If you work outdoors and your living is made from growing vegetables it naturally follows that the weather plays a huge part in your life. That’s why it features so prominently in my weekly messages, because it influences most things that I do. Let’s face it, we have a lot of weather! The past week has been a great example of just how changeable it can be. Early on there were spells of warm sunshine that were ideal for apple picking, this gave way mid-week to rain and blustery winds – on Thursday morning when I was harvesting for the veg boxes I discovered that my waterproof jacket wasn’t! The lashing rain penetrated the once impenetrable Gore-Tex fabric of the jacket, soaking first my hoodie then my T-shirt under that. Fortunately I had a spare top in the shed for me to change into, otherwise I dare say that I might have caught my death of cold – is that a saying that is still used?
On Friday the daytime temperature soared back up close to 20° before plummeting in the evening when more heavy rain arrived on a cold front from the north. Last night it got down to 3° and as I write this at lunchtime it’s still below 9° (7.7° with the wind chill), but mercifully the sun is shining brightly so it’s actually quite pleasant. The cold evening did necessitate the central heating to be fired up, it only being the 14th of October my old dad would not approve of such a thing – we had to wait for November before being that indulgent.
At home the kitchen saga is now rivalling the length of some of those ancient Norse ones, but one of the last pieces of the jigsaw fitted nicely into place last week when the radiator was fitted….not a moment too soon. The last thing to be done, apart from a bit of titivating, is for the concrete steps that lead down to the kitchen from the sitting room to be clad in wood. The kitchen is in an 1940’s extension to the original cottage, and because we are atop a hill the land falls away behind us, so the floor level is more than 2ft lower than the rest of the house. I might have to install a chair lift for when I am further in my dotage.
Why is Halloween such a big event now? It never used to be…did it? It will be one of those things imported from America I shouldn’t wonder, like McDonalds, and Muzac – you know, that annoying background music played in lifts and shops. On my travels, either delivering or going to the market, I pass three farms that are doing pick your own pumpkins, and the one at Rougham is huge with thousands of fruit covering the field. There is obviously great demand for them otherwise they wouldn’t give over so much growing space for them. It’s just a shame that so few of them will be used for culinary purposes. Having said that, I do find pumpkin pie a bit sickly.
I haven’t grown any pumpkins, but I do have some lovely winter squash. There are butternut, Uchiki Kuri (onion squash), Delicata, and some others that I will wheel out at a later date. With the arrival of much more seasonal temperatures it is time for you to start thinking of soups and roasting – the seeds are good roasted too. If you are contemplating making soup you will need onions, garlic, maybe potato, leeks or chilli peppers….and I just may know someone who can provide them for you 😉 What I also have to offer this week are the first of the Jerusalem Artichokes, which will be much easier to lift after the recent rain. The will be purple sprouting broccoli, Savoy cabbage, kale, beetroot, swede and turnips. As promised last week, green tomatoes will be available for frying or making chutney with. The last of the lettuces will be cut this week, they are mostly the loose leaf type. I will be buying in the mini plum tomatoes from the Isle of Wight again. Lemons, limes and eating apples are your fruit choices, the European orange season is fast approaching so look out for those soon.
In the field across the road from the end of my garden at home Maize has been growing all summer. Last weekend they began harvesting it, and had cut swathes of it about 30 metres into the field before stopping for the day. Overnight someone drove into the field and dumped the contents of their van/trailer there. It was seemingly someone that had cleared a garden for a customer, because it was assorted plastic pots, garden waste, compost bins, and a Flymo mower. It’s outrageous that anyone thinks it’s ok to dump their rubbish willy-nilly, it makes my blood boil, how dare they? I don’t think that this behaviour has been helped by the policy of the council recycling centres insisting on users making appointments before being able to make a visit. It was introduced during Covid and has never returned to how it used to be. I’m not suggesting that the individual guilty of fly tipping across the road would have gone to the recycling centre, they wouldn’t, but anything that puts people off using the official sites is a bad idea.
I’m trying to rush through this so that I am ready in plenty of time for the rugby on the telly at 4.00, but before then I’m also trying to follow the cricket world cup game between England and Afghanistan. Bairstow has just departed for 2 in the second over! Not good. Uh-oh, Root is out now too.
Have a good week.
Phil