Here we are at the equinox, and while there are so many things I love about autumn, this year I am just not ready to let go of the summer. We've had a run of sunshine this week, and while my days are spent inside in front of a screen, each evening I've managed an hour of raking and hauling not-dry-enough grass out of the meadow. It's hard but satisfying work, and lovely to be out in the field as the sun sets, but there's also a sense of despair. I so very much want to cut this whole field by hand, and I will (eventually) - but I've had to accept that the realities of the weather mean I won't make any more hay. Instead, I'm going to be creating an awful lot of mulch, and I'll still be cutting at Christmas by the looks of things. Like many people I'm not thrilled at the idea of having more restrictions on visiting in the colder weather. Our garden shelter has been brilliant over the summer, and is slowly being modified to deal with more breeze, but at some point it's just not going to be pleasant to sit out there. Anyway, this is all very gloomy, and while I confess I'm not at my most cheerful right now, things aren't all bad. The garden has been producing some colourful displays. And I've squirrelled damsons and blackberries away into the freezer, ready for gin. There's not much more cheerful than damson gin, and this will be the first time I've ever made it with my own damsons.
So maybe instead of looking backwards, bemoaning the loss of summer, I need to look forwards and count down the weeks until I can drink damson gin. I'm told it'll be ready by Christmas (assuming I've got round to making it by then, of course), but I can't quite bring myself to count down the weeks until then. I might try to do something cheerfully autumnal each week for the next few weeks to remind me how much I do like this season. We'll see.
2 Comments
Auntie Lou
23/9/2020 03:16:34 pm
The tricky thing with damson gin is making it and then having the same amount left by Christmas! We always sampled Mum's so often to 'see how it's doing' that we were lucky to get half a bottle as far as December!😁
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
All
Archives
February 2024
|