This week we’ve only managed to make a couple of batches of jam as we’ve been spending the time harvesting and chopping up and freezing the fruit instead. We’ve been very lucky to have a good crop of damsons and there’s no way we would have had time to preserve them all before they started going off. This way at least we can spread out the jam making over a longer period of time and make the most of the fruit we’ve got. We managed to harvest a few more kilos from the tree this week before we finally decided the rest were out of reach. Hopefully we have enough to make a good stock of jam.
Lots of damsons also means we need lots of apples (all of our jam recipes include apples). So this week we harvested apples from one of our cooking apple trees – we filled a wheelbarrow and have stored most of them in our apple rack. John also picked two buckets of apples from one of our dessert apple trees. When we moved in one of our friends recommended getting an extendable fruit picker which makes it so much easier to get the higher apples without them falling and bruising. A game-changer!!!
We also started to harvest some of our vegetables and batch cook ready for winter. This week we made a start on the courgettes, leeks, kale and cabbage, making soup and then a vegetarian winter greens lasagne. It does feel a shame when you think about just how long it takes for something to grow, only for it to disappear in a few meals. Still – it does feel rewarding too, knowing the amount of effort that’s gone in!
We had a day off from chores on Sunday for one of the village walks John organises from Stockland. It’s turning into a regular event! This time we were also celebrating one of our friends turning 60 so there was quite a big crowd with plenty of dogs running around. As good as it feels to get chores ticked off, it’s also nice to enjoy where we live and spend the day supporting our local pubs. John organises a different route each time – this weekend the route went over the hills from Stockland to the Yarcombe Inn, and then back again the more direct route down our lane. A nice 7 mile walk to blow away the cobwebs!
This week we welcomed our last week-long booking until December – although our guests ended up leaving a day early on the Sunday. The house has been left spotless which really helps with the changeover. We nearly had another last minute booking but slightly annoyingly we’ve booked various services this week and we didn’t really feel it was fair to accept guests when we’d have people in and out all week. Still, everything needs to be maintained…
John also found time this week to treat the beams in the Cow Shed so we’re ready for the builders. Now we just need to wait for them to have a gap to start the work – hopefully it won’t be long as it’d be great to get that building up and running too.
Ley Farm Cottages 