We have a Winner... and other stories
(and being a total idiot I’ve just typed this out, then shut the window before publishing it – smacks head on desk)
Well, the winner is… (drum roll)... Lorinda, whose comment not only made me laugh out loud (I can’t wait for Adam to get started on www.stuffonmymum.com) but was also chosen by the random number generator (thanks Chris).
And as for the other stories…
I love this time of year, I love foraging in the hedgerows – this year I’ve found brambles and haws and elderberries. (Some of the brambles made a wonderful apple and bramble cobbler, the rest are in the freezer. The haws (as in hawthorn) and elderberries were mixed with crab apples from our little tree in the garden (it’s only 2 1/2 – John planted it while I was in labour with Ruth… eventually I did stagger the length of the garden to ask him rather plaintively to please keep me company!) and they went to make Hedge Jelly.
Anyway, today there was a birthday party at the vicarage to celebrate 5 years of Godly Play in the UK and Europe (slightly surreal singing Happy Birthday to an educational system…
). At one point the vicar wandered off, returning with a branch of small yellow/red fruit, asking for identification. One was sliced open and identified as a crab apple. My foraging senses were alerted. I was assured that no-one else wanted them, so, equipped with a pair of the vicar’s wife’s wellies and some carrier bags, I set off, leaving the vicarage behind me:
Then on past part of the graveyard (which I’m including here because it looked wonderfully cheerful in the bright sunshine with all the rather gaudy flowers):
Then through a gate, where I was met by this view:
See all the long greenery – that’s nettles, that is – and no, I didn’t get to go along that path, that would be too easy – I had to go round the side – between the nettles and the brambles:
But then, when I got there, I did indeed find this:
and picked (well the vicar cut down for me) nearly 5 lb of crab apples. So excuse me please while I go and get them ready to cook tonight…
nine comments:
How wonderful! Thanks for sharing your adventures. Sounds like a trek my grandmother would have loved. She was always making lovely jellies and jams. I read about the Godly Play on your link—yay Montessori!And thanks for choosing me as winner. As I accept this award, I’d like to thank my mother and father and . . .
lorinda () (link) - 10 September '06 - 22:34
You make me want to live in the country!!! Very very Martha Stewart. I cannot be trusted to make jams and jellies that would be edible. My sister and I did strawberry jam a few years ago and it was wonderful, but we don’t eat a lot of jam around here.Kate () (link) - 11 September '06 - 14:12
What a beautiful post – it’s making me yearn to get out of London.anna () (link) - 11 September '06 - 21:04
Your vicar’s vicarage and garden look like something out of Pride & Prejudice!Daisy () (link) - 12 September '06 - 21:13
HEy just to let you know that the name of my blog has changed from Chocolate Knowlege and Life to Frozen in the desert!lol
x
em
Emma () - 14 September '06 - 08:03
Nice vicarage…What are you going to use the crab-apples for?
Fiona () (link) - 16 September '06 - 15:22
You’re welcome! I must say, I’ve never eaten crab applies in any form…Chris () (link) - 17 September '06 - 03:22
Oooo! Cobbler! And I am making the grand assumption that it’s gluten-free?! Tell me how you do this please…please, please, please!!:O)
Kirsten () (link) - 21 September '06 - 09:03
The first thing I did when we moved into our new place, a couple of years ago, was to plant three crab apple trees and a cooking apple tree. We now have about twenty fruit trees. Already here, was a giant loquat and at the moment we are making loquat and rosewater jelly. I shall post about it in a few days. Crab apple jelly is my favourite though.Good luck with yours.
Cheers Gillian
Gillian Margaret Fergusson () (link) - 21 September '06 - 23:33
