Provided your local hedges haven't fallen victim to inconveniently timed flailings then Autumn is a rather bounteous time for gathering. Each year we try to expand our use of what's available to us, to both experiment and stock up our larder. Plus it's fun too, to see what can be made. First off, I've already written about blackberry and apple crumbles but you can also use blackberries in jam or jellies. I've never felt that inclined to make bramble jam but that be because I have around 27 different flavours of sweet preserve* in my cupboard and know blackberry would be the last flavour I'd reach for. The success story from last year was the blackberry and crab apple jelly so I definitely wanted to make another year's worth. Crab apples are such a gift, growing in abundance for free and you can take more than you can carry and the tree won't look much less empty. There are loads of different styles of crab apple, most are bogus but apparently you can just pick from the trees you get along better with. I've not been able to differentiate and they all seem fine. 

It wouldn't be autumn without going blackberry picking - the annual foraging tradition loved by so many. An apple and blackberry crumble is the classic way to use them and I admit to having neglected this some years, more through missing the boat rather than not feeling like it. I come from a dynasty of crumble makers. Us women have produced hundreds of these over the years and yet most have fallen short of their full glory. There's nothing worse than a crumble which disappoints. With my complete lack of instinct when it comes to cooking, baking and anything to do with food assembly, I always rely on a recipe to guide me through choppy waters. I wince when I say that my previous go-to recipe was a 'healthy' option which not only failed in texture and taste but really offered little in the way of healthy benefits either. It was time to try something else. Google offered me a recipe from delicious magazine which looked suitably different and I gave it a try. Actually I'm going to be searching there for lots of recipes in future as they have a lot of mouthwatering dishes over there - plus they are easy to print off.

Is it ok to make it three weeks on the trot? Because that's what your girl did. Did I mention I love desserts? Here's my slightly tweaked recipe from the original:

Ingredients:
Approx 1100g bramley apples
250g or thereabouts carefully rinsed and sorted to ensure no stems, cobwebs or creepy crawlies have joined the party
3 teaspoons of cornflour
70g caster sugar
240g plain flour
150g unsalted butter cut into cubes. I prefer to use this from the fridge as if it gets too warm you make paste.
120g demerara sugar

Method:
Pop the flour in a large mixing bowl along with a pinch of salt and rub in the butter a few cubes at a time. Keeping this cool will help. Once it's fairly fine, don't worry about the odd buttery lump, mix in the demerara sugar and set aside. Pop the oven on to about 160 oC for a fan oven.
Stir together the cornflower and caster sugar in a bowl.
You'll need to work through the apples quickly as they start to turn brown very quickly. I use a vegetable peeler and a small knife to peel and remove the core, and keep them chunky before slicing them at the last moment and adding the blackberries. Sprinkle over the cornflour and sugar mix and stir around the fruit. Grease a chosen baking dish, I prefer a deeper one than too shallow as the fruit always cooks down and if too thinly placed you hardly end up with anything.
Stir round the fruit again then lay it out in the dish, even it up roughly then gently spoon the topping over. Pop on a tray with a teflon sheet as the fruit can bubble up and escape during cooking.

I check mine after around 25 minutes at which point you can tell if it's looking 'perfect' ie golden-ish with a few blobs of oozy fruit round the edge - which would be done or if it still looks much like when you put it in - in which case try again in 10 minutes.

They stay hot for ages so no rush to eat but ours was demolished with a shocking volume of custard.
Even C agreed this crumble recipe was an absolute triumph. Super buttery with the sugary crunch and the syrupy fruit wasn't overly sweet. The original recipe called for more caster but we preferred it with less.

This is one I'll be returning to over and over again. It's hard to say how many official portions it makes but I'd suggest 6 for gluttons like myself. Plus it's pretty much a breakfast dish too, so make a weekend of it.

The blackberries are past their best now, we did gather a small handful for a pie but there were slim pickings indeed.

Have you been crumbling?

Take,
Sophie

We know how I feel about the onset of ugly Autumn and it's vile cohort Winter but the calendar persists in relentlessly ratcheting round despite my protestations. So what does the new season have in store for me? I feel a list coming on.

Forage elderberries, rose hips, sweet chestnuts, crab apples, blackberries, sloes, plums and whatever else we can make use of

Make crumbles, country wines, jams, syrups and infusions

Photograph the changing landscape

Plan for Christmas, arrange festivities, buy and make thoughtful gifts

Write about the good things we get up to 

Swap my wardrobe around and sort through clothes to part with what I no longer can wear

Pot up winter plants for the front door

Plant tulips and spring bulbs

Continue to harvest remaining allotment produce, store or use

Make soups and casseroles

Tidy allotment, flower patch, greenhouse and garden but not over-tidy - remember wildlife

Plan uplifting times out- meals, walks, events

Round our way there doesn't seem to be much competition for rosehips. I suspect unlike the easy pickings of blackberries to eat straight from the bramble and the sloe collecting for tasty sloe gin over winter the rosehips are deemed rather unfashionable and left for the birds. Roses have some rather vicious thorns though so do take care.
The dog roses were a wonder in spring; the rose petal jam was a luxury (still uneaten, I don't dare waste it) but once they're gone it's a long wait until the hips are ready for use. We have been particularly fortunate in that we picked many very locally and made two batches, two weeks apart. In previous years we have gathered the succulent fat japanese rugosa hips too which are wonderful for syrup but this year just the dog roses.

They say it keeps in a sterilised bottle for about 4 months but I prefer to judge it for myself.
And between this and the elderberry syrup I'm going to pep myself up morningly to keep my immune system tickety boo as best as I can.
Take care,
Sophie

Mmmm, they do look delightful. As it turned out the season was already a good way through, many hips were a bit manky and soft so it took more effort to not pick the bad ones. Next year I will have to be quicker off the mark.
 These little pink plastic trugs were so handy for picking them. We struggled to find all that many of the little traditional bullet hips from the dog rose, a large haul of the (right) Japanese hips.

One thing I did overlook was that it was a bit of a prickly job as roses do have thorns. So more care had to be taken. Ouch.

In a very satisfying manner, we found all we needed within walking distance of home, which gave a particularly local feeling to the forage.
The softer Japanese beauties chopped up in a couple of pulses. Far more convenient. It's worth mentioning to anyone unfamiliar with hips that the seeds are known as itching powder, so mind where they go. I have a brilliant memory of chucking some down my brother's back when we were little (for which I was told off for) and he did end up crying. So be careful.
The two recipes varied wildly with the ratios of water and sugar to hips. In my opinion neither really hit the mark. One was virtually solid and the other was like dishwater, so my advice is to judge it yourself.
For the wetter mix the recommendation here suggested 2 litres of water to 1kg of fruit, which was very watery (it suggested straining and more water again, which I declined to do), then half the amount of brown sugar as fruit.

The fruit and water mix strained through muslins. It does look grim at this point.
Then after a lonnnng drippy strain and a messy squeeze, it's back to the pan for the liquor and to stir in the sugar.
Top: the dog rose very thick syrup with white sugar (recipe from the hedgerow cookbook which I bought and am totally in love with). I did add more water at the fruit boiling stage as it did seem very sticky-dry.
We bought cute Kilner bottles especially. I haven't tried the thick one yet but the dark runny one is an absolute joy each morning, I have a tablespoon of it after breakfast. It's packed with vitamin C and a whole lotta get-up-n-go (non quantifiable 'doing you good' things).
Does it taste like roses? Not at all, but a sweet, fruity flavour. Quite a delight.
Sophie

In accordance with my resolution to waste less I had to come up with a plan to make use of half a box of apples. My grandmother decided to buy several family members rather large boxes of coxes. One of those presents the sender is buying because that's more what they want to give as opposed to what the receiver would like. We don't like coxes (and nor does anyone else) so they've been something of a chore to plough through but as they're rapidly heading towards 'past their best' I wanted to use them up before being tempted to bin them. I chose to make another batch of ginger apple jam but this time with lots more apple in ratio to the ginger. Three and a half jars made. That should last me a while.
Am I getting the hang of using up things? I hope so.
Sophie

This autumn we've tried to get stuck in much more to countryside treats. The hedgerows have been bursting with berries for weeks and it's frankly ludicrous that we've not made better use of what's on offer in previous years.

The most obvious start was the blackberries. We thought there would be thousands around but it rather turned out to be slim pickings on our initial hunt. It took quite a long time to collect a modest quantity and we had to be selective to ensure that any bad ones didn't make it into the bag. Of course, in the following days we did see masses all gloating at us that we no longer has need for. They did seem to be later than usual this year? C commented that there still seem to be some around even now and I'm inclined to agree that it's unexpected. With the blackberries I made a blackberry and (Bramley) apple crumble which reminded me so much of my Grandma who would crumble anything. I distinctly remember a tinned strawberry crumble (which I wouldn't recommend to anyone!).

We decided, although independently, that we ought to make ourselves some sloe gin. I have to admit that I wasn't 100% sure about which bushes had sloe berries so just to be doubly sure, we did check. Then it was really obvious. Again, there were hardly any to be found on our first search which is because someone else had cleared out all but a few. The next place we tried had loads and they were much easier to get to, though the best ones are up high so it really pays to have someone taller than you so they have to struggle for the fruit up high. That's my top tip. I held the bag and patiently waited. Somebody has to.

We ended up with enough for three vats of sloe gin, of which we've got two lots going (a litre of gin each) and one portion of sloes still in the freezer for another time. We asked Hazel's advice how to go about it.

Elderberries were also on our shopping list. We were only just in time to catch them before they turned; C checked the springs before selecting the ones which still looked healthy, w hile I was on bag holding duty. The elderberries are now making elderberry vodka. I'll definitely be giving this a go. We'll pick them earlier next year when they're plentiful! Did I mention that we picked elderflowers in summer to make cordial? C made it and drank it, somehow I missed out and I don't know why. Next year we'll do it again.

There are so many opportunities to forage in the countryside throughout the year and I'm really intrigued about making the most of all there is on offer. Next year I wonder what I could do with rosehips?

Sophie

Making the best of things; that's what I'm up to at this precise point in time. We're beyond the tipping point of ever hoping for that elusive Indian Summer and the clocks changing has meant that it's now getting dark early evening. The feel of Autumn is undeniable. I'm propping myself up with a few treats wheeled out at this time of year, saved to distract from my gloom.

I've done the big wardrobe switch with all my summer clothes now packed away 'til spring and all my winter clothes getting rediscovered. New inspiration is growing of what I want to wear over the coming months. Recent buys teamed with old favourites; new styles and reworked classics. Yes, this may be baffling to C (and many people) but my wardrobe is a collection of wonderful possessions and I enjoy putting together outfits to wear out and about. It makes me happy.

The abundance of pumpkins everywhere has prompted me to get busy in the kitchen. As well as my most favourite pumpkin tray bake recipe, I have made two batches of pumpkin soup to really get into this curious squash in a way I've never managed to before. Maybe I'll share the recipes soon.

Alas, our own pumpkins failed so I bought my two off roadside stalls. They have a lot of flesh on them so they do stretch a long way.

After eking the final dregs of colour out of the summer bedding plants I waved goodbye to them ceremoniously and refilled the pots with fresh compost and a mix of yellow and purple violas for winter. I've never had winter bedding before and my interest is captured by the idea of some pretty colour by the front door over the greyest time of year. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

It's most pleasant to burn a berry scented candle in the evenings and snuggle under a cosy blanket. The fairy lights on the mantelpiece are omnipresent but now get switched on when it gets dark and I've swapped the bunting on the bed's headboard for more fairy lights like last year. It adds a little bit of sparkle to the dark mornings which can be just what's needed to put me in a great mood.

I have more cooking in mind and of course, more photography to indulge in over the coming months.

What changes are you making at this time of year?

Sophie