… that ubiquitous fruit … the red berry of the nightshade
family, Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as the tomato plant … is having a
bumper year …
 |
| Tomatoes or Tomahtoes |
… as too are the hedgerows … full of blackberries, damsons,
sloes, rose hips, hazel nuts et al …
… the orchards are carrying heavy, heavy loads … hops are
hopping happily … bumper harvests for the beer crew, the cider and perry lads
and lasses will be well satisfied …
 |
| Tall growing hops |
… misty fields curve into the horizons hold ghostly runs,
creative webs glistening with dew, ripples of tall grasses, thistles, red
fescue grasses … weasel runs, vole ‘twittens’, dormice hidey holes …
… following on from Marine Conservation … our fields also need
protection … surveys have found that hundreds of species of plant and invertebrate
live within the space of just one human footprint in rough grassland –bears thinking about and remembering.
 |
| Berries, fruits and hips |
Our fields, lands and seas hold a dynamic, complex and
ancient web of life …
I’ve written about an oak tree being a veritable haven for
wildlife … but how about the humble spiky thistle … offering a rich source of
nectar for butterflies – painted ladies, peacocks, red admirals, meadow browns, small tortoiseshells
and large white and small coppers all feed on these prickly purple bristles …
 |
| Thistle with Meadow Brown |
… this same thistle will support more than one hundred
species of invertebrate, including moths, hover flies, beetles, aphids and
snails … every part of the plant is used in every stage of its life cycle …
We here in Western Europe have had a glorious summer, which
I’m happy to say is continuing … bliss – our temperatures are what we had in
August – and that was a warm month …
… the mists of mellow fruitfulness draw in … John Clare’s
poem “Haymaking” (1793 – 1864) remind us of times gone by – two hundred odd
years of them …
‘Tis
haytime and the red-complexioned sun
Was
scarcely up ere blackbirds had begun
Along
the meadow hedges here and there
To sing
loud songs to the sweet-smelling air
Where
breath of flowers and grass and happy cow
Fling o’er
one’s senses streams of fragrance now
While in
some pleasant nook the swain and maid
Lean o’er
their rakes and loiter in the shade
Or bend
a minute o’er the bridge and throw
Crumbs in
their leisure to the fish below
-
Hark at
that happy shout – and song between
‘Tis
pleasure’s birthday in her meadow scene.
What
joy seems half so rich from pleasure won
As
the loud laugh of maidens in the sun?
Our Indian Summer is not an Indian Summer I understand –
this occurs in late September to mid-November ... and is usually described as
occurring after a killing frost – we may have had some gentle frosts … but not
down here on the south coast.
 |
| John Constable's The Hay Wain (1821) |
It used to be called St Martin’s summer, referring to St Martin’s
Day, November 11th – though that day now has another name:
Remembrance Day … an alternative was “Saint Luke’s summer”, whose saint’s day
falls on 18 October.
Perhaps appropriately I shall call today’s post in Welsh ‘Haf Bach Mihangel’ or “Michael’s little
summer”, as Michaelmas, the feast of St Michael the Archangel occurs today the 29th September.
 |
| Hoverflies - various |
This will be a misnomer this year … as this week wanes to a
close … the weather, here in the UK, is changing and we’re in for more seasonal
weather: cooler with some rain. It had been 5 degC higher than normal!
Ready to enjoy your autumnal harvest … English Bramleys for
apple pies … thick and buttery laden pastry (home-made), balanced perfectly
with the tart of the apple and the sweetness of the brown sugar … to be
smothered in double cream – after a hard-day’s work clearing leaves: just what
we need.
 |
| Take your pick ... |
We’ve 2,000 varieties of apples (over 7,000 world-wide)
growing in our gardens, orchards and hedgerows … and we are planting trees at
our homes … a crisp apple from the tree – a slice of cheddar … and a pint (or
half) of beer of the 46 million craft-ale pints that are produced from one farm
… bumper is the word, this year .. enjoyed in these last of the warm sunny
days.
 |
| Roast pork with apple sauce and trimmings |
A Sunday roast – fragrant roast pork with curried apple
relish … followed by ricotta pancakes with sticky maple apple to finish off that
lunchtime feast ..
Supper dishes … creamy roasted tomato soup with some herby
buttery bread, baked tomatoes with a game sausage or two and mustard mash, pizza
with home-made tomato sauce …
 |
| Tomato pizza |
Baked fruits of varying sorts … pears or apples, damsons
tucked into a frangipane tart, blackberries gently stewed served with ice-cream
…
Our abundant crops must be made the most of ... bottled,
canned, frozen, pickled … yet we must remember our wildlife … which we need to
protect, to leave some of our bounty … as the hymn says …
 |
| 'Lost Count' birthday celebration - chocolate roulade, with blackberry frangipane tart as another choice |
We
thank thee, then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
The
seed time and the harvest, our life, our health, our food;
Accept the
gifts we offer, for all Thy love imparts,
But
what Thou most desirest, our humble, thankful hearts.
It is a wonderful bountiful year … we can gather, we can
leave some for the wildlife, we can be guardians to our lands … and remember to
waste not want not.
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories
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