgar, and by him mother of King Ethelred II, Queen Elfrida, after Edgar’s death, murdered his eldest son, King Edward the Martyr, and founded the Nunnery of Wor-well

To modernise…

King Edgar (the peaceable!) sent his friend, Earl Athelwold to determine whether a local lady Elfrida, who was said to be very beautiful, was a suitable marriage candidate (for the King). On meeting the striking Elfrida, the devious Athelwold was so besotted that he neglected to explain his mission to Elfrida’s folks, and accidentally married her himself. On returning to report to King Edgar he explained that she was quite plain and unworthy of his royal highness.

Probably suspecting dishonesty, Edgar arranged to meet Elfrida himself. Fearing detection, Athelwold begged Elfrida to look dowdy and dull for the visit but she ambitiously made herself as glamorous as she could for the King. Athelwold was subsequently invited on a hunting expedition, in Harewood forest, where he received a complimentary javelin in the back for his troubles, with thanks from King Edgar, who promptly married his gorgeous widow Elfrida.

Subsequently, the King and his new Queen had a son Ethelred, half-brother to the Kings eldest Edward. Shortly after Edgar’s death Ethelred and Elfrida were suspiciously close at hand when Edward was murdered by his retainers on another hunting trip near Corfe Castle, his body was apparently left in a bog, for over a year. Ethelred (later known as the Unready) then acceded to the throne but showed his Mother such lack of gratitude for her support, that she beat him senseless with a large candle! So ferocious was this beating, that he feared candles into later life. However, when he came of age he was avenged by banishing his Mother, who, in an act of apparent penitence, established a nunnery at Wherwell on the Test River, close to Harewood forest.

Many a penknife has been blunted over the years by (possibly sympathetic) visitors carving their own monograms into the ancient stone base. Next to the Deadman’s Plack, someone had also built a nice den out of long sticks, which the children immediately made a temporary camp in.

Both my daughter and son were armed with cameras that they recently received as birthday presents and they were snapping every interesting looking tree, branch and leaf they came across. I might let the kids take over this blog at some point; a child’s eye view of our winter trips could make an interesting diversion.

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...

Sweet Chestnuts

You know that Autumn is in full swing when the Sweet Chestnuts start to pop onto the floor. Normally the first nuts to fall are the runts of the crop, too small and skinny to be of any use.

Meanwhile the finest, mahogany mammoths are safely swelling, encapsulated in their hedgehog-like homes.

There is a vast amount of substantial chestnut trees in some areas of Southampton.

In some places flour is made out of chestnuts but I find them dead fiddly; so I just build a fire in my BBQ and let the flames burn the shells off.

DON’T FORGET TO PIERCE THE SHELLS BEFORE COOKING OR THEY WILL EXPLODE!

Cider House Rules

It has been a bad year for fruit and fruit trees generally but by using our map to remind us we still managed to pick plenty of apples to store and crush into juice. Apple picking and cider making are quintessential autumnal activities and I look forward to these days each year. 

We do offer a cropping service whereby, if people ask us, we will come and pick apples that they would otherwise not use.

Our friends Craig and Rachel, offered us the bulk of the apples on the trees in their garden; on tree was full of cookers and the other, a lovely knobbly old tree had delicious Coxian eaters.

That morning, with the enthusiastic help of the children, we had soon plucked about 40Kgs of apples, which in my book means only one thing, an afternoon of apple pressing.

This year I have invested in a small apple scratter, which Craig and I soon had clamped onto my battered old workmate.

Then in a whirlwind of communal effort (apple pressing is a very social event), we began the process…

One person chopping the apples and cutting out any bad bits (any parts that you would not like to eat but the skin and core is fine to leave in).

The next job was cranking the handle on the scratter and carefully feeding the hopper with more apples.

When the bucket was full enough, we then empty it into the press and the children turn the screw as far down as they can, before handing over to the strong arms of the adults.

The juice is collected in a bucket and I wanted 5 gallons of it because that is the size of my barrel.

That afternoon, after cleaning up all the equipment (we did achieve our goal); I cycled over to Shirley, where I had been invited to another sociable apple pressing.

Members of the Southampton Slow Club had deployed our fruit map in order to locate and pick a dustbin full of apples and hired a lovely big scratter and press from Ashurst Community Centre. I couldn't stay too long but they were a friendly bunch that were having great fun and making very rapid progress.