Bramble ramble...

Of all the seasonal traditions, blackberry picking has to be one of my personal favourites.
Anyone can do it. It's free, it's productive, it's healthy, it doesn't celebrate anyone's death, or terrorise elderly neighbours. It's just you, a bramble bush, a bag and a delicious, versatile fruity treat.
Ah blackberries - that most egalitarian of crops. Accessible to almost everyone, regardless of where you live, with no specialist tools needed to gather or process. 
Almost everyone knows a good blackberry bush. As long as it's not next to a very busy road, they will be fine to eat. (It's maybe a good idea to avoid branches at dog level too ;) )

 I love filling my face as I pick, revelling in that sharp, earthy sun-ripened sweetness! It appeals to my womanly-multi-tasking ethos to go and enjoy the early Autumn weather, to go for a little ramble, and return home with the means to produce all manner of delicious things - jams, cakes, pies, crumbles, wine, liqueurs, sorbets and sponges. And they're full of fibre and vitamins too.
Even a humble bun mixture can be enhanced by the addition of one plump blackberry in the middle of each filled bun case, ready to explode in the mouth with a tangy jam when the bun is eaten! 
I have a lovely, thriving spineless blackberry bush on my allotment. But though the fruits are huge, dark and glossy, the taste just can't compete with its wilder cousins. So every dog walk means I take a tub out, for more free goodies from the field and hedgerow.
Today I'm freezing some for winter desserts. Just as soon as I can stop my boys from eating the tubful I picked this morning...

Who knows where the time goes?

I'm a bad blogger - Summer months have sped away and the year is on the turn.
I've managed to completely miss blogging for June, July and most of August.
I've not been idle though; I've grown and eaten - broad beans, rocket, beetroot, French beans, runner beans, tomatoes, chillies, blackcurrants, potatoes, celery, raspberries, spinach, peas, potatoes, courgettes, squash, strawberries, blackberries, cabbage, and Victoria plums.
I've picked endless sweet peas, goldenrod, marigolds, lavender and verbena for instant colour at home. And used ample handfuls of chives, marjoram, thyme, sage, mint, parsley and oregano in my cooking.
I even wasted a happy couple of hours in the rainy days to paint some markers (pictured below!)
I'm so grateful to have my plot - it provides me with free food, fresh air, exercise, head-space, friendly faces and inspiration.

Gin and bear it!

I have just finished making this year's batch of sloe gin.
I'm sure you've tried it. If not, you must come round and have some of last year's!
It's a garnet, syrupy sweet and tart explosion of taste, followed by a deep warmth which creeps through your veins - just the thing to warm your cockles in winter.

There are no sloes on my allotment, but I'll be taking some of last year's brew along to our next allotment get-together around Bonfire Night to share. It's a sure-fire way to win new friends :)

I found several bushes bursting with fruit along a cycle path next to the railway. If you've not seen sloe bushes before, you'll soon learn to spot them.
Sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn bush - small, bluey-black fruit, with a stone at the centre and so sour they will turn your mouth inside out. And protected by spiky branches. Why bother? But add sugar and gin,leave for several months in a dark place and they obligingly transform themselves into one of my favourite liqueurs.
There are a hundred different recipes out there. Hugh Fearlessly Eatsitall is usually pretty reliable if you like a proper recipe. Here's what I do.
a) Wash the sloes to remove any pollution/bugs etc
b) Freeze them to save all that pricking faffle. Or prick each sloe individually to allow the juice to seep out....Use defrosted sloes to make gin, not while still frozen.
c) Use 1lb of sloes per 8 oz of sugar and litre of gin.
d) Bung them all together into kilner jars. It is easier to fill them, shake them and remove the sloes later, rather than trying to force sloes through neck of a gin bottle (voice of bitter experience...)
e) Put in a cupboard but shake the jars daily for a couple of weeks to dissolve the sugar.
f) Leave for as long as you can resist. I make mine in the Autumn to share the following Autumn or Christmas. Three months is the minimum time I would recommend.
g) After six months, you need to get rid of the sloes and filter the gin into clean, sterised bottles. Use the old gin bottles (or any decorative small bottles if it intended for gifts).A funnel and clean old tights will do the trick for filtering. Having said that, this year I used kitchen towel and it worked fine.

h) Enjoy. And Share.....preferably with me, especially if you've some nice cheese going spare...

i) The used sloes can apparently be reused with vodka and sugar for a similar 'slodka' but ready to drink in a couple of weeks. I have yet to try this.
Other people have reportedly put the sloes out to for the birds - but I can't help thinking that's a bit cruel.....

The party's over.

September has been a fumnny month this year. A little bit wild and wet and windy; not very mellow or yellow or languid and lovely. The last days of summer often seem to seamlessly segue into Autumn, with the chance to squeeze in a few last barbecues and some warm afternoons harvesting fruits and planning delicacies for the 'proper' Autumn.
But not this year. I feel a bit cheated. The central heating is on at home, jumpers and fleeces are definitely needed more often than not and even the blackberries have been defeated by the rain and have come to an abrupt end weeks earlier than usual.
Visiting the plot last weekend after a week off so reminded me of ''the morning after the night before''.
The ground was sticky and squelchy and littered with detrius from the recent storms.
All the gladioli in their gladrags were listing tipsily. The delicate sweetpeas had definitely overdone it all and were flat on the ground, support stakes and all.
Slugs and snails had done for the beans. Apples had rolled and rotted. The raspberry canes were drooping queasily, with the fruit soggy and unpickable.
Even the runner bean pyramids had definitely overdone it and were writhing on the floor like drunken teenagers.
And the gatecrashers! Weeds everywhere.....
Because I love marigolds (calendula - oh the glorious racket of yellow and orange!colours!)) I had given them free reign and they had invited all their mates and their mates' mates. I have had to pull them all up and bag them in unsightly bin bags, in the hope of stopping a takeover next year.
It just all seems a bit sudden. I'm not really ready for the party to end.