From mid spring onwards I have worn nothing on my legs but a pair of shorts for working in. Only on a couple of occasions have I had to don ‘longs’, and then only out of necessity and self preservation when strimming. If you strim nettles whilst wearing shorts your legs get splattered in nettle juice and fragments of plant material that make your skin fizz with irritation, a sensation that lasts for ages. So discretion being the better part of valour I pop on the trousers when tackling that job, but strip them off the moment the task is complete to let the air whistle through my leg hair once again. It feels restricting when I do have to wear trousers, but I am not like my friend Danny, or many a postman, who wear shorts all year round whatever the weather. No, when the goosepimples become present more times than they are not I cover up to warm up, I’m just not that macho.

The reason I bring this up now is because when I just went outside to let the hens and ducks out, the hairs on my legs were standing to attention, albeit it was fairly early in the morning, but nonetheless a reminder that the season has changed, though summer did return on Friday when it reached the mid 20’s. Another indicator are beads of condensation on the kitchen window (we are not double glazed), and the wetness of the grass in the morning – Ray at Langham Hall use to call it ‘daggy’, though if you look up the meaning of that word it doesn’t describe what he was referring to. Perhaps it’s an old Suffolk term, he being a good ole Suffolk boi. Anyway, the writing is on the wall, and the time is drawing close when the nobbly varicose veins will once again be hidden from view.

Yet another sign of autumn is the rapid demise of the curcubit family of plants (that’s cucumbers, courgettes, squash) which have nearly all suddenly succumbed to powdery mildew and have collapsed. The good thing about that is that it immediately reveals the winter squash that have hitherto been hiding beneath a dense low growing canopy of large leaved foliage, making harvesting much easier. Early last week I took the opportunity afforded by the big reveal to gather in the Uchiki Kuri type of orange Kabocha squash. They are now on the bench in the low greenhouse where they will cure before going in to long-term storage – or until I have sold them. This week I will do the same with the Delicata and Acorn squash, but the Butternuts (which generally haven’t done as well as usual this season) need a little more time to ripen, and that’s best done on the vine. Touch wood, this year there hasn’t been so much vole damage to the fruit thus far. There are very often tell-tale nibbles in the surface of the squash, which ruins it for selling, though it’s perfectly good for personal consumption. The photo below shows the Uchiki Kuri drying out.

The other thing that I have mostly been doing is apple picking. I have got another 250kg or so picked and ready to go to be pressed, but I want the van to be packed to the gunnels, so I need to add to them before taking them on their journey. The strong wind of last week took its toll, resulting in a carpet of fruit beneath trees that I really should have picked sooner – what a waste! But there are still lots to harvest, so up the ladder I will be again. It is one activity that really tests my knees. They have been pretty good this year, but constantly up and down those rungs with a heavy picking bucket strapped to one’s chest results in a few twinges. Oh to have an orchard where you can pick from ground level, which is how most modern commercial orchards are now. It is a much more efficient and safer way of doing things.

The talk on Thursday evening at the Quay theatre by the mountaineer Simon Yates was mind boggling. How the man is still alive is beyond me! Those obsessive professional mountaineers are completely nuts! Some of the stories he told, supported by photos and videos were breathtaking. He has travelled to the most remote and hostile locations the world has to offer to be the first to climb this or that peak, very often by the most difficult route. There were multiple tales of near death experiences for him and his climbing partners. Just the thought of sleeping in a shallow scrape in the ice created with the use of an ice axe at 20,000 feet in howling winds where you have to rope yourself to the mountain to prevent yourself from falling off it gives me the collywobbles.

This week in the shop there is Romanesco cauliflower, pointed cabbage, French beans, celery and broccoli. Carrots, leeks, onions, mini plum tomatoes, mushrooms, sweet red peppers (smaller than last week) and kohlrabi. There are eating and cooking apples and Verdelli lemons. I am hoping that there will be enough Little Gem lettuces, time will tell. The flat leaf and curled parsley are both still in excellent condition.

Yippee! I have just received a message to say that the apple juice is ready, so I think that I will collect it tomorrow. This first batch is likely to be fairly sweet because it was a load of Discovery apples that I took to be pressed, and they are as sweet as a nut.

Apparently it’s going to be a spectacular year for autumn colour because there are high sugar levels in the leaves after the summer we have had. I’m looking forward to that. Select a nice deciduous woodland to visit when the time is right, which I think is still a few weeks away.

Okey dokey, I’ve been doing this on and off all day, so it’s time to get the heck outta here. It looks like being a cooler week ahead with some chilly nights, so you might need to find where you puté your 10.5 tog duvet.

Phil