September is the Apple, Barley and Harvest month in the northern hemisphere ...

The Harvesters (1565) oil on panel,

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Pieter Breugel the Elder (1525-1569)

Harvest time when the field crops are being gathered in, the hedgerows offering up their fill to the foragers, who will happily spend hours walking the by-ways filling their baskets with fresh delights ...  blackberries, apples, sloes, elderberries, wild plums and  more ..

... the end of summer – corn, tomatoes, squash, aubergines, carrots, cucumbers, onions, red, yellow and green peppers ... the time for pots of soup after a hard day on the land, or over a hot stove making stews, jams and jellies ...

Baked Bramley Apple, just
serve with custard or cream 

Bramley Apples, the English stalwart of a cooking apple, after peeling, are made into fruit compotes, crumbles, charlottes, dried slices, chutneys, cider making or just baked whole – cored and filled with dried fruit and a dollop of butter ... then served with cream or custard ... depending on your pocket.

In days of yore – an apple scoop was made from the shank bone of a sheep ... cut slanting and filed smooth, this makes the best apple scoop: it doesn’t rust, bend or discolour the fruit!  (I'm not very clever, so couldn't get this to swing round or get it clearer .. but you can get the gist!)

Or how about some mutton broth in which a good few windfall apples are stewed, then pressed through a strainer, season with a pinch of ginger (not pepper), salt and reheated with a handful of pearl barley, cooking until the barley is soft ... this is an excellent 1800s winter’s night soup.

Cooked Bramley apple sauce to go with roast pork, or a boned blade or shoulder of pork filled with apple and nut stuffing – apple slices can be glazed and used as an addition to meat or fish courses.

A Cornucopia
(Horn of Plenty) Corn Dolly

September is a month of both endings and new beginnings as summer fades to autumn ... we plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land ... the corn dollies, made to decorate the churches at Harvest Festival, before being buried in the Spring to ensure fertility for next year’s crop, can be made from straw wheat, rye, barley or oats ... but of the four wheat is the best.

Barley was one of the earliest domesticated grains with barley beer probably being drunk in Neolithic times.  Barley was also employed as a currency ... while in Egypt was a staple cereal where it was used to make both bread and beer.  Pliny also noted that barley was a special food of gladiators, however by Roman times wheat had replaced barley as the staple.

Pearl Barley is a great addition to those September soups, where the crock pot is filled to the brim with meats and seasonal vegetables to taste ... just add some yeasty, freshly baked harvest loaves with some butter and a pint of beer – what could be better for a weekend lunch, or an evening meal after a busy day.

This is the time for pickles and chutneys to add to a selection of harvest spreads – bread and cheese lunches or suppers, Beef and Beer casseroles, Baked Hams with various chutneys or pickles, Rarebit with Chutney Beer mustard, cheese and onion tart with caramelised red onion relish, or a cheese scone with country garden pickle ...

Everyone is busy harvesting the groaning trees, reaping the fields, picking the ripening fruits and vegetables .... turning all into food for the freezer or bottle, in the form of stewed fruit, jams, jellies, pickles and chutneys ...

 

Jan van Kessel II (1654 – 1708) in this card depicts the last days of summer - the insects flit around for the final tastings of summer, as the white and redcurrants ripen and the sprig of forget-me-knot reminds us of one of the birth flowers for September.

Thomas Hood (1799 – 1845), a British humorist and poet, wrote that the wildlife too will benefit through the coming months from the dropped seeds and berries, and those few fruits or nuts left on the bushes ...

“The squirrel gloats on his accomplished hoard,

The ants have buried their gaines with ripe grain,

      And honey bees have stores

The sweets of summer in their luscious cells,

The swallows have winged across the main!”

Canadian World War 1

poster encouraging

people to preserve

food for the winter

September that seventh month, which the Anglo-Saxons called the Gerstmonath, barley month ... and during which at our Harvest Festivals we sing in celebration:-

“We Plough the Fields and Scatter” hymn is one of the most popular in Britain and is that most commonly associated with Harvest-tide ... written by the German poet Matthias Claudius in 1782 .... then translated into English by Jane M Campbell in 1861 appearing in “A Garland of Songs”.

We thank Thee, then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
The seed time and the harvest, our life, our health, and food;
Accept the gifts we offer, for all Thy love imparts,
But what Thou most desirest, our humble, thankful hearts.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Dead Salmon Branding ... Colours ... All Black, Red, White and Blue ...

Interesting title to a post - n’est pas?  How on earth do you brand a Dead Salmon and when does ‘Dead Salmon’ become a branding tool?  Then add in an airline, with its safety video, The Rugby World Cup, and we have branding again ...

Salmon Pieces in market

Oh life is fun – there are so many ideas out there that we can all get creative about ...  I saw an article in The Week about Farrow & Ball, a little known brand of paint that has become a cult.  

Frankly anyone who can put ‘Dead Salmon’ on our walls deserves some kind of recognition ...  or ‘Mizzle’, a mixture of mist and drizzle, or ‘Elephant’s Breath’ ... we sort of know and expect shades of greige.

Talk about adding colour to our posts, stories, books or conversations ...  ‘Charlotte’s Locks’, a striking new orange, was named after a red-headed employee, ‘Churlish Green’, ‘Porphyry Pink’ ... ‘Vert de Terre’ all found in their paint pots.

Incredible stories are buried within the archives of the organisation – they are a small, independent company based in the middle of rural Dorset, operating from a decrepit industrial estate ...  where it has been for its sixty five years of existence.

Glitz & Glamour Colour Scheme

Farrow & Ball have stuck with traditional recipes, using high levels of pigment with less water than some of its rivals.  Testing a patch – the eye can easily detect the quality paint, the real deal ... from the texture ... the chalkiness, the deep, clotted colours effecting that richness of excellence.

In the early 1990s under the ownership of a historical interior decorator and corporate financier, Farrow & Ball developed a range of paints with The National Trust that came to form the basis of its subsequent success.

We are going back to our roots for many things and restoration in traditional materials is one of the revolutions that is taking place ... thankfully, before more is torn down or destroyed, much is being researched, pared back, to uncover the truth of building fabrication underneath the layers of centuries, to then be appropriately restored.

Despite the recessions in recent years, the company has grown; a management buyout in 2006 has allowed the organisation to keep the same ethos and principles, yet progress with the times.

Salvage Colour Scheme

Dead Salmon and those names, expensive to buy ... yet you use less dead salmons than if you employed a high street paint, to achieve the higher pigment with a gorgeous finish.  

Now that to my mind is branding ... a sophisticated palette of muted colours that capture the colours of our imagination, which we would use  – when we come to paint our house ... perhaps just our front door: for the price.

You would be likely to remember the name of the company that had a customer request he be buried with a Farrow & Ball colour chart; while another wanted empty sample pots in which to put wedding favours ... wouldn’t you?

Branding with niche paint names ... and now branding through a different route ... the All Black way ...

How difficult is it to engage passengers to watch the safety video that they’ve seen time and time again ... ?  Well certainly not by dropping a video through my RSS reader that is for sure – but the idea that “You can be creative. With ANYTHING” a post by from “Being-Smarter – Build a better ConsultantBusiness” – made me scan through and find out why a safety video is an excellent branding tool.

The post by Mark Copeman is fun ... while the video is good for a few smiles, especially at the end ... who would ever have thought the Rugby World Cup would engage the world quite so much .... I’m sure this is viral – but it amuses me – and offers much.

I quote from the article:  There’s a serious point here – using just the right amount of humour really works to teach and communicate with the audience. The reason for that is simple – the audience is totally engaged with what they’re watching. It’s also not what they’re expecting – another reason why they become engaged – they’re intrigued and want to watch the story to the end.

There’s a message there somewhere!

If you’ve not seen this before – watch it and marvel. When you’ve finished watching it – figure out how you could be more creative in your consulting business to help you get noticed, to engage your customers and to make them smile.

Who says business has to be boring?!

Air NewZealand – Crazy about Rugby – Safety Video ... 

2011 BBC Great North Run across
the Tyne Bridge (Press Association)

Once you’ve had a good giggle over the video – a note of remembrance ... we had the Great North Run (half marathon) yesterday in which 54,000 runners participated supporting over 270 charities.

My colourful post for Lenny Lee, the sunshine lad, mentioned the Red Arrows – the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, which very sadly lost Flt Lt Jon Egging, one of their members a few weeks ago.

Yesterday his widow, Dr Emma Egging, ran in the half marathon in his honour, something they would have done together, after she fired the starting gun for the main race to commence.

The Red Arrows put on three fly-pasts as a tribute to Jon’s memory, and as part of their return to public performances after the recent tragedy.  Dr Egging wore the red number 4 on her vest – as Jon’s number within the Red Arrows team.

Farrow & Ball's Colour Chart

Branding Porphyry Pink, the All Blacks in mid-air together with the colourful Red Arrows seems a linking too far for a post – but the content and entertainment value enhances the mix.

PS  I shall be lurking for the next couple of weeks – to start a few projects and organise this side of my life .. I won’t be far away – so don’t do anything I wouldn’t!!

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories 

If I could be AnyOne, I’d be Mary Wollstonecraft ...

Mary Wollstonecraft by
John Opie just before she died

Why? – because in those days of long ago before she who could be anyone started a blog, when she was visiting St Pancras Workhouse she could walk through St Pancras Old Church churchyard ...  and came across the Memorial to me ... my bones have long been removed to rest in St Peter’s Churchyard, Bournemouth.

Why? was she visiting St Pancras Workhouse ... long after Workhouses went out of fashion, and I had long gone?  She was visiting her mother at the Workhouse now Hospital before her mother was relocated to Eastbourne.

St Pancras Old Church in 1815.  It was largely 

reconstructed in the 19^th Century.  The River

Fleet’s  two headwaters in Hampstead Heath flow

into the Hampstead Ponds and Highgate Ponds

before the river gets directed underground by.

So much change which she and her blogger friends are documenting in ways that Harold Godwin and I could never envisage ... bearing the Frankenstein creator was almost a baby too far ... but look what my daughter has given you – a genre within novel writing.

I did not live long (1759 – 1797) ... but over the years my writings have become appreciated and I am now regarded as being one of the founding feminist philosophers.

Life was difficult I had to give my earnings to my father, ultimately became a governess, while continuing to write – helped by friends who supported our advocation of women’s rights.

Talli
TalliMarilynstein

She saw my Memorial and my name inspired her – Wollstonecraft – and she printed out some information to read to her mother about us and the St Pancras area ...

Who is She?!

I, Mary Wollstonecraft, inspired the She who would be me, she is the author of the Positive Letters ... Inspirational Stories Blog.  I had that passion for writing I wrote to improve the rights of women and girls.

Congratulations to She who would be Marilyn for what will be a tremendous fun blogging day out ... promoting her new book out in November "Watching Willow Watts".

Talli's book The Hating Game is out now on Amazon

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Who were the English, where are they now?

Lower Manhattan in1660.  The large

structure toward the tip of the

island is Fort Amsterdam.

(North is to the right).

Having watched the Remembrance Services for 9/11 in New York and here in Grosvenor Square for those British people who lost their lives that terrible day – sharing the British service with my mother – it is yet another (last) landmark in our life together: it brings life home ... the memories that will live on.

They were poignant services as I am sure you will all agree; we then watched ‘Songs of Praise’ which covered the benefits of mixing the faiths, learning from the cultural differences through friends across the races, lots of songs with moving words – and thoughts to think about during these changing times.

The two memorials are very different – one built over the Twin Towers site itself, which has yet to be finished, and the other a garden in Grosvenor Square opposite the American Embassy ... which I look forward to visiting and being able to assimilate all the words and symbolism.

Back to who were the English ... and today who are the English?

Daniel Defoe (1660 – 1731), the English writer, journalist and pamphleteer is notable as being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, and is among the founders of the English novel as shown with the success of Robinson Crusoe.

Defoe wrote this poem to describe the English:

The Romans first with Julius Caesar came

Including all the Nations of that name

Gauls, Greeks and Lowland – and by computation

Auxiliaries or Slaves of Every Nation –

With Hengist – Saxons, Danes with Sueno came

In search of Plunder, not in search of Fame

Scot, Pict and Irish from the Hibernian Shore

And conquering William brought the Normans o’er

... From this Amphibious ill-born mob began

That vain ill-natured thing - an English man –

The customs, Surnames, languages and Manners

Of all the nations are their own Explainers

Whose relicks are so lasting and so strong

They have left a Shibboleth upon our tongue

By which, with easy search you may distinguish

Your Roman – Saxon – Danish – Norman English.

Fate jumbled them together – God knows how!

What’er they were – they’re true born English now.

Spread of  Celts in 3^rd Century BC

(Gaulish Language)

Defoe explains ... “I only infer that an Englishman, of all men, ought not to despise foreigners as such, and I think the inference is just, since what they are today, we were yesterday, and tomorrow they will be like us.  ...  and for the King(King William of the Netherlands) being a foreigner himself, I confess myself moved by it to remind our nation of their own original ... we are really all foreigners ourselves.”

So who are we now ... looking at the participants of the various services ... the Bagpipers with their kilts, together with the Pipes and Drums, in New York playing out the Flag, to the families and friends of the lost, the Colliery Brass Band, the wonderful peoples who inhabit our nations of all colours, particularly shown in today’s Songs of Praise where young people were working together to promote peace and tolerance.

Who are we now – not just the English?  We, who have explored this world ... settling here, there and everywhere ... allowing each of us to share our desire for freedom to live, thrive and build new relationships with others – throwing open our free thinking minds to explore and understand those cultural and traditional differences in the desire to live in a caring and blessed world.

Depiction of the Battle of Hastings

(1066) on the Bayeux Tapestry

Seth Godin in his post of today – lets us know that more than 42 languages are spoken at the Queens Public Library in New York ... and finishes by saying “But now more than ever, I believe we have an obligation to stand up, stand out and to do work that matters. Wherever you are, there's an opportunity to be different, with respect.”

We all have recent forbears from other parts of the UK, while some are also descended from more recent immigrants from other European countries and from around the world – these mixes, cultures and desires have been ‘exported’ – the world is one now (almost) ...

.... today – embrace and encourage all peoples and their differences ... let the 21^st century have hope.

These be a "mixed bag" of English Peoples ... can you recognise them all? 

First Row:  Alfred the Great, Oliver Cromwell, William Shakespeare, Michael Palin, Georgiana Cavendish, Walter Raleigh, Sting; 

Second Row:  Elizabeth I of England, Bobby Moore, Margaret Thatcher, David Beckham, Harold Godwinson, Kate Winslet, Charles Dickens;

Third Row: Pope Adrian IV, Daniel Craig, Isaac Newton, George Harrison, Jane Austin, Damon Albarn, George Stephenson.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Landreth – the Oldest Seed House in the States

A book that's available

Gardening Bloggers Wanted is the post that GrowMap put up on Monday ... asking especially American readers (gardeners and all) to help save the Oldest Seed House in America – which seems like an excellent idea.

Creative wise – we need to save our Heirloom plants and seeds - who knows we may well need them desperately in the decades ahead; knowledge is everything, if these seeds disappear then they’re gone for ever .... Do-do-ed into non-existence.

The company is also Non-GMO.

Growing heirloom plants may help

preserve rare genetic varieties.

Here in England we have Kew Gardens, which sponsors the Millennium Seed Bank based at Wakehurst Place in Sussex – both beautiful landscapes to visit, wonderful resources and extremely interesting to look around.

To support the cause - the GrowMap post lists lots of gardens, bloggers to visit, seeds, notelets, books or the catalogue to buy – all of which could be a wonderful source of potential blogging or author ideas.

There’s a cook site, a Faerie site, a Home Grown Goodness Forum, a Lament even ... lots of gardening bloggers' sites ...

The Catalogue

Gosh I don’t need to go on - do I?  It’s a site worth visiting and please purchase the catalogue – looks so much fun, or the seeds ... and generally if possible do the things I don’t do!! i.e. tweet, FB, like, G+ et al ... crumbs ... I have a lot of catching up to do.

This is one of those actions that’s not short-term ... it’s for the long-term those 7 generations ahead ...

... also the post is one of those that perhaps we could poach from for the idea to help your fellow authors spread their words – books, novellas, poetry, music ... marketing thoughts abound there.

Shannon O’Donnell has just posted about Elana J’s idea “Random Acts of Publicity Week” – which is in much the same vein ... perhaps we could do a pre Christmas one for everyone’s books?

Maize: female and male plants

I wrote a post last November about tales, sagas or stories we can glean from our heirloom vegetables ... and the reasons why they shouldn’t be lost ...

When you go to order the catalogue, as I have, you’ll see the photo .. and this paragraph:  

“Why Do We Charge For Our Catalogues?

The D. Landreth Seed Company is America's Company. It was founded near the time of the birth of this Nation and has grown with this Country through its ups and its downs over the course of four centuries: the 1700s, the 1800s, the 1900s and now the 2,000s.

We are honored to have been a part of this Nation for so long, and we have a deep commitment and feel a great responsibility to this Country. We could have this catalogue printed overseas, and the printing costs would be 1/4th the costs of printing the catalogue in the United States, but we are not going to take American business overseas.

Landreth seeds

The catalogue is designed by a small, Baltimore-based and family-owned business, Victor DiPace Associates and it is printed by a family-owned local printing company. Producing this catalogue is far more expensive than it is for most companies who are outsourcing their printing requirements overseas.

We charge for our catalogue to help with some, but not all, of the costs to produce and mail. Each catalogue that you purchase from Landreth is helping to keep an American employed and therefore making this country stronger.”

GrowMap’s post tells you a great deal more ... here’s to our books, your seeds, our heirlooms and the creativity that will fuel our minds from within these websites and catalogue pages.  Let’s help save Landreth ...

PS The Landreth Seed Catalogue would make a good Christmas present ... just a thought?!

I also ordered some note-cards - they look fascinating .. providing details on the reverse .... and the Seed Art book (I didn't order) but it looks quite delightful .

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Welcome to my BBQ – or Braai – or Barbecue ...

Karen's book -
details on her site

 ...  whichever continent you’re on or wherever you live come and join us at KarenGs Labor Day BBQ ...

Karen has a wonderful giraffe picture as her header ... she has a huge family, lots of interesting friends – publishers, authors, crafters, entrepreneurs and bloggers  ... so come on over and join the party. .. perhaps pick up a copy of her book: Farm Girl.

You’ll find Karen here – with the simple rules to the party ... bring some goodies, mix in with the conversation, find new friends and followers and generally enjoy the day.

I took a platter of stuffed mushrooms, some vino (of course), and a fruit salad with me to Karen’s ... here at my place you’ll find the main constituents to a BBQ – hot coals, plenty of cold drinks, chairs and loungers, rugs for the grass, cool shade under the trees, and a trestle ready for everyone’s contributions ... mine are:

Herby bread – a stand by for me ... a baguette sliced right through, each slice spread with a herb butter mix (I usually use chopped chives, drops of lemon juice, sprinkle of cayenne – you can add in parsley etc –your taste!); wrap in foil, bake in the oven, open to crisp up before taking out ...   (I don’t use garlic anymore – I find it can be too much especially if there’s lots elsewhere).

Various marinated meats and hunks of veggie – ready to be BBQd; some hummus, tzatziki and crudités to whet our appetite;  fresh green salad, mix of tomatoes straight from the bush, potato salad ...

.. followed by strawberries picked this morning from the overflowing fruits of delight at Sharnfold’s Farm Shop ...

see note in text

Conversation mixers – vino, beers, lemonade, our English squashes, sparkling water, elderflower presse ...   (see The Melton Cheeseboard, Leicester, UK – where they state: made 100% naturally from handpicked elderflowers grown on our plantations, whole fresh lemons and lightly carbonated Belvoir spring water.  This gives it an exquisitely delicate scented taste – serve chilled.)

As I love my snippets of history, a look at life from a different perspective, I’ll add a note about Bank Holidays that I omitted from my previous post .... why are they called ‘Bank’ Holidays (which Lee from Tossing It Out asked) ...

Tomatoes to choose from ...

The Bank of England prior to 1834 observed about 33 saints’ days and religious festivals as holidays which was then reduced to just four:  1st May (May Day), 1st November (All Saints Day), Good Friday and Christmas Day;  (not sure why – but the name Bank Holiday stuck).

The Bank Holidays Act of 1871 (England, Wales and Ireland) specified new days:  Easter Monday, Whit Monday, first Monday in August, Boxing Day/St Stephen’s Day .... Good Friday and Christmas Day were already recognised as common law holidays – and had become customary holidays long before records began.  (Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost  (Whitsun) – this has since changed ... don’t ask!).

Ready to be dipped in cream and sugar - if that's your taste
enjoy!

Come and enjoy the feast – the warm weekend – it looks like the sun will burn off the early sea mist that came down yesterday ... meet new friends, find new blogs ... relax ...

Dear Mr Postman – our August Bank Holiday weekend has gone, but I’m sure we can enjoy the celebrations over at Karen’s Labor Day BBQ – come and meet everyone .. it’s quiet with my mother for now.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories