Hasn't there been an absolute mountain of fungi growing here there and everywhere recently? I've been both fascinated and revolted at the sights I've seen this autumn. Copious posts to come with mushrooms, toadstools and all sorts of nameless fungi galore as you probably know by now that I have long since abandoned all hope in identifying all but a select few. Picture the scene: a drab afternoon, grey cloudy sky and the decaying forest floor taking on a life of it's own with thousands of little figures appearing overnight...

 A large one. Of course, size is interesting in mushrooms. It might be featureless but it's size makes it worthy of a snap. C had spotted a large specimen and on our way elsewhere diverted to show me, knowing my appetite for such sights. We pulled the car over, I took out my phone and unceremoniously straddled the mushroom in an awkward semi-squat in heels to get a shot. The dog walker who passed by must have thought I was rather odd but helpfully paused further down the road to call back that there were some more growing along there. How thoughtful.
 A good smattering of these in a bit of a clearing.

 Scabby looking stuff on branches.





 We have a faller

 It's not just chocolate box woodland offerings here. Slimy pile of gunk? Check.

 These two look quirky.

And this last poppet makes a darling little watering station for a hedgehog.

Take care,
Sophie

A natural wreath of (poisonous) berries

A stark contrast on this tree!




Do you have plans to get out this weekend? Even just for a little while. We'll certainly try.

Take care,
Sophie

It's become tradition to make rose hip syrup each autumn, I wrote a rough method last year. While out and about each year we try to earmark particular locations for the future gathering of fruits. Our go-to hedge for foraging has a marvellous quantity of several bounties, one of which being roses. Back in spring we gathered rose petals and in early autumn it became time to harvest rose hips. There doesn't seem to be a 'right time' to pick them; they're either solid bullets or already a pulp so just gather any red ones that haven't started to go rotten and be glad there's enough to make a meaningful batch.
I use my hedgerow cookbook recipe as always which this time made 3 bottles' worth; my winter cold avoidance ritual wouldn't be complete without it.

Take care,
Sophie

I don't know where September and October think they've vanished off to. The slippery slope down from August to Christmas has me annually trying to thrash my way back up, clinging on by my fingernails before inevitably resigning myself to skidding down the loose rock face, picking up grazes. It's cold. I'm considering a thermal vest 'neath my tops and the hats, gloves and scarves are about to become standard uniform. The marketing of Autumn-Winter fashion frustrates me so much. Lovely suede booties, leather jackets, cashmere off the shoulder jumpers... Er, not outside you can't. It's all weather proof and warm outfits needed in the countryside. A pair of suede boots would last two minutes before getting slopped in a muddy footpath and that fabulous snazzy jacket won't keep me warm enough by half. I basically have to wear as many layers as I can fit on, plus a coat and the accessories along with my trusty walking boots. Nothing like those glamorous indoor women. Don't even get me started on off the shoulder knits...

It does just feel like that tiny window for mild, cool weather evaporates in a matter of days then it's all winter coats and wrapping up warm. I do have enough jumpers and skirts but there are a few key pieces that my wardrobe is lacking which I have been keeping my eye out for in charity shops for. The other day I managed to get a big bleach mark on a pair of trousers I rely on as a fail safe which has left me quite sad as they'll be tough to replace with something I'm happy in. This pair of black skinnies is the a recent find and they are pretty comfy and I see myself wearing these a lot over the months to come.

Are you looking for anything in particular to wear this Autumn-Winter?

Take care,
Sophie

We had a little pear tree, nothing did it bear...
I haven't made mention of the 'orchard' patch in terms of the trees on the blog mostly due to having reaped virtually nothing off them. Their original site was the main plot but once we took on the extra half they were dug up and moved, so we lost a year while they were settling. A few years ago we had very hard frosts while they were in blossom. I remember is trying to wrap them in fleece which not only didn't keep them warm but knocked off a fair amount of blossom in the process. The years we have grown fruit it either fell off, got eaten or never amounted to more than a handful. The cherry tree produced enough for one jar of jam last year.

However, this year we were shocked to see so many pears on our little pear tree. The other pears being devoid of any fruit, of course. I assumed many would fall off in due course as the season progressed, but no! About 6 weeks ago I decided to take one off the tree which did have a glimmer of pink and give it a try. Ok, so it was quite a 'firm' eat, not juicy but had a lovely flavour. I took around a dozen off over the next week to give away and eat myself. Since doing that I was told that pears don't ripen on the tree and need to be picked and stored to ripen. Now you tell me!!!
The weather had other ideas and the hoolie that blew in, you guessed it, knocked all the pears off bar a couple, leaving them in a heap around the tree. Of course, I was dismayed at the prospect of all the fruit going to waste so we gathered them up in a big trug bucket. Aside from maybe 5 which weren't going to make it, the rest seemed absolutely fine, I suppose the short fall onto a soft surface hadn't hurt them. Even so, I was concerned that any mild bruising might lead to the fruit rotting so we pondered what to do with an enormous bucket of potentially damaged pears.
Being a pudding glutton I was keen to make a pear sponge. I did find a recipe which sounded pleasant again on Delicious Magazine which I already had all the ingredients I wanted - always a winner. The ground almonds were previously used by C for his horrible healthy cookies and had sat opened but unused for months so I was doing a good thing by setting about using more of them up. I've made a big thing of my journey to try eating more nuts even though they are not something I enjoy at all. Anyway, ground almonds are a fairly innocuous way of consuming a nut portion especially as the crunch and texture of nuts is a significant part of the reason I don't like them. I did make this sponge three times in total though the last time was with a lovely little pear which lingered sadly in the fruit bowl with two surplus bramleys. I didn't change the recipe at all except for I didn't use the lemon juice on the fruit, just chopped it quick, added a spoonful of water and a little sugar. One time I chopped up a stem ginger ball and added some of the ginger syrup to the fruit which added a lovely wintery warmth. I didn't add the rosewater or almond extract as I don't have any but I wasn't after an especially almond taste.
The main thing we did with the fruit was to 'can' it in jars. A while ago, C bought a canning machine which basically looks like a big slow cooker. Apparently 'canning' relates to the process rather than the vessel. He had intentions of ale brewing but safe to say that's not happened in there as yet. We squirrel away all jars, bottles and glass containers in boxes, ready for such occasions as this but even our stock wasn't going to cope with this alone so we did buy some nice tall jars from Wilko to go with our mostly mayonnaise jars. The pears were peeled, cored and quartered-ish. C made a different syrup on each occasion, one was lightly spiced and the other was vanilla spiced. We had put a used vanilla pod in a kilner of sugar which resulted in a lot of highly scented sugar - this recipe put some of it to use, finally!
Pears were plopped to jars and filled with syrup then left to bubble away in the canning machine.
Unsure how they were going to turn out I opened a small jar a week later to test for whether they were edible or pleasant; it's no good giving away anything that's no good to eat. We'd forgotten to label soon enough so they're all pot luck on flavour. The pears were absolute heaven. Soft and tasty, sweet and utterly delicious. They will last a long time too so we can keep a few, while giving away some too.

We have ideas about being able to can more things in a similar way next year too.

Take care,
Sophie

There's something silly and fun about hunting for fungi. I'm fortunate that C is happy enough to be an extra pair of eyes on our walks; always on the look out for mushrooms and toadstools in the undergrowth. Last weekend we were spoiled with the amount we found. My reference book remains sat on the shelf as I've lost interest in thumbing through only to find about forty that look the roughly the same. It's not like I have a remote interest in touching let alone eating any so I'll just snap away and enjoy my pictures without feeling the need to name any of my finds. They vary from the cute and curious to the grim. Something for everyone.











Take care,
Sophie