The Joys of Autumn

When spring comes I always think that it is the best time of the year, everything warming up and things starting to grow but this year autumn seems even better. The weather has been lovely after all the horrendous heat of early Feb and then the torrential rain of March. Harvesting the last of the summer crops and finding ways to preserve them for as long as possible is great fun, especially when you have school holidays and lots of time to play in the kitchen.

I made my pilgrimage to Bilpin for apples again in early March - 10kg of Cox Orange Pippins, 10kg of Bramleys and 5 of Braeburns picked by us has kept us going for weeks. Lots of apple crumble, stewed apple and custard for Hubby or with yoghurt for me, the odd apple pie and still there are crumbles in the freezer, jars in the pantry and a few Braeburns still to eat.

Best of all are the feijoas (pineapple guava) from my own trees, they are a bit of an acquired taste apparently, I acquired it over 40 years ago and cannot get enough of them. They cost over $2 each at Woolies, if you can get them that is, but they are so easy to grow. I have two trees about 5 years old in my chicken run and they are producing enough for me and a couple of my friends who like them. Mercifully my family hate them.

Up at the Beach/Orchard House I have planted 5 more trees so soon I hope to have a glut which can be turned into jam and preserves as well.

The feijoas will all be gone soon but next will be the mandarins which are also thriving in the chook run and then after that the oranges, I got about 100kg off that tree last year. Can't wait to get some more use out of my bargain Vacola and all those great jars. My marmalade wasn't so good last year, think orange flavoured superglue! Hopefully the results will be more impressive this year.

And here is one of only 3 butternut squashes I harvested this year, the two others were only a few mouthfuls each but this one, from a volunteer plant of course, is a whopper.