(Almost) Bleak Mid-winter

 And so Autumn has slipped into Winter. Its not been the best of years: a rainy Summer became a rainy Autumn, is now a rainy Winter. The good news is that temperatures have been mostly mild and, until this last week, my greenhouse tomatoes were still offering up fruit. I think their days are now numbered and not even the mild weather can keep them going for much longer, but they have been a bit of salvation for what was rather a dismal year in terms of produce.

The lack of produce has meant a bit of a lack of kitchen activity - other than the fruits of my most magnificent crab apple. What a fantastic little tree! I know I have gone on about it before, but it really is the tree that keeps on giving: gorgeous blooms in the spring, lovely foliage and then hundreds of little red cherry-sized apples from September all the way through to now (the blackbirds are just finishing off the last). It really is a fantastic tree and every garden should have one!

This year my efforts at making crab apple jelly were particularly successful. I put it down to two factors: patience (never my strength) and the addition of home-made pectin. Although crab apples are quite high in pectin, the addition of the latter certainly helped. I made my own from the peelings and cores of apples (from my brilliant little apple tree), froze it and added it to my jelly. Voila! I'm not sure what recipe I used, but this video will give you general pointers: Making pectin for jam and jelly Its easy! - Bing video (Note - he uses crab apples too - but the general principal is the same.)

Not only have I made crab apple  jelly, but I also have two lots of crab apple
gin brewing away at the back of the kitchen cupboard. I tried crab apple gin for the first time last year and it turned out to be even nicer than sloe gin, so I'm making it again! The added bonus of using crab apples is that, after you have strained the gin off, you can cook them down for jelly and you get the most delicious gin-flavoured crab apple offering. Bargain!

But that really is the sum-total of the produce endeavours - jelly and gin. 

I actually have some kale growing in a tub in the greenhouse (there is a HUGE difference between the tender leaves of kale picked from your garden and that chewy chopped stuff found in the supermarket) and some token carrots in a tub in the corner of the garden. Otherwise, everything is a muted shade of mud - or very overgrown. The garden is pretty much out of bounds until February/March.

Which means that I might not get to work it again.

Yes, after much soul-searching, we have decided to move closer to our grown-up daughters. I can't say I'm not sad - I love this house, this garden, these fields - but life is a series of adventures and so we must look forward to the next one. For now, I can only hope that the person who takes over this lovely bit of land, will love it as much as I do...

And now I'm off to scavenge greenery and whatever rosehips I can find, to make a wreath - it is almost Christmas after all. More importantly - its very close to the Winter solstice - which means that the days will start getting longer. Yippee!